Well....I'm off to pick her up...wish me luck!

[FiveO]

Well gang its been a 2 year wait for my Marauder.

2 years ago I made a decision between a new Marauder or grad school. Took me a few weeks, I weighed the decisions and chose school. That time is done.

I'm leaving for San Diego this AM. I will be met at the airport by a fellow MM.net member and his car. After a bit of paperwork and lunch I'll be on my way back to MN...with my car.

1800 miles!

I'll be going through Las Vegas friday night. Gotta stop off for some blackjack and food then back to the road.

Denver on Saturday then onto Minnesota. Should be home Sunday sometime.


Its been a long wait. One that will turn out to be well worth it!

Keep it quiet this weekend...and if you see me on the road...be sure to wave!


I'm bringing my digital camera as I've never seen the Rockies before. Should be a great trip! I'll be sure to post some pics when I get back.

If anyone wants to get together for a quick bite to eat or some coffee and they're along my route...Vegas friday night, Denver saturday...just call me at 507-210-1114. Its my cell phone.


Cheers! :beer:

[mad man]

Well gang its been a 2 year wait for my Marauder.

2 years ago I made a decision between a new Marauder or grad school. Took me a few weeks, I weighed the decisions and chose school. That time is done.

I'm leaving for San Diego this AM. I will be met at the airport by a fellow MM.net member and his car. After a bit of paperwork and lunch I'll be on my way back to MN...with my car.

1800 miles!

I'll be going through Las Vegas friday night. Gotta stop off for some blackjack and food then back to the road.

Denver on Saturday then onto Minnesota. Should be home Sunday sometime.


Its been a long wait. One that will turn out to be well worth it!

Keep it quiet this weekend...and if you see me on the road...be sure to wave!


I'm bringing my digital camera as I've never seen the Rockies before. Should be a great trip! I'll be sure to post some pics when I get back.

If anyone wants to get together for a quick bite to eat or some coffee and they're along my route...Vegas friday night, Denver saturday...just call me at 507-210-1114. Its my cell phone.


Cheers! :beer:Good Luck and Enjoy Good choice :banana:

[martyo]

Cool!!

Have a great safe trip!!

[Bradley G]

safe travels

[CRUZTAKER]

Have a safe and wonderfull trip....and never, never....pass those idiot semis on the right!

Post pics when you get home. WooHoo:banana:

[Bluerauder]

What they said ^^^^^^

Safe trip and enjoy the ride............

[stevengerard]

Great decision both times, the wait will make this that much better, I know 2 year wait for me too.

[Haggis]

Gods Speed and a safe trip.

[Ross]

You made 2 good choices, and it looks like they both paid off. Congratulations.

[Patrick]

:up: :up:

[MICA Racing]

Congratulations on your graduation and your new ride - Sounds like a great first road trip! I know how bad the wait is - it took me two years to convince my wife that it wasn't a grandpa car (now she reluctantly admits she loves it). Enjoy your new car that much more - you earned it!

[jgc61sr2002]

Congrats. Enjoy your new ride. :up: Have a safe trip. :)

[Marauderjack]

Welcome back.....FiveO.......When ya get back!!!! :banana:

GREAT way to break in a new Marauder!!!!! :up:

Hope it was as much fun as we all expect it was?? ;)

Marauderjack :pimp:

[MERCDADDY]

Remember, its' all down hill from Denver to Minnesota (literally)! Have a great trip, and congratulations.

[HwyCruiser]

FiveO,

May you travel safe and open roads on the trip back.

1800 mostly highway miles should really let you get into the performance and comfort of your new MM. Especially through the mountains. :up:

Have fun!

- JD

[FiveO]

Well gang....I'm back.

Pete Fletcher lied about the car...it wasn't in good condition...it was in showroom condition. Absolutely amazingly clean and unblemished.

I went and test drove a 2004 MM with 8,000 miles on it a few weeks ago at a dealership in the cities and it definitely wasn't as clean as this Silver 2004 Pete sold me. I can't say enough about this...clean car...wow.

This was probably one of the best deals on a MM around. Here's what I got for $26,000....:

2004 MM Silver with 4,300 miles
K&N drop in filter
Clifford Alarm
Custom Install:
Alpine CD In Dash w/ XM radio: XM is the best!!
JBL 12" subwoofer (custom fitted...see pics)
came with custom spare tire fit in bottom of trunk.
KVR brakes all around, drilled rotors
DR rear swaybar upgrade
MMX driveshaft
4.10 gears
Lumar Window tint...awesome!

There's several other items...too much to mention right now.


Ok..onto the technical stuff.

The MM ran from a trooper on the trip back...Whoops! Ran like a trooper ;) :D

I came through Vegas, Denver and Omaha. I did 1930 miles in 34.5 hours....all by myself. I didn't get much sleep, walked in the door an hour ago and am pretty tired.

Car ran very well...few minor concerns.

First off...gas prices! It was amazing...CA was $2.50, NV was $2.40, UT was $2.30, CO was $2.20, NE was $2.00 and IA was $1.90....whats with the lower prices inland!!! :lol:

Next. I have one concern about the car.

In Colorado the shifting was quick...as a car with 4,500 miles on it should be...but there was some wierd stuff going on. I had the cruise on and it would upshift to keep going up the hill and then it wouldn't downshift. It would just hang at 4,000+ rpm's at about 70mph until I nudged it and it dropped. It would kick in going up the hill and as I was going down the next grade, it wouldn't drop. Never happened in NE, IO or MN...just the Rockies.

The car also sounded like it was really dragging at times and I'd have to kick her down to get anything out of it...again...altitude?

At lower altitudes it seemed fine...but would shift very quick...almost too quick at times. The acceleration was good though, but at times I'd have to put it to the boards in the higher altitudes to get it to kick up....happened a couple times at 10K altitude.

I had the cruise set at 6-9 over the limit the whole trip. I made about 3 runs over 100...but no more than for 15 seconds at a time...just trying to break her in :D

Would just a good tuned chip work out? Suggestions?

Didn't get stopped and only got checked by Troopers from CO and IO.

BTW: Trip was beautiful. Very little rain...only NE (drizzle) and the Rockies were amazing:

Enjoy these: More questions and pics to come.

Not too many of the car...those will come :D

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266611.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266602.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266594.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266588.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266583.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266576.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266566.jpg

[FiveO]

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266557.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266550.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266545.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57266537.jpg

[FiveO]

I also forgot to mention that Mr. Fletcher decided to leave the Valentine One hard wired into the car.

Kudos to Mr. Fletcher :up:

[SouLRioT]

You made out big time with that car. I'm glad this car is going to stay within the family. Hopefuly someone else can answer the shifting problem.

[Bluerauder]

Well gang....I'm back. "...snip..."
First off...gas prices! It was amazing...CA was $2.50, NV was $2.40, UT was $2.30, CO was $2.20, NE was $2.00 and IA was $1.90....whats with the lower prices inland!!! :lol:


Thanks for the recap. Sounds like a great break-in trip. Nice pics.

From the gas pricing, seems that it would be down around $0.50 by the time you made it to Virginia. Don't bother .... it ain't nowhere near that low here yet. But, at $1.97 for 93 Octane it is a whole lot better than 1 or 2 weeks ago.

[FiveO]

Took a few pics this afternoon.


My 4 car garage is officially full now. SHO, Mustang, MM and my squad car...a 98 Intrepid...slowest of the bunch :D

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57349983.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57350041.jpg

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57350000.jpg

Took this pic in CO coming through a tunnel...using it as wallpaper. Love it!

http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL283/1552930/4556869/57350017.jpg

[Patrick]

AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 :bows: :bows: :bows:

[Bigg Cellus]

FIVE-O, Congrats on the Marauder-One heck of a deal and also the pictures of your trip and car are amazing.

[Haggis]

FiveO glad to see you made it home safe. I am not able to view your pics, they look like little red Xs to me?? Sounds like you had a great time driving your Marauder home. Good luck and welcome to the Collective.

[FiveO]

FiveO glad to see you made it home safe. I am not able to view your pics, they look like little red Xs to me?? Sounds like you had a great time driving your Marauder home. Good luck and welcome to the Collective.


Should be back up...my host was having problems.


Thanks for the wishes.

[Haggis]

Should be back up...my host was having problems.


Thanks for the wishes.

Beautiful Pics and ni..beautiful Car.

[CRUZTAKER]

Great pics, great story, and a great car.

Glad the trip went well, andyou are safe at home. Keep an eye on the shifting, but perhaps it had to do with the thin air 'up there'.

I used to drive an RX-7 in the military days and made the east west commute frequently. There was actually a TSB for the rotory regarding owners in the thin air areas for that motor. The car just plain wouldn't run right in that condition.

Let's hope that's all it was, and if so....just avoid Denver!!!