psyberemt
12-18-2020, 07:13 AM
For those that missed my thread after buying the car, I got a wild hair at the end of the summer and bought a SC 2004 Marauder while sitting on the tarmac at Charlotte Airport. I'd always wanted one and this one looked to be in decent shape for it's age and miles. It was in California and I'm in Georgia, so I enlisted a friend to help, booked a flight out and we road-tripped it home. You can read more about the purchase experience and early days of the car here: https://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?109028-Finally-got-a-Marauder!-Only-took-18-years&highlight=
After getting it I immediately made an appointment with Mo's speed shop to get them to take a look at it and come up with a plan to get it back to a state worthy of such a great car. They assessed it, I booked an appointment, then I started tackling repairs and updates that I could take care of on my own before it went to them.
In no particular order I did the following before taking it in to Mo's:
Replaced all 4 10+ year old tires with Continental ExtremeContact DWS06
Replaced failing alternator with a 160amp DB Electric part
Had rusted-out stock mufflers replaced with Magnaflows
Replaced serpentine belt
Replaced all pulleys that I could find replacements for
Replaced master cylinder, rotors and pads on all 4 corners. Did a few pressure bleeds then 3 rounds of ABS bleed with Forscan
Changed oil
Changed transmission fluid that I could get out (aftermarket oversized pan is VERY well adhered, luckily it has a drain plug)
Changed S/C oil multiple times (was black as tar)
Replaced rear shocks with KYBs, lubed existing rear Metco control arms
Replaced stock Watt's link with Metco
Replaced both heavily yellowed headlights with Depo aftermarkets after 2 failed attempts at repairing them
Replaced both wiper arms as one broke
LEDs in headlights (properly aimed), tail lights, reverse lights and CHMSL
LEDs in gauge cluster, autometer gauges and all interior lights
Replaced stock head unit with Kenwood double-DIN with Carplay and Android Auto
Removed the seats, broke all 4 front seat bolts, deeply cleaned the smelly carpet, drilled and tapped new, larger seat bolts
Deeply cleaned the interior and exterior from top to bottom...evicted the wasps nest in the passenger side mirror
Cleaned and conditioned the leather with Leatherique while the seats were out of the car
Replaced a handful of worn interior trim pieces with new old stock ones I found on eBay.
Replaced the steering wheel control buttons as the rubber coating had started reverting and was a sticky mess
Replaced broken drivers door window controls
Touched up some paint chips with Dr. Color Chip
Replaced the all black, cracked grill with a new aftermarket that I painted body color around the edges to match stock.
Once getting it to Mo's and them getting it torn apart, they took care of the following:
Rear head cooling mod
Fixed and completed transmission tailshaft mod (someone had tried, failed and left their hole silicone'd up)
Replaced rear main seal
Replaced intake manifold gaskets
Fixed header leak
Replaced shifter cable
Installed drive shaft safety loop
Replaced front struts (KYB), front upper and lower control arms
Replaced steering shaft
Replaced existing 4.10 gears with Ford Performance 3.73
Replaced front sway bar end links
Replaced parking brake hardware and reconnected cable that was just dangling
Replaced spark plugs
Alignment
Tune
Cleaned and dressed the engine bay...beautiful!
If you're curious about my awesome experience with Mo's Speed Shop, check out my review thread here: https://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?109065-First-visit-to-Mo-s!&highlight=
Will never be able to say enough good things about those guys!
With all of the above done it's like having a brand new Marauder, just with tighter suspension and WAY more power. I got very lucky in that this car has never been involved in an accident. There are no interior rattles, squeaks or clunks.
Still have the following mods / repairs to do:
Replace worn carpet with Auto Custom Carpets piece sitting in the garage
Replace center console with one pulled from a CV Sport (a few slats of the rear vents were broken and the plastic console storage insert was broken)
Get body shop to paint and install higher quality aftermarket grill and repaint spider-webbed fiberglass body panel just behind the grill.
Entire car either needs wet sand paint correction or more likely a complete respray of clearcoat. Overall the paint is in good shape, at least above the trim line, but the clear is pretty scratched all around. The bottom of 2 doors are rusting. Will see what body shop suggests doing about that.
Find replacement center gauge pod trim, left side center dash trim and right side long center dash trim pieces as the paint is worn
Paintless dent repair on a few dings and one decent dent on the trunk
(Still considering) have wheels powder coated or painted matte black. The wheels are straight but the finish is in rough shape. I love black wheels and think they look great against a silver car
I'll update this post with some new pics when it isn't quite so chilly outside and I've had a chance to give her a good wash.
A huge thanks to everyone here who has answered questions and helped me along the way with the repairs I took care of myself. I found answers to 99/100 questions I came up with during the process by searching this forum.
After getting it I immediately made an appointment with Mo's speed shop to get them to take a look at it and come up with a plan to get it back to a state worthy of such a great car. They assessed it, I booked an appointment, then I started tackling repairs and updates that I could take care of on my own before it went to them.
In no particular order I did the following before taking it in to Mo's:
Replaced all 4 10+ year old tires with Continental ExtremeContact DWS06
Replaced failing alternator with a 160amp DB Electric part
Had rusted-out stock mufflers replaced with Magnaflows
Replaced serpentine belt
Replaced all pulleys that I could find replacements for
Replaced master cylinder, rotors and pads on all 4 corners. Did a few pressure bleeds then 3 rounds of ABS bleed with Forscan
Changed oil
Changed transmission fluid that I could get out (aftermarket oversized pan is VERY well adhered, luckily it has a drain plug)
Changed S/C oil multiple times (was black as tar)
Replaced rear shocks with KYBs, lubed existing rear Metco control arms
Replaced stock Watt's link with Metco
Replaced both heavily yellowed headlights with Depo aftermarkets after 2 failed attempts at repairing them
Replaced both wiper arms as one broke
LEDs in headlights (properly aimed), tail lights, reverse lights and CHMSL
LEDs in gauge cluster, autometer gauges and all interior lights
Replaced stock head unit with Kenwood double-DIN with Carplay and Android Auto
Removed the seats, broke all 4 front seat bolts, deeply cleaned the smelly carpet, drilled and tapped new, larger seat bolts
Deeply cleaned the interior and exterior from top to bottom...evicted the wasps nest in the passenger side mirror
Cleaned and conditioned the leather with Leatherique while the seats were out of the car
Replaced a handful of worn interior trim pieces with new old stock ones I found on eBay.
Replaced the steering wheel control buttons as the rubber coating had started reverting and was a sticky mess
Replaced broken drivers door window controls
Touched up some paint chips with Dr. Color Chip
Replaced the all black, cracked grill with a new aftermarket that I painted body color around the edges to match stock.
Once getting it to Mo's and them getting it torn apart, they took care of the following:
Rear head cooling mod
Fixed and completed transmission tailshaft mod (someone had tried, failed and left their hole silicone'd up)
Replaced rear main seal
Replaced intake manifold gaskets
Fixed header leak
Replaced shifter cable
Installed drive shaft safety loop
Replaced front struts (KYB), front upper and lower control arms
Replaced steering shaft
Replaced existing 4.10 gears with Ford Performance 3.73
Replaced front sway bar end links
Replaced parking brake hardware and reconnected cable that was just dangling
Replaced spark plugs
Alignment
Tune
Cleaned and dressed the engine bay...beautiful!
If you're curious about my awesome experience with Mo's Speed Shop, check out my review thread here: https://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?109065-First-visit-to-Mo-s!&highlight=
Will never be able to say enough good things about those guys!
With all of the above done it's like having a brand new Marauder, just with tighter suspension and WAY more power. I got very lucky in that this car has never been involved in an accident. There are no interior rattles, squeaks or clunks.
Still have the following mods / repairs to do:
Replace worn carpet with Auto Custom Carpets piece sitting in the garage
Replace center console with one pulled from a CV Sport (a few slats of the rear vents were broken and the plastic console storage insert was broken)
Get body shop to paint and install higher quality aftermarket grill and repaint spider-webbed fiberglass body panel just behind the grill.
Entire car either needs wet sand paint correction or more likely a complete respray of clearcoat. Overall the paint is in good shape, at least above the trim line, but the clear is pretty scratched all around. The bottom of 2 doors are rusting. Will see what body shop suggests doing about that.
Find replacement center gauge pod trim, left side center dash trim and right side long center dash trim pieces as the paint is worn
Paintless dent repair on a few dings and one decent dent on the trunk
(Still considering) have wheels powder coated or painted matte black. The wheels are straight but the finish is in rough shape. I love black wheels and think they look great against a silver car
I'll update this post with some new pics when it isn't quite so chilly outside and I've had a chance to give her a good wash.
A huge thanks to everyone here who has answered questions and helped me along the way with the repairs I took care of myself. I found answers to 99/100 questions I came up with during the process by searching this forum.