Chrysler 300M

sdmike2

Hey, I talked with "Mike" at Arkansas Mobile and he said he'll sell anyone here a hitch adapter (1 1/4 inch to 2 inch) for $22.99 plus $7.00 shipping. That's about $20 cheaper than regular retail. He's happy to do it because it saves him eBay fees. The number is 479-750-0033

sdmike2

I missed the compelling reason that you linked to. It's hard to get "muscle car" sound from a V6. What you'll get is a louder and harder edged V6 sound because the flowmaster contains no baffling design or materials.

There is a HUGE thread about Prowler Pro gears at the 300M club message board. Visit www.300mclub.org.

sdmike2

Here is a link to the club discussion group thread about exhaust. There are video/audio files of the Dynomax rear muffer (mine) and a Magnaflow rear muffler (geff borges).

http://pub88.ezboard.com/f300menthusiastsclubfrm5.showMessage?topicID=18.topic

Here is the thread on Prowler Pro gears:

http://pub88.ezboard.com/f300menthusiastsclubfrm2.showMessage?topicID=79.topic

scotian

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/razorstar_wheels/matte_chrome_removal/

sdmike2

I can't really tell the difference without a before/after or a side-by-side picture. Did it make a big difference? Also, why would there be a "mat" finish over the chrome?

blonda

I like it. Is the finish totally smooth? I was just trying to get that part clean on my M yesterday -- it sure holds the dirt. I am a fanatic about keeping my wheels clean too....but I'm a little afraid I'd mess the rest of the wheel up in doing it. How long did it take you?

blonda

On the Razorstars every-other inlet has the matte finish -- sort of rough. Don't know why. Still can't beat the reflective quality on those wheels with or without it though. Best one's DC uses IMO.

kupper25

Would appreciate help in figuring out this mystery. Yesterday (Sunday) I discovered by accident that there was SIGNIFICANT water in the driver's side back seat floor well of my 2002 M. No standing water, but the carpet was soaking wet -- both the carpet layer on top of the rubber/carpet floormat, and the full carpet layer underneath the floormat.

Absolutely no water at all on the passenger's side back seat floor well, also none in the front. Last hard rain in my area was Thursday. Thought about a possible window seal leak, but there is no evidence of water anywhere but in the floor well, i.e. nothing on at all on the back seat itself or back of the driver's seat (which I know I would have noticed).

So the theories are:

1. Window seal failure during a hard rain and water just "perfectly" dripped only into the floor well (must have been a lot of water to soak both top and bottom of mat).

2. Some other water source. I was certainly running the A/C a lot this weekend, and had at least one occasion of parking nose up on a moderately steep upgrade after running A/C for an hour or so. Any chance that A/C condensate in such a situation collected somewhere and found its way back there?

3. I vaguely remember tales on this board about a year ago (I think from a former 300M owner in FL) about water drainage into the passenger compartment, but I don't know who it was or where to find those posts. I know it took him some time to find out where the leak was and have that plugged.

Anybody out there with some wisdom to offer on this one or a better memory than mine on those old posts?? Thanks.

scotian

Best I can do right now:

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/razorstar_wheels/matte_chrome_removal/image5.html

It took a good hour each wheel for the brass Dremel cleaning. I still have some matte in the centermost corner of the holes -- hard to get to. The exposed chrome isn't as shiny as the rest, but much shinier than the matte.

More fun with wheels:

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/razorstar_wheels/corroding_center_caps/

Intensive wheel cleaning; start here, continue forward:

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/razorstar_wheels/cross-drilled_rotors/dcp_459.html

Slotted heat-treated rotors:

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/razorstar_wheels/slotted_rotors/

scotian

Side marker install:

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/lighting/side_markers/

Taillights:

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/lighting/taillights/

Trunk lock removal:

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/trunk_lock_removal/

smittyd

I've got the Flowmaster #42583 on my M. I went with the Flowmaster instead of a Magnaflow because there's no packing inside to burn out. It should sound the same from now on. It is much louder than stock. The idle is the meanest thing you've ever heard come out of a V6 and it's got a sweet growl at higher rpm's. It's all a matter of personal taste, but if you want a more subdued sound, go with something other than a Flowmaster. glennbp, who posts on this forum, has the same setup as I do. Maybe he'll comment, as well. Regardless of what muffler you go with, you won't regret the move to duals!

http://dodgeboy.cjb.net

MOPAR or no car!

fastdriver

kupper25-

Sounds like what I had on Christine. Mine was on the passenger's side rear. Check your spare tire well too. Mine was a body seam behind the rear passenger wheel. Christine was a 99 model- Motor Trend Car of the Year! If the spare tire well area is wet, most likely the trunk mat is too. Take it out and let it dry because it will STINK! I also sprayed some Lysol back there after the "5-STAR" DODGE dealer fixed the leak. I THINK there is a TSB on this. Check it out at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov Click on problems and issues.

Hope this helps.

fastdriver

fastdriver

Is your "HORN" working again? You know- the BEEP, BEEP when a new message appears? Mine is fine now. It was covered under the 3/36- NO deductible! ;-))

fastdriver

no1trust

I guess your complaint to the management must have worked!

fastdriver

no1trust -

"I guess your complaint to the management must have worked!"

They usually do. I HAD plenty of practice! ;-))

fastdriver

toms99

That exhaust pic from chryslerpro.com....the tips look like they came from "fart-pipes-R-us"...I don't like tips that look like coffee cans...

BTW..if you go to that guys home page, it looks like he sells the Prowler Pro gears. Anyone know if he is a manufacturer or distributer???

toms99

I'm not sure about buffing away that matte finishe between the spokes. Isn't there a possibility (albeit remote!) that there is a reason for that being there? I guess I'm always afraid I'll be buffing away some sort of protective coating...

toms99

Wow..looking at your site it looks as if you've tried lots of rotor/pad combinations.

What did you finally wind-up keeping that gave you good performance and clean wheels? Slots? Cross-drilled?

scotian

toms99

If I recall there was someone on one of these boards that had problems with water leaking in the drivers side front compartment. The dealer kept on trying to tell him that it was due to a hole he had drilled in the firewall for an audio cable. Wrong....! It turned out that it was the windhield seal, but it took a long time to diagnose.

Water leaks are tough to find...and if it is a new car the situation is even worse. Why? When I worked at a dealership, the dealership couldn't get reimbursed from the maker (in this case Ford) for warranty repair UNLESS you could send back a defective part. So is the Service Manager gonna put his best class "A" mechanic on a job that he won't be paid from the manufacturer? Of course not! I remember we used to assign non flat rate "lot boys" to do that stuff. I remember putting a lot boy in a T-Bird trunk with a flashlight while another lot boy hosed down the trunk for a couple of hours looking for a trunk leak....

fastdriver

toms99-

It was fuzzywuzzy who had the front area leak.

"...while another lot boy hosed down the trunk for a couple of hours looking for a trunk leak...."

WOW! Must have been a BIG gap if the kid was still alive after all that time! ;-))

fastdriver

guesswho1

thanks for the rear seat removal instructions

guesswho1

do these qualify as "cool looking grids" cuz i'm getting them and i ain't chicken, i cut out the bumper with a dremel, i think i can handle the rear deck

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-iiI1Mn4JZcs/ProdView.asp?s=0&c=10&g=52300&I=1086952I&o=m&a=0

videoman1

Now I'm confused. When looking at the 1999 shifter and the 2000 shifter, there seems to be a difference in where the P R N D letters are. The 1999 has them spaced an equal distance from each other. The 2000 shifter has P farther away from the R N D. Does this mean that when you upgraded to the 2000 shifter trim, your shifter does not line up with the corresponding letters?

Also, the 1999 shifter trim has notches left and right for the autostick. The 2000 doesn't although I'm sure there's room for moving the shifter left and right.

I may have to upgrade to the 2000 shifter trim, but am just confused about how everything lines up.

glennbp

Those qualify! Oughta' look really nice on the rear deck. I just ordered a pair of Focal Polyflex 6x9's to see if they will bump up the mid-bass a little. If the grids are cool enough, I may be cuttin' on my mat too!

300michael

Sounds good to me.

300michael

The fish scale shifter had the PRND, equally spaced out and in it's own lighted circle. The Newer booted style has the PRND letters to line up with the shifter knob shaft, to make it easer to see what gear you are in. It also made it much easer to add my LED's to indcate what gear the car was in.

videoman1

Thanks Mike,

If I change over to the 2000 shifter trim, will the PRND still light up at night properly? Is the 2000 shifter trim just a peice of plastic to replace or does it also include small lights, wires, etc for the PRND?

-vman

jona57

glenbp-

Please let us know how the bass from those new 6x9's sound. I want to upgrade my Infinity II system this summer, but I want to learn from the experience of others as I do it.
Thanks!

Jon

toms99

Yeah, we lost quite a few "lot boys" that way!!

But seriously, that's the way things worked in the dealership I worked in back then. The top flat rate mechanics never got the waranty work. You could never beat the times in the Warranty book, which were probably computed with all the tools right at hand, etc. The times for an out or warranty car for the exact same procedure were alwyas longer, and you could beat those times and make money. It was much worse for things like leaks and rattles, for which no documented set flat rate times existed in any book.

sdmike2

Time to get your M outta town yet? I see that the fires are getting nastier.

sdmike2

As you remove and replace speakers, what do you do with the old ones?

denverm

Maybe the old speakers could be stored in the old air intake plenum boxes???? Wonder how big a mountain of old parts all you 300M modders could collectively pile up?
The big fire south of Denver is heading north, they say it will soon have consumed 100,000 acres, more than the size of Denver itself. Smoke and ash was less today in Denver, guess the winds are blowing them in a different direction. Sad for the people who are losing their homes, but at least so far no deaths. It's gonna be a long summer . . . .

99_300m_ric_va

Yeah, everything will lightup just fine. There is an electrical connector or two that will plug up the same as the 99. The part you are replacing is the entire plastic section from the bottom of the radio trim to the just in front of the cup holders. It definitately looks better with that leather boot.

silverbullet4

Thanks for the hitch info. I am not going to do it yet. Don't like "cludges" (adaptors).

Silver

glennbp

jona57 - I'll let you all know what I think. Everything I've been able to research says Focal rules right now, but that's very subjective. I take a wait and see attitude and try to forget the hype.

sdmike2 - I'm thinking of having a "speaker toss" competition. Sort of a mix between discus and horseshoes. Hey, who knows, if we get enough speakers and participants, we could have an olympic speaker toss at the the next meet!!! LOL
Seriously, they're collecting dust somewhere; you want 'em?

300michael

I would be interested in the 2.5" speakers of you repaced them. It is hard to find speakers of this size.

300michael

I have a couple of large storage bins of parts. Enough ot fiil my trunk. The struts, springs, and old air intake parts take up most of the space though. My mom thinks I am going to build another car one piece at a time (like the old Johny Cash song "one part at a time"). She is not far off.

300michael

The shifter knob must be removed with a torx screw. the the shifter bezal lifts up (the rear) and out at the front. If you remove the radio bezel, it will make it easer to remove and install the new one. Then unplug the light, and power outlet connectors, and you are done. Then as it is always said "reverse the proceedure" You will have the whole job done in under 10 minuts. One word of caution, when removing the front of the shifter becareful of the front two friction clips, they can easly tear your vinal trim.

fuzzywuzzy

Yes I did have 1. Yes in FL. However, it was the drivers side front floor. Turned out it was a bad body seam along the inside fender. That's what I told the monkeys in the first place! Only took them a summer to fix! Now your leak is in the rear. So it might be a body seem somewhere back there. Remove the spare & feel if the well is wet. Also is just the carpet wet under the floor mat? Or is the top of the floor mat wet too. If it's only under the mat, then it's a bad seam, or seal somewhere. If it's wet on top of the floor mat then maybe the roof is leaking somewhere. In any case I hope you are within factory warrranty. The extended warrantys DO NOT cover water leaks other then window related. Yes even the DC warranty. I found this out the hard way

sdmike2

I was thinking about replacing the 6 1/2 inch door speakers, and if you have a set that were better than stock but not "up to standard" I might make you an offer on them.

Mike

glennbp

Sorry Mike, all I have are the factory ones. I did have some Blaupunkts, but sold 'em a good while back.

300michael - email me your snail mail address and I'll send you the 2.5 inchers. I know I have 2 of them and I probably have the other 2 somewhere if I can find them. I also have the 2 front door speakers if you want those. Let me know.

scotian

Actually, I think the shift knob is held on with a hex/allen head screw, but a torx will work OK.

kosh_2258

A 3mm hex wrench will fit the set screw perfectly.

Fuzzywuzzy: Question about 6.5" door speakers, were the Infinity Kappa 3 ways you tried the new ones they just introduced or an older version?

fastdriver

Just to get back to the "hot sedans test" in the current issue of Road & Track-

Those cars range from 176 in.-193.9 in. in length. Wheelbases from 104.3-114.5. Curb weight from 3,340
lb.-3,690 lb.

The 300M is- 197.8 length, 113.0 wheelbase, 3,591 curb weight??? Doesn't this fit in?

fastdriver

sdmike2

My wife invited my son's Pre-K class over to play. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

fuzzywuzzy

It was a year ago, so they might have been the older ones. They were the Infinity Kappa 3 ways with the green cones.

300michael

If they went by outer dementions, you would be correct. But they go by interior cubic feet. I know it doesn't make much since, but that's live in the fast lane for you.

300michael

I must have taken it off over twenty times, and always used a torx bit. Of course I have a screw driver that does a fine job on it too. One day I will have to take a good look at it.

300michael

Did you get your "Big Red" out of there in time? And lock up the playhouse?