Engine Rebuild - My Experience

[Hot Rod Sue]

Hi All,

My ’97 RT’s head gasket failed at Thanksgiving

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. The engine was pulled and shipped to Arrow 12/7/00 for a rebuild. I had the car towed back to my garage for the hibernation. I slept better knowing it was at home. I was also able to Zaino it during the extra free time I suddenly had. The engine returned from Arrow 1/30/01.

David Weaver at Maxwell Dodge did the extraction and re-installation. He did a great job. He made the extra effort to protect the fascia and hood during the procedures. More importantly, he did the re-installation perfectly. I have had the car back for 7 weeks now. In that time, I have put on an assorted 2200 miles

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. The car has performed flawlessly! It feels like it is getting stronger the more miles that I put on it. I will be out at Texas World Speedway later this month for my first driving weekend on the new engine. I fully expect to achieve a new personal best on this rebuilt engine.

While it was hard to be Viperless for two months, it has worked out for the best.

 

[Hot Rod Sue]

For approximately one month before the failure I noticed that I was losing coolant

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. I never saw any on the floor in the garage, and I was only losing a small volume. We found that my coolant cap wasn't holding the required pressure and blamed that initially. However, replacing the cap didn't stop the loss. Shortly after that, it went catastrophic during a cruise to see the fall leaves. The car overheated, the oil looked like chocolate milk, and white smoke came out the exhaust. It was ugly.

 

[Phil Lee 94 red RT]

Glad to see your back! We'll have to get Wayne and Jeff and do lunch again.

 

[Hot Rod Sue]

Hi Phil!

It's great to be back. I've been out in your neck of the woods a bunch lately

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Lunch again would be fun. Let's pick a cool spring day quickly before summer is upon us

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. I'll email you.