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/for...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:
Once getting it to Mo's and them getting it torn apart, they took care of the following:
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:
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.
