2003 Chrysler Crossfire - Update 22/04

[adam73bgt]

New car means new thread time!

My last daily driver was my 1994 Honda Legend Coupe which did me good service for the past 3 years until I decided I fancied a change. In the interim I have been borrowing my girlfriend's Peugeot 207, which after a camping trip this weekend, is now out of action for the moment

I had however, already been working on plans for a replacement for the Legend way before it even sold.

I had some criteria, decent practicality, cost less to buy than the sale price of the Legend, petrol, retro if possible, rear wheel drive if possible, and reasonably fast as some mates want to get back into track days and a trip to the Nurburgring again.

The last time I tried to do a "track car/daily" I ended up with a Toyota Corolla T Sport



A fun car after I'd chucked a load of mods at it, but annoying to drive on the road due to it's incredibly peaky power delivery. So the few Celica T sports that appeared in my price range didn't tickle me.

350Z's seem to start at £4k and even then they're rough or "needing an engine", RX-8's seem to start at £2k and even then they're rough or "needing an engine".

I've served my time on BMWs so they didn't interest me too much although a brief drive in a mate's Z4 had me considering E46 325ti's for a moment.

Chrysler Crossfire? Eugh god no

I looked at Saab OG9-3's, I had a hatch previously, which although was one of my worst purchases, I know the issues and more importantly they can make good power on the cheap, but the few examples out there weren't any good.

I nearly cut a deal to buy a Fiat Stilo Abarth Schumacher GP, but due to the seller fixing some bits on it, the price went up which put me off and then it sold.

Oh and Clio 182's I discounted because while they are the obvious choice, I don't really do obvious choice

So really there were slim pickings out there. Until I got thinking about the Crossfire again... The recent thread on here about cars with unfair reps got me thinking also, the press seemed to pan the Crossfire when it was new, but there were plenty of examples out there for very little money. And in 2022, when people are asking 8 grand for a Skyline rolling shell, or 4k for an RX-7 FC convertible rolling shell (considering I bought my running, driving, MOT'd FC for 3k in 2015), a V6, rear wheel drive, manual sports car for sub 2k is very tempting.

Fast forward to today and I'm up early on a Bank Holiday to get a nearly 5 hour train journey from the midlands to the tip of Kent to look at a car that I'd only a couple of months ago dismissed as "devoid of potential" and something I wouldn't be buying



Sneaky first fill shot

So it's a 2003 Chrysler Crossfire, for anyone who doesn't know, that's a first generation R170 Mercedes Benz SLK with different bodywork, interior and wheels. There may be more differences but I'm learning as I go along









Bodywork wise, it's average, few paint issues here and there, lacquer peel, the usual stuff. The previous owner removed a load of stick on chrome tat from the previous previous owner, and blacked out the grill and side strakes which I actually quite like. There was chrome on the windscreen surround which has taken some of the paint with it, I'm in two minds about whether to match that to the body colour black.

I'm not a big fan of the OEM wheels. I have a plan forming for this, but I'm not 100% sure if it will work yet. Let's just say I'm thankful 5x112 is close to 5x114.3

I may have missed on the "practicality" part of my criteria.. The boot is actually quite big, but is limited by a small opening and a substantial bulkhead, which is where I suspect the fuel tank is





Exhaust in there is the original, I'll get to that in a bit.





A little rust on the tailgate, I should be able to treat this as a temp measure. The nifty lil rear wing works, goes up and down to improve downforce and reduce the already poor rear visibility

Interior next, yes the silver is a bit dated, but it's 2003, silver was all the rage! The older looking square air vents and glovebox handle (I believe borrowed from the SLK) do look a bit dated even by 2003 standards though... But it's all functional, in good nick and a pretty comfortable place to sit, it's certainly well equipped.





Bluetooth head unit already fitted so I don't have to, is a nice bonus.

Possibly the worst placed OEM cupholder I've ever seen





But the previous owner did make a solution in the cubby between the two seats which could work nicely.

Engine is a 3.2 V6 making 215bhp, almost exactly the same numbers as the Legend I used to have, but this time paired with a quite nice 6 speed gearbox



Someone seems to have put all these weird little 3 pointed star marks all over my nice American engine though



Ah yes and the exhaust



The rear box has been replaced with pipe, I believe the rear box is the only silencer apart from the effects of the primary and secondary cats, so it's loud. I like a loud car, and it is hilarious for a bit, but the 3 and a half hour drive home gave me a headache, so I'll be making this quieter for sure!

So yeah, that's my Crossfire, words I didn't think I'd say

Plans? Standard new car Service and Detail to start with, touch up those rusty bits, I need to fully investigate lowering methods and sort a mounting solution for my wheels, Exhaust needs to be a bit quieter, not OEM but not deafening, the brakes will need a little upgrade if I'm going to end up on track oh and a steering wheel swap.

But first, I need to fix the 207

[NudgerSS]

Looks a good honest example. Will be interesting to see how this develops as you don't see many around now.

[grizz]

I am disappointed you did not have time in your busy day to come join “TeamGrizz” as pedalcarjoe calls it Adam.

Now, on to my limited observations.

Congratulations.

I love your writing style and observations on your purchase.

Nicola my ex, and I liked these a whole load when they launched, the hard top, rather than the soft option.

I think they are perfectly placed just inside the left field and will have a small, weird following, like the PT Cruiser that delux has a few of.

Years ago, the plastics were described as cheaper than it’s genetic fathers.

I would not care.

And I do like the wheels.

Would a colour change to a darker anthracite work?


Two weeks ago, the laws on photography from a moving car, while you are driving, precluded me from taking a few pics of a silvery one that was being driven behind me on Brown Hill road (a205 South Circular in Catford area)

It was missing the front grille ir it was blacked out which I only realised in 4.00pm traffic when we pulled away from a light……. The reason I mention this is that the front end looked really good and changed the look a lot on it.

It certainly sat lower than standard, possibly helped by,what,seemed like a pair of bouncers driving it. Big guys.

So, lowering and front end/grille treatment really worked on this for me.

I’m looking forward to your changes as they happen.

PS. I wonder if I have heard this car before.

Where in Kent did it reside?

[pedalcarjoe]

May 3, 2022 2:13:10 GMT NudgerSS said:

Looks a good honest example. Will be interesting to see how this develops as you don't see many around now.

looks like a lot of car for the money

I'll check in to see how the wheel change develops

[brachunky]

I for one have always liked the Crossfire's "different" styling and in fact still like the silver trim as it makes a change from all the black/carbon/piano finish types. It reminds me of good quality billet ally stuff. Now I say I always liked these but that's where my knowledge of them ends as I had no idea they were based on one of Germanys finest. Just a pity it didn't come fitted with an american V8 but that's just me!

[adam73bgt]

Thanks NudgerSS yeah I was thinking when I last saw one before this and I can't really remember when it would have been!

Haha I must apologise grizz wouldn't be the first time I've been off collecting a car or parts and been a stones throw from an RR member, I think I was right near Luckyseven when I went to buy my RX-7 of all things! To be honest after all the time on the train I was quite keen to get the car and get home, I barely gave it a proper look over haha

Thank you though I thought it would divide opinion more than it has, but it seems time has been kind and they're not ageing too badly. The interior plastics seem about on par for the late 90s/early 00s to me, the Legend had a softer pad to rest your arm on in the door card though, it's the little details. Also, on the centre console where your arm wants to rest, aside from inadvertently opening the cup holder, is on that very hard gloss plastic. Again, a little leather trimmed cushioned top to the rear cubby could have made that a bit more comfortable.

Anthracite on the wheels may help, they're a bit kerbed so could do with a freshen up in the future, but I want to try something a little smaller on diameter. Though I have to say the standard wheels have grown on me a little...

Bouncers must have been well wedged in one as they're quite a small car! Obvviously the SLK was quite small, but the Crossfire looked bigger in photos to me than it is in real life, not that that's neccessarily a bad thing.

It was in Margate

pedalcarjoe They certainly seem to be decent value these days!

brachunky It's funny how little changed really, this engine bay pic is from an SLK and it looks nigh on identical



I wonder if one could graft on a whole SLK front end?... Would probably look terrible

Yeah no V8s sadly, amusingly when I was looking through old (US based) forum posts, high servicing costs were sited as one negative point for the Crossfire, 0W40 Fully synth oil and twin plugs per cylinder gives away the Germanic engine origins!

That said, Mercedes also made quite a lot of V8s in the 2000s...



And it turns out they fit in there too

[thebaron]

I think your idea for smaller diameter wheels with some meatier sidewall is a winner here. Also, I like the de-chroming that has been done and I think the windscreen surround needs to be treated in the same manner to finish it off.

The one piece I'm not a fan of is the grille.

A mesh is one option like the below





Maybe something like the steinmetz style a la Opel GT that's close to the original.

[Alpina99]

Isn't this the car that Clarkson compared to a dog taking a dump ??
I remember thinking at the time "if that's all he can criticise it on, it can't be too bad",
Looks like a good example, looking forward to seeing future updates on this thread,
Nigel

[adam73bgt]

Haha yes this is the "dog doing it's business" car, having been around it a week, I don't think it looks too bad really, the slightly odd/different proportions probably come from the challenges of trying to fit a full coupe body on a quite small original bsae car platform.

I'm still on the fence about the silver screen surround, it does tie in to the door handles at least. The grille has grown on me, I don't think it's the best bit of design but I'm also not sure about the alternatives either.

Nothing too exciting done with the car yet, been doing some online shopping for the first parts. Am noticing a few noises from driving it this past week though, the first of which is an occasional knocking with engine noise which I'm 99% sure is the exhaust hitting on something. The other noise/feeling is a slight knock in the steering when you go from steering left to right or vice versa, these are a steering box and come fitted with a damper also, so I'll have to get underneath and investigate.

[twincammy]

yep. less wheel/more rubber, a quick hit with the stick, and you're good.

[Peter C]

Saw this and thought of you.

I went to the Beaulieu autojumble yesterday and this pulled up next to me in the car park. It looked very tidy.

[iain1970]

I've been scoping these for a bit after we had a MK1 230K and Mk2 320 SLKs at work. The Crossfire has (iirc) the complete MK1 SLK dash and you wouldn't know you weren't in a MB really. The V6 in the Mk2 was so much better though.

I'd keep the windscreen surround as is and with a 5x112 pcd, the World's your Lobster for wheel choice.

[adam73bgt]

That one looks much tidier than mine Peter C ! I've still yet to see another "in the wild"

iain1970 Yeah looking at a few pics of SLK's, the interior is very similar, I think the seats in the Crossfire are a bit nicer though. I did have a bit of a look for 5x112 wheels as they're quite reasonable compared to other PCD's, I was thinking of some Audi wheels but would have needed the centrebore machining out

Progress has been a bit slow, I've mostly been ordering bits, researching mods and trying to sort the other halfs car! A load of stuff to do servicing and brakes has arrived though



The forums say the servicing costs for these can be a bit high and I know what they mean! Two air filters, 0w-40 oil and 8 litres of it needed, 12 spark plugs (not bought those yet, will make an assessment of what's already fitted) etc. But I managed to come up with a mix of cheap and decent brands.

I do intend to do some track work with the car, so I've gone for some EBC Yellowstuff pads on the front. They're not the best in the world and get mixed reviews, I had them on my Corolla and was pretty happy with them, although a trip to the 'ring killed them off. This is my starter kit, lower investment and if I find it needs more brake, then I may look to the Mercedes/AMG backcatalogue for some bolt on options

On the car itself I've just done some messing around with silver indicator bulbs to get rid of the "fried egg" effect





Which I may have to revisit, as the particular silver bulbs I got this time seem to have quite a weak light output. Speaking of which, the headlights could do with a bit of a polish too, something I'm now used to after my Jag S type and Yaris T Sport daily drivers of last year!

While I've not done the service yet, I did change the cabin filter. The old one was a genuine Mercedes item, which I have a feeling was probably the original...



This was part of my "new car, deep clean", I took the time to take the seats out (they're rather heavy) and get under there with a vacuum cleaner





It doesn't look that bad in photos but there was some grot there, nice and clean now though, especially after a light shampoo and febreeze to finish. Didn't find anything particularly interesting sadly, just £1.20, a receipt for 30 quid of super unleaded and a parking receipt from Canterbury

More excitingly, I did spend a bit of time eyeballing my wheel ideas





I've run these on my RX-7 and Legend previously





They're Rays Volk Racing CV Pro's and I've become quite attached to them. More to the point, with the way the "wheel market" has gone these days, I wouldn't be able to afford something like them now

Put some numbers into WillTheyFit and it seems they'll be bang on with a 20mm spacer front and rear, which is just as well, as 5x112 to 5x114.3 20mm spacers exist I think they could do with a bit of a freshen up before that happens though, the gold has been on there for a good few years.

Lowering Springs and sporty dampers are ordered already and I think that covers all the mods for the moment. Still haven't booked it in to have the exhaust sorted yet (so driving down to the Weekender on Friday could be unpleasant )

I've had a couple odd knocks come from underneath, particularly once when I was accelerating in a sprightly fashion out of a T junction, which has got me thinking all about CV joints or prop bearings or differential issues, I'm hoping to get a look underneath this week to see if there is anything that needs urgent attention.

[grizz]

I have a bunch of silver/orange bulbs, not sure which type, if you come unstuck, I am happy to toss then in the post for you.

Those wheels are lovely, but then I do love a gold wheel.

[adam73bgt]

Thanks grizz I suspect it's just a bit of hit and miss at the low end of the ebay bulb market I'll revisit it at some point in the future.

Since my last post, I've had an exciting delivery



But they'll have to wait until my lowering springs turn up, which should hopefully only be a week or two away now! In the meantime, my girlfriend and I tested out the Crossfire's practicality credentials by camping at the RR Weekender





Which it just about handled without issue But I'd put it off long enough and finally this weekend just gone, I got to jacking up the car and having a bit of a poke about underneath.



Generally speaking, it's fair. It's not as crusty as the Legend was but then it's 10 years younger! The bushes don't feel totally sloppy but I suspect I may change many of them out in the future as they're looking a bit tired.

The brake pads had plenty of life all round, but the rear discs were heavily pitted and the fronts had some pretty decent wear lips on them so it was just as well I was changing it all out.







EBC Yellowstuff pads on the front, some decent OEM spec Mintex on the rear, will see how it goes. I ran out of time to put the fancy Motul 660 brake fluid in but will get round to it.

I put in a new steering damper as reading old forum posts suggested this would make a big improvement



The old one looked like the original, and after changing it out, the little "knocking" felt through the steering seems to have gone! I've not driven it on some proper roads yet but can't complain with that

Oil Change revealed that in the past only the top 1 of 4 O rings on the oil filter housing had ever really been changed in the last 10 years or so as the other 3 O rings were all square and brittle





Removing the engine cover to do the air filters revealed I should get a couple of rocker cover gaskets on order..



And the air filters that should have fit, didn't



So will get those replaced. Also while swapping wheels off etc. I did notice that all of them were coming up to about 6-8 years old and had varying levels of cracking happening



But with loads of tread! Got to love a Chinese budget tyre If/when I get the OEM wheels refurbed, I'll chuck some decent mid range tyres on, or maybe some all seasons for the winter months.

On the subject of tyres, I've been splitting tyres off the RAYS wheels and splitting the wheels themselves ready to give them a freshen up, so if I pull my finger out, it might all coincide with the arrival of the lowering springs

Oh and lastly, I have a horrible feeling the little rattling sound I sometimes hear when shutting the car off, might be a failed or failing engine mount, these have liquid filled mounts and they are known to fail. Replacement doesn't look like an entirely fun job so a bit more investigation needed!

[Paul]

Spotted this at the Weekender (that’s us camped behind you, hairymel in the Hilux Surf) sitting pretty - good work!

[Woofwoof]

My car has the same chassis as yours.

Here's what I'd look at and consider regarding the suspension (& steering).

Check front lower wishbones and ball joints, need to be removed to inspect properly.
Check the condition of front spring perches for rust.
To adjust height after fitting lowering springs use different thickness spring pads which are cheap. These are dot numbered and vary from 1-5, 8mm-23mm or something like that.
Check steering idler bush & linkage for wear.
A proper four wheel alignment is must and makes considerable difference.
Consider H&R anti roll bars. Personally, I'd never consider sticking with stock bars.

Keep up the good work. Bookmarked.

[adam73bgt]

May 30, 2022 22:04:01 GMT Paul said:

Spotted this at the Weekender (that’s us camped behind you, hairymel in the Hilux Surf) sitting pretty - good work!

Ah I thought I recognised the CROWN Vic as it went past! I always feel too awkward to go up to people like "hey I know your car off the internet!" but thank you

May 30, 2022 23:17:37 GMT Woofwoof said:

My car has the same chassis as yours.

Here's what I'd look at and consider regarding the suspension (& steering).

Check front lower wishbones and ball joints, need to be removed to inspect properly.
Check the condition of front spring perches for rust.
To adjust height after fitting lowering springs use different thickness spring pads which are cheap. These are dot numbered and vary from 1-5, 8mm-23mm or something like that.
Check steering idler bush & linkage for wear.
A proper four wheel alignment is must and makes considerable difference.
Consider H&R anti roll bars. Personally, I'd never consider sticking with stock bars.

Keep up the good work. Bookmarked.

Yeah I had a bit of a poke at the bushes and ball joints, but couldn't make a proper assessment really. I have seen that polybushes are available for these, so I might save up a little and go for that, depends how much of a keeper the car is going to be really.

I'd heard about the spring pads, I may get some of the thinnest ones just in case, no point messing around right I'll make sure to check the perches. It sounds like the front springs in particular could be a bit of a pain to get out? I read someones way of getting them out without a compressor but I might get an internal spring compressor kit to be safe.

The steering feels fairly nice now, I'll have to check the linkages properly next time I'm under the car though, I should get a manual with the specs in as well!

Duly noted about the arb's also, I'll keep an eye out for those

Thanks for the advice!


A little wheel update today, recently bagged this on ebay for an, I think, very reasonable price





The Personal Grinta is one of my favourite steering wheel designs, I think partially from seeing them in TVR's of old, and I've wanted one for my MGB, but thought might as well get a boss kit for the Crossfire and I've got the option to put it in either! Should feel nicer than the standard wheel anyway

[Woofwoof]

This what you want for removal & fitting the springs. It can be done without the compressor using two trolley jacks etc. I've  been there and done that and wouldn't do it again! BTW, the normal hook type spring compressor won't do the job.




As for the poly bushes on the front lower wishbones, there's several companies that supply them. Here's one option www.strongflex.eu/en/catalog/737/tuleje-poliuretanowe-mercedes-slk-r170
 If the w/bone bushes are gone, they're a void type so if they're original they'll have had it or past their best. I'd go poly instead of rubber as the arms take a hammering.
If you really want to go low look at the K-Mac adjustable bush kit.

P.s. The same engine (M112) in 3.7 format is a direct swap, so I've been told...just saying 

[Mercdan68]

I’ve done many sets of springs with that tool
Great fun …….just take it easy and all will be fine 👍