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Thread: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

  1. #1
    turbo addict Turbo Mopar Contributor iTurbo's Avatar
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    Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

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    Last December my '08 Caliber SRT-4 got hit while parked in front of my house. My neighbor woke me up at 2:15 AM to tell me about it. He saw it happen, but the person who did it took right off. Pretty sure it was a drunk driver, but they never caught them. To make matters worse, 5 months before this happened I took full-coverage insurance off and went with liability-only. I figured it was 10 years old and I only drive to work and back and it would be a way to save money. Big mistake since now I gotta foot the bill here.

    It doesn't look too bad in the first picture before I started tearing into it. It cracked/broke pretty much everything on the front end though, including the radiator which was still pouring coolant out when I went outside to look at it after it happened. Thankfully, the hood, fenders, and front doors are all fine and the airbags didn't go off. On the plus side, this is the perfect time to install all of the upgrades I've been stashing away!

    List of parts that got broken:
    front bumper cover ($700+ shipped and another $400 for paint.....ouch!)
    front bumper support (aka crash bar?)
    headlights
    fog lights/bezels
    grilles
    brake ducts
    radiator and fans
    condenser
    intercooler and pipe
    horn

    List of upgrades I'll be putting on (finally)
    AGP intercooler
    full exhaust (Modern Performance 3" cat-back and 3.5" downpipe)
    NeedsWings air intake
    NeedsWings BOV kit
    RealTune MS1K ECU
    PolyBushings motor mounts
    ND Electronics traction control system (if I can figure it out..)
    dual gauge pod on steering column with Aeroforce Interceptor dual OBD scan gauges
    single A-pillar gauge pod with wideband AF gauge I have yet to buy

  2. #2
    turbo addict Turbo Mopar Contributor iTurbo's Avatar
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

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    Here is a picture of the original bumper support compared to the new one (black). You can see it got hit pretty hard from a diagnonal direction. It actually pushed the car about 6 feet backwards and hit my gold Omni GLH Turbo. Thankfully it didn't damage the rear of the Caliber or the front of the Omni!

    One big problem I have now is installing the new bumper support. In the other two pictures, you can see that the plates on the ends of the frame rail got mangled and I can't bolt it up. I did find new "reinforcement" plates on wholesalemopar.com for about $30 a piece. It looks like the frame is straight, but the old ones need to be cut off and new ones welded on so I can reassemble the car.

  3. #3
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    Good luck with your build/rebuild Jeremy.

  4. #4
    turbo addict Turbo Mopar Contributor iTurbo's Avatar
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    Thanks. Cindy @ FWDP and Adam (supercrackerbox) have been a huge help in finding parts. wholesalemopar.com is pretty good too. Found everything between the 3. I was hoping to finally get to that 2.5L TIII Spirit R/T this year, but then this happened.

  5. #5
    turbo addict Turbo Mopar Contributor iTurbo's Avatar
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    Here is a picture of one of the reinforcement plates for attaching the front bumper support. Apparently they are a replaceable part thankfully.

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  6. #6
    Supporting Member Turbo Mopar Contributor supercrackerbox's Avatar
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    Subscribed!

  7. #7
    turbo addict Turbo Mopar Contributor iTurbo's Avatar
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    More parts on the way. Some were needed for the repair and some were 'long time' wants. BC coil-overs, supporting mods for those, and Enkei NT03+M wheels in 18 x 9.5 (+27 offset).

    I've been WANTING to get out and work on the car, but the weather here has been terrible. It's late May and we're looking at 5-8" of snow tonight. It's been in the 30s for the last week. I don't know where spring went, I just hope summer actually finally happens. This past winter was brutal and I sure would love some of that global warming I keep hearing about right about now.

  8. #8
    turbo addict Turbo Mopar Contributor iTurbo's Avatar
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    Slowly but surely the car is getting repaired. I was able to get the car running perfectly again and drove it to the body shop for paint. They painted the new bumper cover and blended in the fenders. Unfortunately it does have some frame damage. I picked the car back up and had to drive across town to another body shop that has a rack for straightening it back out and it's there now. Hopefully it won't cost too much since this is already really adding up!$
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  9. #9
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    looks good!

  10. #10
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    You're getting there, J.

  11. #11
    turbo addict Turbo Mopar Contributor iTurbo's Avatar
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    Car is still at the body shop, but I did do the facial reconstruction. I left the lower grille out on account of the new AGP intercooler going in. I'm not sure if I will leave it out or install it later. Thankfully the aluminum lower splash shield from Gizmos Retrofits survived the wreck and I was able to reuse it.
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  12. #12
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    cool Jeremy!

  13. #13
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    Quote Originally Posted by iTurbo View Post
    Car is still at the body shop, but I did do the facial reconstruction. I left the lower grille out on account of the new AGP intercooler going in. I'm not sure if I will leave it out or install it later. Thankfully the aluminum lower splash shield from Gizmos Retrofits survived the wreck and I was able to reuse it.
    Good stuff Jeremy

  14. #14
    turbo addict Turbo Mopar Contributor iTurbo's Avatar
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    The car is all repaired and back on the road! It took the body shop 2 months (!!) to straighten the frame out so that it could be reassembled. It cost a little over $400 to straighten it which was less than I was expecting to pay at least.

    As far as upgrades, so far I have only installed the PB.com motor mounts I got from Adam (supercrackerbox) and the black-out headlights from eBay. I'm hesitant to tear into the car for more upgrades right now with fall right around the corner. I am also a full time student now and have a "new" job that I need the car for. Another issue is that my gold Omni is in my shop right now and I need to finish that first (suspension/brakes/chassis overhaul).

    Sure is nice driving it again after 9 months though. To me, it still my 'new' car and is a lot nicer to rely on than the '98 Buick Regal GS that's been my daily driver in the meantime. Still only 55k miles on her. I did most of the repair myself aside from the paint and straightening the frame back out and it ended up costing about $2500. They never caught the guy and I only had liability insurance on it at the time, so I had to pay it myself.
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  15. #15
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    Glad to here you are back boosting in your CSRT4, J. Ironically I just ordered a bunch of CSRT4 brake parts to do a big brake conversion on my Avenger RT

  16. #16
    Rhymes with tortoise. Turbo Mopar Staff cordes's Avatar
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    That's great to hear.

  17. #17
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    Awesome Jeremy. The BC's can be done in a weekend if you know what you're doing. Since you're starting with a new set you're miles ahead of where I had to start. My left rear was bottomed out in the adjusting cup, so snow and salt had nowhere to go. It siezed the two together for over an inch and a half. Had to order parts which were on backorder. Once that came in I found the pre-load on the front left was set so stiff that the shock was fully extended all the time and they just lowered the shock body to get the ride height they wanted. If you watch the vids on Youtube on how to adjust them they say to tap the lock rings tight with a punch or screwdriver. DO NOT DO THIS! You will destroy the teeth trying to get them back off. They just have to be tight with the spanner wrenches as they work like an AN fitting. They just need to be snug. Some of mine were so tight that a 3ft long pipe wrench with the shock held in a vice and a CNC spindle head would not remove the lock ring. I had to machine them off. I set the pre-load on the springs via BC's website, adjusted the amount of drop I wanted the suspension to have making them equal side to side which then put me around the middle of the shock travel and got the ride height about where I wanted it. The front LCA's are level just like they should be and I can get my pointer and middle finger between the fender and tire. Then fine tuned the height by pre-load adjustments to the spring which probably corner weights the car pretty close but I don't have scales to check. I could swap everything in a day now. Being you drive yours in the snow I'd make sure you can get everything loose 1st. My toe link in the rear had to be cut out it was so siezed up. But it's a totally different car now. Before I was not very happy with the BC's. Now I want to put them on all my other stuff.


    Have fun with it.

  18. #18
    turbo addict Turbo Mopar Contributor iTurbo's Avatar
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    Re: Caliber SRT-4 repair and upgrades

    Thanks Jay; the BC coilovers are definitely next. The stock struts are pretty well shot, at least the fronts are anyway. I have very little experience with coilovers so the heads up on adjusting and lock rings and setup is appreciated. I remember my brother had coilovers on his turbo '91 Cutlass and the lock rings were seized/boogered up and they were a major pain to deal with. If I can get through the install on my Caliber, I'll finally put them on my SL and Omni too.

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