Today attention shifted to the car itself. Before disassembly, it seemed like a good idea to find out exactly what the car weighed before the swap. Setting up a set of Intercomp corner scales, this is what the car weighed before taking anything apart.

Before the swap weight

Now a few notes on these numbers. This car is mostly, but not completely stock. It does have SRT-6 brakes, which do weigh a little more than stock Limited brakes. It does have SRT-6 wheels, but not sure they weigh any different than regular Crossfire wheels. If I were to hazard a guess, 40# total is probably a decent number. The car has other minor changes, but nothing that would impact these numbers by more than 20-25#. There is a little over 1/4 tank of fuel onboard. All other fluids are at their proper levels. OK! We have a starting point.

Disassembly then began in earnest, removing the entire stock Crossfire exhaust, driveshaft, ancillary items, and finally the engine was out.

I need to pause here and say a few words about the M112. It truly is a wonderful engine! It is responsive, smooth, and sounds very nice. This one here has now gone 109k miles, and was running perfectly when removed. It will not sit idle for long, though. My son's black 04 has not lived the kindest life, and the powertrain is tired. This engine and trans will be cleaned up a bit, and then dropped whole into his 04 within a few weeks.

While everything is apart, it is a good time to get the engine bay cleaned up. The car was set back on the ground, and pushed outside for a degreasing, and a general cleanup of the engine bay.





Car is now back up in the air, and will drip dry until tomorrow afternoon. Goal for tomorrow will be to simply bolt the M113K into the car. Can't wait!