Hello All!

I have been lurking here for about 2 months and thought it was high time to introduce myself and say "thanks". I began hunting for a "new to me" car at the beginning of the year and specifically wanted a two seater coupe, manual transmission, under $10k, less than 10 years old, rear wheel drive and with reasonable mileage.

The above options/restrictions quickly narrow the field to hardly anything - but the Crossfire popped up. I was aware of the Crossfire as one of my brothers was toying with the idea of buying one new when they were discounted, but honestly forgot all about them.

Mid January I located an overpriced, higher mileage model at a dealership and decided to at least get a feel for it. After driving it, I knew this was the model I wanted but not the actual car as this one had been thrashed pretty well. After obsessively reading every "how to" and "what to watch for" on this site, and watching every car site available for two weeks, I found one locally that had more miles than wanted, but in great condition:

07 Crossfire V6 Limited 6 Speed Manual Leather CPO Warranty Wefinance Texas | eBay

I actually bought this from the guy who bought it from this dealer. I got it for $6800.00 which I thought was fair. I traded a few years newer for higher mileage, but got Machine Gray! My favorite colors for this car. Also, there was no rust at all! The three or four I looked at prior had at least minor rust under the door.

It did have one somewhat severe issue - a wobble/shimmy after 60mph, that only presented sometimes depending on the road condition. I replaced both front wheels (bent), shocks (which turned out to be the problem), and the front steering dampener - which actually improved the handling quite a bit. I suspect this wobble/shimmy was the reason the guy I bought it from only had it a month prior to putting it up for sale.

I have had it a little under a month now, this is what I have completed so far:

Re-solder RCM connections
Disable TPMS light
Replace Idler and tensioner pulley
Front Shocks
Steering Dampener
Shift **** assembly from Germany (Personally, I could not stand the stock shift **** - I may have gotten used to it given time... maybe).
"Fix" headlight adjustment (adjust all the way down until it clicks) - reseated incorrectly installed bulb.
Bought rear Winter Tires as this is my commuting car, plus it will save some wear on my summer tires. Actually - looking for some cheap stock rear wheels to mount them on if anyone has some with curb rash they are trying to get rid of.

Future list (waiting for a nice day):

Complete the "sticky ignition" fix before it becomes a problem.
Replace heated washer nozzles.
Reseal upper valve covers
Plugs and wires from NeedsWings (great price BTW, thanks!).
Add the leather door handle covers to go over the plastic chrome. This looks fairly high quality and I think it will tastefully blend with my new shifter ****.
Change all fluids (usually would be done by now, but Texas decided to have winter all in two weeks).
And anything else I stumble upon while reading this forum.

Well, this post is longer than I intended. Round-about way of saying it, but I was trying to say thank you to all who have contributed to this site, and for the many very detailed and informative posts and guides. I honestly can say, there has not been one question I have had that has not been addressed and answered on this forum. This is partially the reason I have "lurked" so long, there was no need to post except to show my appreciation.

Once I figure out how to add pictures, I will add one of the shift ****.

Just one last note. I do all my own work on vehicles (I don't trust anyone else), so a great support site was a must. This site was the final reason I decided on the Crossfire.

Feels like I already know half of you from all of your posts - but good to meet you all!

Ryan

 

Hello Ryan and welcome to the group here
Sounds like you have been busy reading and working on your new car.
Glad that you have found most of the info you have needed here.
I just want to mention as far as the sticky ignition fix....this does not seem to be a concern on models after 2006
A few members have discovered that the late 2006 models and all cars built after that had a newer design which don't have the spring and pin that caused the problem in the earlier years.
Might be one less thing on your to-do-list

Enjoy the miles ahead and congratulations on your new car

Gary

 

Hello Gary,

Thanks for the welcome and for the pointer! I must have overlooked that in the thread, that gives me time to add the capacitors to my speakers.

I had to dust off my old photobucket account. But here is the pictures of the shifter assembly:

IMG_20150225_195840491.jpg


Very nice feel (a little more solid than the stock in my opinion), it is anchored with three set screws. Although you do mess up the central ridge theme throughout the car.

Ryan