'98.5 SVT w/ full 3L, one owner 146k, looking for good home

[ssolomo]

It is time for me to find a new home for my car, #4783. I built a website (using blogger as I am familiar with it) to feature the car and provide all the detail I can about it with a bunch of pictures. 146,XXX miles. The car has hit the age that it needs someone who has the time and place to work on it (with two kids, lots of travel for work and no garage, that person is not me). I'm looking to find it a good home - to contour.org members (and neco as our sister site) my price is $4200 rather than $4500, as I'm confident y'all would take much better care of my car than someone off the street. Also, listing here is my first crack before I go to craigslist and maybe autotrader.



The good / great:
- One owner
- Very well maintained
- Still my daily driver (when I'm not traveling for work)
- 3L installed by Dan and Chris of 3L Duratec less than 2 years / 10k miles ago
- Trans rebuilt / updated by Terry Haines
- Lots of parts coming with the car

Needs:
- Exhaust leak makes the car LOUD
- Slight vibration at 60MPH after alignment (had mechanic do it twice - had no issues before alignment - not sure the problem)
- Bumpers pretty dinged and scratched (see photos)

Head over to http://contoursvt.blogspot.com/ for photos, details, and a terrible short video (my 4 year old probably could do better).

[ssolomo]

UPDATE: Had a buyer from the forums, flew up to BWI to drive it home to Florida, about 1000 miles. Last weekend I did a full check of fluids, tire pressure, etc. since I knew he was planning to come up - no issues (oil was full and slightly dark since it had 2000 miles on it, coolant level and color good, brake and PS fluid OK). I went to pick him up at the airport and he was going to drop me off then drive home. About 10 miles from the airport, I heard a loud clicking sound. Dropped the car to idle, disappeared. Brought engine back up to speed, came back after about 20 seconds. Pulled over, put up the hood, couldn't hear anything unusual. Got back in the car and kept going (about 65 MPH, 2400 RPM or so) and it came back again. Got to airport, shut off car, turned it back on and no issue. Picked him up (disclosing the sound I couldn't diagnose) and started off. Still same noise came back after exceeding 2000 RPM. Got a mile or two from the terminal, clicking turns to a loud buzzing sound all of a sudden and I shut off the engine and coast to the shoulder, leaving a trail of oil.



Puddle left behind has black oil and a bunch of specs of bright green coolant (more coolant came out getting the car off the flatbed). Buyer flew back to Florida; might still be interested in shipping the car and doing a motor swap but he is deciding this weekend if he wants to take on the project, since it wasn't in his plan. Best conclusion can come to is that it spun a bearing and threw a rod. I'm not doing any diagnosis.

Car is in great shape otherwise. With the condition of the car, parts included, I'm asking $1300 now but will entertain reasonable offers (cash only still). Car is parked in zip code 20879 (Gaithersburg, MD - just north of DC). The broker who helped me ship the car to Minneapolis and back is nice and honest (hard to find in that industry) if you want to get a quote from him - it's a little more to ship an inop car but not terrible (for example, from here to Florida would be about $675). PM me or better yet, email me using the link from my website.

Still hoping to find a good home for my car.

[dairdevyld]

Man that sounds rough. I hope everything works out. GLWS!

[ssolomo]

Original buyer and I came to terms. He's going to get it shipped down to him in Florida. Another SVT lives on to see another day! He'll be on the forums; keep providing good advice as he dives into the engine swap.