My Dodge Avenger 2.0T

This is my 1999 Dodge Avenger base model, equipped with the Mitsubishi 420a, DOHC 2.0 and manual 5 speed transmission.

The car sat, with problems and pieces missing, for three years until January of 2009 when I got my license back and started putting time, money, and effort back into her. I got her looking good again and then decided to join the boost crew and bought a used turbo kit from a guy off an Avenger forum (ASEC). I installed the kit in July, but to my dismay I had terrible oil leaks coming from everywhere in the motor and I was overheating. Two months later I had a new head gasket, valve cover gasket, intake gaskets, cam seals, timing belt, pulleys, water pump, thermostat, and radiator cap. Now she runs great and it’s time to let the fun begin!


Restore List:
*Front bumper cover
*Turn signal sockets & pigtails
*License plate bracket
*Headlights
*Taillights
*L & R rear wheel hubs
*L & R outer tie rods
*HVAC bezel
*Radio mount bracket and wiring harness
*Passenger air bag cover
*Drivers outer door handle
*L & R door handle cups
*New front tires
*4 wheel balance & alignment
*Windshield
*L & R axle shafts
*Just about every gasket/seal in the motor needed replacing

Mod List:
Brakes/Suspension:
*Front upper strut tower bar
*Moog Outer Tie Rod Ends
*Painted Calipers & Drums
*Hawk front brake pads

Engine:
*T3 42/48 AR turbocharger (10psi on stock internals)
*XS Power external wastegate
*Turbo XS RFL BOV
*Bar & Plate FMIC
*Custom 8-injector intake manifold with stock primary and 30lb secondary injectors
*Dual high-flow billet fuel rails
*Aeromotive 1:1 FPR
*Walbro 255 fuel pump
*A/C Delete
*Mopar EGR Blockoff Plate
*Energy Suspension Polyurethane Shifter Bushings
*Golden Eagle vacuum manifold
*Mopar MLS Headgasket
*NGK One Step Colder Plugs
*Painted Valve Cover
*Hayame Fuse Box Cover
*Synapse Missing Link mechanical fuel cut defender
*Taylor performance plug wires
*180* T-stat
*Custom oil Catch Can (thanks Mikey!)

Engine Electronics:
*034 EIC supplementary injector controller
*Prosport Boost Gauge
*Prosport Oil Pressure Gauge
*Prosport EGT Gauge
*Innovate LM1 Wideband

Exhaust
*Log style cast turbo manifold
*External wastegate internal dump
*2.5" custom turbo downpipe
*2.5" full exhaust
*SPW Muffler

Exterior:
*”HDR” Front lip
*08 Style "Avenger" Emblem - Black
*08 Style "Dodge" Emblem - Black
*2.0T Emblem - Black
*Clear/Smoke Turn Signals
*Smoked Corners
*Smoked Taillights
*Smoked reverse bar
*TCSportline Carbon Fiber OEM hood
*TCSportline Carbon Fiber trunk
*Projector Headlamps
*HID Conversion Kit

In-Car Entertainment:
*Sony In-Dash Deck
*Pioneer 6x9s
*300W Xtreme amp
*10" Alpine Type R sub

Interior:
*3D red gauge bezel
*B&M Short Throw Shifter
*Black shifter boot with red stitching
*Black w/ red Dodge logo back seat cover
*Black w/ red Dodge logo floor mats
*Bomz Racing Seats
*Gauge Cluster Dual Gauge Pod
*A-pillar dual gauge pod
*Custom Painted Interior
*Grant Evolution GT Steering Wheel
*Indiglow gauges
*Momo Leather Shift Knob
*Reverse Glow HVAC Overlays
*Under Dash Neons

Tires/Wheels:
*Eagle Racing 17” rims
*Yokohama Avid V4 tires (SIZE HERE)
*Black Painted Wheels

Future/Planned Mods:
*2.5" Test Pipe (already have it, just need to install it)
*OBX Upper Rad Hose
*GSX side skirts (very low pro and gives the side of the car an extra umph! already have, need to paint and install)
*Fix all dents/scratches/holes and repaint
*Coilovers
*Black 18's w/ red ring and new tread
*Replace all interrior grey panels w/ GSX black panels
*Replace carpet w/ black
*Recover headliner/sunvisors/speaker surround with black and fix the sagging liner
*Upholster rear seat red & black to match front seats
*Solid shifter bushings
*Front & Rear Sway bars
*Re-tint windows


Most current pic as of 5/10/11:









Lewistown: Sept 2009:




Only Videos I Have so far:




And a couple pics of my 2005 Schwinn Stingray Spoiler, equiped w/ the Dimension Edge 52cc centrifugal clutch setup, twist grip throttle, custom Lamborghini orange paint job, custom exhaust, ADA Racing intake & velocity stack, and a few other little upgrades




^^^The picture frame under the front tire is my speeding ticket on the bike: 44 in a 35........






Special thanks for the car go out to Matt Walsh, Dougy Fresh, Mike Card, Rafe, and all my boys over at Big Sky Subaru! Without them my car would not be where it is today

I'm proud of you buddy!! The Venge has come a long way!!! Give me a ride sometime buddy!!

You betcha!

Woot woot!!!! I want to hear your whoooooppppssssshhhhhh!!!!!!

It's strange but you cam even understand Brandons sound effects on-line. And thats not even a real sound effect. LOL.

Ya Todd. Congrats. Let me know when it's ol catch can time we'll get you hooked up.

Updated first post to a full description!

Man Todd your car kicks ass! Only criticism I have is I think she needs some springs. Slam that bitch! Low and bouncy is the way to go.

Coilovers are a MUST before Lewistown 2010 Anthony!!

Hey Todd... Looks good man. I now delare you the Picture king. I don't think I have that many pictures of all my cars put together.

Dr.Auto wrote:

Hey Todd... Looks good man. I now delare you the Picture king. I don't think I have that many pictures of all my cars put together.

And I only posted up my favorites! You should see my photobucket, and the other 2G I don't have online!

I like your front fascia.

DougyFresh wrote:

I like your front fascia.

You would

ZipDriveX wrote:

No internals yet Brandon. 7-9psi is max on the stock bottom end on the 420a. Once rebuild time comes into play it's Eagle H-Beam longrods w/ JE pistons & rings, bored .02 over (i believe?), sleeved block and I'm ready for 10-15+ PSI baby!!

ts4l wrote:

Do you really need a sleeved block for only 10-15 psi? I don't know much about Avenger's but do they have aluminum or iron blocks? Really I would guess either would hod up to that power. I remember back when I turbo'd the Accord. It was like there was a magic formula everyone said you can only run 6-9 psi. Looking back I should have ran 15-18 on the stock block. Another thing is no one can tell you a safe boost as boost really means nothing. It depends on the CFM's the turbo can flow. A small turbo at high boost is less CFM's but more heat, and obviously an more efficient larger turbo will move more air at cooler temps.

No the sleeved block is not exactly necessary for that or even 20psi but Doug always tells me "get the block sleeved." I realize there is no magic number of psi you can push on any stock motor, it's just an average that they come up with for what the typical platfrom "could" handle depending on other factors. I have a relativly small turbo, and all the seals and gaskets and such have been changed throughout the motor, so I feel safe at the 5psi I am at but would also feel safe to push it up to 7 (but I havn't even had it boosted for 6 months yet.)

I bought my turbo kit used off another Avenger and he was pushing 10psi on his stock internals and claims to have had no problems whatsoever, yet some guys push 5psi and claim to have TONS of issues. It all depends on setup and how willing you are to "push your limits" I guess.

Todd, really the magic is in the tuning. On my 3g there are people who boosted 12 PSi on stock internals, which is borderline unheard of, but they did it becuase their tune was literally perfect. At the same time there were a ton of people who bought turbo kits made by Tearstone when they first came out, turned the boost up to 6PSi....and BOOM!
Now, I;m not saying you can crank that mother up to 20 if you tune it right(though it MIGHT be possible) what I'm saying is that odds are, the poeple with TONS of issues at 5PSi are probably retards with shitty ass tunes.

Looks good Todd.

I need to get a wideband before I do ANYTHING else so Mike and/or Jason and I can figure out my tuning setup and get it dialed in right. I'm in desperate need of a good tune now because it bogs real bad while building boost like it's getting too much fuel too soon. I just don't have a laptop to play with the tune or the knowladge to be messin with those things or a wideband to even tell what's going on.

Just hearing your car the other night makes me want to boost my avenger so bad now lol oh man!!! keep up the good work Todd!

Just a little update, I've been collecting parts over the winter, and even got impatient and installed a couple….

I've got a CF trunk sitting at the shop waiting for the matching CF hood to arrive (probably another month or so) to be installed.

I also got a set of Projector headlights w/ Halo's and LEDs. I haven’t hooked up the LEDs or the Halos yet but I did get a set of 6000K HID's for it. I have to send back my HIDS though, cause the ballasts are bad, and then wait for my new set to get here. Once I get the new set I'll actually wire in ALL the lights!

Got 2.5" catback exhaust from Interstate Performance Exhaust and I tried on a new muffler, which I am NOT happy with. I will be taking the muffler I had on previously, high-temp painting it black, and having it put back on. I also have a test pipe just waiting to be installed the next time the car is up in the air

Also purchased an Innovate LM1 wideband so I can start tuning!! My plan is to swap in the 7psi spring once I get the wideband in and tune accordingly!

On another note, winter has caused some damages to the Venge that need attending to. A ball joint went out on my car so I had to replace the control arm. I still need an alignment and I feel that there is more parts in my front suspension that need replacing. I can “feel” the road in my gas pedal for one, and for two there are a couple thumping noises when I go over bumps that didn’t used to be there. Also I know that both my axles need to be replaced as they click now.

Soon coilovers will be ordered (hopefully before Lewistown and BTR) and by then I’m hoping to have my suspension all wrapped up and in working order!

One other small project I have to do is to paint a red ring around my rims, I’ve wanted this for a while now and w/ the CF and coils I think it’ll look tits.

holy s#%t that looks awesome! you should totally get those red lips on it!

We shall take some photos while I am home Toddles.

BlackedOut04 wrote:

We shall take some photos while I am home Toddles.

Well it's been a while since I've updated this so I went through my mods list and made it current. Also I bought Craigs OEM style Carbon Fiber hood this past weekend and have a few surprises in store for Lewistown

Here's a couple of Ipod pics of the new hood:

Holy poop, lookin good! By surprises, do you mean you mounted a rear parachute for when you come up on that sharp corner at the end of the back straight?

I like the green cam gears.

Not much of an update. Most of you know that I blew my turbo seal in Lewistown and I'll be buying a new turbo as soon as I can afford one.

In the mean time I got a hold of some discontinued, impossible to get GSX style side skirts today on UPS
Once the car is running again I will be having one of the techs at my work fixing the cracks in the fiberglass and repainting them due to the crappy paint job that's on them now. This along with a couple other exterrior mods will be done all at the same time and the "new and improved" Venge will then be revealed.


And here's the Venge they came off of so you can see what the finished product will look like. Very low-pro and sexy!

What turbo you plan on getting?

I actually just rebuilt my current snail

Oh I thought you were going to get something like a gt40..Haha j/p. Anways GL;)

Looks nice! DSM powa!

Get yer new turby in yet?

Ya, sorry for not updating, waiting until after Lewistown New snail is on, no more smoke!! Just need to retune my map in Lewistown this weekend and I'm all set

Tits!

Haven't updated this in forever!! Here is some new pics with the Plasti-Dipped roof. I wanted to see how she would look with a two tone and I eventually plan on wrapping the roof with cf vinyl. This spring I'm going to peel the plasti dip off the pillars and just leave the center of the roof to see how that will look.

Anyway, here's some pics

Got quite a few things in the works for the Venge this spring! Right now she's safely under her car cover staying warm out n the Montana snow, not that there is much lol.

-Ksport Kontrol Pro coilovers are the first thing I'm getting with my taxes
-Professionally wraped Carbon Fiber mirrors

-FINALLY fixing, painting, and installing my GSX skirts
-Painting door panels and other interrior panels low gloss black with our Sikkens Inverted Interrior Color paint
-Covering my headliner with red suede
-Installing my LED dome light bulbs and license plate bulbs I got myself for Xmas
-Installing my cf "Wink" mirror split panel rear view mirror
-Debating on some low profile LED fog lights trucked in the outer upper corners of the grille where they can be easily hidden in the blacky
-Stripping down all the paint on my wheels and re painting them with better paint (no powdercoat, want better wheels first)
-Anodized red lug nuts and center caps
-Re painting my calipers and drums while the wheels are off
-Replacing my rear shoes and drums (no GSX swap just yet)
-Replacing my brake fluid with some higher temp DOT 4
-locate the small leak in my clutch fluid line and fix whatever it is, be it a slave cylinder or an o ring or a fluid line
-Spraying bedliner on the entire inside trunk area
-Fixing the large crack in my cf trunk and re-clearing it and the hood
-Peeling off the plasti dip on the sides leaving only the center area of the roof left black (and possibly having it replaced with cf wrap if I have some extra cash)
-Replace the front left control arm/ball joint assembly
-Locating and replacing bad suspension bushing in the rear that causes the car to act like its trying to drift when I turn
-Removing all of my intercooler piping and soaking all the ends in thinner to remove the rubberized undercoating I sprayed on them. (At the track the high temps ended up rubberizing the ends causing them to just simply slide right out of the coupler no matter how hard the t bolt clamps were tightened. The undercoating simply turns into a pipe lube at high heat)
-Removing the rst of the AC lines and stuff I left behind
-Needs terribly to have the tint re done but I doubt I will get to it this year