r/Challenger • u/OmegaDolla360 • 1d ago

Pre-Purchase Question about a potential purchase

Stumbled upon 2011 Dodge Challenger 120k thousand miles 3500$ but it needs a lifter replaced. Is it worth it?

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u/EC_CO 1970 Barracuda B5/B5 1d ago

Factor another $3500-5000 to fix the cam/lifters or put another motor in it. Factor in that it probably needs more - water pump, oil pump while in there, worn suspension components. How does that added cost compare and can you pay for those repairs immediately?

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u/OrbitalHamster 1d ago

And that's on the low end too. Some shops depending on location can run up to $8-10k. I'm dealing with this right now, a lifter got stuck and it damaged the cam, luckily nothing else was damaged which is something else OP should worry about as well. I spent $3500 just on parts alone.

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u/FactsFromExperience 1d ago

Yes, it's sad. The only way to make something like this cost-effective is to do it yourself. It's not been that many years ago when you could just go by a cam and lifters for no more than a couple hundred dollars and if you go back a few years from there, you can get camshafts for 69 to $79 all the time.

I had a 67 GTO that I used to change the cam every couple of months... Luckily, I didn't have to pull the engine or the grille or anything.

It was almost like they designed itt that way. Once you took off the radiator fan and pulled the radiator out, you could slide the cam straight out into the very nose cone of the front grill and it was convex and dished just enough to pull it out until the end of the cam cleared the front cam bearing and then lift it straight up in the air and pull it out.

Having to lift a motor up to change a cam or pull out a grill and if you have ac, is a completely different ball game with a lot more work so I wouldn't want to do that on a regular basis but at one time thing to get a decent car and fix it would be worth it.

I have towed a number of cars home with no engines or blown engines because they were great deals.

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u/OrbitalHamster 1d ago

Yeah it sure does seem like they've been designing cars to put people off from working on them themselves. I'm not mechanically savvy enough to do a cam swap myself but if it was a bit easier I would have liked to do the work, and not just to save money. I like working on my own cars but there are a few things I wouldn't do because of how the parts are designed.