Richard Koch
Enthusiast
5 years ago I finally got the car I had lusted for since 1989. I bought a black 1999 RT-10 from Ray Agen in Anchorage. I anxiously awaited its arrival and as soon as I got it I started to think about things to change. I use the car as a dry day daily driver here so I tend to put miles on it fast. Fortunately I took several high speed driving courses as advised by other Viper owners. The only bad (?) side effect was it made me want to do track days. I started enhancing the stock car witih an extra set of wheels and some Kuhmo V-700 tires, stainless brake lines and track pads. The following year I put in 3:55 gears, an aluminum Roe radiator and high flow cats. It already had a cat backs and muffler delete.
This fall I decided to get a Mopar style rear spoiler. I called Jon B and he had a nice carbon fiber model for an excellent price. With my car being black I wouldn't have to paint it and I really like the way it looks on the car. I also bought so TeamTech 6 points for the car (thanks again Jon B) as I was tired of bouncing around in the car on track days and I felt it would be smarter to use my hands for steering input instead of bracing myself..
After all this work I looked at my 13 year old car which has just rolled over 84,000 miles and decided it needed a" little bit of cosmetic work". The front fascia and side pods were pretty rough after all the miles on and off track as well as highways. I am an OK backyard painter so I started out to do just a couple of panels. The hood and trunklid were just fine, but the doors and side pods were pretty rough. I removed the side pods and painted them and did the rest of the work on the car. I also noticed the sport pad didn't look very good so I re-painted that as well as the deck area behind the rear window. In reflection, I guess I should have just kept going, but I didn't think I could actually do a whole car at the time. The paint came out pretty shiny, it isn't show quality, but is fine for a driver.
When I got done with the paint work I felt it needed something more. You know how Viper people can't just have something like everyone else. I have always loved the stripes on the coupes and I wanted something similar. I wanted something that is a bit low key, so I looked for a subdued color. Luckily for me a black Gen IV coupe with slate color stripes drove through my little town. I had about 10 seconds of view, but that was the color I wanted. I started looking at paint samples and the Viper colors. I painted several test panels and determined that Slate Pearl Metallic ( I think from 2002?) was the color I wanted. The next question was paint or vinyl? The paint people wanted $1,800 to just paint stripes with about another $1,000 or so the re-shoot clear to blend in the edges. Because it is a daily driver and a track car I didn't feel like spending that much. That pays for a lot of track days. We have a vinyl installer in town who has done some very nice work and he bid $800 for the job, including stripes on both the 3 piece and factory hardtop. The vinyl he uses is pretty much industry standard and lastsa a very long time, especially ifg your car sleeps indoors. Additionally, if I get tired of them I can have them removed. I like how they came out and how it helps give the car a new look withut shouting "STRIPES". Not often do Viper people do subtle, but this works for me.
I have included some shots I recently took on one of our rare dry days in January.
By the way, I am hoping to see some of you in September as I am planning to make the 3,000 mile (one way) drive to Charlotte.
This fall I decided to get a Mopar style rear spoiler. I called Jon B and he had a nice carbon fiber model for an excellent price. With my car being black I wouldn't have to paint it and I really like the way it looks on the car. I also bought so TeamTech 6 points for the car (thanks again Jon B) as I was tired of bouncing around in the car on track days and I felt it would be smarter to use my hands for steering input instead of bracing myself..
After all this work I looked at my 13 year old car which has just rolled over 84,000 miles and decided it needed a" little bit of cosmetic work". The front fascia and side pods were pretty rough after all the miles on and off track as well as highways. I am an OK backyard painter so I started out to do just a couple of panels. The hood and trunklid were just fine, but the doors and side pods were pretty rough. I removed the side pods and painted them and did the rest of the work on the car. I also noticed the sport pad didn't look very good so I re-painted that as well as the deck area behind the rear window. In reflection, I guess I should have just kept going, but I didn't think I could actually do a whole car at the time. The paint came out pretty shiny, it isn't show quality, but is fine for a driver.
When I got done with the paint work I felt it needed something more. You know how Viper people can't just have something like everyone else. I have always loved the stripes on the coupes and I wanted something similar. I wanted something that is a bit low key, so I looked for a subdued color. Luckily for me a black Gen IV coupe with slate color stripes drove through my little town. I had about 10 seconds of view, but that was the color I wanted. I started looking at paint samples and the Viper colors. I painted several test panels and determined that Slate Pearl Metallic ( I think from 2002?) was the color I wanted. The next question was paint or vinyl? The paint people wanted $1,800 to just paint stripes with about another $1,000 or so the re-shoot clear to blend in the edges. Because it is a daily driver and a track car I didn't feel like spending that much. That pays for a lot of track days. We have a vinyl installer in town who has done some very nice work and he bid $800 for the job, including stripes on both the 3 piece and factory hardtop. The vinyl he uses is pretty much industry standard and lastsa a very long time, especially ifg your car sleeps indoors. Additionally, if I get tired of them I can have them removed. I like how they came out and how it helps give the car a new look withut shouting "STRIPES". Not often do Viper people do subtle, but this works for me.
I have included some shots I recently took on one of our rare dry days in January.
By the way, I am hoping to see some of you in September as I am planning to make the 3,000 mile (one way) drive to Charlotte.
