2000 Viper - Just a Few Questions..

BurnR8 · May 11, 2001

welcome to the "club"....first things first....respect the snake or it will bite you....I got those words of wisdom when I first came on the Board and they have been helpful beyond belief...second....read the board for a while and you will see everone has an opinion as to what is best, and what you should use....in the end, make your own decision and have fun...the best source I can think of on the planet for knowledge and parts is JonB at partsrack.com....he is a great guy and takes the time to answer ALL questions...Congrats on your new purchase and I must say that "I think" you bought the best year ;-)...You will enjoy this Board because it is filled with a lot of class people

Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder · May 11, 2001

Very good advice from BurnR8!

Congratulations!

First Join your regions Viper Club of America.

Depending on how you plan to use more power will help define how to get it. Open Track Road Racing or a 1/4 mile at a time. Road Racing is made easier with a wide power band range, Drag racing likes peak HP and can sacrifice average power. If you are going to drive on the street, Road Racing, take a few high performance driving lessons(Skip Barber offers a 25% discount to VCA members for their 2 day Performance Diving school), autocross, go Karting then move up to Viper Days and other open track events when car control is understood and is mastered. Welcome to Viperholics of America!.

SoCal Rebell · May 11, 2001

Mods listed below should get you close and keep your warranty intact, flywheel and 3:54 gear not really necessary for hp & torque but great seat of the pants feel.

Mike Brunton · May 11, 2001

Congrats on your purchase...

As for the best spark plugs, most people like the stock Champion plugs. I personally like the NGK FR5's. I was getting some detonation on the right side of the motor and the NGK's seem to have the car running smoother. They run a little cooler which helps with eliminating detonation. Try both if you want to - they are really cheap so it's a cheap test... switch to the NGK's and if you dont like them, switch back.

As for the shifter, I have the B&M Ripper. People told me the SVSi shifter was better, but I had already got the B&M unit. The B&M is OK, but I'm not totally happy with it. I use the B&M with the stock knob. You can still miss 3rd with it, and it isn't as "tight" as I'd like it to be.

I also just had a problem on my ripper with the shaft coming loose - this is the SECOND time that the shaft came loose (in a different place). You can't really tighten it without taking the shifter out, which means you need to take off the console and the boot - a pretty time consuming job to get to the shifter.

H8TOW8 · May 12, 2001

Well, I too have 2000, and here were my results from a recent dyno:

Since you are measuring flywheel HP (450), I will as well...

I have added only K&N filters, smooth tubes, and a Snake Oyl exhaust ($700 for all) and that bumped my HP and torque to 485HP and 531 lbs. torque. An increase of 35HP and 41 torque for $700 dollars is a pretty good bang for the buck, I think.

Good luck!

PS most folks on the board talk rear wheel HP/TQ, but I wanted to compare to what you asked.

BWoodbury · May 12, 2001

Below you can see my mods and the results they produced. I'm real happy with the results. My flywheel HP is around 490, and I only spent $850 (my exhaust was used, last time I looked there were still several used ones in the classfieds). I am pretty sure I have not violated any warranty issues...

You can buy a shifter if your want, but all I have is a new knob from MGW and I get MUCH quicker shifts and it looks great too... Stock Champions is what I run...

Kurt 97 GTS · May 12, 2001

Ditto eveything that has been said!! Also, try MGW (site sponser) for your shifter. I have one and absolutely love it, not to mention that George is a very nice person to deal with.

Again, congrats and enjoy.