97-98 Differences

[Diablo Joe]

Ive been looking to join you guys now for a while and am starting to narrow my search.I was just curious if there were any major differences between 97 and 98 GTS's.Im sure you've answered this a million times but one more time would really help me here.I read a viper site that said the 98's were 4/10's faster through the quarter and thought that was significant.

Joe

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

No significant difference if any, in 1/4 times. Certainly not 4/10.

98 wheels have a weakness flaw corrected.
98 has an alarm deactivation switch that will come in handy.
98 still has the same rough idle that Viper Purist like.
98 retains the "unrefinedness" that keeps the wimps from buying one.

 

[King GTS]

The 97 had the <u>best</u> color IMO w/ the blue.

 

[Diablo Joe]

Ok so aside from cosmetics nothing really significant.Im clearing hurdles like crazy now so we'll see how these cars check out.Ive already OK'd it with the wife so were in the home stretch.

Joe

 

[Dixter]

The bigest difference between a 97 and a 98 ???

Most viper fans will always associate 97 with the blue/white stripes
car....


Dixter

 

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">All 1996 GTS's had the less shiny and less strong cast wheels.

Most 1997's had forged (= stronger) and shinier wheels. Some early 1997's did have '96 era wheels. Easily visually identifiable.

All 1998 also had forged but yet even higher gloss wheels, in fact the best of the 3 year / 17" series.

1998 did have the before mentioned alarm override (valuable), and passenger air bag cutoff switch along with the grained dash (vs the 1996 & 1997 flock finish).

Color & warranty availability would be my main decision factors. You can fix / upgrade everything mentioned above easily. A lot harder to change the color......</FONT f>

 

[Diablo Joe]

Are there problems with the flock finish dash?How much is it to upgrade to the nicer interior?

Joe

 

[Qualitywires.com]

I think the 1997 had problems with the intake leaking..

 

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">I think the '96 / '97 dashes look great new, in fact better than 98+, but the are very sensitive to abrasion. If you're a clean freak, should be no problem. As a daily driver though, it's going to show wear eventually.

I'd love someone to explain how to refinish to "as new" condition. Mine is still perfect but I know eventually refinish time will come.

There are any TSB's for every year. Have a friendly dealer (such as Viper Wizard) run your serial number to see which TSB's have already been taken care of. You can find the list at:

</FONT f> 1996 TSB / Recall List
1997 TSB / Recall List
1998 TSB / Recall List

 

[genXgts]

Hey Ron,

Just wondering if the part number for the wheel has changed year by year along with the wheel? ie, if you bang up a rim on a 96 car with 96 rims and sub on a 98 wheel, is there a difference???

Not doubting you, it seems to flip flop in pics from year to year, my thinking was angle of the camera shot, as well as sun light and so forth? But your confident that this a year over year dif from 96-98 on the identical rim??

this is news to me after a year of lurking around,
thanks,
Ryan



<FONT COLOR="#ff0000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by genXgts on 03-07-2002 at 03:14 AM</font>

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Ron is right on the rims, and there is a big difference from 96 to 97, and mainly just a minor finish difference in 97 to 98. The one BIG item that was not listed, and it is the one that probably gave pause to the rumor of 4/10ths of a second faster, is the change to a tublular header in 98. This reduced weight on the motor by 24 or 25 lbs, and there was an UNOFFICIAL , 5 hp gain. This would be a nice change, but it would not gain 4/10ths of a second. Weight loss and the mild hp gain is worth something, but it is not huge. It used to be viewed as a big improvement ,as even Viper Days added points, in their classification system , to cars that added the tubular headers on earlier cars. This lasted a short period and was thrown out, but I would think this is where some of the rumors may have surfaced.

PS - Remember the Viper addage:

96 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
97 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
98 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
99 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
00 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
01 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
02 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."

So go get one and enjoy!!!

 

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Absolutely, positively, positive.

Cost me some $'s to upgrade to 1998 style forged on my 1996. Go to your local VCA meeting and you'll easily see the differance. Cast wheels have a visable weld bead on the inner rim, besides being somewhat milky. I'll post a picture or two tonight. You can also do a search as many have posted a shot of the weld bead and for that matter cracked cast wheels before.

See my correction on the 1997 wheels on my earlier post. </FONT f>

 

[Marv S]

Why ViperDays doesn't want race tires on '96 wheels:

 

[99 R/T 10]

Oh dude,
That wheel looks UGLY! How much damage did that cause?

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bill Pemberton:

PS - Remember the Viper addage:

96 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
97 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
98 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
99 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
00 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
01 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."
02 Owners -- " This is the fastest year ever built."

So go get one and enjoy!!!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good one Mr ****.
For the record I never said 98 was the fastest, I said it was the best.