Paolo Castellano
Enthusiast
Hello all, I drove 600 miles yesterday in total. I had some cancellations of appointments and decided to drive to Lingenfelter Performance Engineering from where I live in Chicago. Anyway, I got there and was immediately greeted by John Lingenfelter himself. When I first saw him, I felt like Eddie Murphy did in Beverly Hills Cop 2 when he met Hugh Heffner. John was very friendly and VERY knowlegeable. He took me for a tour of his shop and showed me the engine dyno room which just happened to have a Viper motor on it ready to be dynoed. More about this later... Then he had Graham take me for a ride in the 540ci/630 RWHP/639 RW LBS/FT Viper. It was 40 degrees and we were in 4th gear@ around 70 MPH and Ed said we would not be able to use 4th gear, I was not exactly sure what he meant until he hit the gas and just spun the tires like you cant believe. So we tried 5th and that pulled like a you know what. The thing that strikes me is that these cars sound almost like a regular stock car. With one of these nobody would ever see it coming until they see it going if you know what I mean! The other thing is that the 630 RWHP/639 RW LBS/FT #'s are with the cats on! That car would legitimately be 650/650 to the ground with the cats off! For 38K that's a bargain compared to what other tuners have charged in the past for motor work that does not even come close to these #'s. I was impressed as hell, what can I say? I also went for a ride in the 650 HP twin turbo Vette not expecting all that much. That car sounds like any regular luxury car ie very, very quiet. But when Ed stepped on the gas that car would smoke the living daylights out of my 470 RWHP/ 507RWLBS/FT 1996 GTS coupe! That car was mother ***king fast! Back to the engine dyno. As is usual for any successful supertuner, they are always playing to make even more power. John has been working on several things to increase the power while making the driveability factor identical to a stock car. John Lingenfelter seems to come at this in a slightly different manner from most other tuners which, I like. He is not secretive like certain local tuners. He tells you everything you want to know while at the same time, he makes it seem so simple! They always say that the ease of performance distinguishes the artist. In this case, John's extensive knowledge and experience allows him to do more than what other tuners have done to the Viper so far. My hat is off to John Lingenfelter for what he can do for the Viper Community in general! Paolo Castellano
P.S. John even let my Dalmatian, Wee-Wee Dots, come in to the building and check it all out. He even told the guys to lay off the air guns for a couple of minutes since she's scared of them! ==> How's that for customer service?
P.S. John even let my Dalmatian, Wee-Wee Dots, come in to the building and check it all out. He even told the guys to lay off the air guns for a couple of minutes since she's scared of them! ==> How's that for customer service?
