S
SUN RA KAT
Guest
Jeremy Blackwell, from N.Carolina, wanted me to check out a '96 Viper GTS, blue with white stripes, for him in Dayton, Ohio before he decided whether to buy it or not. I gathered up all the info I could find on what to look for when checking out a used Viper by using the VCA's Search Engine (Used Vipers). A few phone calls were made and around noon today by Jeremy to set up my inspection and I drove The Mighty Dodge (my Ram truck - see below for mods) to the dealership that had the Viper. I parked in their parking lot and walked into the showroom where the Viper was parked.
The owner of the dealership told the people who worked for him, "Give the man everything he wants." Soon I was laying on the floor looking at all the things to look at when buying a used Viper. Then I checked out the engine's fluid levels and condition of the fluids. Then I sat in it.
When you are 6'5" tall getting in a Viper is an experience. I got in and actually had head room - probably the Viper has the adjustable seat lowering kit in it since my other experience of sitting in a Viper gave me 1/2" of headroom less than the top of my head. I adjusted the gas, brake, & clutch pedal to give me full amount of legroom and everything was just as if Dodge designed the Viper with me in mind. Pedals were at the perfect distance for me, steering wheel was at the perfect distance, shift lever was at the perfect distance and the center console was at the perfect height for an arm rest. And also the EPA mandated skip shift feature had been gotten rid of by the previous owner (Yea!).
The dealership owner started the Viper and backed it out of the showroom and told me to drive it for as long as I wanted to and it had a half full tank of gas!
I've never owned a manual shift car and the last time I drove a manual shift vehicle was about 4 years ago. I sure didn't want to embarrass myself...and I didn't. The Viper is extremely easy to drive and I didn't embarrass myself the whole time I drove it. I drove it easy at first to get used to how it feels to drive a 450 HP Viper.
By the time I had gotten to a park, I had gotten the hang of it pretty good. I stopped wrote down a full page of notes from my inspection at the dealership at my inspection of the Viper at the park.
A gentleman came to the park and was getting his one horsepower vehicle ready - it was a horse drawn carriage! He came over to see what 450 horses looked like. He was kind enough to take a video of me getting in the Viper and starting it and driving around the huge parking lot and getting out of the Viper. I look actually gracefull getting in the Viper even though I didn't feel gracefull getting into it (or out of it). I accidently did a little fishtail as I accellerated away from him in the parking lot even though I was taking it very easy...wait 'til I tell you about 1st gear in a Viper.
Then I took the Viper for a long test drive...
1st gear is very, very scary! The Viper can do 0-60 MPH in under 4 seconds. And that's with a manual gear change to 2nd gear! I was rocketing at 3/4 throttle in first and floored it around 40 MPH and the rear wheels really broke loose and layed some serious rubber. The tires on a Viper are over a foot wide! Full thottle in 1st gear is f*cking unbelievable! 3/4 throttle in first gear feels like an almost 1 G accelleration! My gosh, I never believed anything could be so fast!
2nd gear is very scary, but more like something I felt before in my 1970 & 1971 Duster 340s that could do the 1/4 mile around 13.8 seconds at 103 MPH. I think the Viper in 2nd gear at full throttle is faster, though. (The Viper does the 1/4 mile in around 11.9 seconds at 120 MPH.)
3rd gear is fast, more like The Mighty Dodge. 4th gear is still fast. 5th gear is slow. And 6th gear is real hard to get accelleration, but 2000 RPMs is 100 MPH. Maximum speed is found in 5th gear - 185 to 192 MPH! (No, I didn't do any high speed runs. The fastest I got up to was 85-90 MPH. I drove it pretty much the same as I drive The Mighty Dodge, except the accelleration of the Viper is just a little bit more intense. (Make that Out-Of-This-World more intense.) RPMs in the higher gears are pretty low at legal speeds - the Viper in the higher gears (3,4,5, &6) needs to get up to 3000 RPMs in order to start to show its stuff. It's easy to get up to 3000 RPMs in 3rd, but the even higher gears are more for a real usable overdrive or way over the speedlimit use only. 6th gear even is real smooth at 30 MPH, but the RPM is so low that the Viper accellerates like a snail even with a lot of gas.
I only got the engine up to 5600 RPM once, just to listen intently for anything not 100% OK mechanically and it passed my inspection. The rest of my adventure I only would get the RPMs up to 5000 maximum.
I forced myself to return to the dealership and called Jeremy and gave him my full report and he told the owner of the dealership he was buying the Viper and would set up the details on Monday...
I will post some photos from my videotape here for your viewing enjoyment.
__________________
Kenny
The Mighty Dodge:
2000 Intense Blue Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport SLT+, 360 cu.in. (5.9 L), Auto, and EVERY option available EXCEPT towing package and sliding rear window, M1 2bbl intake manifold (last mod done), 4.10 Sure Grip, Crager's tonneau in dark blue, MOPAR bedliner, MOPAR Ram mudflaps, MOPAR side moldings for a 1999 Ram, stock single exhaust pipe with Flowmaster 50-series SUV muffler with heat shield (first mod done), Belltech rear sway bar, JBA silver ceramic coated headers, Quick D throttle body, K&N Gen II FIPK, MOPAR PCM, 180 degree thermostat, MOPAR R/T Cam Package (cam & lifters), new MOPAR valve springs & retainers, and new timing chain, and with a full tank of premium gas The Mighty Dodge weighs 5,120 pounds without driver. Driver is 6'5" and weighs 335 pounds. 15.965 ET/84.59 MPH with driver @ 88 degrees.
Did I mention it was INTENSE BLUE?
Coming soon to be with The Mighty Dodge : Ram SRT-10 or a Viper.
SRT = Sun Ra Truck!
<FONT COLOR="#ff0000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by SUN RA KAT on 06-02-2002 at 05:56 PM</font>
The owner of the dealership told the people who worked for him, "Give the man everything he wants." Soon I was laying on the floor looking at all the things to look at when buying a used Viper. Then I checked out the engine's fluid levels and condition of the fluids. Then I sat in it.
When you are 6'5" tall getting in a Viper is an experience. I got in and actually had head room - probably the Viper has the adjustable seat lowering kit in it since my other experience of sitting in a Viper gave me 1/2" of headroom less than the top of my head. I adjusted the gas, brake, & clutch pedal to give me full amount of legroom and everything was just as if Dodge designed the Viper with me in mind. Pedals were at the perfect distance for me, steering wheel was at the perfect distance, shift lever was at the perfect distance and the center console was at the perfect height for an arm rest. And also the EPA mandated skip shift feature had been gotten rid of by the previous owner (Yea!).
The dealership owner started the Viper and backed it out of the showroom and told me to drive it for as long as I wanted to and it had a half full tank of gas!
I've never owned a manual shift car and the last time I drove a manual shift vehicle was about 4 years ago. I sure didn't want to embarrass myself...and I didn't. The Viper is extremely easy to drive and I didn't embarrass myself the whole time I drove it. I drove it easy at first to get used to how it feels to drive a 450 HP Viper.
By the time I had gotten to a park, I had gotten the hang of it pretty good. I stopped wrote down a full page of notes from my inspection at the dealership at my inspection of the Viper at the park.
A gentleman came to the park and was getting his one horsepower vehicle ready - it was a horse drawn carriage! He came over to see what 450 horses looked like. He was kind enough to take a video of me getting in the Viper and starting it and driving around the huge parking lot and getting out of the Viper. I look actually gracefull getting in the Viper even though I didn't feel gracefull getting into it (or out of it). I accidently did a little fishtail as I accellerated away from him in the parking lot even though I was taking it very easy...wait 'til I tell you about 1st gear in a Viper.
Then I took the Viper for a long test drive...
1st gear is very, very scary! The Viper can do 0-60 MPH in under 4 seconds. And that's with a manual gear change to 2nd gear! I was rocketing at 3/4 throttle in first and floored it around 40 MPH and the rear wheels really broke loose and layed some serious rubber. The tires on a Viper are over a foot wide! Full thottle in 1st gear is f*cking unbelievable! 3/4 throttle in first gear feels like an almost 1 G accelleration! My gosh, I never believed anything could be so fast!
2nd gear is very scary, but more like something I felt before in my 1970 & 1971 Duster 340s that could do the 1/4 mile around 13.8 seconds at 103 MPH. I think the Viper in 2nd gear at full throttle is faster, though. (The Viper does the 1/4 mile in around 11.9 seconds at 120 MPH.)
3rd gear is fast, more like The Mighty Dodge. 4th gear is still fast. 5th gear is slow. And 6th gear is real hard to get accelleration, but 2000 RPMs is 100 MPH. Maximum speed is found in 5th gear - 185 to 192 MPH! (No, I didn't do any high speed runs. The fastest I got up to was 85-90 MPH. I drove it pretty much the same as I drive The Mighty Dodge, except the accelleration of the Viper is just a little bit more intense. (Make that Out-Of-This-World more intense.) RPMs in the higher gears are pretty low at legal speeds - the Viper in the higher gears (3,4,5, &6) needs to get up to 3000 RPMs in order to start to show its stuff. It's easy to get up to 3000 RPMs in 3rd, but the even higher gears are more for a real usable overdrive or way over the speedlimit use only. 6th gear even is real smooth at 30 MPH, but the RPM is so low that the Viper accellerates like a snail even with a lot of gas.
I only got the engine up to 5600 RPM once, just to listen intently for anything not 100% OK mechanically and it passed my inspection. The rest of my adventure I only would get the RPMs up to 5000 maximum.
I forced myself to return to the dealership and called Jeremy and gave him my full report and he told the owner of the dealership he was buying the Viper and would set up the details on Monday...
I will post some photos from my videotape here for your viewing enjoyment.
__________________
Kenny
The Mighty Dodge:
2000 Intense Blue Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport SLT+, 360 cu.in. (5.9 L), Auto, and EVERY option available EXCEPT towing package and sliding rear window, M1 2bbl intake manifold (last mod done), 4.10 Sure Grip, Crager's tonneau in dark blue, MOPAR bedliner, MOPAR Ram mudflaps, MOPAR side moldings for a 1999 Ram, stock single exhaust pipe with Flowmaster 50-series SUV muffler with heat shield (first mod done), Belltech rear sway bar, JBA silver ceramic coated headers, Quick D throttle body, K&N Gen II FIPK, MOPAR PCM, 180 degree thermostat, MOPAR R/T Cam Package (cam & lifters), new MOPAR valve springs & retainers, and new timing chain, and with a full tank of premium gas The Mighty Dodge weighs 5,120 pounds without driver. Driver is 6'5" and weighs 335 pounds. 15.965 ET/84.59 MPH with driver @ 88 degrees.
Did I mention it was INTENSE BLUE?
Coming soon to be with The Mighty Dodge : Ram SRT-10 or a Viper.
SRT = Sun Ra Truck!
<FONT COLOR="#ff0000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by SUN RA KAT on 06-02-2002 at 05:56 PM</font>
