Dyno Results SoCal Vipers, long post

[Russ M]

Well since no one is posting the results from the dyno this past weekend I will attempt to post some from memory. Please correct me if I am wrong anywhere.

What most surprised me was that in actuality 2000+ Vipers do seem to be very creamy. All pulled low hp numbers, well at least lower than some of the earlier ones. This is however based on modified cars, the stock vs stock seemed almost if not identical.

The other surprising things were that Smooth tubes and K&N's didnt increase hp or torque, unless these cars would have actualy pulled even less without em. And some of the cars that had 3" exhaust like the Corsa did not pickup any power over the ones that were bone stock. And the power curves were identical on torque and hp.

Headers seemed to be the turning point for all cars except for a few exceptions. Most cars that had headers jumped beyond the 400hp mark, and the lowest was 425 I believe. Which is probably what it takes to increase the output of these cars to the next level.

There were no amazing stock cars, all pulled about 400hp when stock with smooth tubes. Gen 1 cars actualy seemed to be way more underrated than the gen 2's. 1 gen one acutualy pulled 380hp, bone stock not even smoothtubes. It was a 96 which means it had the 415 hp engine.

Here are some numbers which I recal from the top of my head. Sorry dont remember the names of everyone so I will post the mods that I know of and the power.

2000 GTS smooth tubes(K&Ns)398hp, 435torque
2000 GTS Corsa 3", smooth tubes(K&Ns) 398, 434torque
1997 GTS Bellanger headers and exhaust 449hp, 490torque
1998 GTS Bellanger headers and exhaust 435hp, 472torque
1994 RT Headers/exhaust/cam/head work 475hp, 520 torque
2001 GTS the one Dan craigen brought out, made the most power of the day headers/exhaust/cam/headwork/computer work/ 525hp 535torque
2000 RT Borla exhaust/ smooth tubes(K&Ns) 401hp 436torque
1996 RT STOCK 380hp dont recal the torque
1997 GTS Headers/exhaust smooth tubes(k&ns), T bodies, 3"air box lid 425hp 456torque
1999 RT 3" Borla, smooth tubes k&n's, no cats 430hp 475torque
2001 Zo6 air box/filters and mass air, 351hp 350torque

There were many more but they all had similar mods, and pulled identical power for the most part.

No one but myself and 1 other seemed to be interested in trying out different dyno methods. But between the two of US I tried just about every trick in the book. Here goes

1)Running the car after cool down made no difference, no matter how long or how short. Based on all of 20 cars which pulled identical #'s every pull for all 3 pulls. Actualy the 2nd and 3rd pull could have arguably been higher numbers, but 1 or 2 hp is not really anything to ponder over.
2)Hood proped up in front with hi speed fan blowing on intake for ram air made NO difference at all.
3)Closed hood did seem to pick up 2-3hp with hi speed fan blowing on naca duct, but this is arguably false since this was the first 2 pulls. And the lower 3rd pull was done with hood open and car temp was about 20 higher. That was 3hp lower and 1 ft torque.
4)Never got a chance to reset computer, would have liked to.

PS. Its amazing how there were so few totaly stock viper, most had some mods.

 

[Tom Welch]

Russ,

Nice Post!

Glad to see realistic numbers for a change! These folks that think a BRAND "C" Catback is going to give them 18 hp need to put down the crack pipe!

I can't remember how many dozens of vipers Ive seen on dynos. Very few make the power that companies advertise.

Cragin's car and the fellow with full Belanger exhaust on the 97' were the only impressive pulls of the day. Would you agree as you were there?

Tom

 

[BWoodbury]

I still think you can get decent HP from the 3" Borla cat back, tubes and filters. 430 HP and 475 TQ are solid numbers for only $1500!

That car pulled very close to the '98 with the full Belanger exhaust for way less than half the money!

 

[Russ M]

Eric,
Even though the Viper is not my idea of a drag racer, I did bring my car to the track 1 time. The results were very poor, however the car only had 500 miles on it and I missed every shift. At that point I decided to learn to shift the car better and not make any more passes that day. Feeling discouraged I went to watch the rest of the viper run, which there were about 15 of.
And to my surprise the good driver can really make these cars move, and I do mean move. I would say that on the average that day gen 1's were doing 12.4's and gen 2's were low 12's. And there were some that even ran 11's, and the cars I am refering to were stock. Nothing but filters and tubes, on stock radials. So I learned from that day on, if you want to go fast you need to do alot of practice in these cars. And that was what all the owners told me, practice is priceless.
The hp numbers from the dyno did bring me back to reality a bit, and did tell me that there are alot of missleading dyno jets out there. Unfortunatly the only way to know if you are really making good power is to go to the track.

 

[Russ M]

Tom,

The cars that I was impressed with the most was the two you mentioned. And 3 more that come to the top of my head; 1)The 94 RT was very strong that pulled 475, it would have made alot more if it had the proper fuel/ignition system on it. The car was very out of tune, but still managed to put down respectable numbers. 2)The Stock 96 that put down 380 was very nice considering its only 20 hp shy of a gen 2. 3)The 99 which just had exhaust and smooth tubes/K&Ns, which put down 430hp and 475torque. This was very amazing considering the no headers, and that many seem to think that 98 on are creamy as well.