Jay Herbert
Enthusiast
Got this from Ed today.... It has been a long messy summer for the project Viper. Ed went to get started on the paint this past spring, and just could not get body panels to line up no matter what he did. We sent the car to a frame shop that said it could do the car. They lied (more on that later). Basically the car just sat there for five months.
I finally got the shop to carry it to the local Dodge dealer, to address the "no fuel getting to the engine" issue. Turned out the fuel pump had died, I sent them one I had bought as a spare, they put it in, and they got my Viper running. Keep in mind, it now has headers, a new radiator, carbon fibre intake, ported heads and a port matched intake.... so for it to be running great right out of the box is pretty exciting.
Ed stopped by the Dodge dealer to drop off a new overflow bottle they needed to install and saw the car... and noted the fact that it had not been touched by the frame shop, and it had been sitting at for all this time. He was "very unhappy", called me right up to make that point, and the hunt for a new frame shop ensued.
The folks at the Dodge dealer were a tremendous help, they not only got my Viper running, but they found a new frame shop for me, set up the work, and arranged to have the car carried there, and back to Ed's shop when the work was done.
This time the frame shop was FANTASTIC, it is a one man shop that only does frame work. The car went right in, and was done in less than two days. He found the right cowl had been pushed back about a 1/2" (the reason the hard top fit was poor and the passenger door could not be fitted), he also found the right rear wheel had been pushed forward and in, and there was slight twist to the frame. Once he had pulled all these.... the car measured out spot on. The car was delivered to Ed on Thursday evening, and I got this note from him today:
SIT!
"IT" runs......I even moved it under its own power! Not far, maybe ten feet but it started and it moved! Side pipes are on it now-can't wait to hear them.
Pictures taken and not real good ones, covers look like crap in my opinion.
Here are a few of the pics:
Ed's right,the cut-out cover looks like crap. We have a lot of work in front of us to come up with covers that show off the side pipes, and work with the rest of the Viper's shape. The fun has finally begun after nearly nine months of set-backs.
Ed will be spending this week working on the upper dash, it is part of the Gen II windshield surround (so I could use the Gen II roll-up window doors) so he is reworking it to mate up with the Gen I dash.
I finally got the shop to carry it to the local Dodge dealer, to address the "no fuel getting to the engine" issue. Turned out the fuel pump had died, I sent them one I had bought as a spare, they put it in, and they got my Viper running. Keep in mind, it now has headers, a new radiator, carbon fibre intake, ported heads and a port matched intake.... so for it to be running great right out of the box is pretty exciting.
Ed stopped by the Dodge dealer to drop off a new overflow bottle they needed to install and saw the car... and noted the fact that it had not been touched by the frame shop, and it had been sitting at for all this time. He was "very unhappy", called me right up to make that point, and the hunt for a new frame shop ensued.
The folks at the Dodge dealer were a tremendous help, they not only got my Viper running, but they found a new frame shop for me, set up the work, and arranged to have the car carried there, and back to Ed's shop when the work was done.
This time the frame shop was FANTASTIC, it is a one man shop that only does frame work. The car went right in, and was done in less than two days. He found the right cowl had been pushed back about a 1/2" (the reason the hard top fit was poor and the passenger door could not be fitted), he also found the right rear wheel had been pushed forward and in, and there was slight twist to the frame. Once he had pulled all these.... the car measured out spot on. The car was delivered to Ed on Thursday evening, and I got this note from him today:
SIT!
"IT" runs......I even moved it under its own power! Not far, maybe ten feet but it started and it moved! Side pipes are on it now-can't wait to hear them.
Pictures taken and not real good ones, covers look like crap in my opinion.
Here are a few of the pics:
Ed's right,the cut-out cover looks like crap. We have a lot of work in front of us to come up with covers that show off the side pipes, and work with the rest of the Viper's shape. The fun has finally begun after nearly nine months of set-backs.
Ed will be spending this week working on the upper dash, it is part of the Gen II windshield surround (so I could use the Gen II roll-up window doors) so he is reworking it to mate up with the Gen I dash.
I took one of my Viper doors and long-board sanded it to see how far off the surface was from the factory.... some areas I got nearly into the gel coat (high spots), while others still had shiny clearcoat (low spots), very similar to the rear fender you see in the picture above......
