First round of mods on my Gen IV!

[ZZ SRT]

Figured I'd post some pics and info on what I have done to my Gen IV over the winter. I bought it late last fall, it's a 2008 and was purchased with 2500 miles on the clock.

Exhaust

I bought some Roe Racing 3" high flow pipes with race cats a few months back. Since it was winter, I figured why pay for a catback exhaust I may not like so I decided to just buy some new mufflers and piece together something simple on my own.

Roe Racing 3" Race-Cat pipes

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I bought some simple 5"x14" Magnaflow mufflers. These are a straight through design so I was hoping they would add a little volume to the exhaust which is pretty quiet. Because I only was swapping mufflers, I had to use the stock exhaust tips. Here are some pics of the install.

Old exhaust (2.5" midpipes with 2 cats and huge muffler) vs new exhaust (3" midpipes with one racecat and smaller magnaflow muffler)

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For the time being, I decided to keep the rear portion of the exhaust 2.5". With stock power levels and manifolds, it shouldn't restrict me and I wanted to keep the boominess and drone away that can come from full 3" exhaust. Because of this I had to use a reducer.

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Stock exhaust tip swapped over to new exhaust:

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Some of you ******** fab guys may not approve, but for now, I just wanted to use clamps on the exhaust as oppose to welding them in place. When i installed the muffler onto the piping I cut to length, the connections were very loose because the diameter of the muffler overlap was too large. I used a bandsaw to cut 1" slots into the pipe, so it would compress onto the pipe after clamping.

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I got a MIG welder and plasma for christmas, so once I actually get it out of the box and buy some gas and wire and mess around a little, I plan on going back in and at least tacking the connections in place to make sure things don't move.

New muffler connected and piping cut to correct length:

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Running the exhaust. I biased the tip slightly towards the front of the car, because as the car warms up, the thermal growth of the piping causes the tip to move towards the rear.

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Tip back in place looking like factory!

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I took it for a drive after completion and I'm super happy with the sound. No drone, but it woke the car up so it actually sounds powerful now.

Interior:

Gloss Black Center Console:

I had wrapped the center bezel and center console in gloss black vinyl and really liked the look so I decided to just paint it and make it legit.

About 4 coats of gloss black and 4 coats of clear. There is still a little orange peel so I am going to pull them back off at some point and shoot more clear so I can wetsand it and buff it smooth.

Spraying it

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Final product

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LED lighting:

Next, I decided to change my stock boring yellow gauge backlighting to "UV Blue", which pretty much looks like a black light. This required me to drop the steering wheel and remove pretty much the whole dash and center console lol. Seems overboard just to change out lights, but hey, it's winter and I was bored.

Here's what stock looks like

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Install:

Had to unplug the battery hidden in the trunk

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Remove center console and unhook airbags

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Drop steering column and remove dash

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The aftermath

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Finish product

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LED AC controls

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[ZZ SRT]

Paint Correction:

Even though the car only had 2500 miles on it when I bought it, the first owner took poor care of the paint and would put the car cover on with the car still dirty, causing small scratches in the clear and lots of swirling, hard water spots, etc.

Because of this, decided to do a full paint correction on the car. Vipers are a nightmare to detail because all of the crazy body lines and grooves. Also the paint is very hard and difficult to cut through. I used larger pads on some of the larger panels, but for the majority, I used 3" pads.

I apologize in advance for not taking good pictures, they are all with my cell phone. I find whenever I do projects, I get so excited to jump in, I totally forget to document the process and by the time I'm done, it's always too late

Products used:

- Chemical Guys Citrus Wash
- Clay bars
- Griots Garage Large and small polishers
- 2000 and 3000 grit wetsand paper for deep scratches
- 6" Suburf Pads for hard water spots
- 3" yellow pad or orange pad + M105
- 3" turquoise pad + M205
- 3" red pad + Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover for spots I noticed micro-marring from the polish
- VX1 22PLE Glass Coating

Taping up the car:

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Swirls

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Swirls and scratches, 50/50 shot (after M105)

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Same panel after Stage 1 (orange + M105)

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Little wetsanding action on a deeper scratch (2000 grit)

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Little bit of compound dust created :/

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Final product (after 22PLE applied)

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Clear bra:

Forgot to take pictures of things, but I basically did the rocker panels and behind the rear tires. It turned out decent but there are a couple small air bubbles in tough areas under on the flat surface under the door. I popped them with a pin, so we'll see if they sit down with a little heat in the sun.

I used Xpel Ultimate film, which heals itself and has very little orange peel. Pretty much invisible other than the lines. To install, I used a squegee, and two bottles of mixed solutions: one with water and baby shampoo, and one with water and rubbing alcohol.

Products used

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Installed

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Suspension:

Bought the 1" "lowered" Vipair Coilovers with the 800/500 spring rates. Overall, I'm really happy with the stance and ride. Definitely stiffer and less bouncy, and I got rid of the 4x4 stance. I still may lower the back slightly more, but I kind of like the raked look. After a couple hundred miles of driving, I can say the car feels much more planted in the corners and less bouncy over bumps than the stock setup. Also, the wheel hop I initially had under tirespin conditions seems to have stopped. I will know more once I get the car properly aligned from lowering.

Coilovers

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Install:

Compared to stock (fronts)

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Rear install (had to reuse the stock forks on the rear)

Wow, getting the stock shocks out of the rear forks is a PITA. Ended up using a pipe wrench, a helper bar, and a whole lot of lube to get them out.

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Installed (sorry the wheel wells aren't clean, I promise I cleaned them later )

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At the initial setting, the car was so low in the front, the bumper was literally 1" from the ground. The "flaps" in front of the front tires were touching the ground! Figured that wasn't practical. For anyone who buys these coilovers, save yourself some time and tighten the nut until the helper spring is completely compressed. Here is a pic for laughs before I fixed it.

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Wheels:

Decided to get my 5 spokes custom powder coated. Went with a 3 stage coating. Silver pinstriping, silver viper logo, with gloss black, and then cleared over.

Before

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After

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[ZZ SRT]

Overall shots with corrected paint, stance, and wheels!

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Pretty much done for awhile. I am happy with where it's at. I have a vanity plate on the way (WYD OPN), and need some tint. Other than that, time to cruise!

 

[anton28]

Hey you stole my thread title LOL Love the car. Look sick. Can never go wrong with a black coupe!

 

[ZZ SRT]

Hey you stole my thread title LOL

Look below at "similar posts". There were many before you

 

[Torquemonster06]

WOW.... youve been busy. Nice work. Id like to hear a sound clip if you get one. The car looks HAWT. Nicejob.

 

[anton28]

Look below at "similar posts". There were many before you

I know, i was J/K

 

[ssjcreeper]

Very nice. The black wheels with silver pinstripe looks fantastic.

 

[anton28]

I see your mile gauge isn't working? Bad bulb?

 

[LifeIsGood]

Nice thread...thanks for posting. The viper looks sweet...stance is mean.

 

[KDR83]

wow dude, good work

 

[ZZ SRT]

I see your mile gauge isn't working? Bad bulb?

I don't understand the conditions for both being lit, but I think it's because I had the car off with the lights on only one click forward (fogs?)

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[anton28]

I don't understand the conditions for both being lit, but I think it's because I had the car off with the lights on only one click forward (fogs?)

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Mine was doing the same thing but i think its because the LED must be loose in there. Now i gotta take the whole thing apart :/

 

[viper04]

Nice work, well done.. Like the wheels in black.

 

[GTS-R 001]

Nice write up, car looks great!

 

[Timnineside]

Busy busy winter! Car looks great. Love the stance/wheels!

 

[BAD BOYZZ GARAGE]

ZZ SRT,

Nice Garage Project, job well done!! Just a thought, with smaller muffler and delete factory cat, you've substantially lightened your side exhaust, slots on swedge and clamp nice and tight will most likely hold just fine. Diggin your interior lights..

Enjoy your mods!

BAD BOYZZ GARAGE
Toddy

=DISTRIBUTORS OF POWER=

 

[brifri11]

Beautiful! You made that paint shine! I'm liking the interior too. All around great job.

 

[DMan]

Amazing. The viper is a beautiful car, but in the right hands and the right care, it's just at a whole other level. Great work, the car looks incredible. I'm not a fan of stock 5 spokes, I've seen them before in gloss black & loved them, with the special touch of the silver, dude, you nailed it, they look absolutely perfect. Congrats, I know that wasn't easy stuff to get done, but your mods are excellent.

Dave

 

[98intrigue]

What a transformation! After seeing yours, I'm excited what mine can potentially look like with a paint correction.

 

[kenphjr]

I thought you were looking to go with black lug nuts-did you decide to stay with silver?

 

[ZZ SRT]

I thought you were looking to go with black lug nuts-did you decide to stay with silver?

I didn't so much decide. I just got really busy doing everything and kind of forgot to look for them and make the order. I still may though.

 

[cowger]

Awesome mods! Great job on everything and the end result is stunning...

 

[Scottsviper]

Looks AWESOME! I love the wheels! Good work!

 

[Lespauldude]

Beautiful job!! How was the condition of the rocker panels? Not too much road rash I would imagine.

 

[gb66gth]

Very impressive work. The car looks great!

 

[ZZ SRT]

Beautiful job!! How was the condition of the rocker panels? Not too much road rash I would imagine.

Pretty bad actually. Luckily, most of the rash was in the bottom couple inches. Sadly, on these cars, it only takes a couple drives for things to get beat up.

 

[franchise]

Super **** Car!

Noticed you are in Illinois...you ever come out to the Illinois Viper Meetings in Schaumburg?

R

 

[FrgMstr]

You can get rid of the flaps in front of the front tires with high flow cats. Those are there to cause air stream turbulence to cool off the original equipment exhaust.

 

[ZZ SRT]

You can get rid of the flaps in front of the front tires with high flow cats. Those are there to cause air stream turbulence to cool off the original equipment exhaust.

Lol. Already had taken the liberty. I have to drive onto 1" thick blocks to get a low profile jack under the car so I needed the flaps gone in order to have clearance.