Help need in a poorly stored viper?

[Dr_Dodge222]

Hello,

New to this forum and I am glad to be a member. I found a 2006 viper for sale and I am very interested in getting it. But wanted to ask you guys what to look for in these cars before buying it. The car in question has only 9000 mile but was poorly stored. It was sitting in a garage for almost 10 years collecting dust. Found the coilovers busted, tires need replacement. The current guy looking after the car has changed all the fluids before posting the car for sale. Please advise on what to look for in these cars? Also what to look for from a stored car point of view as a 10 year storage period can't be gentle. Your input is highly appreciated!

Cheers

Mo

 

[steve e]

It takes a lot of abuse to break the coilovers or major accident, I would have that car checked out thoroughly.

 

[matt dillon]

What steve e said, I couldn't imagine the coilovers busted just for sitting in the garage for that long, but I've been wrong before! Definitely have someone with Viper knowledge check it out, there's a lot of Good priced Vipers out there looking for New homes! GL let us know how it turns out

 

[Bonkers]

I mean no disrespect in saying this, but if you dont really know
Vipers its best if you stay away. "Cheap" Vipers have been the
ruination of many a sole who have visited this board. They were
designed to be abused, so cars that have not been driven regularly
(ie "stored," properly or not) can actually have more hidden
headaches than high mileage examples. SRT plastics do not handle
sitting idle for very long - anything is possible, but i would suspect
youre going to need to replace most of the plastics, rubbers, and
silicones within the first year of driving. If you can do it all yourself
then expect $$$... if not, then expect $$$$$$$$$,$$$$$$$$ as
Viper Labor does not come cheap.

If you are absolutely in love with the car, then i recommend getting,
even hiring, a qualified Viper Guru/Tech before anything else. Coil-
overs are pretty cheap and easy fix, but like Steve said, they didnt
just break on the way to the cars n coffee, something happened
and you could save yourself thousands of dollars paying for a $250
inspection at a (read carefully -> ) QUALIFIED dealership.

Personally i like to see a Viper filter too, its a simple way to tell if the
previous owner had any clue as to what they were doing in terms
of maintenance.

 

[Tom and Vipers]

It wasn't clear, is this car a GTS or vert? If a vert, I would say No IF you've never driven verts. You may discover you never put the top down and with some cars, the top down experience is, well, no experience at all.

EXAMPLE 98 Z28 Camaro vert: with top down you cannot tell the top is down from a normal driving position. It defeated the purpose - I hated it - useless for riding around big cities with top down at night. However, if I could find a cheap CJ Jeep where I could take the doors off, I might give the "vert concept" another try.​

Can you explain in any detail how the coil-overs were broke? Spring? Seats? etc.

Were they all broken? in the same place?

Maybe someone installed them improperly and the car was bottoming out (if that is even possible - but how do you break a coil over???)

Any manufacturer's logo on them, what brand?

Many Viper parts are stupid expensive while others are dirt cheap. If you are the kind of guy that spends $500-2000 to fix an engine that drips oil, and every other little thing, might not be a financially sound purchase.

I saw a youtube of a Porsche inspection where they said it needed over $20k worth of work. None of those fixes were needed to drive and enjoy the car. Inspections can turn into "what do I need to restore this car to brand new condition." You might want the tech to determine what is needed to simply drive the car.​

If you would be happy just driving what you bought with just enough maintenance to keep it running, I say go for it.

 

[steve e]

listen to what most are saying, you did not mention how much is the Viper, with so many well kept Vipers out there, unless its real cheap, buy a Viper thats in good shape, by the time your done fixing a wreck you will be ********** and will regret the whole process. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Tom and Vipers]

I guess 2 very relevant questions:

1. Spill - what is the price?
2. How do you plan to use it and how many miles do you expect to put on it?

But again, how are the coil-overs broken?

 

[Dr_Dodge222]

Thank you all for the feedback! I really appreciate it. The coilovers where leaking oil. Not sure what the cause was. But did inspect the car and found that it needs more work than advertised. Not going to go for it as it needs a lot of time and money to fix. Will look for another one.

Once again thank you!