Question for Turbo/blown Viper Owners

[Torquemonster]

I'm not fortunate enough to own my own Viper yet, but have plans to get a twin turbo Viper. I love the looks pre and post 2003, and I've always loved turbo power - its an unbeatable rush.

To you guys out there with very high outputs - excuse my ignorance as my experience with high horsepower is either 3000hp blown alcohol door slammers that go 200+mph in 6 seconds or 4wd road cars that run Viper timeslips but because they have 4wd can be floored out of corners - even mid corner... they just power slide a few inches then catapault out of a turn... awesome actually, but no relevance to what a turbo Viper will be like.

Rear wheel drive on street at that power level sounds fun but what's it like to live with?

On the street I imagine the blown guys probably get better traction as the boost is rpm related and they can feed it in, while the turbo cars will pull full boost in a fraction of a second rush and that probably makes them a handful???

So question.... how much power can you realistically get down and run on a nice day, good straight highway, stepping on the gas steadily (not stomping) thru the gears and keep it straight... public highway on sensible street rubber we're talking not rubber coated strip and DOT tires.

Reason is my heart is after a 1000+ hp monster, my brain is saying "I want to live"....just go faster than everyone else

feedback welcome.

 

[Paolo Castellano]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by torquemonster:
On the street I imagine the blown guys probably get better traction as the boost is rpm related and they can feed it in, while the turbo cars will pull full boost in a fraction of a second rush and that probably makes them a handful???
[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Torquemonster, anything more than a handful is a waste!LOL!

Seriously though, I believe you are correct about the linearity of the boost in relation to RPM with the blower as compared to the turbos.

=&gt;In response to your question "So question.... how much power can you realistically get down and run on a nice day, good straight highway, stepping on the gas steadily (not stomping) thru the gears and keep it straight... public highway on sensible street rubber we're talking not rubber coated strip and DOT tires."

=&gt;I went for a ride in Gary Almond's Heffner car with 844 RWHP that was amazingly fast and if you squeezed on the power like you are describing it is very usable. If you stomp on it you can still break them loose at almost 120 MPH in 3rd gear on street tires. The car will still be pulling like a freight train at 145 as you are shifting into 5th.

"Reason is my heart is after a 1000+ hp monster, my brain is saying "I want to live"....just go faster than everyone else

feedback welcome."

=&gt;Jason Heffner is currently in the process of building me a 1000+ hp monster. I am sure it will take me quite a bit of practice to really drive the car to the limit. I will have to be patient and cool. Paolo

 

[Dr Roof]

Buy a viper First then Call Doug Levin!

 

[Torquemonster]

Thanks for your responses.

David, your advise is good advise... when the time is right. I'll have to import my own directly as the new NZ price for a stock RIGHT HAND drive Viper (last years RT/10) is $257,000NZ or about $141,000US.... rip off. So you can bet I'll be getting mine direct from the good old USA and doing a private right hand conversion.

Paolo ...thanks for your input, that confirms pretty much what I thought, apart from the HP number - which I had no clue. I downloaded the video clip on this site about the drive in the 1000hp Viper onto the interstate... that was very cool and gave me an insight into the impact of throttle feeding in 3rd gear.

HMS also kindly sent me a private email offering to build me a twin turbo set up and suggested that 700-750hp was very useable, but after that traction became more and more a problem on the street. So I have a pretty good idea now what to expect...

I may go for a Doug Levin setup for useability, or if I decide to go crazy I'll go for the SVS 1100hp deal as that has the best of engineering/componentry and years of experimentation to get out the bugs... 1100hp at 12psi boost is proof it is sorted pretty well.

 

[WESTCOAST JASON]

From experience I suggest that you talk to owners of cars that are modified by whatever tuner you are interested in. Troubles with a modification can be expensive both financially and emotionally. The wake mine created cost me a relationship I thought would last for life. Just do your research.

.02

 

[SUN RA KAT]

FYI - Do a search on HMS before you send any money.