Silver SRT #343 is home

[Y2K10 SRT#39]

Like so many of the other posts- Thank you Dodge, Conner Ave and my dealer Lynnwood Dodge. I think I have the first dealer delivered silver on the west (left) coast. We picked up the car Friday.

Many of the impressions have already been posted, but because we had wonderful weather (mid 40's and 50's) we got to put almost 250 miles on it this weekend going to the Regional Viper Club event.

The suspension is taught, but it does not seem to "bottom out" as harshly as our 96 GTS. The steering seems quicker, or the new car follows the truck ruts better. It is a handfull on the worn out freeways here (almost all the 250 miles were on the freeway). It does seem to turn sharper as that is the test to put the car away (full steering lock).

Many of you know I'm 6'6" tall. I don't fit with the top up. Lots of moves to get in and out- and trying to get somewhat comfortable. This is how I know the side sills are NOT very hot.

The first time the top is put up (they are delivered with the top down)it takes lots of pushing and pulling and is best done with an extra person outside the car. I'm sure this will loosen up with several actuations.

Driving with the top up is almost as quiet as the GTS. It is actually quieter than the 95 Mustang Cobra convertable we have.
The sound of the side exhaust seems loud at first, but then subsides as revs build while underway.

The shift lever seems extremely tall. I do have a MGW on the 96, but this seems even taller than the 96 stock shifter.

The locations in the doors where you rest your elbow could have been padded more. I'll solve it with a rag, but it seems like an oversight.

Being tall, I'm near the top of the windshield. At night (coming home 75 miles in stop and go freeway Seattle traffic...) I noticed the reflection of the temp gauge in the windshield. It is somewhat annoying and I think an "eyebrow" over that gauge is in order. The dash lights are BRIGHT!!! They are adjusted by notches in the reostat. VERY nice feature.

Barbara (my bride of 36 years) followed me home.. of course we had our Viper radios that kept us talking all the way, and all of a sudden she yelled... I can see things moving in the holes under the car!- She could see the half shafts turning (stop and go remember?). She thought that was neet. I would not cover those holes in any way to disrupt the airflow.

The headlights. One word. WOW!!!! I have a 1/4 mile long driveway. I pulled into the drive and stopped. Nailed the hi-beams and I could see details at the other end of the drive. Be carefull out there- you WILL blind some oncomming cars!

The driveline "snach" which causes some bucking, is better in this car than in my 96. Much easier to control, and more foregiving.

We did loose the net pocket on the front of the seats (where I store the radios) with the new car, but the seats are incredable.
Much better lower leg bolsters even for a guy my size! They coddle you! You will not slide around in these seats. Now I only need them lower!

Driving a new car- in stop and go traffic- the water temp never went over 200, and the oil temp barely went over 180. On the first trip home, I could not get cold air to come out of the dash vents. It was way warm. Next day on the trip to the Region event, everything worked fine. From other posts, I'll assume there needs to be some operation of the controls to get them to move to the proper position. A/C works great too (but is sounds like there is a bird in the car with the chirping when it goes on and off)!! The window switches finally light up too!

I did take my eyes off the road to watch the hood move around pretty good (I got up to 70 mph), and told myself I would ignore that for now. Hate to see what will happen at 100!

We still have to figure out the best way to close the doors without touching the paint (my personnal bugaboo). Any suggestions you owners have... let me know!

Cleaning the car twice already- and I found BRAKE DUST on the REAR wheels. Now That's a first!. I also found lots of small black spots on the doors. They look like brake dust or rubber. Anybody else find this?


Going to "stoneguard" the door "handle" area, and the top of the sills (with 3/8" wrap over the sides of the sills for scratches from rings, fingernails and shoes.

Need a threshold plate on top of the side sills, and a shorter shifter (MGW).

I need to find the best price on the floor and trunk mats, and the car cover (with bag). E-mail me ([email protected]) with prices).

Sorry to be so long, but these are the other things I found that others have not reported so far.

OH- Even at night- other folks on the freeway figured out what this beast was. LOTS of thumbs up!!!

 

[Y2K5SRT]

Paul -

GREAT review! I am glad somebody is getting some serious seat time and I certainly hope I can catch up with you soon. A couple comments on your notes:

The top gets MUCH easier. I have done a few "demos" for some of the recent vistors and it is a fairly easy task at this point. I have also found that pushing it down a bit from the front of the outside center first makes it much easier from the inside. I started out just trying to do it all from inside.

I am pretty sure it is the identical shifter to the '99-'02 which, in my opinion, is also a bit tall. My wife asked me to leave it for now, as she is convinced she will forget the shift pattern. I will get the MGW First Strike knob ASAP (also my very first mod on my '00 GTS).

You apparently noticed the same thing we did: The vents don't blow cool air even when it is cold outside. As to the A/C, I am curious what the "chirp" is that you refer to. We have used ours a few times and didn't hear a thing.

Also curious about the hood movement. I did some very gentle RPM's and got it a little faster than you and the hood seemed as solid as a rock. I noticed that there are a lot of foam supports both on the car and the hood to keep it fairly tight.

As far as closing the doors, I have mainly had the windows and the roof up. In that case, I am using the back of my knuckle/finger (less oil) on the very outside bottom of the window where it meets the rear door edge. A firm push and she shuts fine. I have found the driver's door takes a little more effort to shut tight than the passenger side. Unfortunately, every single passenger and/or looker I have had shuts the doors right on the door paint, as you normally would. Sigh...

Didn't find any black spots (but harder to see on a black car) but did find some small spots on the inside of the windshield that Windex would not remove. My wife thinks they were some sort of glue. Zaino glass polish took them off right away. I also noticed that I have quite a few buff/swirl marks in my paint. I didn't have Woodhouse prep my car (I was in too much of a hurry), so these are from the factory. Another sigh...

Frank has generously offered to 3M the door handles for me, as he has already made "templates" from his SRT which also arrived. I am giving more thought to doing the side sills, as they do seem to take more of a beating thanks to the width. I also noticed that the sills get the residual water drops just like all other Vipers.

I was very pleased with the prices from Woodhouse when it came to the floor and trunk mats (which we all purchased that day). They even have a VCA discount (Nancy Shanno, 1-800-889-1893). I think Jon B of Parts Rack fame also carries them right in your back yard. As to the Mopar cover, STAY AWAY! The one that we saw in the SRT-10 book (the nice one given to SRT orderers at VOI 7) is not the one that the dealers seem to be carrying. They brought it out for us to look at and we knew we were in trouble when it was a box about the size of two shoeboxes placed end to end (size 11's). When opened, we found a very cheaply made material that is more of a tarp than anything else. We were expecting one similar to the previous covers (Evolution?) with a softer lining. This was more like a lightweight rain poncho with no lining whatsoever. Seriously. It was the same price as the previous covers (around $225 or so - can't remember for sure) and none of us would have paid $50 for it - or even put it on our cars for free. Still looking!

Thanks again for your post and all the great comments. It is really nice to compare notes! Now if I can figure out why one reverse light is full of water...

Chris

 

[jwwiii]

Paul;

I just got back from a 50 mile drive. I was thinking about your need to have the drivers-side left armrest higher.

So, I got an idea. I just put my SRT-10 seat belt pads on, and realized that the pads would be perfect for your needs!

I suggest that you use self-adhesive Velcro to fix it to your armrest. It is easily removable and stays put; especially when horizontal holding power is needed.

Go to any hardware store and ask for the 2" wide Black "self Adhesive Velcro" and MAKE SURE you get both the male and female sides (or it won't stick to itself, obviously). CLEAN your armrest with a little bit of rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip or rag. Let it dry, and apply 2 or three small strips (2" squares) of the "Fuzzy" side of the Velcro (the Hook side would irritate your arm if the shoulder pad wasn't needed).

Don't clean the shoulder pad if it is new. Apply the "Hook" side of the Velcro (obviously spaced to meet perfectly with the squares on the armrest.

After you apply the Velcro to the shoulder pad, put something heavy on the shoulder pad so the Velcro adhesive takes hold strongly (Velcro suggests this, and they are right!) for at least 12 hours.

There you go! Comfy, color of shoulder pad matches yout interior, Viper logo is on it (use a Black sharpie if you don't like logo's) and you can rip it off to WASH IT. If you don't like it at all, rip the Velcro off and use some "GOO-GONE" or WD-40 to remove any remaining adhesive. Nothing but positives about this fix for you.

Call Jon B at parts Rack, or call "Snake-Oyl" Viper products. Both phone numbers are easily found in the "performance parts" section here (at top of Viper site home page).

Please let me know if you try this. I am a drummer and use Velcro for LOTS of applications (WHY DIDN"T I INVENT THAT STUFF!) Your wife or any passenger will appreciate those shoulder pads very much (especially at the track).

Sorry my post is long, I try to give details. Life is ALL in the details to me; it's why we love VIPER'S!

Jim

 

[Y2K10 SRT#39]

Chris-
Don't worry about the seat time. It started raining again so it will be awhile before I get more miles on it.

When I drove the car on Saturday, (no changes to the heater controls) the vents blew cold air all day. Not sure what changed, but I'm glad it did.

Hood movement- At speed (65-70), passing trucks, the hood seemd to lift just in front of the "shark gills". Not alot, but the first time I saw it, it did alarm me. Moved about 1/4" up. I'll check it again next drive.

For closing the doors, I'm thinking of wrapping some stoneguard on the edge of the door to have a place to push from. Right now, I'm doing the same thing you are with the knuckles at the bottom edge of the window.

Oh one thing I forgot to post. Something new for this Viper owner. When cleaning the car... I actually had to wipe....BRAKE DUST off of the REAR wheels! What an unusual expereience!

Thanks for the response on the mats and cover. You seem to have validated the cover issue. Yes, the old covers were evolution 3 material. One of our Regional members put his RT cover on the new car, and he said it fit like a glove. I'll speak to JonB and Nancy, Thanks!

Tony-
The Mustang Cobra had to move to the other shed to make the small shed a true Viper Pit! I have to find a buyer for that car soon!! Let us know when you are headed this way!!

 

[DEVILDOG]

Paul Ronald,
You mentioned small black spots on your doors...could that be exhaust residue from the side pipes? Just guessing since I don't have an SRT, however, I know my GTS gets those black spots on the rear fascia from the exhaust.

 

[Mike Brunton]

Black gooey dots are most likely exhaust goo and when they are gooey brake dust sticks to them and causes them to turn into a tar-like mess.

Paul, I buy alot of that 3M ScotchCal product (same stuff Stongard uses to make their kits). If you need some small pieces (like several square inches) let me know since I can send you some of our scraps that would work. If you need larger, my supplier has about 100 feet of the 6" wide stuff. It was left on the ground and got a yellow water spot on one part.. it's 6" wide and there is a yellow blotch every 12" on the roll or so, but only on one side. If you want strips to do your doors, sills, etc, I know he will sell it CHEAP and you just avoid the yellow spot

. It's usually $2 a foot in bulk rolls, and I'm sure you could get a bunch of it for cheap money if you need more than little scraps and just cut around the yellow discolored area.

Conversely, I bet a Stongard dealer would be happy to give you a free full-car kit if you let them use your car as a fitment mule... might not want to though on a brand new SRT.

 

[SUN RA KAT]

Paul Ronald -

I'm 6'5" and needed the 2" seat lowering kit to fit in my GTS. Is there room under the SRT-10's seats for a seat lowering kit to be installed if someone makes them?