SRT Chat HERE on September 17th!

[JonB]

...Just a quick Hello from the MOPAR side of the house. We are working on a couple specific projects as noted. We appreciate this feedback. It helps us determine what owners are looking for. Any comments on engine dress-up parts shown at VOI?...

Engine Controller for 'off road' use
Get KN to do a hi-flow intake as they did for Gen 2 and 3
Those VooDoo Black-Chromey Valve Covers and Intake are VERY VOODOOO nice.
That underhood cool-air isolator baffle should be easy and fast.
Owners go BONKERS for ACR Aero.... cost is frightful, and aero mods are 'touchy'
HEADERS (Make Belangers your own?)
Hood Grills: Make a less restrictive, **** [CF] part. Those old honeycombs are goofy.

 

[Y2K10 SRT#39]

I am sure that there are a few smaller females and males that love this BADA@@ car as well and we sure don't want to leave them out of the fun

I/We (us tall folks) realize that your job is extremely difficult when designing to all the possible combinations and configurations of people. Please also realize that your decisions are forcing us (tall folks) to NOT purchase the new cars. The last coupe I really fit in was my '96, and it could have used more legroom too. My current '05 vert got seat lowering kits too! Hopefully there are enough of us out here so the aftermarket folks will notice and come to our aid.
Thanks again for your hard work!
PBR

 

[F8L SNK]

Can we get some pics of said items? I did not attend the VOI so I am unsure of what you are talking about, but it sounds interesting.

Just a quick Hello from the MOPAR side of the house. We are working on a couple specific projects as noted. We appreciate this feedback. It helps us determine what owners are looking for. Any comments on engine dress-up parts shown at VOI?

 

[Bobpantax]

Did you see the dumper tube question I posted above? Also the '08 ACR tire wear question?

 

[EZ 2B Green]

1 - 4 ship shift has not been eliminated. In fact, stricter ODB requirements are now in effect to prevent disabling this feature.

Ok, If I promise not to try to defeat this feature could you please explain what was done in the OBD to detect the disabling of this feature? Pretty please.

 

[SRT Engineers]

I/We (us tall folks) realize that your job is extremely difficult when designing to all the possible combinations and configurations of people. Please also realize that your decisions are forcing us (tall folks) to NOT purchase the new cars. The last coupe I really fit in was my '96, and it could have used more legroom too. My current '05 vert got seat lowering kits too! Hopefully there are enough of us out here so the aftermarket folks will notice and come to our aid.
Thanks again for your hard work!
PBR

I sure understand your frustration.

 

[SRT Engineers]

Can we get some pics of said items? I did not attend the VOI so I am unsure of what you are talking about, but it sounds interesting.

It's tough to really convey the look of the chrome fade to black in a photo. We had some pictures in the VOI presentation but they didn't come close to capturing the look of the actual part.

 

[Bobpantax]

Have you tried the new MGW performance shifter? Not the knob, the shifter mechanism. It was designed with Mark J at Woodhouse and, for the '08, a little bit of real world trial input from me. It is a much better piece than the stock piece and there is no noticeable increase in vibration without the damper. You should license it and make it the stock piece.

 

[JonB]

......I/We (us tall folks) realize that your job is extremely difficult when designing ............. Please also realize that your decisions are forcing us (tall folks) to NOT purchase the new cars. .........PBR

Has SRT heard this before? The inability to safely lower 08-09 driver seats, due in part to the underseat translator module, HAS and will diminish 09 sales.

 

[Malu59RT]

I didn't attend VOI, but I do love the black valve covers and the carbon fiber cover as well (seen in the ACR Prototype)

Any mopar exhausts planned specifically for the 2008? I assume since the Belanger's exist, that there are no plans to create a set of headers.

Tunability (off-road of course) for the 2008's would be very beneficial. I recently removed the mufflers on my 2008 Viper and the power went from 560whp to 537, and a look at the dyno charts show that the A/F that was ~12.0:1 has now fallen of the charts (below 10.0:1). Undoubtedly, if the ECU could be tuned, I would pick up a lot more power.

Any way to tune the 2008 cars?

 

[SRT Engineers]

Has SRT heard this before? The inability to safely lower 08-09 driver seats, due in part to the underseat translator module, HAS and will diminish 09 sales.

Please understand. It is not just the module under the seat that keep you from lowering it. The track position sensor on the seat frame is what drives the airbag performance. This is required to meet the safety standards

 

[Bobpantax]

Please understand. It is not just the module under the seat that keep you from lowering it. The track position sensor on the seat frame is what drives the airbag performance. This is required to meet the safety standards

Will the '06 tracks and seats fit into the '08 Viper without having to drill any new holes? And, if so, will the car throw any kind of codes if this change out is made?

 

[ACRJUD]

1. Dont know if the chat is still going, but If I put 19in fronts and 20in rear wheels on my 08 ACR, would I need to adjust anything?

2. Any word of thoes Mopar parts from the ACR Mopar concept viper?

3. I have heard good and bad things about the belenger headers, and difinitive answers?

 

[SRT Engineers]

1 - 4 ship shift has not been eliminated. In fact, stricter ODB requirements are now in effect to prevent disabling this feature.

Ok, If I promise not to try to defeat this feature could you please explain what was done in the OBD to detect the disabling of this feature? Pretty please.

The 2009 OBD is trickier at detecting "skip-shift eliminators" because CARB became aware that people were defeating the system. This then forced new regulations that make us make the system harder to defeat.

The best way around it if your are running at a track, etc... will be the MOPAR controller, which as it is for off-road only has skip turned off.

 

[SRT Engineers]

Additional question: Due to non-availability of 08 HOOD GRILLS early-on, several 08 "Hoodies" on Gen 3 cars found the footwell was dramatically cooler! A couple of em later installed, then REMOVED the grills, favoring the cool footwell.

Is SRT aware how much air is 'trapped' underhood by these grills? Are they cosmetic-styling? I would only be worried about parking under falling-leaves and combustibles.. But it SEEMS like "no grills" in an 08 hood is COOOOLLLLL...........

Jon, The grilles function to keep debris, combustable and otherwise, out of the engine bay.
Some people like the way the car looks better with the hood grilles in place.
Some people say it improves front downforce and engine cooling with the grilles removed.
Some like to check their oil with the hood closed.

 

[SRT Engineers]

Will the '06 tracks and seats fit into the '08 Viper without having to drill any new holes? And, if so, will the car throw any kind of codes if this change out is made?

Yes the 06 seat tracks are the same and would not require new holes. Howeve. you will get numerous faulst thru the ECU along with airbag warning lights. the 08 seats have wire harnesses that relay information to the ECU

 

[OppositeLock]

Watching the ACR 'Ring video there is quite a bit of drive train deflection (as noted in the shifter position), do you recommend stiffer poly engine and transmission mounts to better position the drive train for 'spirited' driving? Any unforeseen negative consequences except for increased NVH?

Can you release the torsional stiffness (N-m/degree) and resonant frequency specs of the '08/'09 roadster and coupe? If so, what are they?

 

[Bobpantax]

Yes the 06 seat tracks are the same and would not require new holes. Howeve. you will get numerous faulst thru the ECU along with airbag warning lights. the 08 seats have wire harnesses that relay information to the ECU

Interesting. Perhaps a swap out is possible with a seat lowering kit with a few strategically placed resisters. Of course for track use only.

 

[Y2K10 SRT#39]

Was anything done to the area where the crossover exhausts used to be on the new cars? I was thinking of add'l legroom by modifying the bulkhead (on older cars too).

Thanks
PBR

 

[SRT#655]

Can you tell me how to fix the flaking of my headlight covers on my Gen III....its an O3 and only has 6k miles........and help would be great......Thanks

 

[Bobpantax]

What do you mean by flaking?

 

[SRT Engineers]

What is the life expectancy of the tires on the '08 ACR if it is only driven on the street? Assume for the purpose of answering this question that traction is not lost enough to make a material difference in tire wear.

The ACR tires have a treadwear of 80. The life of the tire is entirely dependant on your driving style. Most of the hours we've spent with the ACR have been at the track. Obviously tires wear much more quickly at the track but our experience is that the PS Cups will last longer at the track than the PS2s if the car is adjusted properly. We would expect the PS2s to last longer with normal driving on the street.

Here's a story you might enjoy...

The ACR that broke the Nurburgring record had 4,000 miles on the street before it was sent to Germany. We used this same set of tires for the first few laps around the Nurburgring. In fact, this set of worn tires was still on the car when we first broke the record with a 7:25. We changed tires and got the 7:22 two laps later but the first set of tires still had plenty of tread on them still.

 

[SRT Engineers]

Is it possible to retrofit the 08 radiator cooling fans onto the 03-06 vipers? If so, will it involve more than just removing the hydraulic fan parts and installing the electric fans and shroud? Will the 03-06 air cleaner assembly interfere with the retrofit? Is there a way to have the factory computer turn on the electric fans? Other than reprogramming the PCM or without using aftermarket sensors/switches? Thank you.

For fit yes... but not for power supply... we went from a 136amp alternator to a 180amp alternator in order to be able to keep the car charged facing the nearly 60 amp draw of the 2008 electic fans.

Controlling the 03-06 hydraulic is only about 1 amp...

There is no simple output from the JTEC controller to run the relay controlled electric fans... the hydraulic is variable from 0-100%, the electric fans are just high / low speed controlled by the three relays (a simple series / parallel arrangement).

 

[Bobpantax]

The ACR tires have a treadwear of 80. The life of the tire is entirely dependant on your driving style. Most of the hours we've spent with the ACR have been at the track. Obviously tires wear much more quickly at the track but our experience is that the PS Cups will last longer at the track than the PS2s if the car is adjusted properly. We would expect the PS2s to last longer with normal driving on the street.

Here's a story you might enjoy...

The ACR that broke the Nurburgring record had 4,000 miles on the street before it was sent to Germany. We used this same set of tires for the first few laps around the Nurburgring. In fact, this set of worn tires was still on the car when we first broke the record with a 7:25. We changed tires and got the 7:22 two laps later but the first set of tires still had plenty of tread on them still.

I love that story. Sort of like a tale from Thunder Road or a scene from the movie The Right Stuff.

 

[SRT#655]

Flaking...as in the layer's of Plastic they are made of coming off.......it really looks bad

 

[SRT Engineers]

Watching the ACR 'Ring video there is quite a bit of drive train deflection (as noted in the shifter position), do you recommend stiffer poly engine and transmission mounts to better position the drive train for 'spirited' driving? Any unforeseen negative consequences except for increased NVH?

Can you release the torsional stiffness (N-m/degree) and resonant frequency specs of the '08/'09 roadster and coupe? If so, what are they?

The shifter dance you noted on the 'Ring video was actually due to the engine bouncing off the rev limiter.

 

[Mopar Boy]

I know this is primarily Viper, but I just wanted to make sure you did not miss the question on page 2 regarding the Chrysler 300 SRT! Any thoughts? The dealers have no clue and I have no where else to go other than to the source!

Thanks guys for all of your wisdom tonight!

Robert

 

[kcobean]

I was wondering if a cause/solution had been identified for the 'coolant sludge' affecting so many of the Chargers (and probably other LX body cars).

 

[OppositeLock]

Here's a story you might enjoy...

The ACR that broke the Nurburgring record had 4,000 miles on the street before it was sent to Germany. We used this same set of tires for the first few laps around the Nurburgring....tires still had plenty of tread on them still.

That's awesome. Don't the PS Cup's grip diminish and their durometer readings increase with repetitive heat cycling?

 

[kcobean]

We Only Have The Srt Engineers For About Another 10 Minutes, So Get Those Last Minute Questions In Everyone (unless They Want To Hang Out For A Bit Longer, But The Session Formally Ends At 8:00 Pm Eastern)