The Saga of the Dinged Up Dodge

[SaturnVUEguy]

I've never worked on a Viper, but have worked on my own cars and know exactly what you mean.

Beeswax? Never heard that one before, maybe I'll have to go to Hobby Lobby one day and pick up a block. Do you melt it right on the bolt/nut or melt it to drip there?

 

[Bugman Jeff]

Heat up the nut/bolt with a torch(unless it's exhaust, then it's self heating), and melt the wax onto it. You want the fastener hot enough that it's warm all the way through, but not so hot that the wax vaporizes. 250°-300°F is all the heat you really need. I dab more wax on a few times as it's cooling, and I generally let it soak until it's cool enough that wax won't melt anymore before trying to turn the fastener. I should have taken some pics of the hardware, it was very obvious how far the wax had penetrated the threads.

I was skeptical when I first heard about it too, so I decided to do some back to back testing. I had an old and very rusty rear axle out of a pickup truck handy. On one side, I used the wax method, on the other side I didn't. The wax side came apart with little trouble. The non wax side, even with the hardware red hot and using an impact gun, wouldn't come apart. I let it cool a bit and waxed it, that side spun right apart too

 

[Bugman Jeff]

The door carpet on the Gen II Vipers leaves a lot to be desired. With use, it tends to pill up, and generally look awful. Such was the case with my car. A bit of trimming with some scissors, and it's back to looking like new

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[Bugman Jeff]

I had to remove my console to fix it. Like everything I've taken apart, this was a mess too. Seriously, how does someone get this much sand and dog fur under the console?!?

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[pony23]

This is a great restoration with lots of great tips for others. Nice job.

 

[ACRucrazy]

Awesome thread.
Great work!

 

[SaturnVUEguy]

This is why I don't even like letting my dogs in my Neon, let alone if I had a Viper

 

[MoparMap]

I was amazed at the amount of dust and dirt under the panels in my mom's 94 when I was in there messing with speakers, but then I remembered that the car doesn't exactly have a roof, so stuff will accumulate places you can't get to and wouldn't think about. Granted your's is a coupe, but the under-panel buildup I think is fairly common in about any car. Kind of like the first time you take seats out and find all the goodies under them, lol.

 

[Bugman Jeff]

Another flaw in the Gen II Vipers is the center console. It's a large molded PVC piece, but it's only got four tiny posts under it for support. If you lean on it too hard, it will crack. If it cracks and you don't fix it, the vinyl covering will begin to tear. Mine was cracked, and the vinyl was just starting to tear by the e-brake boot. Here you can clearly see the problem.

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After doing much research, I decided to use fiberglass as my main repair material. Polyester fiberglass resin does stick to PVC, though it relies more heavily on a mechanical bond than a chemical one. Plus, I had everything necessary already. The first step was to do a whole lot pre cleaning. These consoles are notorious for being covered in mold release compound. I used mineral spirits, followed by acetone to clean the surface, then repeated the process a couple times. With that done, I roughed up the whole bottom side with some 36 grit sandpaper. This gives the resin some "tooth" to grab onto. Then more cleaning. Then I planned out where I wanted to put the fiberglass. I decided that since I'm doing it anyway, I may as well use it for reinforcement too. I went shopping in my fiberglass scraps box and laid out overlapping layers of mat where I wanted it.

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With that done, I set the mat off to the side and started the lay up process. It's pretty simple, put a piece down, work the resin into it, work the bubbles out of it, and repeat. If you mix it right, you should have 20-30 minutes of work time before it sets up. When I had all the layers down down, I still had resin left so I added even more layers.

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All told, there's almost 1/4" of mat over the whole thing, with it approaching 3/8" thick in some areas. This thing is now almost solid enough to stand on. I also put a piece of plywood on the trans tunnel to add some support across the e-brake recess. No pics of that, but really, it's just a piece of plywood. You can buy a specific console support wedge, but since mine was already cracked, and I have the added thickness of the fiberglass, and I had the plywood too, this was cheaper and easier

 

[Bugman Jeff]

I posted another thread about my radio issues, but since it's parts of repairing my car, I thought I'd post it here for posterity too. The stock CD player in my '97 GTS didn't work when I got it. Here's what it did: Any time I turn the ignition on, the player tries to eject a disc, even if no disc is present. When I try to insert a disc, it will not **** the disc in, doesn't matter if the radio is on or off. If I push a disc in, it won't play, but still ejects ok. Any time it ejects, the ejector mechanism click multiple times. Here's a video showing exactly what it was doing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phnhIMDlGMQ

I think I've found the problem. Maybe anyway. I had the CD player section out of the radio chassis(only 4 screws hold the CD player assembly into the radio chassis), and I made a discovery. The bottom of the CD player has three ribbon cable connecting the bottom circuit board to the rest of CD player. When I pulled them out of their housings, I noticed that there were little dents in the contact surfaces. From the digital speedo in the Mighty Caprice™, I know that this can cause all sorts of odd behavior. The way these contacts work is there is a spring loaded "finger" that presses on the cable contact pad. Over time, the spring tension can dent the cable, making contact spotty. I wiggled these cables around a bit, and reassembled everything. Low and behold, it works! It's been a month now, and it's still working like it's supposed to. If it goes wonky again I've got a technique for filling in the little dents that I'll try out. Here's a pic of the bottom of the CD player section. You can see dents in the cable. All three of the ribbon cables have similar little cable dents.

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[pony23]

anything new going on with the project?

 

[Bonkers]

Ive told people for years that one of the greatest benefits of
Viper ownership is how easy it is to work on it. This thread
adds to that - if you're willing to put in the elbow grease
then maintainence and repairs can be very cheap. Of course
there are exceptions to certain parts, but I congratulate
Bugman for showing how great a cheaply fixed car can look
when done right! Good luck with it, keep us updated!

 

[VYPR BYT 94]

Post #63 helped me...
I never thought to just trim the carpet on the doors
Thanks

 

[Yellowgt5]

Thanks for the good information. I might be starting my own "Saga of a Dinged up".

 

[Bugman Jeff]

Thanks for the comments guys, I'm glad you're finding my ramblings helpful. Though I've taken to posting on the Alley, I've decided to keep this post going for posterity while the VCA gets it's self sorted out. I've been working more on the Viper over the past few weeks, and drive it almost every day. Here's about where it sits now. It's still got a long way to go, but it's come a long way since I got it:

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[jdeft1]

Bugman, I like your style and enthusiasm!

 

[Bugman Jeff]

One of my few genuine complaints about the Viper is the clutch throw. You've got to step the pedal down a long way. I'm 5'10", and when I adjusted the seat and pedals to where the gas, brake, and steering wheel were most comfortable, I had to fully extend my leg to get the clutch all the way down. The pedal is connected to the clutch master with a linkage. Installing a shorter link is supposed to shorten the clutch throw, so I thought I'd give it a try. There is a commercially available one, but I just made my own. My new link is 5 5/8" x 3/4" x 1/4", with 1/2" holes on 4 3/4" centers. Both the original and new link are aluminum. Here's the new shorter link next to the original:

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Even with the new link, I still think that the clutch pedal travels too far. Fortunately, the Gen II GTS has fully adjustable pedals. All three pedal adjuster cables are tied into one knob under the dash. By removing the adjustment cables from the central hub, you can individually adjust the pedals. I moved the clutch up in relation to the other pedals so I don't have to extend my leg as far. While I was at it, I moved the gas pedal up a bit too so heel-toe shifting is easier. I also greased all the plastic bushings with some silicone grease to get rid of a squeak in the mechanism.

 

[Bugman Jeff]

My other main complaint about the Viper is that it was too quiet. The stock exhaust, even without cats, sounded pretty wimpy and was way too quiet. A couple of times, I almost forgot to shift out of 3rd on the highway because it was so quiet. I also didn't like the look of the stock exhaust tips. One of the first things I did was remove the stock rear muffler. Viper catbacks are all pretty expensive, way more than I want to spend. There are a couple muffler delete pipes on the market too, but even they come in at around $500. I decided I'd just make my own muffler delete pipes. I chose 304 stainless so it'll look good for years to come. Here's what I started with. 8' of 2.5" tube, 1' 2.25 tube, one 180°-45° bend pipe, some stainless rod, 2.25" band clamps, and a pair of Yonaka 3.5" polished tips. I can tell already that this is going to be an exhausting experience...

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[CEJ]

Very impressive and creative. I like your radio fix too...that's a good one to remember.

 

[SaturnVUEguy]

Have you had any time to work on the exhaust yet? There was a guy who bought a then brand new yellow GTS and took it to Joe Gentile Chrysler when I was working there to have the shop install headers and an open exhaust. At idle in the shop, you couldn't hear each other talking without shouting. That car was LOUD. I remember watching him pull out on Rt 14 and get on it, the car squat so much it looked like the front tires weren't far from lifting off the ground

 

[DJ'sviper]

I picked up a lot of things from your post. Thanks, very interesting. Can't wait to see the whole project when it is done. Melting the ABS with acetone was informative. I have a 68 charger and the back braces were broken. I don't know what type of plastic it was. Since you couldn't see them I took the plastic from another grill and melted it together with a hot iron like a soldering iron and melted them together. After I sanded and painted them they were just as strong and you couldn't notice they were repaired.

 

[JeffInDFW]

The original poster blows my mind. I think of myself as very handy, but I'm not even in the same league as this guy! LOL! Joking aside, I have bookmarked this thread because Bugman has showed me how to do SO MANY THINGS! I'm going to try using the ABS/Acetone trick to save one of my daughters toys, a big piece of luggage too! I also have a 96 GTS, and am learning so much......Anyway, THANK YOU for sharing so much information.

 

[mtmclaughlin]

The original poster blows my mind. I think of myself as very handy, but I'm not even in the same league as this guy! LOL! Joking aside, I have bookmarked this thread because Bugman has showed me how to do SO MANY THINGS! I'm going to try using the ABS/Acetone trick to save one of my daughters toys, a big piece of luggage too! I also have a 96 GTS, and am learning so much......Anyway, THANK YOU for sharing so much information.

I'm with you. I learned a lot reading these pages. Thank you for sharing Bugman Jeff!

 

[Bugman Jeff]

Thanks guys, but really, I'm just a two bit hack playing in my garage. I'm not doing anything groundbreaking, just simple stuff anyone can do. Sorry I haven't been updating this more regularly, real life keeps getting in the way of my play time I finally had time for more work on the Viper's exhaust. The first order of business after removing the stock muffler was to locate the tips exactly where I wanted them. Using plywood shims and duct tape, I hung the tips in the bumper cut out at the right angle and with the stick out I wanted.

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Then, I stared making the pipes, tediously cutting and fitting a bend at a time, working my way forward toward the stock pipes. I forgot to take pics along the way, but there's not much to it. Since I'm using 304 stainless tubing, the plan was to tig weld the whole thing together. I don't have a tig welder at home, so I bought a small spool of stainless wire for my mig to tack everything together. When I finish weld it, the stainless tacks will melt in with the rest of the filler.

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Since the stock exhaust is 2 1/4", and I'm using 2 1/2" tubing, I needed some adapters. Stainless adapters are really expensive, so I made my own by flaring a bell shape on the end of some 2 1/4" pipe. I'm using band clamps at the joint between stock pipe and the new stuff. As it turns out, a 180° and a 45° provide the exact right amount of bend that you need to get from here to there. Here it is all tacked together. The hangers still need trimming, but it's pretty much ready to weld.

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[Bugman Jeff]

I finally got my axle back exhaust done. I'm used to welding aluminum, and these are some of the sloppiest tig welds I've done in a long time. Honestly, I'm not real happy with it. It will work, but I know I could have done better. I used Scotch-Brite to give the pipes a nice finish. All told, I've only got around $150 in it.

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It sounds pretty good. It's loud without being obnoxious, and it's got much more bass rumble than stock or the Corsas I've heard. It's got a lot of drone at certain RPMs, but it doesn't really bother me, it's a sports car after all. It's not the thump of a V8, nor the whine of a V12, but it's own unique sound. For what it cost, I'm very happy with the sound. Here it is, no cats, no rear muffler, just the stock side sill resonators.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrekiUuHVDw

 

[Fatboy 18]

Great job

 

[SaturnVUEguy]

Sounds nice!

 

[TAXIMAN1]

Bugman, this is a great thread. thanks for posting. I truly admire your Ingenuity. I'd love to meet the previous owner, and ask what happened to this car?. I mean, I can't imagine how someone could beat a viper that badly. Its like the more layers you peel back, the more issues lie underneath..

Dog hair UNDER the console? I mean, how is that even possible? LOL

Serioulsy though. awesome work. I'm sure its gratifying to watch it come back from the dead.

 

[GuitarSteve]

Love the sound of it...The way a GTS should sound. Keep posting eh? We all enjoy reading your updates.

 

[DrumrBoy]

This is truly inspiring stuff......I bet your story will be responsible for saving a few more classis GTSs with salvage titles that otherwise might be parted out or sold for a song and wrapped around a tree by some unwitting teenager. Keep it coming!