The scrapping Viper

[JohnnyViper]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 97 gts and the front bumper is always scrapping on minor dips/ruts in the road. Its not lowered but I noticed that the front bumper lip is only about 2 inches above the road. As bad as the scrapping sounds its not doing any serious damage to the bumper however I would like to install lowering caps or a adjustable coil over kit and worry if I lower it .5 inch I may have a notable problem. I have been looking at my front bumper and those of later gts and they seem to be higher of the ground and dont have that plastic lip under the bumper that hangs low. If I want to lower my viper would you recommend the revised front bumper cover of later years or will I be ok with what I have? If anyone that has a 96-97 gts and have kept their front bumpers with a lowered ride height of .5 inchs or more what are you experiencing in the area of ground clearance?

Thanks,
Johnny

 

[plumcrazy]

i thought the fascias were the same.

 

[JohnnyViper]

i thought so too, I was at a viper cruse a few months ago and a memeber with a 2000 gts noticed mine hung lower but I didnt compare but i recently saw a picture of two gen 2 vipers head to head and noticed a difference in ground clearence and bumper style and its true the later gts seem to have much more front bumper ground cleaence, I will try to search of that picture

 

[JohnnyViper]

Plum 1) I cant believe I found the picture I was looking for 2) the picture was on a thread you started 3) your car is the one that I was comparing to the other viper. 4) my memory is going and I was wrong the vipers were not head to head. Check out the difference in the front bumper ground clearance!

 

[my viper]

Mine is lowered on springs and I want to add caps too. I have the chin protector from JonB but want to remove it as I don't like the look - clearly visible from the front.

I thought the fascias were the same too. Perhaps the car you compared with had a different bumper?

 

[ViperCollector]

Gen1 and Gen2 fascias are definitely different. Since the Gen1 RT's continued past 96, maybe the 96/97 GTS used the Gen1 fascia? (or more likely a replacement fascia)

 

[eucharistos]

stock wheel / tire height?

 

[JohnnyViper]

eucharistos: they are larger diameter wheels off a srt10 however ride height stayed the same

my viper: they are definitely different stock viper bumpers, the 96/97 are different and hang lower there is no question about that and is why I always scrap just driving down the road . I can only assume this is why the newer gts have more ground clearance due to a redesign another hint of this redesign is the removal of the fog light lens.

I’m just wondering if any 96/97 gts owners have lowered their viper and had notable problems with just normal driving, from reading other lowering posts later year gts have minimal scrapping with lowering during normal driving which is why I think a bumper swap may be in order for practical use if I do lower my viper

Thanks for the input so far!

 

[JohnnyViper]

By the way if you look at the picture the bottom of the bumper in the fist viper does not hang lower than the side sills, the bumper on the second viper hangs much lower then the side sill and is very close to the groung causing the scrapping in normal driving on little dips in the road

 

[plumcrazy]

the other silver car has a gen1 fascia on it

 

[plumcrazy]

mine has caps and the ends of the springs were "nipped off" lowering it slightly more. i have not noticed any difference in scraping but im not so picky about that stuff anymore.

 

[agentf1]

I put the door edge guard along the bottom of my bumper so if and when it hits it does not scrape the bumper but the door edge guard instead. I got balck so you cannot even see it on the Sapphire.

 

[Martin]

Definitely a Gen I fascia on the car on the left in the picture... My 97 GTS scrapes like crazy, and it is pretty bothersome at first. You get used to it, though, and get used to people cringing while watching/hearing you pull up a steep driveway.

On the bright side, this is one of those problems that will eventually solve itself

 

[JohnnyViper]

thanks guys you have been helpful!

 

[01sapphirebob]

I agree, it has got to be a GEN I fascia on the car on the left in the picture.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

FYI, the two fascias are different in that the little air dam that hangs down is further forward on the Gen 1 than the Gen 2. The Roe duct, which is a hole on the underneath of the fascia, is behind this "air dam" on the Gen 1 and ahead of the air dam on the Gen 2. Here is what's left of the air dam on my Gen 1. If you search Dave6666 you may find his Gen 2 images.

 

[JohnnyViper]

Oh my, I guess thats what Martin was talking about with the problem correcting itself!

 

[GTLaser]

I have an 01 and I ride lower that any Gen II around here, other than Peter@ISP, and at every meet everyone compliments the stance. You just gotta slow down for speed bumps....

 

[JohnnyViper]

gtlancer your car avatar looks good with that ride height

 

[eucharistos]

FYI, the two fascias are different in that the little air dam that hangs down is further forward on the Gen 1 than the Gen 2. The Roe duct, which is a hole on the underneath of the fascia, is behind this "air dam" on the Gen 1 and ahead of the air dam on the Gen 2. Here is what's left of the air dam on my Gen 1. If you search Dave6666 you may find his Gen 2 images.

tom

stop posting this pic or they will find out you ran over that guy

 

[moparracing]

my '97 seemed to scrape alot til i switched to the 18/19" combo tires/wheels..... much better now.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

I opened this thread hoping to pick up a spare motor.

Scrapping - scrap - as in parting out

Scraping - scrape - as in, the front of my Viper scrapes the pavement.

 

[JohnnyViper]

there i go misspelling things again, its what makes me unique, I'm a dyslexic viper driver....watch out when I'm on the road

 

[eucharistos]

there i go misspelling things again, its what makes me unique,....

that don't make you too special around here

 

[JohnnyViper]

i guess some of us viper lovers just cant spell, no ones perfect but i hope people get a laugh out of it

 

[v10enomous]

Plum 1) I cant believe I found the picture I was looking for 2) the picture was on a thread you started 3) your car is the one that I was comparing to the other viper. 4) my memory is going and I was wrong the vipers were not head to head. Check out the difference in the front bumper ground clearance!

Yes... That's my car with the 96 fascia on it. I have the Gen2 fascia in my basement and was going to put it on a few months ago when I was have some work done on the car but I like that it's a little different and not so prone to scraping. I was also afraid that I might have trouble getting it on and off of my lift. I've seen quite a few like this already. There are some differences with the fog light housings when you do this. I suppose another option would be to trim the gen2 fascia... I think I've seen a few like that already too.

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[Dom426h]

I trimd my Gen2 facia on the lower corners to alow me to enter driveways/entrances at an angle. For me it was necessary since my viper is lower than stock and i drive it frequently in areas where scraping is an issue. I didnt want to trim off any of the center section(airdam) because i assume it is areodynamically functional in keeping some air from going under the car.

How i trimmed it was i measured about 1.5" up from the corner then marked a line from it diagonaly down to where it curves in and transisions to the airdam with masking tape. Cut it off with a dremel cutting bit then sanded it flat&smooth with a couple diff grits on a sanding block.

 

[JohnnyViper]

dom, that is a great tip!!!! thanks

 

[plumcrazy]

I trimd my Gen2 facia on the lower corners to alow me to enter driveways/entrances at an angle. For me it was necessary since my viper is lower than stock and i drive it frequently in areas where scraping is an issue. I didnt want to trim off any of the center section(airdam) because i assume it is areodynamically functional in keeping some air from going under the car.

How i trimmed it was i measured about 1.5" up from the corner then marked a line from it diagonaly down to where it curves in and transisions to the airdam with masking tape. Cut it off with a dremel cutting bit then sanded it flat&smooth with a couple diff grits on a sanding block.

Dom, please post some pics. i want to do this if i redo the fascia. i know dimitrios trimmed the bottom ~ 1" on his RT a few years ago and said he couldnt tell any difference in handling at high speed

 

[v10enomous]

Here's a better pic...

Phil's car is lowered and mine is not... Both 98s...

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