What did you do to your Viper today?

[Bruce H.]

It's January, driving season in the north is over...and the perfect time to do some work on the Viper!

Time for some cosmetic improvements on my '14 TA starting with removal of the 10 y/o Suntec PPF that showed all of its 58,000 miles. Side sills, bumper and under-bumper carbon fiber splitters were all removed. Film came off remarkably well by pre-warming the surfaces, and had done an amazing job of protecting the paint and CF finish...except in some areas that the installer hadn't covered, or where the film had peeled back a little and left spots unprotected. So parts of the underside of the sills and lower bumper will be resprayed, and the CF splitters will be refinished.

All pieces will have new film applied before reinstallation where possible to ensure 100% coverage. I'll likely also be refinishing the wheels unless I'm successful at removing the tough accumulated brake pad dust.

I may do a paint correction as well next summer, not sure. I did that on my '94 black Supra, and while the finish came up looking like new, it also showed every mark after that, almost as if the paint had become supper soft. Perfection comes at a price!

Photo shows a front splitter where film perfectly protected part of it, and the unprotected end's finish became worn right off. The rub strips have been removed and will either be cleaned up or replaced.

What's everyone else up to?

Bruce Hadfield

 

[2013GeeTeeS]

I looked at mine. lol

 

[GTS Dean]

Started getting ready for early Feb track weekend at COTA.

 

[J TNT]

Started getting ready for early Feb track weekend at COTA.

Nice mods , The GTX Tips are a Classic Touch !!!
J TNT

 

[nicholas8]

Started getting ready for early Feb track weekend at COTA.

Do you have any information on that you can share? I would love to eventually get involved doing track days. I have done the longhorn race experience at COTA which was ok but I am sure it is a completely different experience using your own car.

 

[GTS Dean]

What do you need - contact info for the various groups running there? Track prep suggestions? Gear?

Nice mods , The GTX Tips are a Classic Touch !!!
J TNT

 

[nicholas8]

What do you need - contact info for the various groups running there?

Doing a little more searching, I now see there are different groups that have reserved days/times to run out there. I came across Chin Track Days but if you have recommendations to a particular group to get started with I am all ears. Thanks!

 

[GTS Dean]

I am signed up for Chin in Feb. It will be the first time I've run with them, but many friends have and Chin does tracks all over the country. I've only run with Edge Addicts before - 4x at COTA. They run a pretty tight schedule with 5 runs per group per day. They try to get 25min sessions. They have mandatory driver coaching for first-timers to COTA. I checked off for solo after a couple of runs. The instructors all have Garmin Catalyst systems and helmet comms which is nice. The track takes a couple sessions to get the feel for if you've never done any sims (like me). I've got 20+ years of Viper track experience, but I appreciated the check rides at the formidable venue. PM me if you'd like to come hang out either Feb 3 or 4.

 

[capevettes]

I drove my 01 Sapphire GTS over 100 miles yesterday here on Cape Cod. The roads are clear and dry, so why let the calendar spoil things.

 

[Steve-Indy]

It's great that you could drive your fine ride, Paul !!

A couple of nights ago, the forecasters stated that we MIGHT have freezing rain, etc...so the town sent the salt trucks out which I understand. Unfortunately, my short street got a good dose of salt combined with something that left an oil sheen on all of our neighborhood's streets. Needless to say, the Vipers are "sleeping in" at our house.

 

[nicholas8]

Great! Thank you Dean.

 

[maverickagm]

Viper driving season was over in November in Vancouver, BC. I'm doing less interesting work, but since you asked...

On my 93 antenna car, the giant antenna gets in the way of the car cover. I managed to find a Metra 44-STUB antenna that comes with the elusive female 1/4-20 to male 6mm adapter. After installing it, it looked funny. The base, adapter, and antenna all had different diameters. I whipped up a quick design and printed a TPU cover for the bottom section. Now it looks less-aftermarket.

For Christmas I got 2 sets of kicker speakers. They'll fit the stock locations and use the stock grills. I ordered some bass blockers for the door tweeters and some silicon speaker baffles and I am awaiting those parts. I looked up the wiring diagrams and got all the connections drawn out. The stock door speakers are kind of weird. They have a capacitor soldered on them that acts as the bass blocker for the tweeters. I think later years had this spliced inline closer to the tweeter. The front speakers and tweeter are also wired in parallel, but done so at the speaker terminals so at first glance, it's quite confusing until the factory wiring diagram is examined.

I also have a CD changer emulator to install on the stock cassette deck. The head unit can control a 6-CD changer connected via a DIN cable and RCA pair. I have a Yatour YT-M07 that plugs into these instead. It takes a USB stick or SD card loaded with digital files (folders are named CD01...CD06). I also had to get an Alpine 4913 breakout adapter since this head unit uses the RCA cables to receive the audio signal instead of a pair of wires within the DIN cable.

Some might say this is too much effort for a sound system that hardly gets used... but whatever. I just want it to look stock and function well.

Other than that, my autoform roof is slated to be ready by spring!

 

[2013GeeTeeS]

I'm going to charge my battery this weekend. Maybe tonight if I can get the car off the lift. Supposed to be a nasty weekend but if I get some nice hours I may take her for a little drive. Take my mind off the P.OS. Hellcat.

 

[lane_viper]

Plan on heading to Nashville Cars and Coffee at the Nashville Speedway on Sunday. Weather should be cold but sunny at least.

 

[capevettes]

It's great that you could drive your fine ride, Paul !!

A couple of nights ago, the forecasters stated that we MIGHT have freezing rain, etc...so the town sent the salt trucks out which I understand. Unfortunately, my short street got a good dose of salt combined with something that left an oil sheen on all of our neighborhood's streets. Needless to say, the Vipers are "sleeping in" at our house.

Those cursed sanders take all the fun away Steve. All you can do now is pray for rain to wash it away and then dry before it freezes. We are expecting a slushy mess tonight so I am going to get some driving in today.

 

[J TNT]

My Mods for this Year is Full on 9 Liter and TR6060 transmission with Gen 5 Clutch in my 2004 Mamba . I've had the itch for the last 7 years and after Chatting with Dick Winkles decided to Pull the pin .
Coincidentally I asked what were The Plans for a Gen 6 Viper , and he mentioned the 9 liter was what they wanted to do .

 

[Goggles Pizano]

Ahhh,, the no replacement for displacement argument.

 

[Monopoly]

I drove my 01 Sapphire GTS over 100 miles yesterday here on Cape Cod. The roads are clear and dry, so why let the calendar spoil things.

I wish. The streets here are whiter than this forums background with brine and salt shed probably disintegrate as soon as she touched the pavement.

 

[4bangerviperjr]

I started working on my Gen 2 double din conversion. Got a mgw short shifter and sneaky Pete shift knob to go with it. And new ES trans mount and billet bracket. And ipsco PS pulley kit.

 

[Tom and Vipers]

Too cold to work on it.
Could make the piece of copper extension strap for the Blue Sea terminal block I intend to install.
Then there's trying to decide what to do about the dipstick. I could get on the phone and call everyone and their uncle trying to find the right unobtanium.

I'd rather be back in the 80's on the beach at Carlin Park..... alas, but Father Time, that *****, has other things in mind.

 

[GTS Dean]

I gave you all the info you should need to mark your stick correctly. I can't do it for you. If the tube mounts into a boss on the lower block rail, there are only 2 tubes to use. There are only 2 sticks to use each matches either the long or short tube. The FULL level in either the 8, or 10 quart pan is the same either way with the correct stick.

 

[DickDavis]

Working on cosmetic "stuff" between drives. Working with some guys to make new and improved Gen 1 door latch/release moldings. They have turned out really nice but require slight trimming of the door panel.

Bought new stanchions and I'm bummed about the options.

One guy is 3D printing great ones that are well designed but visually they ****. He sold he could have made them with a different plastic that was closer to stock but it would have made them $40 more a set. I'm so tired of the penny pinching cheap mentality.

Bought the other guy's set and although the cover is a perfect match to the original these things are garbage. They don't fit, they don't work well together(each half), they have messy moulding marks and gouges, and so on. And all he could do is blame dodge and tell me they look good when bolted up. No. No they don't.

I will probably remove the stock one(one is cracked), beef them up on back side, fill the crack, and carry on. Disappointing.

So, to blow off steam we drove to Everglades City for Seafood.

 

[GTS Dean]

Do you have any information on that you can share? I would love to eventually get involved doing track days. I have done the longhorn race experience at COTA which was ok but I am sure it is a completely different experience using your own car.

What do you need - contact info for the various groups running there? Track prep suggestions? Gear?

Next event is March 1-2

Edge Addicts | Motorsport Event Management | Circuit of the Americas, Circuit of the Americas Boulevard, Austin, TX, USA

If you love sportscars, and dream in high speed, you have come to the right place. Whether you are totally new to the track, or are a seasoned racer, we have the group for you! Join Edge Addicts at America's only purpose built Formula 1 racetrack, Circuit of The Americas.

www.edgeaddicts.com

 

[Tom and Vipers]

I gave you all the info you should need to mark your stick correctly. I can't do it for you. If the tube mounts into a boss on the lower block rail, there are only 2 tubes to use. There are only 2 sticks to use each matches either the long or short tube. The FULL level in either the 8, or 10 quart pan is the same either way with the correct stick.

I'm not going to sell the car with a "monkeyed" stick. It will have to be proper with OE parts.

I'd like to get the correct stick for my tube which is the "...AB" which does not appear in any of the parts manuals. It has the snap feature which I want to keep especially if that is correct for the car. A stick which slides into the tube to seal will not work since the end of the tube is not flared - it's not even clear that the ID of the AB tube would be correct.

I won't know if the correct stick w/snap can is available until I start calling around all the parts guys. I may have to replace the tube/stick with either the "short" or "long" version. I would like the car to be correct for a 96 GTS - but since it has the late model pan, maybe I should simply get the late model tube/stick which would be consistent with the upgrade too.

 

[darkvoid]

I got my autoform aero in the same day I had surgery on my leg, so it gets to sit there until i recover. Glad most of it is simple install/ bolt on. anxious to cut the rear deck lid to install the wing, but oh well!

Can't wait to get it all installed!

 

[GTS Dean]

Over the past several weeks, I've changed my old 17" CCW Classics to 18" with new (used) lips and barrels. These are the 30 bolt modulars which use 5/16" or 8mm fastener hardwear. 2 of the faces were going to require a lot of polishing even to get them to track quality, so I opted to put them all in a wet bead blaster for a satin finish and to clean all the years of accumulated brake dust. They turned out pretty decent. My old 17's were always a pain to balance tires on, so I bought a cheap bubble balancer off Amazon so I could match-mount the lips to the faces; then the barrels to the face and lip pairs. I even checked using metal vs rubber valve stems and decided to use rubber which weigh 1/3 as much. I used a Sharpie to mark all the parts for each one and they all balanced inside the center ring. This will minimize the amount of balance weight required for the tires when they are mounted.

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The new parts are forged from thicker aluminum so that required 120 new, longer fasteners. The old bolts were 1.25" grade 8. The next standard length is 1.5" which would have stuck out ridiculously past the lock nuts. AN (Mil Spec) fasteners are available in 1/8" step lengths. They have longer grip (shanks) and shorter, consistent fine-thread lengths. They are also QA shipped with Lot# for traceable quality control. The old steel deformed lock nuts required 2 rounds of torquing to 18 lb-ft to settle in.That's 240 times! I think the bead blasted areas were mashing down just a bit under the nuts.

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All set for Hoosier R7 or racing slicks now!

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[2013GeeTeeS]

Changed the battery. The last one was. COVID battery. At least that's what the parts store called it. Said lots made in 2020-2021 are being returned already.

 

[Bruce H.]

Yesterday I received my Gen V side sills and front bumper back from the paint shop, and today took them to my paint protection film shop to wrap before assembling all the bumper grills.

I'm going to have the two front TA splitters refinished and spoke with the local carbon fiber shop owner who produced all the SRT CF pieces for SRT when he was with Multimatic...small world! Then everything can go back on the car and be ready for our summer club events!

 

[viperBase1]

Took her out hunting for orange paint for the intake trim on the Porsche. Seemed appropriate.
Cruising the streets with MASSIVE Viper power always feels sooo good, so smooth.

Orange on Black!

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Gotta keep up with the Viper.

 

[GTS Dean]

6 weeks later, I decided to prep and paint the bare beaded faces with a graphite color. I searched a while for some nut caps to mask 2 wheels' worth so I didn't have to disassemble them for a nice job. Masking the lips took time, but I'll have the other 2 finished this coming weekend if it isn't raining. Saved a lot of money and I made the time for the whole project so they were done right.