New Viper owner....shifter getting hot???

Hi,
I am a new owner of 2004 dodge viper convertible. It got 41k miles on it. After driving for like 20-30 min, I notice heat coming from the shifter area, it gets hot. Is it normal??? Any suggestions or ideas to lower the heat? Its nothing major, but I want to make sure everything is ok

Yep, they will get hot. The trans tunnel has plenty of warm air from the engine bay running through it, so it can get warm. It's heat shielded from the factory, but it's still got a lot of heat to deal with. There is a rubber boot under the leather boot that often gets torn. That can let more warm air in and make it heat up faster. Not terrible to replace. It's riveted in from the factory, but I put riv-nuts in when I replaced mine so it would be easier if I ever had to do it again.

Thanks! Do you have instructions how to replace the rubber boot etc? That would be great

It's a bit of a write-up, but the short version is you take out the tunnel trim pieces. I'll see how good my memory is though.

1. Remove trim ring around the shifter (I think it's 6 allen head bolts).
2. Remove shift knob
3. Lift up at the back of the top panel that the shift ring attaches to (has the ash tray recess built in and the window switches). It's just held in by clips, so it might take a bit to get it to pop, but it will. Don't lift it all the way though, there are some electrical connections you'll have to reach in to unplug.
4. Unplug window switches and cigarette lighter.
5. Slide panel up and forward a bit to get it off the emergency brake handle (will help to have the brake engaged so the handle points more up than forward).

At this point you should be able to see the rubber boot, but it will be tough to drill out rivets without removing the rest of the tunnel.

6. Open the arm rest compartment and remove the 4 larger phillips screws you see in there. Not the torx screws as those hold the compartment lid.
7. Remove two more phillips screws at the back of the tunnel on the sides (one on each side).
8. I believe at this point the whole tunnel should be loose. Unplug the wiring harness that connects to the power port in the arm rest compartment.
9. At this point you need to be careful to not scratch up the dash, but you should be able to slide the tunnel piece back some, then lift at the front and pull it out by pulling forward and up.

This should leave you a totally bare tunnel. Easy to get to the rivets on the boot now. It sounds like a lot of steps, but in reality it's probably only 15 minutes at most to get the thing off. I've done it enough times messing with other stuff I'm probably down to 5 minutes or less now.

thanks bro...I will give it a try this weekend!