Calling all Viper history guys! Easy question!

[Mopar Boy]

So, I have heard many rumors over the years about Lambo designing the Viper due to the fact that Chrysler owned them at the time.

So I guess the question is, how much of the original Viper was actually designed by Lambo? What did Dodge cover?

Thanks!

Robert

 

[got one]

I was told they had influence on the original engine...the extent though, I don't know. Winkles would know more

 

[RTED]

The Conners Ave Viper plant tour video indicated that Lambo was involved in the original engine design. There were issues with the hood clearance so Dodge took over the final designs of the engine. It appears that based on this information, Lambo was in the picture.

 

[Dom426h]

I Love setting people straight on this one. Everyonecinawhile some tool will come up to me and say "hey bet u didnt know that lamborgini designed your viper..."

Chrysler originally designed the CAST IRON V10 to be used in the RAM in 1992. Looking for the cheapest solution to power the low budjet viper they wanted to just throw the V10 in there. But an IRON block&heads are too heavy for a sportscar, you need Aluminum. Having little experience in Casting with Aluminum Alloys Chrysler consulted with Lamborgini(who they owned) to cast the existing Chrysler design to Aluminum. Period. Thats it

...well atleast thats how I tell the story

Id be interested in posting this in the GrailKeeper Section to see if he has any more specifics.

 

[Ratical2]

Robert, as mentioned Lambo was involved in the engine development. See the grail keeper's comments.

http://forums.viperclub.org/grail-trail/618230-v-10-a.html

 

[GBS]

I Love setting people straight on this one. Everyonecinawhile some tool will come up to me and say "hey bet u didnt know that lamborgini designed your viper..."

Chrysler originally designed the CAST IRON V10 to be used in the RAM in 1992. Looking for the cheapest solution to power the low budjet viper they wanted to just throw the V10 in there. But an IRON block&heads are too heavy for a sportscar, you need Aluminum. Having little experience in Casting with Aluminum Alloys Chrysler consulted with Lamborgini(who they owned) to cast the existing Chrysler design to Aluminum. Period. Thats it

...well atleast thats how I tell the story

Id be interested in posting this in the GrailKeeper Section to see if he has any more specifics.

A friend of mine was a Chrysler engineer at the time and this account matches up with what he told me.

 

[bloose]

Winkles recently spoke at an MVCO event and specifically mentioned Lambo work on design of the water jackets to accomplish extremely consistent temperatures (within 3 deg.) over the length of the block.

 

[gb66gth]

dom462h has the account straight from everything I've read over the years (i.e. translating the iron block & heads into aluminium)

 

[Mopar Boy]

Interesting.

So Lambo was limited to engine work and not chassis/suspension design?

 

[C-Note]

Interesting.

So Lambo was limited to engine work and not chassis/suspension design?

And that would be why the Gen one was such a rough ride, dodge
ram suspension as well

 

[RTTTTed]

I added what I'd heard while the Viper was still in process of being designed to the GKs thread so that he can correct me if what I was told was incorrect.

The Viper was designed with help of Carrol Shelby (not one mentioned this???) and it was "back to big motor and light car" basics. The body design was using AC/ Cobra simplicity and the Daytona coupe design body shape. If you search it's easy to see the similarities between early sixties race car and late ninties Vipers. Since the original front suspension was the front susp. of a Dakota pickup to be able to withstand the adverse effects of racing there was no Lamborghini involved in the design. The car was the first in History to go from Concept car to actual production car in only 3 years was the Viper.

Airconditioning was one of the first upgrades. Aluminium A arms were invented specifically for the Gen 2 Viper as the GTS was designed to race GT in Europe. Rear exhaust for europe and hardtop for Grand Prix. I understood that the Gen aluminium block castings were failures (and read that many of the first few Gen 2 blocks failed so the Comp Coupe race engine blocks came in all Gen 2s.

That's my $.02 worth of Viper history.

Ted

 

[Viper4Christ]

Interesting.

So Lambo was limited to engine work and not chassis/suspension design?

What most people dont know is Lambo never filled their required builds...not even close. The contract was for 5 complete running engines, what ended up coming through was two half built short blocks and a pile of parts and a bunch of excuses on where it wasn't completed. Shortly after that ties were cut between Crystler and Lambo. If you look into the complete history the Viper almost never happened, and the main reason for its exsistance is because Bob Lutz couldn't find a decent engine to stuff in his cobra at the time. So he got with his buddies and a few years later out came the Viper concept in 89 and production of 244 units in 92.