I own a 2000 GTS, Roe blown (5 lbs) with rollers, smooth tubes and exhaust work. I am not going to be able to tell you what you can get with a stock 1994 Gen1, but I can answer some of your questions.
I have watched with some degree of curiosity as this Viper community has seemed to seperate itself into four distinctly different pieces. All of it goodness.
Those that keep their cars purposefully stock, as in no mods.
Those that do the light mods, smooth tubes, filters, maybe an airbox, cat-back, wheels, etc. Pretty much folks that want to do small mods themselves for the fun of it, or they don't trust anybody else to work on their car. Some have their shop do these mods.
Those that do the heavy mods, blowers, NOS, turbos, heads, full exhaust, rear-ends, VECS, etc. Whether or not they did the work themselves, they will not tune their own Vipers.
Those that do the heavy mods AND master their VECS, EASE, etc., etc. The last group appears to be the guys/gals turning in the lowest numbers and answering the majority of the tech threads.
I was in the third group having done everything but the rockers myself and looking now to master the VEC and the art of the super tune. So with that in mind.
1. Your last question first. If one is really anal about their work, the VEC3 unit goes on in about two hours. The operations required are simply and straight forward. The directions are good. Your conversations with Roe when you order the unit provides you with the right card to "set it up" from the get go. The assembly and installation is clean, logical and easily accomplished by a reasonably hands-on person. You will crimp, and potentially add and remove pins from connectors, you might solder. All work is in the engine bay. The end result looks clean.
2. How much horsepower increase? Well, now it gets more intersting. Simply put (very simply put so people in group 4 please don't get **********)one can see the VEC as allowing for complete control over how much each individual injector injects into the cylinder and how the engine will go about firing that cylinder off. Now there is something else you need to know about the VEC, when you know it,you'll know more than most and be well on your way to mastering your own Viper. With all the control that the VEC can provide, one of the most important things it can do is to take a heavily moded engine and workin with the stock PCM "cut-back" on those mods so that for 99.5% of the time those mods are running at near stock values. In other words, up to WOT your car idles, drives and performs as if it was stock. When the stock PCM (being manipulated by the VEC) manages the car for everything up to WOT, this is called Closed-Loop. When you enter into Open-Loop the VEC takes more control and manages most effectively all the mods to their max potential while looking after the integrity of your motor. That is the simplest explanation. You know your tune, your car runs "normally" in Closed-Loop, and in Open-Loop you get safe maximazation.
So why use a VEC on a stock motor? If you master the VEC you can absolutely maximize your engines performance. You can (with WB) get absolute readings. The best tune that can be had. For a mostly stock car, get the best out of your mods. And then....well then you can get your car in Open-Loop to run as hot as is safely recommended. Maximazation of WOT for the stocker.
Hope this helps. Let the flaming begin!
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