V10 PWRD
Viper Owner
Haven't had a chance to sit down until now and relate one of the most fun hands on "tech trainings" I've experienced in a long time. The headgasket issues of Gen 1's had me a little nervous about trusting the car on any long trips. My 94 just turned 20000 miles. I finally took the plunge and bought new MLS headgaskets from 65 Cuda who happened to have an extra set, then called Chuck for the remaining gaskets and parts I needed. Received those and then called Adam for the AB wires with heat shields. What a great guy to deal with. He said since this was the first time I ordered from him he was going to throw in a set of stock plugs. No payment up front and sent me an invoice with the wires. Only in the Viper Club do we have trusting guys like Chuck Tator and Adam.
Since I haven't really turned wrenches in a major tear down I contacted a great club memeber in my NoVA area, jdeft1, who had done 3 Gen 1's and asked him if he would be interested in doing mine. I went over to his place when he did his over a year ago to see what was involved. I kept my fingers crossed he would say yes. Jim said he would be glad to do the job so we set up last Sunday since he's off to tackle the job. 65 Cuda, Curtis, showed up and I brought my son and a buddy along and all of us started the task that morning. Imagine...3 red Gen 1's in the yard at the same time! (My son's best buddy did a lot of the work and when the old guys got to the 120 ft lbs torques we used the young guys muscle.) Pulled the hood off and started unbolting everything. Got down to the headgaskets which really didn't look bad. Just the edges appeared to have been seeping. Nothing near the pistons.
To make a long story short the car was back together and I was driving it home about 7:00 PM. We took the hood off about 9:45 AM. Jim had the cowl and wipers already off and the cooling system drained.
We burped the system and off I went. I am feeling greatly relieved that the job is done and the worries are gone. I can now plan some extended trips without getting out and smelling hot antifreeze at times. Never saw a drip or any wet spots but at times the smell was there.
My many thanks and heartfelt gratitude to Jim, Curtis, Blake and Greg Jr for the labor and time spent in helping to complete this task. As Jim said it's not a hard job to do but it is a PIA. What we did find was that it sure makes it easier and a whole lot of fun when there are Viper nut guys present that help out. We had a great day on a beautiful Sunday and I believe everyone there learned something new.
The only thing I forgot to do was wear my new "Tator's Garage" tee shirt Chuck sent me.
Thanks again to everyone involved in this job that I mentioned. We've almost decided we might even offer to do it again one day if a member needs a gasket change in Northern Va.
What a great club and there are some great Viper owners around that still get their hands dirty and don't have their noses higher than usual.
Thanks again to everyone.
Greg
Since I haven't really turned wrenches in a major tear down I contacted a great club memeber in my NoVA area, jdeft1, who had done 3 Gen 1's and asked him if he would be interested in doing mine. I went over to his place when he did his over a year ago to see what was involved. I kept my fingers crossed he would say yes. Jim said he would be glad to do the job so we set up last Sunday since he's off to tackle the job. 65 Cuda, Curtis, showed up and I brought my son and a buddy along and all of us started the task that morning. Imagine...3 red Gen 1's in the yard at the same time! (My son's best buddy did a lot of the work and when the old guys got to the 120 ft lbs torques we used the young guys muscle.) Pulled the hood off and started unbolting everything. Got down to the headgaskets which really didn't look bad. Just the edges appeared to have been seeping. Nothing near the pistons.
To make a long story short the car was back together and I was driving it home about 7:00 PM. We took the hood off about 9:45 AM. Jim had the cowl and wipers already off and the cooling system drained.
We burped the system and off I went. I am feeling greatly relieved that the job is done and the worries are gone. I can now plan some extended trips without getting out and smelling hot antifreeze at times. Never saw a drip or any wet spots but at times the smell was there.
My many thanks and heartfelt gratitude to Jim, Curtis, Blake and Greg Jr for the labor and time spent in helping to complete this task. As Jim said it's not a hard job to do but it is a PIA. What we did find was that it sure makes it easier and a whole lot of fun when there are Viper nut guys present that help out. We had a great day on a beautiful Sunday and I believe everyone there learned something new.
The only thing I forgot to do was wear my new "Tator's Garage" tee shirt Chuck sent me.
Thanks again to everyone involved in this job that I mentioned. We've almost decided we might even offer to do it again one day if a member needs a gasket change in Northern Va.
What a great club and there are some great Viper owners around that still get their hands dirty and don't have their noses higher than usual.
Thanks again to everyone.
Greg
