hey folks! this might not make too much sense at first, but, I'll just say that I purchased a Renault 16 (1967) last year and I've been literally struggling finding parts and any sort of help in fixing that car.... and literally nobody wants to help! I did some skimming through the other posts on this forum and I'm thrilled to see that the viper community is so big and helpful!
long story short.. I'm living in Romania, Eastern Europe, and I've been a car enthusiast ever since my dad bought me some car models back in the 90's - first one was a blue/white Viper, so I had to have it at some point.. feeling a little bit sad that I got it 2 years after his passing, but it's by far the nicest car I've ever driven in my entire life. And by nicest I don't mean the most comfortable one, but the scariest one - and that's what I'm looking for in a car. I also have a 2018 challenger hellcat and a few other cars that are probably not worth mentioning
from my previous experience with the Challenger (I toasted 3 clutch kits from Mantic), sourcing parts is a nightmare. I have to wait for about 1.5 months for stuff to be delivered into Romania from the US and clear customs. anyway, enough said..
I found the Viper for sale in Feb in Staten Island, it was listed for $70k (25k miles), non negotiable, it has SVP (?) headers, a muffler delete.... and I'm not sure if it still has cats because the exhaust reeks of gas smell. I'll definitely take a look as soon as I lift it up, but if it does have cats, 100% i will delete them.. I want it to be as loud as humanly possible.
so.... I got it, since it was the only one for sale at the time. It got here on May 10 and I've already put around 250 miles on it but my tags expired so right now it's sitting quietly in my garage waiting for parts.... what parts? well.... this is what I was actually hoping to get some feedback/help on
1) is this shifter position normal (see photo below)? I know that in my Hellcat (it's also a manual), the shifter sits in Neutral as if it's in other cars' 1st gear, but this one is weird, it feels like the actual shifter is rotated around its axis clockwise, if that makes sense..
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2) the aforementioned problematic shifter doesn't want to spring back in the 'classic' Neutral position, between 3rd and 4th. if I put it in 5th or 6th and then pull it out, it will spring back, but if I drag it towards myself to put it in 1st or 2nd, it won't go back between 3rd and 4th. Any ideas what could be wrong with it?
3) sometimes (10%?) when I drive the car normally and try to change to 3rd gear, it feels like the shifter doesn't go in all the way. Upon releasing the clutch (slowly), I start hearing grinding noises and it pops out. Guessing the least invasive fix for this would be to change the engine & gearbox mounts (does anyone know where I could get some?) and if this doesn't fix it, maybe 3rd synchro/gear needs to be replaced?
4) what felt super weird was that if I try to change 3rd to 4th, sometimes I end up putting it in 2nd. So to change from 3rd to 4th, I need to drag the shifter down to Neutral and then slightly to the right and down into 4th. Is there something wrong with my car or is it 'standard' Viper behavior?
5) car was advertised as having a 'race clutch'. I couldn't lift it (yet) to see what is underneath, but I actually dislike the clutch SO MUCH. The first 2-3" of the pedal feel dead, and it engages at the very bottom which is really problematic because I'm 5'7". It also makes a really bad rattling sound when sitting in Neutral at idle. I got the same ugly sound on my challenger from the stupid Mantic clutch/flywheel that it has. Question.... from what I've read, OEM flywheels are no longer produced? What would be the best replacement for the entire assembly? I think I can get the Luk clutch.. but then I think I also need a slave cylinder, an actuator.. and what about the flywheel? Is anyone running Fidanza? I've heard mixed feedback because it weighs 1/2 of the OEM flywheel..
6) what oil are you guys using? I would like to change the gearbox oil hoping to get rid of the ugly NGR and I also need to fill up the engine with oil, but again some people are using 10w40, others are saying 10w30.
7) oil filters? Mopar part 5037836AB? I read that a dedicated Viper oil filter with a special valve is needed?
8) brakes felt a little weird during my last drive with the car, the pedal went soft, which was really weird because I had not abused the brakes before and up until that point, the pedal was hard as a rock. Thinking about bleeding them/filling up the brake fluid, or could there be another issue somewhere that I haven't thought about?
9) car seems to be throwing some blue smoke when lifting off the gas, my mechanic recommended to change the engine valve stem oil seal (part #53009887 and #53009886 x 10 each) and the gasket valve cover (part 5245095 x 2). did anyone else go through the same thing?
10) this little pulley thingy seems to be the plastic version, so I'm guessing I need to upgrade it to the metal one?
11) has anyone changed the control arm bushings? I don't know if mine were ever replaced, but I found some for sale locally, so not sure if they're worth buying?
12) my understanding is that the cooling fan setup on late gen 2's is much better than the one that I have. My temp gauge sits a little bit over the 190 mark, so not sure if this upgrade is needed..
13) any other upgrades that I should be looking at?
I don't know if the Viper was too overpriced (with shipping, taxes, customs fees, VAT, etc, I ended up paying 6 figures for it) given these small issues, but leaving them aside, it is really scary to drive - much scarier than my 850 hp manual hellcat - and this is exactly what I am looking for in a 'weekend' car. It's got R888's so when the tyres warm up, it is glued to the road, but I did make the mistake to floor it once at night when they were cold and I nearly lost it - lesson learned there.
last but not least.. a few pics with it
ibb.co
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long story short.. I'm living in Romania, Eastern Europe, and I've been a car enthusiast ever since my dad bought me some car models back in the 90's - first one was a blue/white Viper, so I had to have it at some point.. feeling a little bit sad that I got it 2 years after his passing, but it's by far the nicest car I've ever driven in my entire life. And by nicest I don't mean the most comfortable one, but the scariest one - and that's what I'm looking for in a car. I also have a 2018 challenger hellcat and a few other cars that are probably not worth mentioning
from my previous experience with the Challenger (I toasted 3 clutch kits from Mantic), sourcing parts is a nightmare. I have to wait for about 1.5 months for stuff to be delivered into Romania from the US and clear customs. anyway, enough said..
I found the Viper for sale in Feb in Staten Island, it was listed for $70k (25k miles), non negotiable, it has SVP (?) headers, a muffler delete.... and I'm not sure if it still has cats because the exhaust reeks of gas smell. I'll definitely take a look as soon as I lift it up, but if it does have cats, 100% i will delete them.. I want it to be as loud as humanly possible.
so.... I got it, since it was the only one for sale at the time. It got here on May 10 and I've already put around 250 miles on it but my tags expired so right now it's sitting quietly in my garage waiting for parts.... what parts? well.... this is what I was actually hoping to get some feedback/help on
1) is this shifter position normal (see photo below)? I know that in my Hellcat (it's also a manual), the shifter sits in Neutral as if it's in other cars' 1st gear, but this one is weird, it feels like the actual shifter is rotated around its axis clockwise, if that makes sense..
Whats-App-Image-2025-06-16-at-22-27-15-255c8341 hosted at ImgBB
Image Whats-App-Image-2025-06-16-at-22-27-15-255c8341 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co
2) the aforementioned problematic shifter doesn't want to spring back in the 'classic' Neutral position, between 3rd and 4th. if I put it in 5th or 6th and then pull it out, it will spring back, but if I drag it towards myself to put it in 1st or 2nd, it won't go back between 3rd and 4th. Any ideas what could be wrong with it?
3) sometimes (10%?) when I drive the car normally and try to change to 3rd gear, it feels like the shifter doesn't go in all the way. Upon releasing the clutch (slowly), I start hearing grinding noises and it pops out. Guessing the least invasive fix for this would be to change the engine & gearbox mounts (does anyone know where I could get some?) and if this doesn't fix it, maybe 3rd synchro/gear needs to be replaced?
4) what felt super weird was that if I try to change 3rd to 4th, sometimes I end up putting it in 2nd. So to change from 3rd to 4th, I need to drag the shifter down to Neutral and then slightly to the right and down into 4th. Is there something wrong with my car or is it 'standard' Viper behavior?
5) car was advertised as having a 'race clutch'. I couldn't lift it (yet) to see what is underneath, but I actually dislike the clutch SO MUCH. The first 2-3" of the pedal feel dead, and it engages at the very bottom which is really problematic because I'm 5'7". It also makes a really bad rattling sound when sitting in Neutral at idle. I got the same ugly sound on my challenger from the stupid Mantic clutch/flywheel that it has. Question.... from what I've read, OEM flywheels are no longer produced? What would be the best replacement for the entire assembly? I think I can get the Luk clutch.. but then I think I also need a slave cylinder, an actuator.. and what about the flywheel? Is anyone running Fidanza? I've heard mixed feedback because it weighs 1/2 of the OEM flywheel..
6) what oil are you guys using? I would like to change the gearbox oil hoping to get rid of the ugly NGR and I also need to fill up the engine with oil, but again some people are using 10w40, others are saying 10w30.
7) oil filters? Mopar part 5037836AB? I read that a dedicated Viper oil filter with a special valve is needed?
8) brakes felt a little weird during my last drive with the car, the pedal went soft, which was really weird because I had not abused the brakes before and up until that point, the pedal was hard as a rock. Thinking about bleeding them/filling up the brake fluid, or could there be another issue somewhere that I haven't thought about?
9) car seems to be throwing some blue smoke when lifting off the gas, my mechanic recommended to change the engine valve stem oil seal (part #53009887 and #53009886 x 10 each) and the gasket valve cover (part 5245095 x 2). did anyone else go through the same thing?
10) this little pulley thingy seems to be the plastic version, so I'm guessing I need to upgrade it to the metal one?
11) has anyone changed the control arm bushings? I don't know if mine were ever replaced, but I found some for sale locally, so not sure if they're worth buying?
12) my understanding is that the cooling fan setup on late gen 2's is much better than the one that I have. My temp gauge sits a little bit over the 190 mark, so not sure if this upgrade is needed..
13) any other upgrades that I should be looking at?
I don't know if the Viper was too overpriced (with shipping, taxes, customs fees, VAT, etc, I ended up paying 6 figures for it) given these small issues, but leaving them aside, it is really scary to drive - much scarier than my 850 hp manual hellcat - and this is exactly what I am looking for in a 'weekend' car. It's got R888's so when the tyres warm up, it is glued to the road, but I did make the mistake to floor it once at night when they were cold and I nearly lost it - lesson learned there.
last but not least.. a few pics with it
499473382-9724211227668628-2222545290692228167-n hosted at ImgBB
Image 499473382-9724211227668628-2222545290692228167-n hosted in ImgBB
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499761280-9724210997668651-8151891901070570216-n hosted at ImgBB
Image 499761280-9724210997668651-8151891901070570216-n hosted in ImgBB
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499546828-9724211827668568-2594844555639776269-n hosted at ImgBB
Image 499546828-9724211827668568-2594844555639776269-n hosted in ImgBB
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499716375-9724210624335355-2432291044457549031-n hosted at ImgBB
Image 499716375-9724210624335355-2432291044457549031-n hosted in ImgBB
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