So I've hit a fork in the road with mods for my gen III. I'm considering upgrading the cam and porting the head which several people on here have hit 620-640 rwhp with a Greg Good head job. For about the same price, maybe a tad more I could have a Paxton installed with pretty close to the same power. I don't want anything crazy with the car so I'd be happy with low 600s at the wheels since in my opinion it's a pretty good sweet spot for a street car without having much traction issues. It's also a good number cost wise since you don't have to upgrade the pistons, clutch etc. Which route did you guys go and why? The only disadvantage I can think of with the Paxton would be that the car would be heavier, maybe 50 pounds and possibly less reliable vs an n/a car? What do you guys think?
Heads/Cam or Paxton?
- Thread starter Vipes
- Start date
FWIW, Todd at A&C currently has my heads for some port work. I just don't think anything sounds better than a healthy N/A car. I spent about as much as a paxton, but I also bought some stuff that isn't needed for a heads/cam job (short throw shifter, motor/trans mounts, plug wires). I'm also doing all the work myself (saves a couple grand) so I should come in a little under what a paxton costs.
tito#14srt
Enthusiast
If your only shooting for 600ish whp I say go N/A. You could spray 150shot later
I did on my ram srt10 with stock internals just make sure you have a good nos tune.
I did on my ram srt10 with stock internals just make sure you have a good nos tune.Paul Hawker
Enthusiast
Low Boost Super charger Vs Heads/Cam packages are totally different beasts, except for the prices and power produced being fairly the same.
The will drive different, sound different, produce totally different driver experiences, make power at different points, and generally be two different animals.
I had a Paxton on my 03, and it drove like a ***** cat until the revs came up. It idle was like stock, and driving at low revs you hardly knew it was there from inside the cockpit. It just ran like a well tuned stock car. When the revs came up, but power built right along with the revs. Great fun, reliable, easy to put back to stock, fairly inexpensive, great fuel economy (unless romping on it) and provided trouble free cruising and blasting for thousands and thousands of miles.
I drove a club members heads/cam package, and it was a totally different beast. It sounded mean, idle was lumpy and felt like it wanted to explode. It had a race car vibe, and let you know you had a monster under the throttle. It revved quickly, and was one of the loudest Vipers i have been in. It fried the tires from throttle tip in until the shift light came on. It guzzled fuel, but the payback was super throttle response, and the ability to shred tires at your command.
Now others have different packages with their own setups, but this has been my experience.
The Gen IV's and V's do not currently have easy supercharger availability, however lots of tuners offer significant power increases and run up the fun factor with heads, cams, intakes and exhaust systems that will give you all the throttle your tires and suspension can cope with.
The will drive different, sound different, produce totally different driver experiences, make power at different points, and generally be two different animals.
I had a Paxton on my 03, and it drove like a ***** cat until the revs came up. It idle was like stock, and driving at low revs you hardly knew it was there from inside the cockpit. It just ran like a well tuned stock car. When the revs came up, but power built right along with the revs. Great fun, reliable, easy to put back to stock, fairly inexpensive, great fuel economy (unless romping on it) and provided trouble free cruising and blasting for thousands and thousands of miles.
I drove a club members heads/cam package, and it was a totally different beast. It sounded mean, idle was lumpy and felt like it wanted to explode. It had a race car vibe, and let you know you had a monster under the throttle. It revved quickly, and was one of the loudest Vipers i have been in. It fried the tires from throttle tip in until the shift light came on. It guzzled fuel, but the payback was super throttle response, and the ability to shred tires at your command.
Now others have different packages with their own setups, but this has been my experience.
The Gen IV's and V's do not currently have easy supercharger availability, however lots of tuners offer significant power increases and run up the fun factor with heads, cams, intakes and exhaust systems that will give you all the throttle your tires and suspension can cope with.
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Heads and cam. Car will look virtually stock and you wont have to cut or ad anything extra, that you would with a paxton. Plus, if you ever track, you wont have to worry about heat soak. Can always add a paxton later on for more power.
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ACPERFORMANCE
Viper Owner
Heads and cam.
The positives....nothing to break..sounds much meaner.
Definitely more explosive especially at part throttle...1/4..1/2...done properly, they are very hard to beat from a fun, reliability, and power all in one package..
Paxtons will have a higher potential for bigger numbers if thats where your aiming, But if it were me and i thought i would POSSIBLY one day go that direction..i would still do heads and cam...i just wouldnt shave the heads for added compression.
Todd
A&C Performance
25851 Jefferson Ave
Murrieta, Ca 92562
[email protected]
1-951-696-0500
The positives....nothing to break..sounds much meaner.
Definitely more explosive especially at part throttle...1/4..1/2...done properly, they are very hard to beat from a fun, reliability, and power all in one package..
Paxtons will have a higher potential for bigger numbers if thats where your aiming, But if it were me and i thought i would POSSIBLY one day go that direction..i would still do heads and cam...i just wouldnt shave the heads for added compression.
Todd
A&C Performance
25851 Jefferson Ave
Murrieta, Ca 92562
[email protected]
1-951-696-0500
I was under the impression heads and cam didn't necessarily change up the sound/idle that much. I could see idle changing more with a cam swap since they have quite a bit of control over that, but I didn't think either would make much difference from a volume standpoint. Been debating heads and a cam myself for a while after seeing those same good 600+ hp results. Always liked the idea of power all the time whenever you want it as opposed to any sort of boost issues. One of these days I'm sure I'll probably pull the trigger, but I should probably pay the car off first, lol.
In my personal experience after a cammed viper...head and cammed corvette....supercharged nsx and supercharged camaro..
The head and cammed cars are faster.
I'd put money on it that in the quarter mile a 600 rwhp head and cammed gen3 will run a 10.9 @ 131 mph while a 650 rwhp paxtoned gen 3 will run a slower 11.3 at 128 mph.
That's only one side of the coin. A botched head and cam job will destroy your engine fast. I've seen it several times. My last gen3 viper had a botched cam job. It dynoed 555 rwhp the day of the install and then each week more and more problems.
The engine was ripped open after complete failure to find that the install was done incorrectly.
If the install is done correctly then big immediate power is your friend. My 555 rwhp pulled like a ***** ape.
But upon resale of your vehicle many will shy away from a head and cammed vehicle or offer you no more than the stock equivalent.
The supercharged aproach won't be quite as fast or the power guite as immediate. But superchargers just bolt on in comparison to head and cammed jobs and there's much less room for error.
Also upon resale supercharged cars demand a higher resale price than stockers.
Or what I did is take the supercharger off my nsx and my viper and sold the cars for fair price as stockers. Then I sold the superchargers in both cases for more than the used prices I purchased them for.
Imho head and camm is better if you pay the coin for a very professional install and you plan to keep the car indefiently. Also its still just worrying about oil and gas just like you currently do.
When you supercharge its like you have two seperate entities that rely on eachother that you must constabtly moniter.
On top of that 650 won't feel as fast as you think it should and you'll spend more money on smaller pullies and cooler intake chargers. Youll have retunes ect to hit
The head and cammed cars are faster.
I'd put money on it that in the quarter mile a 600 rwhp head and cammed gen3 will run a 10.9 @ 131 mph while a 650 rwhp paxtoned gen 3 will run a slower 11.3 at 128 mph.
That's only one side of the coin. A botched head and cam job will destroy your engine fast. I've seen it several times. My last gen3 viper had a botched cam job. It dynoed 555 rwhp the day of the install and then each week more and more problems.
The engine was ripped open after complete failure to find that the install was done incorrectly.
If the install is done correctly then big immediate power is your friend. My 555 rwhp pulled like a ***** ape.
But upon resale of your vehicle many will shy away from a head and cammed vehicle or offer you no more than the stock equivalent.
The supercharged aproach won't be quite as fast or the power guite as immediate. But superchargers just bolt on in comparison to head and cammed jobs and there's much less room for error.
Also upon resale supercharged cars demand a higher resale price than stockers.
Or what I did is take the supercharger off my nsx and my viper and sold the cars for fair price as stockers. Then I sold the superchargers in both cases for more than the used prices I purchased them for.
Imho head and camm is better if you pay the coin for a very professional install and you plan to keep the car indefiently. Also its still just worrying about oil and gas just like you currently do.
When you supercharge its like you have two seperate entities that rely on eachother that you must constabtly moniter.
On top of that 650 won't feel as fast as you think it should and you'll spend more money on smaller pullies and cooler intake chargers. Youll have retunes ect to hit
Nine Ball
Enthusiast
I wouldn't do another Paxton on a stock engine. Mine made 674 but felt laggy and would get drug on the highway by cars making less peak rwhp. The external fuel pumps and FMU setup are garbage and have no throttle response. A good 600 rwhp heads/cam setup would be more fun to drive, and have much better throttle response.
Now, if you want to shoot for 800+ rwhp on a forged engine, then the Paxton at that power level is in its sweet spot. Any less than that, and it is laggy and not happy.
Now, if you want to shoot for 800+ rwhp on a forged engine, then the Paxton at that power level is in its sweet spot. Any less than that, and it is laggy and not happy.
Both NA and SC packages can work really well with the right combination of parts. With an NA package, anything over 580rwhp will require a camshaft profile that will sacrifice the low speed driveability. I have found that camshafts with good low speed cylinder pressure, the right gear and proper tuning will make a really fun driving car. 550rwhp seems to be the sweet spot for an all around daily driver.
JAY
Enthusiast
Thanks for all the great info and sharing your insights ! 
