Looking to get a Paxton, but will my car hold up?

[Fadi]

What's up guys. I just need to ask one more question before I purchase and install the Paxton.

I drive my car hard, and I drive it a lot. I will most probably put about 15-18K miles/year on the Viper. Now, knowing that, and knowing that I don't baby my car, will a SRT-10 hold up pretty well with a Paxton on it? I don't want to get this thing and have the engine blow on me at 20K miles. I know some of you guys have Paxtons and say that so far, so good. But what about us guys that drive our cars a lot and hard? How will the Viper hold up after so many miles with a Paxton?

Thanks

 

[rleminv]

Fadi, I recently had the Paxton installed on my car and I love it. Recently means I cannot answer how it holds up from personal experience. However I can tell you IN MY EXPERIENCE modifying a primary driver? to this extent may not be the way I would go. I know it is tempting to bolt on that type of horsepower and manufacturers have turbo and s/c versions of their cars. Just knowing it has cast pistons would concern me with your driving style. The engine was not designed internally for a supercharger, turbo or nos. If it was, DC would have probably done it by now. My car will be lucky to see 3000 miles per year. For your peace of mind and reliability don't make it into a hot rod. Hot rods break, its their nature. Look at keeping it normally aspirated and doing some internals including getting it to breathe better. As many put it, just my .02.

Larry

 

[Fadi]

Fadi, I recently had the Paxton installed on my car and I love it. Recently means I cannot answer how it holds up from personal experience. However I can tell you IN MY EXPERIENCE modifying a primary driver? to this extent may not be the way I would go. I know it is tempting to bolt on that type of horsepower and manufacturers have turbo and s/c versions of their cars. Just knowing it has cast pistons would concern me with your driving style. The engine was not designed internally for a supercharger, turbo or nos. If it was, DC would have probably done it by now. My car will be lucky to see 3000 miles per year. For your peace of mind and reliability don't make it into a hot rod. Hot rods break, its their nature. Look at keeping it normally aspirated and doing some internals including getting it to breathe better. As many put it, just my .02.

Larry

Larry, thanks for your input.

I was talking to a few buddies about this and some say "With a Paxton, it is only 6 psi, it will be ok" and some say "With your driving style and the number of miles you intend to put on it, the engine is gonna go sooner than later" so I just thought I would get some opinions from some of you guys.

Unfortunately, I am leaning towards what you just explained. I personally do think that motor will not hold, even with "only" 6 psi, especially given the amount of miles I will put on the Viper and the type of driving I like to do.

Any other opinions?

Thanks again

 

[Fadi]

If I decide to keep it NA and go with a head and cam package for reliability sake:

1) Will the car actually be much more reliable than a SC considering the number of miles I will put on the car and my driving style (I am enjoy racing a lot)?

2) If so, which H/C package do you all recommend?

3) What would be the rwhp gain?

Thanks

 

[SnakeEye]

Paxton is the system for Gen3 so you probably have little to worry about. Look at it this way, you'll likely not have to drive your car nearly as hard with that extra 200+rwhp anyway. It's a blast to be blown, what could you be waiting for? Good luck.

 

[Fadi]

what could you be waiting for? Good luck.

Waiting for people to tell me "No problem, you can have a Paxton on, drive it as hard as you want, as long as you want, and you wont have any problems"..

Remember, I am not putting 5K miles per year on this thing, I am putting atleast 15K miles per year.

 

[onerareviper]

I would consult Dan Craigan. I believe he has a few customers that put a lot of miles on a Paxton, if memory serves. He also does head/cam packages. Unfortunately, us back yard mechanics are probable not going to give you a qualified answer.

BTW - I'm guessing you have a long commute to work. 15K+ in Michigan is a tough task, especially with 4 months of winter.

 

[valentine_viper]

what could you be waiting for? Good luck.

Waiting for people to tell me "No problem, you can have a Paxton on, drive it as hard as you want, as long as you want, and you wont have any problems"..

Remember, I am not putting 5K miles per year on this thing, I am putting atleast 15K miles per year.

My SRT10 is still stock, so I can't comment on the Paxton's impact on a Viper's reliability. However, I have modded numerous other cars to varying levels and one thing has remained constant with all of them; more power = more breakage, period. There is no way around that. If you have the money and alternate transportation, it's just an inconvenience. If your budget is limited, stay stock or go with minimal mods. The car will still be a blast to drive and you won't go broke fixing it. If the car starts to eat you alive financially, you will end up hating it. Plus, the money you spend on mods is money gone. You won't recoupe the doe when you have to sell the car. In fact, it may make the car less valuable than stock.

I'm not saying that it doesn't make sense to mod a Viper. Many have and love the results. I will probably end up modding my own eventually. But remember, power is addictive and it's easy to get in over your head. Don't do more than you can truley afford.

 

[Fadi]

I would consult Dan Craigan. I believe he has a few customers that put a lot of miles on a Paxton, if memory serves. He also does head/cam packages. Unfortunately, us back yard mechanics are probable not going to give you a qualified answer.

BTW - I'm guessing you have a long commute to work. 15K+ in Michigan is a tough task, especially with 4 months of winter.

I actually have a daily driver for work. The Viper is my pleasure car. You are probably wondering how I put so many miles on it given that I live in MI and that it is not my daily driver. When I am not at work and it is not a blizzard out, the car is on the road. I will put atleast 50 miles/day on it comes summer time, and that is without even trying..

I REALLY enjoy driving cars, to an extent that some will call me crazy. But anywho, incase you were wondering, this is how I will manage to put a lot of miles on the Viper, and this is my reasoning to my question initially.

 

[Fadi]

what could you be waiting for? Good luck.

Waiting for people to tell me "No problem, you can have a Paxton on, drive it as hard as you want, as long as you want, and you wont have any problems"..

Remember, I am not putting 5K miles per year on this thing, I am putting atleast 15K miles per year.

My SRT10 is still stock, so I can't comment on the Paxton's impact on a Viper's reliability. However, I have modded numerous other cars to varying levels and one thing has remained constant with all of them; more power = more breakage, period. There is no way around that. If you have the money and alternate transportation, it's just an inconvenience. If your budget is limited, stay stock or go with minimal mods. The car will still be a blast to drive and you won't go broke fixing it. If the car starts to eat you alive financially, you will end up hating it. Plus, the money you spend on mods is money gone. You won't recoupe the doe when you have to sell the car. In fact, it may make the car less valuable than stock.

I'm not saying that it doesn't make sense to mod a Viper. Many have and love the results. I will probably end up modding my own eventually. But remember, power is addictive and it's easy to get in over your head. Don't do more than you can truley afford.

And this is exaclty my worry. How much more reliable will it be if I decided to stick to NA and just do a H/C on my car, keeping in mind my driving conditions?

 

[valentine_viper]

Generally speaking, a H/C package shouldn't diminish reliability very much. Remember though, even a bone stock car is likely to suffer breakage if you drive it the way you have described. To reap the benefits of that mod you will need headers and a free flowing exhaust. Before you know it, your speding just as much as if you went with the Paxton kit and left everything else stock. It's a tough call. More bang for the buck with a Paxton, but potentially less reliability. If you drive the car as much as you say, cost of fuel may also become an issue. A suprcharger plus a heavy foot equals a lot of money spent on gas. A H/C package won't increase fuel usage nearly as much.

 

[Bobpantax]

Hi Fadi. As a research engineer you can certainly appreciate that any increase in power and its subsequent frequent use at the upper end of performance means more stress to the system. This is dealt with by more frequent mainteance and preventitive maintenance. However, the real key to completing an answer to your question is what you mean by your question. You said: "Waiting for people to tell me "No problem, you can have a Paxton on, drive it as hard as you want, as long as you want, and you wont have any problems".."

I do not know what you mean by "drive it as hard as you want". Greater power requires greater respect and precision in your driving. Many on this board, some of them excellent drivers, have experienced an FUE ( Fowled Underwear Event ) while driving a Viper. It happens when the driver forgets, or fails to respect the fact, that a Viper can suddenly, on acceleration, kick out its rear end to the right and that sometimes, for various reasons, the rear end just keeps on going 360 degrees - sometimes more than once. This is also sometimes referred to as being "snake bit". Any increase in power may, subject to suspension modifications, etc., increase the tendancy to kick out the rear on acceleration. Based on what your goals may be and the fact that you are talking about 15 - 18 thousand miles per year, it might be more suitable and safer for you if you leave the car at the stock power levels. Enjoy your Viper.

 

[GR8_ASP]

Based on the mileage stated and your feedback indicating that you would drive it year round makes me very skittish. First, Paxton stated right in their information to not use it at temperatures under 30 degrees. That would be of some concern.

In addition I would hesitate saying that added power and torque would not impact the reliability. Of course it will. Does that mean catastrophic failure in low miles. No, the feedback so far is the system used on a near stock car has been quite reliable. At least in the short term. I do not think you will find info for cars with substantially more than 15k miles, and even then the driving style may be quite different.

Now the whole vehicle is designed around the stock power and torque. That means everything that transfers or reacts that torque will be stressed more. Clutch, trans, diff, suspension, etc in addition to the internal engine components (pistons, rods, crank, etc.). It is doubtful you would ever get a guarantee regarding the overall reliability.

 

[ViperGMC]

I drive my car very hard, at least 30 track days and 20K miles on my Paxton. I pulled my motor over X-Mas and it was in pristine condition, it looked like brand new. That’s impressive. That gave me the confidence to go for my mega build. I would with out any hesitation put that Paxton in and have fun. I drove my careveryday to work, rain or shine and to the track on weekends. Way too much fun.

 

[CCBrian]

Go to a good race school and take a 3 or 4 day course. You will suprised how much faster your Viper got. Brian

 

[YellowViperSRT10]

I would do it. I daily drive my Viper and plan on going with Paxton in the near future.

 

[Fadi]

Thanks a lot guys. It looks like some guys have different views on this, making it even more confusing on my part, lol.

Any more opinions? Thanks to all whho have shared their thoughts on this with me this far.

 

[C.Thomson]

When I decided to go for the Paxton, I questioned a lot of people. One shop has installed over 45 units on new cars, and they have had only one minor problem, and it was not engine related. Some of these cars have over 25,000 miles on them now, still with no problems. Call Gerald at Racing Solutions and ask him about reliability. They do this full time and I am sure he will have some insight.
BTW my car is making 690rwhp completely stock except for the Paxton. It is well worth it!

 

[Ray W]

Fadi, No one can say what your results will be. Everyone's driving habits and care are different. What you are not seeing are all kinds of posts warning of problems with the stock 6psi system.

Long term there aren't any results yet. Worst case senario
the motor gets tired or maybe hurt. Then you send it out to
Levin,R.S.I. or Heffner for the full tilt system.

I would be more concerned about your safety than it's reliabilty.

 

[RichieSRT10]

DLM installed my Paxton. On a stock Viper with 7Lbs you will have a blast. I had the system on my SRT for 5,000 miles and it was great. The whine from the S/C is very low at part throttle. Very stock sounding until it is opened up. Then it sounds great. Being a horsepower ****** I had to continue to mod my Viper. Fadi go for the Paxton. Then get some decent tires. Then kick some ZO6 ass & post the video. Good Luck & did I mention go for the Paxton.

 

[Fadi]

DLM installed my Paxton. On a stock Viper with 7Lbs you will have a blast. I had the system on my SRT for 5,000 miles and it was great. The whine from the S/C is very low at part throttle. Very stock sounding until it is opened up. Then it sounds great. Being a horsepower ****** I had to continue to mod my Viper. Fadi go for the Paxton. Then get some decent tires. Then kick some ZO6 ass & post the video. Good Luck & did I mention go for the Paxton.

Thanks everyone. I keep on going back and forth with this decision. I want the Paxton so bad, but i don't want things to go wrong too soon either. I don't know, i am confused. I will keep you all updated.