new Viper owner

[ssssssnake]

I just wanted to introduce myself to the board, Just bought a 2001 GTS (new) a few weeks ago. Picture should be up shortly.

I have loved Vipers my whole life and finally bought one. I am pretty young for a Viper owner (26) and am looking forward to mod info etc. If there are any So Cal Viper owners on the board let me know. I am looking forward to the events.

My GTS is totally stock (not for long) and it seems like the first mod should be smooth intake tubes and filters. Any help or info on mods is appreciated.

Thx Mark

 

[toddt]

ssssssnake-- Welcome to the world of Viper!

It's a much younger world than it used to be, so you'll probably notice that there are many younger viper pilots here.

First thing you'll want to do is get onto a curved freeway onramp and FLOOR IT BABY! Watch how it sticks to that pavement!

Just kidding. You'll probably die if you do that.

I just taped out a chip so I'm in a funky mood, forgive me please.

 

[Snake Bitten]

Mark,

Did you just need a list?

 

[CAP]

Congratulations.

Southern California Viper Club is hosting a cruise (with buffet) to Santa Barbara on Saturday, June 15. There may still be some room (in the limited space parking lot).

Contact [email protected]

 

[slaughterj]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ssssssnake:
My GTS is totally stock (not for long) and it seems like the first mod should be smooth intake tubes and filters. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You are correct. There are many places to buy these from, see e.g., Sean Roe's (roeracing.com) selection of products: http://www.roeracing.com/index.html?token=1936349456-1169663415-26047023&A=2&B=Dodge%20Viper%20Parts%20and%20Upgrades

 

[2charmed]

Where in SD are you?
There are several of us down here, I'm in Chula Vista and have owned three Vipers, I'd be glad to help you with your mods.
Nice color combo too!

Smooth Tubes
Filters
Cat Back
MGW Goodies
Snak Oyl stuff

That should keep you busy

Regards,
2Charmed

 

[SSpeed Racer]

Hey Mark!! Congrats on your new purchase!!!

Now are you a racer??

If so A few of us are going to be at Willow Springs Wednesday. This would be the best time for you to come out and enjoy the ride of your life. There is a very small amount of cars(40 cars broke down into 3 groups) and there will be 5 Vipers from all over SoCal there. This would be the best time to experience your car on a track in a closed environment. We are going to be instructing and giving ride arounds all day if your interested.

Come out and play you will be glad you did.

If you want to call me you can reach me at 562-755-6380 and I can tell you more.

 

[ssssssnake]

Thanks for all the replies. Unfortunately my Viper is in Stockton in storage. I have to keep it there until I have a garage. I am currently in an apartment in Pacific Beach. Since I wont have a garage for awhile Im not sure when I will bring the Viper down...errr

I cant stand being without it. I purchased it in Manteca, and decided to keep it up there until I can get some good storage in SD, or get a place with a garage.

I have been racing a bit at the SCAA San Diego with my Mitsubishi Eclipse, and I cant wait to race my Viper.

2charmed
Where in SD are you?
There are several of us down here, I'm in Chula Vista and have owned three Vipers, I'd be glad to help you with your mods.
Nice color combo too!

Im in PB. Not to far at all.


Snake
Bitten
Mark,

Did you just need a list?
I'll definately take a list.

Thanks again, hopefully I will have my Snake down here soon.

 

[CitySnake]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by toddt:
ssssssnake-- Welcome to the world of Viper!

First thing you'll want to do is get onto a curved freeway onramp and FLOOR IT BABY! Watch how it sticks to that pavement!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Toddt:
That caught me by surprise! LMAO!

 

[2charmed]

ssssnake,

I have a "car room" where you can store your Viper for a while,
It's about 3500 square feet of auto storage. At least you would
be closer to it!
Feel free to stop by and take a look.

2Charmed

 

[Bobby Likis]

Congratulations on your new car. I, too, am a relatively new Viper owner and have found this board to be a god send. The information you'll find should help you complete your list of add-ons in no time... and without spending an arm & leg. I highly recommend Sean Roe, George Ciamillo (www.mgwltg.com), Sal Zaino (www.zainobros.com), and JonB "Brobst" at PartRack. My '01 GTS has almost everything that George makes, many on Sean's upgrades (you have to buy his computer interface) and an exhaust from JonB. It just gets better and better. Don't be shy to ask for help. I'm sure you'll be hearing from Joe Houss soon as well. Best regards, Bobby

 

[Viper Wizard]

ssssssnake,
WELCOME!

 

[Vic]

Welcome, ssssnake!

I'm in Irvine, Southern Orange County.

I never knew how much I liked Vipers until I bought one.

Its such a radical, unique, outrageous car. It has been a very satisfying experience. At 9000 miles since new, it has been a blast.

Now that I am used to the power, all I want is MORE! Isn't that sick?

I would reccomend the Corsa cat back, it sounds great, and its a little louder, but in a "growly" kind of way. I don't hear the UPS truck "putter" now, or any where near as much. Lowers the typical stock exhaust interior resonance at lower rpms, too. (It does both at the same time, somehow) Corsa has those fat looking tips, too. Looks great, sounds great. Some people say the Borlas are just too loud, and make your head hurt. I dunno, I've never heard them. But I guess you would have to drive the car for a while, before you would really know about that.

A skip shift eliminator will eliminate wrestling with the ever-popular and endearing 1-4 skip shift feature. I used Northwinds', and it took me 15 minutes to install, very easy.

I'm tall, so I installed a Northwind seat lowering kit. I probably took twice as long as typical, maybe two hours or so, but I was just shuffling through it. Now I can see the traffic lights without ducking!

Next up will be maximum fun for the bucks, which is 3:45 gears.

Save your old gears, if you are gonna go wild mod on the car, 'cause later you will just spin and spin off the line, and you may wan't to put your 3:07s back in.

Next best fun/money ratio item is a lighter flywheel. you probably noticed by now that the Viper engine has a huge flywheel, that takes time to "spool up", (and down), which makes downshifting kind of, um, "lerchy". A lighter flywheel won't improve 1/4 mile times, I'm told, but makes the car easier to drive, and its less anoying than having this huge flywheel to spool up and down. (So I'm told, but this sounds likely, based on my "feel" for the car) Use the search button on "flywheel", and you will find a plethora of mostly vague uniformed questions, and a wide variety of opinionated answers and driving impressions. But that's just my take on it. Make your own determination.

The Viper techs are an indisposable resource, and the ones I know are Dan Cragin, and Dave Jenkins. Daves' number is 949-788-6335.

Hope to see you at the VCA events! Cheers!

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Welcome. Let's see pics.

 

[ssssssnake]

Thanks for all the replies. I will definately be getting an exhaust system, and I like what Vic Rough had to say. Thanks for the info Vic. Also the flywheel sounds like a great mod.

My pic should be up soon, my car looks just like Vics. Love the color Vic!

Mark

 

[MichaelP]

Well it was said before but here is another.


WELCOME

 

[DEVILDOG]

WELCOME! You may want to get a locking gas cap and a battery tender. Also, an initial low cost/good benefit performance upgrade would be a short shifter and new shift handle. Good Luck!

 

[ssssssnake]

Hey 2charmed when can I take a look at your garage. Very interested in your offer.

Thanks Mark

 

[ssssssnake]

I have had trouble with the hood sometimes (closing it) even the guy at the Dodge dealership has problems with it. Does anyone else have these issues. The right side of the hood does not completely close sometimes. Looks like a gap above the right headlight.

One technician told me to slam it from the top, and another told me to ease it down halfway then slam it?

 

[Vic]

ssssnake, I close mine from about 8" up. Put your hands just inboard of the fender vents. If you look underneath at where the hinges attach, and it will be evident where you need to apply force for closing. Don't push down on the leading edge, or you may crack it. Its not idiot proof!

As you know, Vipers are hand built, and they have to use shims during assembly to get the parts to fit together properly. The frame is made by one supplier, and the body panels made by another, etc. This is not necessarily a bad thing, if the Viper line workers are careful to reject unacceptable parts, and careful to shim things up right. They sometimes send out-of-spec parts back to their suppliers, but they may let some go through assembly, presumably properly shimmed to fit. But their are subtle differences from car to car. I think its more of an art, and less of a science.

Before I would do any "slamming" at all, I would make a short study of the situation, and try to determine if the problem is the latch on that side, (a thought would be to try a test bar in the mechanism on the side that doesn't close, and see if it latches and unlatches properly. I have not tried this myself, but it is just nuts and bolts, you know?)(But get it looked at under warranty, before you finger fudge it).

Another item to check is the rubber stopping bumpers, near the front of the car. These set the height at which the hood stops, and if one of them is set too high, the latch might not be able to completely close. The rubber stops are set on a bolt, and you screw it in and out to adjust the height.

My cars' hood closes perfectly, but the stops are set at noticeably different heights. Its all good, and this car came out right, with even and tight gaps all around the headlight assemblies, and front fascia. But I understand that some cars are harder to get right. Maybe it just needs adjustment.

The best thing to do is call Dave Jenkins, or Dan Cragin, and ask them to look at it under warranty.

And yes, the color is my favorite one since the blue/white of 1996. Next favorite GTS color is charcoal.

Good luck with that hood!

 

[VIPR GTS]

ssssssnake, welcome, you are now the owner of 1 of 86 of the best looking Vipers made. forget all of the yellow fever guys, we have a whole BLUE CREW of Vipers now.
good luck with the mods and have fun with the snake, is addicting.
Tony

 

[Vic]

I like that! The Blue Crew!

 

[ssssssnake]

The blue crew sounds good to me! Hey Tony is that 1 of 86 in the US?

Hey Vic thanks for the tips on the hood.

Mark

 

[Vic]

ssssnake, You are welcome for my advice. You know I just love to give it!

Not having had, or even seen a hood problem, I can't say I have ever done what I suspect needs doing. Take my advice with a grain of salt, and don't forget to have the car fixed under warranty, before I, um, I mean, uh, before you make it any worse.

If you look at the forum hompage, in the red bar at the top of the page, there is the "Viper Registery". It shows a total worldwide build out of 86 saphire/stripes GTS's, and 49 saphire/stripe ACR's. Subtract from that figure any totaled crashes that don't get rebuilt, but parted out, and you can safety say that you have a rare one indeed.

 

[Birvini]

Welcome, and have fun!!!