Project Viper Comments

[Jay Herbert]

A brief explanation:

The "Project Update" thread is locked so when people read it, they can read from start to finish the process the car goes through in it modification. Sometimes as you've seen so far, "stuff happens", and even the best laid plans can go afoul. We read all the time about the end result, but not often do we know all that went into a modded car, both the good and the bad. I've sure had my fair share of both from the time I bought this car to the time it finally got the work started on it last December. Many of the things I'm running into are things many Gen 1 owners will be facing just in the upkeep of their cars. soI'm hoping it will be educational for all.

A number of folks have wanted to ask questions and make comments reguarding my project Viper, so here's the thread to do it. If you want to see additional pictures, there are a number of them in my Gallery.

[TCKTPLZ]

When do you think it will be finished? The engine looks awesome!

[VIPR GTS]

I am guessing that this is Double Venom? I did not know that he had moved from Ohio. Excellent work.

[FlyBryViper]

Jay
Some of us don't know the history of this car and what your goal is. Could you explain so we can see the progress to your finished Viper and have a better understanding.

[hemibeep]

I know what you are going through....it's really FUN isn't it. I definately appreciate the car alot more since I had the fun of building it.

I would do it all over again. and I will help anyone that I can from what I have learned.

Great job so far.!

[STUGOTS]

Whats the RWHP/RWTQ your aiming to hit?

[Jeff Torrey]

Jay- I think it's great. It really hits home for me, step by step...

[Jay Herbert]

Part of the reason it took so long for Ed to get going on the "Project" was he sold his business "Classic's by Elite", a business that assembled Elite Cobra's. He moved to a little town on MI west coast in the Dunes... called Pentwater, and progress was further delayed while he built his shop. As I have been building my shop over the last year and a half, I can understand what Ed was and is going through... building a shop on your own, takes a while.

Originally, the goal was to get "a nice paint job", by one of the best painters in the country. I was chatting with Ed one weekend about his Viper-powered "Double Venom" Cobra's, and said: "It would be cool if he could paint my car....." well, that was the start of a long and winding story, that I hope will end in late May.

Ed came and picked up the Viper from the person that had got it to the "ready for paint" stage... and then things started to go wrong, Ed had to "let-go" a few employees, then his "Spring Fling" charity event took off, and finally he sold his business, all the while... the project grew from a "Paint Job" to a totally unique custom Viper, made the way I wanted it to be.... the longer the car was delayed, the more custom it became. It has parts from nearly every year Viper made on it (from a '92 rear fender, to SRT-10 seats), the reason it got the nick name "Franken-Viper"

Ed is a custom car builder, who can do it all, build engines, weld and fab, paint, even do interior work.... a bad combination for a Viper guy, who's car is not gettign worked on. So, while I patiently waited for my turn in Ed's shop... I ..... shopped..... and the project got bigger.

as far as trhe engine, no real HP goal. Originally the plan was just to put in the new tri-steel gaskets (a good thing since one was about to fail). But as long as the engine was apart, Ed figured why not clean it up and port match the heads and intakes...which lead to the heads being gone through (a good thing since one of the valves was bent). And as long as the intake was off, why not powder coat it and the valve covers to match the pewter paint the car would be wearing? Hey a carbon fibre intake would be cool.... how about headers and custom side pipes, hey, he is a fabricator?

The whole project has sort of been like that, "One thing led to another".

I really do not even know how many years I have been gathering parts. But I have gathered a bunch! Off the top of my head:

Body:

Autoform vented cowl and deck lid spoiler
GTS front fascia
Oval (Jag) hood louvers
roll up window doors, windshield surround, glass
Woodhouse Dodge license plate frame (Thanks Bill)
Soft top
Mopar Hard top
GT2 fascia winglets (Thanks Tony R.)
Snake Oyl power mirrors
Gray badging and emblems
Cobra gas filler lid (hope to get one of the new SRT Coupe filler lids)

Interior:

Dash painted to match exterior
Coupe door panels
Silver Teamtech harnesses
SRT-10 Seats

Suspension:

3:45 Unitrax rear gears
Revalved Koni Shocks
Eibach Springs
Purner wheels

Engine:
New Lifters
Port matched intake and heads
Borla 1-5/8 headers
Custom exhaust
K&N intake
DC Perfomance power steering cooler
Magnacore Plug Wires
Powder coated intake


I'm sure there is more.....

[CHAD]

Jay, locking out comments and making your project a sticky? Come on. Way to make the Viper board your personal space.

[BACKNBLACK]

It's about time you let me speak.The car looks good kid. Just a quick question when did you pick the car up and how many miles did it have on old motor?

[Jay Herbert]

Jay, locking out comments and making your project a sticky? Come on. Way to make the Viper board your personal space.

It was originally locked out to keep it as a continuous thread, so folks can read through it from beginning to end. That is explained in the very first post in the thread. Making it sticky and adding this comment thread were suggestions that many made to me personally once I started posting updates to the thread every few days, neither were my idea. Since the thread was locked, it rolled off the page in hours, and adding this thread gave people a chance to comment and ask questions. Both suggestions made sense.

We make threads sticky all the time that are of longer term interest. When it was suggested that this one be made sticky, it was done.

[Makara]

Can I have a sticky for my threads too?

[BACKNBLACK]

What will the caption read Mike.Bend over Smokin?

(now be nice BNB, lets try to keep this thread on topic - Mods)

[Jay Herbert]

It's about time you let me speak.The car looks good kid. Just a quick question when did you pick the car up and how many miles did it have on old motor?

LOL, good, you're keeping it "PG"

I got the car in '98, after my first one year long Viper project failed because I could not find a V-10 at a reasonable price. In '97-'98, it was cheaper to buy a wreck with an engine, than an engine alone. As this Viper was better to work with, I got rid of the first project Viper after I and bought this one.

It has 50K on the clock, yep 50K... was I nuts? Probably, but it had a warranty DA rebuild done at 37K, and the engine ran really strong. Since I was going to go through the car completely anyway, milage was not an issue. Now that the car is going to end up so nice, it's a shame it will have such high milage.

[Jay Herbert]

Can I have a sticky for my threads too?

The humor is good

Seriously, we are looking at blogging software as an option for posts like this one (as that is really what it is). If anyone is willing to go to all the effort to follow a project through that is in line with the Viper interests of this site by posting regularly, that would be cool, and I'm sure it will be supported appropriately. Hopefully we'll be able to offer blog access for those folks in the near future. Until that time, stickies will have to do.

If any want to do Viper related instructions, we love to add those to the Illustrated Instructions too.