My Gen II GTS Projects complete

[A12pilot]

Hey Gang,

I've had my 97 GTS for, oh, about a month and a half now. Knowing what the car needed, I set out a plan to get it all done in about a month's time so I could be ready for summer cruising. My car has 28K on the clock, and as such, needed all the typical Gen II things. Fluids, hoses, belt, seals, etc, etc....and after talking with Steve Fess in depth (he's the one that found the car for me, coordinated a prebuy inspection with Tom Sessions, AND has been an invaluable source of info for me when I needed it!), I knew what parts I needed and a few calls to JonB, Chuck Tator, as well as ViperParts USA, and I had a pile of parts ready and waiting to go on the new toy. So, in I went! Here's some photos what all went down, and first up was the exhaust. I called JonB and ordered a 3" Corsa system along with HiFlow Cats. Mainly for sound, but cripes, the heat difference in the sills is amazing! Jon talked to me about welding up the cats versus bolting them on, and I decided to weld them up. The sound? UnBefreakinLievable! Love it!!! So with that out of the way, it was onto the engine bay.

Cheers

Dave

[A12pilot]

What was needed in here was a serious clean up along with everything else the Gen IIs need at this age. I needed to flush all the fluids as well. Basically, everything a car from 1997 needs, but instead of being cheap like a Honda, it's a Viper and much like tyhings with "Aviation" stamped on them, quadruple the price. But hey? Nobody gives thumbs up to Hondas!:smilielol: So, torque wrench in hand, I decided to jump right in. Gaskets replaced: Timing cover, intake, thermostat, oil filter mount, water pump, oil pan. Along with all those things, I replaced the PS braket and Pulley with the billet pieces, put in a 180 Thermostat, added a new belt tensioner as well as a new belt. On went new silicone heater and raidator hoses to finish out the work. Lastly, I took the radiator to my radiator guy and had him add a third row utilizing the stock tanks. I also added K&N filters along with smooth tube intake runners from the box to the throttle bodies.

Cheers

Dave

[Steve-Indy]

Congrats, Man...you have done a fantastic amount of work on that fine Beast. Hell, when something goes wrong on ours, I'm calling YOU !!

[A12pilot]

Once buttoned up, I took it for a spin to check for leaks. I was a little intimidated by the oil pan and intake. Those are pretty big pieces of aluminum to tighten up squarely without warping. But all seemed to go well. No leaks, and after a few heat up and cool down cycles, the system was purged of air. I did get the Check Engine light on initial fire up, and the OBD II said "Cylinder #10 Injector" fault. When installing the intake, I knocked that injector wire off and didn't notice it. Amazingly, the car ran pretty nice on 9!:p But after hooking that up and clearing the code, no problems noted. So off for a spin and in the Houston heat...I started to freak out looking at that temp gauge. No overheating, but man...this big V10 air pump puts out some heat! It's just not a normal thing to see it creep that high, so what to do? Simple! Search this forum!:) What I did was find several threads about the stock temp gauge and what it actually indicates, what themperature these motors are engineered to run, and how to test the temperatures the engine is actually running compared to indicated. I also found several posts with additional fans added, swaping out the stock fan for a bigger one, and replacing all the cooling system items with aftermarket ones. Digging through all the name calling, I told you so's, and typical gradeschool playground banter, lots of good info to take in from a lot of members here. So that's what I did. And looking at the front fascia, there's frankly, not much airflow through that nose. So I added dual fans on the A/C Condensor right behind the oil cooler. The larger 12" fan I put on the right side, and the smaler 10" I put on the left. Why? Mainly because I kept the stock two-speed fan in place and having an adjacent 12" fan moving air across the entire surface of the radiator, I thought what be an overall better way to cool the entire surface of the radiator more efficiently. I left the flaps in place on the right side, but think I may remove them from the shroud to allow more airflow.

Driving around with the OBD II hooked up and looking at the temps it reads versus what the gauge reads was quite enlightening. Mainly, the 190 mark is the third tic mark at the 12 O'Clock position (the one that is more towards the right of the tics above "190"). The 3/4 tic mark seems to be about 205. This seems to be inline with other findings on this site.

[A12pilot]

Impressions after all this do-it-yourself work? Many, and they are all positve. I have been driving it around in 95-100 degree, with 10000% Houston Humidity, this past week and the temperatures have been pretty steady between the third 190 tic mark and the 3/4 mark (198 on the OBD II).... even at idle sitting! Highway speed results in the temp staying at 190. A dramatic improvement. In the early mornings when it's cool outside, and getting out of the car I don't burn myself on the sill anymore.:smilielol: Those fans were the ticket. It's all about airflow.

From a mechanics standpoint, this car is very easy to work on, just not a lot of room to do it. I didn't find anything overly complicated and this forum was a big help when I did the searches on whatever it was I was concerned about. I hope that gives others some inspiration to go in and get greasey!!!!

Thanks again to Steve Fess, JonB, Chuck Tator, and SnakeOyl!!!!!! (and all the others that have posted on this site....it helps EVERYONE!!!!)

Cheers

Dave

[A12pilot]

Ha! You got it, Steve. Free airfare here....I'll be up there anytime! But only if it's a Gen II.....that's all I'm familiar with right now until I can get my hands on a Gen V one day:). Dave's Viper Tech is open for business! Mmmm.....maybe not.:smilielol:

Forgot to mention that new tires were also put on and the car drives way better than the tires from 05.

Next up will be a repaint of the front fascia and rear bumper cover along with the side sills.

Cheers

Davr

[BrianACR]

Great job on your car! It is amazing what a difference in side sill heat it makes when you change out all that old exhaust crap.

[Viper98]

A12, fantastic job on everything you did. And I like the "...name calling, told you so, and playground banter" comment. If you haven't checked out the Viper alley, just remember...you've been warned.
Great to have you on board.

A12, quick Q: A12pilot, sounds like you are in or was in the military, am I correct? If so, I want to thank you for your service to our wonderful country. You allow us to be able to cruise in our Vipers.
Thank you and keep up the great work.

Have fun

[A12pilot]

Thanks guys! What a fun car to work on. Surprisingly simple, yet exotic. Love it!

Viper 98....no, I'm not in the military. The handle comes from A: being a pilot, and B: the A12 designation for a 69-1/2 Super Bee which gave you the 440-6 engine, a fiberglass lift off hood, 4.10 Dana rear axle, and black steel wheels. Commonly called "Lift off hood" cars since the hood was pinned down with four hood pins. ..no hinges. Interestingly though, A12 was the designation for the Blackbird when it was first introduced and then reclassified as the SR-71. So there's some aviation history in there!:smilielol:

Nah. ..I'll pass on that other forum. Lot of brave people behind their computers on that site, it seems. But it still is a good source of info that does come up on the searches.

Cheers

Dave

[Ripper]

Excellent work , and very nice shop!

[capevettes]

Nice work. Great looking Viper. You had the right people helping with info. Steve from Indy was a great help to me with a recent computer issue I had. Enjoy the ride.

[ViperGTS]

Looks like a great job!!!

I see a lot of corrosion under your battery tray on your frame and the bolts are rusted.

[98RedGTS]

Can you share how you wired up your fans? I've been looking to do exactly what you did and am doing research on wiring. I was planning on running a toggle switch into the cabin and running the power directly from the battery.

Interesting to see your findings on the temp. I thought that 3/4 mark was 220-230 but it sounds like you found it to be actually more along the lines of 205. In traffic mine is creeping up to that line which has caused some nerves for me. I have a Howe 3 core radiator, 180 stat and it tuned to have the fans come on sooner. Things have been great until the last couple of weeks where the temps been 100+ with high humidity. Now, it's climbing in traffic.

[Sybil TF]

Can you share how you wired up your fans? I've been looking to do exactly what you did and am doing research on wiring. I was planning on running a toggle switch into the cabin and running the power directly from the battery.

Interesting to see your findings on the temp. I thought that 3/4 mark was 220-230 but it sounds like you found it to be actually more along the lines of 205. In traffic mine is creeping up to that line which has caused some nerves for me. I have a Howe 3 core radiator, 180 stat and it tuned to have the fans come on sooner. Things have been great until the last couple of weeks where the temps been 100+ with high humidity. Now, it's climbing in traffic.You don't need extra fans. Ours runs cool :)

[BlknBlu]

I like the M code car as much as the Viper, good choices.

Bruce

[98RedGTS]

You don't need extra fans. Ours runs cool :)

Mine runs like that too when I'm moving which is a rarity these days due to Austin traffic. Sitting in traffic mine easily start to approach the mark here:

26886

I'm not sure I want to know if I were to get stuck behind an accident and I have to sit longer than the time I already am. New radiator and hoses. No air in system and the overflow is half full when cold and to the full mark when hot. Goes back down to half once cooled down again. Also a new thermostat as well. Just don't think my fan is able to keep up as I'm getting good coolant flow.

[RoyV101621]

The names youve mentioned are many of the most respected viper folks around the nation. All are invaluable. You have been steer in the right direction.

[A12pilot]

Thanks Guys!......

ViperGTS: I'll look at the tray a little more closely and see what the rust situation is, and of course, fix anything that needs repair.

and Red98: I feel your pain over there in Austin. That place has become a parking lot with traffic it seems. Despite Houston being the 4th largest city, we live closer to the North side of things and you can still get onto a few open roads and go for a while without hitting traffic. For the wiring, I used a Hayden dual fan control 40amp relay with a push in temperature probe. You can get this at Advance Auto, AutoZone, etc. It's designed to power two fans and works great. I've used that same controller without fail on three cars I've built: 34 Ford 3-Window Coupe, 1949 Chevy 3100, and a 56 Nomad. It's an easy setup. The controller has an adjustable temperature range which you can fine tune from 160-220 to get the primary fan to kick on, and the secondary comes on automatically 10 hotter than the first. It's a tight fit in there, they just don't bolt right in, and that whole front fascia should come off for ease of access to everything. Might be easier to just replace your factory fan with a larger dual fan setup. The temps I read on the scanner were what I observed, and your car's may be different.

It feels good to get the car up to daily-driver status. The fluid flushes alone were a big help, particularly the brakes. Speaking of that, I think the portion of the brake pads that have been used so far have all been deposited on the inside of the rims! I don't think they've even been washed, but I finally go them cleaned up and looking new. This car was a gentleman's pride and joy, and when he passed, he willed it to the kids. When I bought it from them, I promised them I'd take care of it. I've been sending them pictures along the way and they're so excited to see the car being freshened up with much needed, and overdo, maintenance. Now that the mechanics are out of the way, time for some interior refinements. More to come....

Cheers

Dave

[Sybil TF]

Mine runs like that too when I'm moving which is a rarity these days due to Austin traffic. Sitting in traffic mine easily start to approach the mark here:

26886

I'm not sure I want to know if I were to get stuck behind an accident and I have to sit longer than the time I already am. New radiator and hoses. No air in system and the overflow is half full when cold and to the full mark when hot. Goes back down to half once cooled down again. Also a new thermostat as well. Just don't think my fan is able to keep up as I'm getting good coolant flow.
In 95* + temps at idle mine doesn't move past the middle tick for the fan comes on do to a reprogram of the ecm and 5 1/4 holes drilled in a 160* thermostat. Fluidyne Radiator with Evan's coolant. From what I have seen guys have problems due to plugged radiators. I think your system is stopped up. Mine never got close to that hot with all factory set up in 100* heat.