Air box removal (Smooth Tube Install)

[71firebird400]

New Viper owner here and I'm trying to get a set of Roe Smooth Tubes on; in order to do so it appears I need to get the stock air box "loose" to allow the tubes to be installed. I'm able to get the filter portion of the box out just fine (using the clips and retainer screw with the aluminum knob) but am struggling with the part of the air box that remains mounted to the car. It also has two aluminum knobbed screws on it, near the front, but they will not budge at all. I took a towel (to protect the knobs) and a pliers and they both refused to rotate. What am I overlooking? It has to be something obvious. I'd hate to damage the air box doing something stupid just trying to get the smooth tubes on.

[dave6666]

The air box is typically removed all together and "opened" once out of the car. But since you are doing it contrary to that, your final task is as you noted, the front half screws. They are threaded, and it sound like you have aftermarket ones as the OEM are black plastic knobs. Do they have hex key inserts in the middle? I have a set of the aftermarket aluminum ones and you can use a wrench on them. Same as the OEM black plastic heads except the black plastic does not hold up well to the wrench.

So back to the fact they are threaded, try more force esp if you can use a hex key in the head. You might try penetrating fluid overnight but it will be difficult to get the fluid to where it needs to be.

Please note that the male threaded stud that sticks up, that you are trying to unthread from, is just clipped to the fiberglass core support up there. So if you get out the big wrenches, you technically could strip the thread/clip from it's spot. Permanently.

[dave6666]

A good pic of thread/clip

[71firebird400]

Dave, thanks for all the information- that explains it perfectly. I will tread lightly so as to not break the threaded portion.

[LifeIsGood]

These are the aftermarket air box screws Dave is referring to...

[dave6666]

Can you still get those? Didn't see them at IPSCO when looking the other day. I've got a JMB and don't need them. Should I keep them with my investment hood?

[LifeIsGood]

I got mine from Big Brake Dave back in the day, but Mark Johnson at IPSCO did make them.

[dave6666]

I got mine from Big Brake Dave back in the day, but Mark Johnson at IPSCO did make them.

Yeah like I pointed out but he doesn't list them anymore. Not that he couldn't make more.

[Matt Dillon]

I got mine from Big Brake Dave back in the day, but Mark Johnson at IPSCO did make them.

Big Brake Dave, WOW! BACK in the Day, Lol. Hope All is Well Going Ken (don't have any EXTRA rear diffusers do you) I actually just put a set on the Rear of my RCF & they turned out looking Great!

[LifeIsGood]

That rear diffuser project was a beast...took a long time and a lot of effort...Thanks Mark Johnson! I love mine, but the rear end of the GEN II vipers are so different from each other, I don't see how anyone could make a universal set that would fit them all. There was 1/4" to 1/2" difference in the height of my rear diffuser blades across the back. I wanted the bottom of the blades to be parallel to each other. I need to take some pictures and post them up...some day.

[dave6666]

That rear diffuser project was a beast...took a long time and a lot of effort...Thanks Mark Johnson! I love mine, but the rear end of the GEN II vipers are so different from each other, I don't see how anyone could make a universal set that would fit them all. There was 1/4" to 1/2" difference in the height of my rear diffuser blades across the back. I wanted the bottom of the blades to be parallel to each other. I need to take some pictures and post them up...some day.

Did you cut the bumper cover? Or fit it to the bumper cover like I did? My blades all came out parallel in all the various ways they could be parallel or not.

[LifeIsGood]

No cutting of the rear fascia. My outer blades are individually attached via support pieces inside and outside the fascia. These are the ones that were difficult to get parallel from the outer most driver side to the outer most passenger side. The interior 4 blades (closest to the exhaust) are attached to a much larger support piece that is on the exterior (similar to yours) which made them much easier to keep aligned.

It's a 3 piece design...

Here are the 3 rear diffuser pieces and the side splitters pre powder coating...



Here is the rear diffuser during the fitment phase. As you can see we curved the top of the blades to mirror the curve in the rear fascia. This is what was the most difficult as the curves weren't the same on the passenger and driver sides...

[dave6666]

Yup. That's way more complicated of a fitment than mine.

What color did you go with?

[LifeIsGood]

Some version of gloss black....there were a lot of choices.

[dave6666]

Personally I would lean toward a satin black. Gloss will be a bitch to keep glossy. From experience with mine, it gets pretty dusty. Plus, aero parts like splitters, diffusers and so on, are typically a reduced sheen.

[AZTVR]

Ever notice that the guys that custom design and make cool stuff for their cars are also the ones with the most detailed DIYs? I'm thinking that there has got to be a certain brain area that is unusually active there. (I'm a DIYer, car enthusiast, and engineer; but, that part of my brain must never have gotten wired into the rest of it.)

[Bugman Jeff]

That's because we DIYers are mostly self absorbed egotists and we're all like "Look at this awesome thing I did, and it was so easy for me because all I had to do was this, this, and this."

[LifeIsGood]

When I got my viper and was a member of that 'other' forum, Dave was one of the owners that wasn't afraid to take his viper apart and mod things. I've copied many of his mods. My side splitters above were made from his measurements. He and others have helped me a lot along the way. I'm very grateful and try to help out when I can.

[71firebird400]

Well we all certainly benefit from the DIY stuff. I always print a screen cap of any relevant threads before the picture links get broken. Can't thank those who post the detailed threads enough.

[LifeIsGood]

Did you get the air box off?

[71firebird400]

Did you get the air box off?

Not yet. The nuts holding down the front do NOT want to come loose and I am fearful of breaking the studs off. At this point it isn't worth breaking something to get a pair of smooth tubes on so I'll leave it for a rainy day. Might see if the silicone smooth tubes can be slid into place without necessitating the front of the box being removed (the ones I currently have are the polished metal from Roe).

[71firebird400]

Finally got the air box fasteners off; they had rusted to the studs pretty badly. Working delicately I was able to loosen them up without damaging the studs. I removed as much rust from the studs as possible and used plenty of anti-seize when I put things back together. Thanks again for the suggestions and particularly Dave and LifeIsGood for the photos.

The next order of business will be locating some stock screws/fasteners. In taking mine apart one of the fasteners themselves came apart (unthreaded itself). I applied some loctite to hold it together but ultimately I'd prefer the appearance of stock fasteners over the aluminum knobs that are on the car.

[C.J]

Can you still get those? Didn't see them at IPSCO when looking the other day.

Last I knew, Mark still had a few sets of these available. Just call Mark at IPSC at 303-252-4481 and he'll fix you up. Part number is IPS241.