Hello, I'm a gearhead all of my life. I was in the Euro scene for almost thirty years, but after 9/11 I started questioning why I wasn't driving domestic. Back when I was a kid, I had a 69' Satellite with a 318 and a 72' Duster Demon with a 340. Both were NJ rust buckets. Fast forward to 2010, and I was coming out of a relationship where I ended up with an 08' 300C SRT8. I had three nice Audi's at the time that were paid for, a V8 equipped S4, TT 225 coupe and an A4 Avant. All were nice cars with upgrades, suspension, tunes, etc. I wanted to develop the S4 with forced induction, and Vortech came out with a twin-screw s/c, but the kit was $15k, required about $14k in engine work, and when all was said and done you ended up with a 525 hp car.

I started researching what options I had with this 300C. I sure liked it. I was already quick, it was roomy. I found it to be the perfect balance of luxury and SRT goodness. I quickly realized that I could build this thing into the 600+ hp range for about the same money, so I did. I sold the Audi's, and I had Arrington Engines build me a high compression forged 426, I utilized a Magnuson TVS2300 hybrid roots blower, had Paramount Transmissions build me a NAG1 gearbox, ARH headers, Quaife diff and DSS 1000 hp axles. The end result was a total q-ship that was comfortable and brutal. I bought a clean stock SRT-4 to drive, and I started my journey collecting SRT vehicles.

I've wanted a Viper since the car first showed up. I've driven more than my share of Corvettes, and they're nice cars, but you pass yourself ten times a day, and my take on the car is it's been "soft" for most of its history. I will admit I've been impressed with the C6 and C7 cars, but not enough to want one. Now, the Viper? That's a different story. With each generation of the car I have lusted after it more and more. This past year I decided to do something about it. I stumbled upon a super low-miles Gen 4 coupe, and even though I know that they're not the easiest generation to tune, I fell in love with the car and bought it. It's black with the silver stripes, but I hate stripes, so it's in the body shop right now being de-striped. I'm going to upgrade the wheels this coming summer. I hate shiny surfaces, and the stock factory polished five spoke does nothing for me. I'm looking into a black forged monoblock design. I'm planning on the MCS Stage I coilovers, but I'm an open book as far power upgrades.

I know that to make extreme power with a Gen 4 car costs some seriously deep coin, so I'm just trying to keep it realistic and make sound decisions that make practical sense instead of making emotional decisions that don't really give me the most gains for my investment. It's a 3500 lb car with a big V10 in it, and it already has 600 hp. I have to ask myself "how much?" and "How fast?" The other consideration is I also have an 05' SRT-4 that's already a 400 hp Stage III car, but I'm building a new engine for it and going with a big ball bearing Garrett turbo. I'm looking at about 550 hp at the wheels. No, it's not a Viper, but in that tune, it will run away from almost anything.

So anyway, I'm an open book. I left my ego checked at the door. I'll be the first to admit I'm just learning this platform. Buying my car was very emotional, maybe I should have bought a Gen III because they're easier to tune and upgrade, but I love the Gen 4 cars, and I'm looking forward to you guys sharing your knowledge with me about what works and what doesn't.

See you around