The Chronicles of SneakySnake Vol III

[dewilmoth]

This thread motivated me to flush my clutch and brake fluid today after putting it off for a month or two. I used the Motive bleeder, but only to pressurize the brake reservoir to 20PSI since I was alone. I didn’t fill the Motive Bleeder with fresh fluid because I was hoping to avoid suspended bubbles from the air being pumped through the fluid. Seemed to work well, but haven’t driven the car yet, so that will be the real test.

[Steve M]

This thread motivated me to flush my clutch and brake fluid today after putting it off for a month or two. I used the Motive bleeder, but only to pressurize the brake reservoir to 20PSI since I was alone. I didn’t fill the Motive Bleeder with fresh fluid because I was hoping to avoid suspended bubbles from the air being pumped through the fluid. Seemed to work well, but haven’t driven the car yet, so that will be the real test.

You only need about 10-15 psi for it to work...you can do more, but everything has a limit, and I'm not inclined to figure out what will give first. As for the suspended bubbles, I also don't use the garden sprayer pump feature...their Power Fill products all come with a Schrader valve to pressurize the tank, but for some reason they don't include one on the bleeders. To fix this, I just drilled and installed my own Schrader valve on the bleeder...that way, you can use a compressor to apply pressure rather than having to pump air through the fluid.

Just food for thought...everyone has their preferences and methods, and that's mine. YMMV.

[dewilmoth]

You only need about 10-15 psi for it to work...you can do more, but everything has a limit, and I'm not inclined to figure out what will give first. As for the suspended bubbles, I also don't use the garden sprayer pump feature...their Power Fill products all come with a Schrader valve to pressurize the tank, but for some reason they don't include one on the bleeders. To fix this, I just drilled and installed my own Schrader valve on the bleeder...that way, you can use a compressor to apply pressure rather than having to pump air through the fluid.

Just food for thought...everyone has their preferences and methods, and that's mine. YMMV.

Good call in the lower PSI. I did notice it was only dropping to 17ish PSI by the time the brake reservoir was at the “low” line, so no need to go as high as I did. I will probably add a schrader valve down the road, but I actually thought not using the bleeder as a fluid reservoir, and therefore not having to clean it, worked well today. Good info, thanks.

[EX1]

Not sure how I missed your car at the track during TX2k. Would of loved to of seen it in person.

[slowhatch]

Met with a local photographer (hafast) to take some living room worthy shots of the snake. He does incredible composite and lighting work. Take a few seconds to appreciate how the surfaces are lit to accentuate the cars character lines in each shot.

[RPM9000]

Great photos Alex.

[EX1]

Nice shots! The lighting and post production is tripping me out a bit. Makes the flake look as if the paint is textured or the car has a vinyl wrap which I know it doesn't.

[ViperGTS14]

slowhatch, any suggestions on recommended trans fluid you like the most? Not sure how much really effects shifting or what you experience has been.

[slowhatch]

slowhatch, any suggestions on recommended trans fluid you like the most? Not sure how much really effects shifting or what you experience has been.

I've always run the oem spec Mopar ATF in the TR6060 (drained/re-filled every 5-6k miles or so) and never had issues.

[serpent]

I've always run the oem spec Mopar ATF in the TR6060 (drained/re-filled every 5-6k miles or so) and never had issues.

Alex, can you update us on the snake? Got any surprises? Cant wait to see the beast back on the road!!

[imzoomintoo]

Slowhatch, good to see your still here I haven't seen your posts in a while.

[slowhatch]

I've always run the oem spec Mopar ATF in the TR6060 (drained/re-filled every 5-6k miles or so) and never had issues.

Alex, can you update us on the snake? Got any surprises? Cant wait to see the beast back on the road!!

Gents sorry for the absence the past year, got tied up with work to a point where I never really had the time to sit and update the thread. It was much faster for me to post on social media (instagram) than it was to upload, host, hot-link photos here, etc. So that's "where I've been".

I will catch everyone up this weekend on the past 12 months and recent developments.

[slowhatch]

We'll rewind back to April last year, a nice little track day. It was mostly meh for me though, as the R888s were heat cycled out (a fact I learned whilst on track). The car felt all over the place every session, I didn't trust it, and couldn't get into a rhythm. I had come to "finish" the outer blocks off, but the tires were done well before I got there--which should have been evident by the lack of traction in 3rd gear on the street.



Catch can drained, topped off oil, pressure set... Ready to boogie








Soon after the track day, I addressed my tire problem with some fresh soles;









After the swap I decided to take the car back down to a street alignment, so we headed down to Sal's Autosport. Got there just in time for the car to be totaled





Cquartz holding up well though after all these years...

[slowhatch]

The car was set up on a TA 1.0 alignment and we went back to a GTS spec (a bit less camber all around).







With the alignment handled I imposed myself on the Sewell's lift for some fluids. Living down the street from el presidente, membership has its privelages.





Stool sample;






All buttoned up, and admiring my future house;

[slowhatch]

Stopped by @modmafiallc for some goodies. Ditching my RSI smooth tubes and Calvo fusebox heat shield for the ModMafia counterparts. Their heat shield is titanium, ceramic coated, and has more generous clearance around the wiring harness to prevent chaffing. The smooth tubes are of a newer Gen 5 specific mold with better ID transition on the stepped diameters. I also was not aware that Green filters made a Gen 4/5 specific filter, so giving that filter a try over my K&N unit.






K&N vs Green filter. K&N had around 10k miles on it. Both filters are oil type, I had initially thought (when I ordered) that Green filters were a dry element filter but they are not.





Existing fuse-box heat shield (a must with longtubes);



Modmafia vs RSI tubes tubes. The construction feels quality on the MM units. Doug Shelby did some testing with these tubes and his fancy FLIR gun, and saw further inlet temp reductions due to their construction. I noticed my IATs dropped another couple of degrees from their normal steady state cruising temps.



Calvo shield weight;



Modmafia titanium shield weight;



You can see the clearance difference between the shields. Don't really know if it makes any difference, I didn't see any chaffing on my wiring;



MM heat shield installed;



Smooth tubes, filter, and airbox installed;




Hood is half the size of the car, you sit on the rear axle, engine is far back enough to be considered mid engine, you know, viper stuff. I can stare at this thing all day, its a work of art



Feeling a bit out of place with my suitemate...

[1.8t]

Always enjoy following this car’s journey. Cheers!

[slowhatch]

About halfway through 2019 I had decided to switch up the exhaust again. I don't know, I guess I'm getting old because I was starting to get sick of the drone with the full 3" Belanger setup. I sold the 3" Belanger setup to a local and bought 3" Belanger cat-less mid-pipes and 3" Corsa Extreme Catback.



Loving the new exhaust setup so far. There is definitely something to Corsa's RSC technology (baffling design). It's very impressive how the system eliminates drone below 2k and then allows it back in after 4k. I was looking inside the muffler itself and it's very different than traditional setups where you see perforations throughout the length of the muffler/resonator. This has an engineered slit right at the inlet to take in the pressure wave and not a single other inlet/outlet for the length of the muffler. Tricky baffling to bounce the wave around until it hits a 180 phase shift in the desired freq range (drone range) and voila. So the car definetely sounds more "hollow" below 2k but you can't have it both ways, as that hollowness comes from lack of low freq resonance. 2 interesting things; (1) eliminating a lot of depth from idle has made the cam a lot more pronounced (chop is much more audible), and (2) as flow velocity builds (high rpm) the lower frequencies begin to shine again and the depth returns to the exhaust at WOT. I have come full circle with the exhaust setups;

1. I initially started with Belanger Longtubes, Hi-flow cats, Corsa catback. That was too quiet for me.
2. Then, I ditched the corsa and went full Belanger (2.5") with cats, and I think it was the perfect blend of tone/bearible drone.
3. When I went heads/cam I wanted "a little bit more", I went catless 3" Belanger and it sounded like an M1 abrhams tank at idle, and a P51 at WOT. The drone at cruising rpm with anything over a hair throttle was positively insane. I dealt with it for almost 2 years. I will say one huge plus to the Belanger vs Corsa is the weight. Belanger is a tiny resonator and the whole system feels like it weighs half the Corsa muffler (which is real muffler).

This new setup, Belanger Longtubes, 3" catless midpipes, and corsa 3" catback is a middle ground between it all. It's still loud AF wide open but very much subdued below 2k rpm. Tone is also much more controlled throughout the entire range, its smoother and more melodious rather than raw. I've noticed a 90% reduction in drone at cruising in 6th, my volume on the stereo used to be at 21-24 to hear anything and now I can cruise at around 16. I painted the corsa exits black like I do with all my catbacks to match my black painted exhaust bezel.




Here are some exhaust clips of the new setup;

[ViperNC]

Very cool and thanks for the updates. Your wife/girlfriend was far more ready for the Viper acceleration than the Ferrari owner friend. Kudos to her. Now that you have had your R888R's on for a while, what are your thoughts for the street? I track my cars occasionally, but not as much as I would like and therefore most of my miles are country or mountain twisty roads (obviously on sunny days with little to no chance of rain). Also, regarding the carbon rear diffuser on your car: is that Agency Power's product or someone else? Just curious as I've had my eyes on this but hate dealing with Agency Power.

[slowhatch]

Some local cruising and Viper Club fam;








A quick blast through the local forest with some friends;






Pre-flight checks. Pulls disptick 74 times. "uh... which one of these 23 different meniscus is it?"




Dinner date with the Viper club;

[slowhatch]

Very cool and thanks for the updates. Your wife/girlfriend was far more ready for the Viper acceleration than the Ferrari owner friend. Kudos to her. Now that you have had your R888R's on for a while, what are your thoughts for the street? I track my cars occasionally, but not as much as I would like and therefore most of my miles are country or mountain twisty roads (obviously on sunny days with little to no chance of rain). Also, regarding the carbon rear diffuser on your car: is that Agency Power's product or someone else? Just curious as I've had my eyes on this but hate dealing with Agency Power.

Yeah I got lucky with the misses, she's more than tolerant, she enjoys it.

The R888Rs are excellent, its the only tire I run on the street, very predictable, stable, awesome grip. I also tend to get great mileage out of them (if I don't track a lot), around 8k miles. The diffuser is the Agency Power carbon, the first owner purchased it and had it installed--I love how it looks. I always hear grumblings about AP, but never hear any real details behind it.

[slowhatch]

Here is where we do most of our go fast shopping



Took a drive down to Battleship Texas with some buds, awesome place, ship has incredible history;

[slowhatch]

Me being a waxer, pew pew;



Current setup;

Stanley SL2050 electric pressure washer
Chemical guys TORQ foam canon
Chemical guys "Honeydew" soap
2 Rinse buckets with grit guards (if abrading with mitts)
Home depot generic electric leaf blower for drying

[imzoomintoo]

Car looks great, glad to see you still enjoying it. So when do you move into the new house.....That car will look great in that driveway

[Evil v10]

Car sounds killer ,perfect setup.

[slowhatch]

Dave out of Dallas made me these shoes long long ago and I put them on when I want to get my ankles broken by the local chitluns;