New Oklahoma Gen 2 Owner

[jbmatth]

Hello all, JB from Oklahoma and I just purchased my first Viper, like many of you I've wanted one for years but couldn't ever justify having another fun car with other commitments in life. Well I'd just paid off my house and this popped up for sale about 2 hours from home and couldn't find a good reason not to buy it:
IMG_3995.jpg

By another fun car this is what I've had in my garage since 2010 a year after college:
IMG_3789.jpg

It currently has a 7.3L Godzilla swap from the new Super Duty, with a little work it made 681 hp and 628 ft-lbs of torque, a ton of fun in a 2,500 lb car, but not nearly as comfortable as the Viper. I look forward to my ownership experience and hope to get to meet some of ya'll at some upcoming events.

JB

[13COBRA]

More info on the Cobra please!

How did you get the intake of the 7.3L to work?

[jbmatth]

More info on the Cobra please!

How did you get the intake of the 7.3L to work?

The cobra is a B&B Manufacturing reproduction built by them in 2001, originally a 351w I installed a roller cam in and hand ported iron heads and made just shy of 300 hp at the crank about 3 years ago. That wouldn't do so I was on the lookout for a 7.3 to put in, Mast Motorsports announced they were going to produce "turn-key" swaps, I was the second to order one and the fist to pick one up. Originally they told me 500-550 hp but with cam, CNC heads, bigger TB, and tune it made the above. I do have forged internals so if I ever go forced induction I'll still be good. The trans is a Tremec TKX and handles the power just fine. The intake might have fit under the hood but even with the lowest oil pan I could get without spending $5k plus on a complete redesigned version I only had 3.5" of oil pan clearance. I went with the only option out at the time which was a DCE intake modified to work with the LSA TB, here is a photo:
IMG_3602.jpg

You will notice a lot of LS/LT parts on the engine, that is Mast's specialty so they took a Holley Terminator and swapped in a ton of LS parts to make it work, the GM alternator was my doing, it was one I had laying around the shop from previous projects so it was cheap and they work really well. I couldn't get anymore tire on the car than it has, 305 Nitto 555's and does great for anything but hard 1st gear, then only spins a little in second if I floor it.

JB

[13COBRA]

The cobra is a B&B Manufacturing reproduction built by them in 2001, originally a 351w I installed a roller cam in and hand ported iron heads and made just shy of 300 hp at the crank about 3 years ago. That wouldn't do so I was on the lookout for a 7.3 to put in, Mast Motorsports announced they were going to produce "turn-key" swaps, I was the second to order one and the fist to pick one up. Originally they told me 500-550 hp but with cam, CNC heads, bigger TB, and tune it made the above. I do have forged internals so if I ever go forced induction I'll still be good. The trans is a Tremec TKX and handles the power just fine. The intake might have fit under the hood but even with the lowest oil pan I could get without spending $5k plus on a complete redesigned version I only had 3.5" of oil pan clearance. I went with the only option out at the time which was a DCE intake modified to work with the LSA TB, here is a photo:
IMG_3602.jpg

You will notice a lot of LS/LT parts on the engine, that is Mast's specialty so they took a Holley Terminator and swapped in a ton of LS parts to make it work, the GM alternator was my doing, it was one I had laying around the shop from previous projects so it was cheap and they work really well. I couldn't get anymore tire on the car than it has, 305 Nitto 555's and does great for anything but hard 1st gear, then only spins a little in second if I floor it.

JB

Nice intake! I like that. Ford is producing a new intake for them as well that is similarly shaped, allowing clearance for most applications. They hit it out of the park with the 7.3L.

[jpmst3]

Congrats and welcome!

Beautiful machine, both!!

[jbmatth]

Nice intake! I like that. Ford is producing a new intake for them as well that is similarly shaped, allowing clearance for most applications. They hit it out of the park with the 7.3L.

What can't be seen is the intake runners extend into the intake plenum 1/3 to 1/2 way I believe, I'd really like to get it on a chassis dyno and try to do a side by side comparison of the two. The power was limited by the airflow available on the factory intake, no matter what cam Mast installed the peak HP was always around 675 at 6,000 RPM, this intake extends that out to at least 6,500, but I haven't seen any more testing beyond that. I did see where Ford is making one, things I wish had been available a year ago, but water under the bridge at this point.

I've been really impressed with this engine thus far, way too much to list but I really look forward to where it goes in the future and what people can get out of them. It was frustrating when building this engine on how expensive parts would cost compared to LS, SBC, SBF that I'm used to, oil pan, over $2,000, intake also over $2,000, and at least at the time they were the only option. Luckily I did all of the fabrication and installation to save some money, but was by far the most expensive engine swap I've ever undertaken.

JB

[Scott Mannny]

Welcome and your Viper is Awesome!!!!!!!!! We have a Viper meet in OKC along I-40 & Western by the Farris wheel starting @ 6pm (10/22)

It would be Great to meet you and you to meet your new brothers and sisters!!!

[jbmatth]

Scott,
Thanks for the invite, as you know by now I didn't make it, I'm going to try to make the November meeting if all goes well. Like most people I stay very busy and really have to make getting out a priority or all of my toys just sit.

JB

[blackbeast99]

Welcome!

[jbmatth]

Welcome!

Thank you, it has been a blast thus far, looking forward to meeting other Viper owners and getting more miles behind the wheel.

JB

[laney487]

jb are you in the facebook group as well? for oklahoma members.. see you at meets this summer!

[jbmatth]

jb are you in the facebook group as well? for oklahoma members.. see you at meets this summer!

Laney487, Yes I'm on the FB group as well, I do mostly lurking rather than much interaction on there though. I sure hope to get out to some of the events this summer, sadly didn't make any of them this past year though.

JB