Viper Mod Recommendations

[HardHitter]

Hello All,

It has officially been a month since I've picked up my beautiful 97 B/W Viper and I'm already doing "research" in what to do next. The car already has a good amount of modifications that I would have done myself but I'm looking at a few recommendations from you, the experts:

What are the "reliability" mods for the car? I know that the Roe Racing Power Steering Vent tube is a "must-do" on these cars but what other items such as this is a "must do"?

Once I have got all of the reliability mods done to ensure the car is safe/running properly, then I'll look towards the power modifications. So far, the car has

Smooth Tubes
Hennessy Headers
Hennessey "High Flow" Cat (basically a shortened stock cat)
Stock Resonators
Muffler Delete
3.54 gears
Brembo 14" Front Brake Kit
Some type of suspension work done, I'll have to see once I remove the wheels/check under the car
HRE 18" 451R Wheels

I have a dyno chart that shows it put down 430rwhp/460rwtq.

If I'm looking to get into the 500+/500+ range, what would I need to get me there if going NA?

Is a SCT Device and dyno tune worth the money? I think based upon the mods that I have now, the only things I can do is heads/cam/tune upgrade combo right?

Any advice to point me in the right direction is always appreciated!

[James430]

Your on the right track...read my signature,a mild set of heads,1.7 rockers,a streetable cam and a good SEC Dyno tune should get you to those numbers.

[J TNT]

MCS Suspention and have the car corner balanced if you do track days

[My98RT10]

As for Reliability mods I am sure everyone agrees that the P/S pulley and bracket is a must have.

[Fatboy 18]

I see you have the 14" Brembo Brake kit, Have all the lines also be changed to Braided ones too?

Engine mounts and Trans Mounts help stop the bucking I used to get.

Power steering pulley AND Bracket are well worth changing, You could play around with suspension, I have stock Konis set to 3/4 stiff with spring lowering caps, this causes the car to sit lower and looks good but it comes at a cost, ride is stiffer, Great on a road course but not great on a long drive, you will not exactly get out of the car feeling refreshed It also causes complications when encountering any slopes as the nose of the car can ground out at certain angles. (just letting you know the pros and cons here).

Check out the Ipsco website, they make some great products for the Viper, I have most of them fitted on my car.

A 180 thermostat for the engine is also a common mod.

Another one that is recommended is a Crankshaft Pin Kit (Roe Racing sell this) Also a replacement Crankshaft Engine Damper, the rubber between the inner and outa metal rings can give out causing a wobble which in turn can cause damage to the crank and cause the Crankshaft bolt to come loose! There have been many threads on these issues over the years.

[City]

Hey HH,

Any chance you'd consider VOA membership as one of those mods?

[ViperTony]

Do the heads, cam and rockers. Call Greg Good. Do it and be happy. See my signature. You'll be close to 600rwhp.

[Big Miata]

I dunno If I were you I would go learn to drive and now worry about numbers. If you haven't spent anytime on a racetrack in any car I wouldn't change anything to the car. Now if your gonna do that get a puke can now cause you probably already are sucking a ton of oil through the pcv and and a trap door baffle to the oil pan. Your already making over 500 at the flywheel. Your gonna drop 5k on heads and rockers. If you don't do the work yourself add 2k too that. Why not just spend 2k on track days and find out why you don't need the car to be any faster. If you are actually driving the car to its limits on stock suspension then invest in suspension. Power mods are last unless you just add exhaust for the noise cause Vipers are too quiet from the factory.

[Bugman Jeff]

If you don't already have them, get some Woodhouse engine mounts. The stock mounts are very failure prone. You might want to consider an aftermarket shifter too, the stock one leaves a lot to be desired.

[RTTTTed]

As soon as you get past 500whp or drag race, buy some unitrax 800hp axles.

You need the Roe Racing power steering bracket and metal pulley - or JonB at PartsRack.com for the polished aluminium pulley

Corsa exhaust (PartsRack) as it is the only Viper exhaust with no baffles and uses "sound cancellation" technology to remove the drone and deliver the best sounding Viper noises on the planet.

A Roe Racing blower kit will win car shows, and get you to 598whp/644rwhp with only 8psi and water/meth injection. The TS blower makes the car drive like it has an 850 cubic inch engine.

The Anti-toe stiffener brackets are under $200 and make a huge difference in handling and drag racing by eliminating flex causing as much as 3/4" toe in under transitions, braking and accelerating.

Half shaft driveshaft loops are recommended in case you bust an axle (stockers are really weak). The fuel lines, filter, brake lines etc are all within reach of a broken shaft. (I have a used once 800hp halfshaft for sale).

Upgrade the thermostat to a 172F stat for a couple hp and cooler engine temps.

Make certain that you only use Mopar Viper specific oil filtres on your car or expect the bearings to wear out early.

I bought an oil pan trap door kit and installed it in about 1.5 hours for better oiling and it is recommended that you don't run on the track without it.

Mnay Viper owners and myself have written a lot of "How To's" that will show you upgrades and mods so that you can enjoy doing much of your own work on your car.

http://thevipergarage.com/index.php/board,9.0.html

Enjoy your car and the camaraderie of other Viper owners. Post where you live is you're looking for events and competitions. I live in the Pacific Northwest and often drive to California, Las Vegas, Ely and Alberta to enjoy kicking mega dollar supercar ass with my 2 Viper GTSs.

[Luisv]

agreed on many of the comments. Go from the ground up. Confirm what you have with the suspension. Since the brakes are done, that may have been done. See how that feels, if you feel you are hitting limits, then worry about adding power.

As for comfort/reliability, it's all been mentioned. Short shifter. IPSCO makes one. Hurst is the other. Power steering pulley and bracket. go through all the fluids, diff, oil, power steering, clutch, coolant, brake.

only other...perhaps the fan kit from roe

[HardHitter]

Thank you all for the feedback.

In regards to some of your comments, there were a few items that weren't mentioned because I didn't know it fit in the "reliability" section.

- Short shifter and aftermarket shift knob has been complete
- Roe Fan Kit has already been installed and configured. This was one of the things I was testing when I went to go see to the car. To ensure it turned on/off properly
- Car has a "competition" aftermarket oil pan already installed
- All fluids have been flushed and replaced multiple times. Latest flush was done about 6 months ago.

The car for the most part is just a cruiser which I will enjoy on the weekends. If there are opportunities for me to enjoy some time on the track, then I may consider it, but it will be my weekend cruiser.

[Big Miata]

No competition oil pan I probably just 00-02 oil pan with 10 liter capacity, you need to add the swing gates to that pan. Reliability power steering bracket, mounts keep fresh oil in it let it warm up before you abuse her. LOOK IN THE WRITE UPS USE THE INTERNET. But don't trust everything on the internet as some people regurgitate stuff. Install a puke can now, if you drive the way you are supposed to on a track and not how an old man does you will be deceling a lot which means you are sucking a ton of oil from the pcv into the intake manifold

[MADMAX]

Oooh I see - you want reliability improvement "for weekend cruising"

In that case just go out and get yourself two new batteries - one for the car and one for the key-fob.