1,000 Mile Gen V Heads & Cam update and driving impressions.

[J TNT]

It's always great to see Dr. Winkles work his magic !

Look who stopped by today

Always great spending time with Mr. Winkles. We flashed a new calibration in my car to fix the slight bucking issue I mentioned above, and he is taking our other Heads and Cam test car out for a few days for some more testing.

It was great to watch him work and explain a little bit of what he was seeing on my car. He could tell the motor still had a little more breaking in to do based on friction numbers he was seeing at idle. I went out and drove his latest calibration and low speed driving (parking lot) was even better. We have a couple other things to try that should help some of you that might be on the fence.

Andy

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

[FLATOUT]

Damn, very good point. Well Austin is lovely this time of year

I think that is the biggest problem for those of us up here in the GWN eh. Finding qualified/experienced people to work on these cars isn't easy. The problem stems from the fact that, for example, in 2013 there were 3 GTS Vipers brought into Canada, and I am driving one of them. And the only reason I got a hold of mine is because the owner of the dealership got his hands on the car by agreeing with Chrysler to take on several "less desirable" cars with the deal.

You could literally go your whole life up here and never actually see a Viper on the road. I like to think my car is more rare than a Ferrari, or a Lambo, and I'm probably right. As a result, we just don't have the "talent pool" to draw from. Unless someone else in the VOA has some suggestions, it's gonna take a trip back to my homeland to get the job done. Not a big deal. I've got an Aunt in Austin who'd love to have me stop in sometime

[SilveRT8]

I think that is the biggest problem for those of us up here in the GWN eh. Finding qualified/experienced people to work on these cars isn't easy. The problem stems from the fact that, for example, in 2013 there were 3 GTS Vipers brought into Canada, and I am driving one of them. And the only reason I got a hold of mine is because the owner of the dealership got his hands on the car by agreeing with Chrysler to take on several "less desirable" cars with the deal.

Only 3 GTS for Canada in 2013, I ordered mine in Dec '12 and got it in August '13, so that's two of us, who's got the third one ?

[Rapidrezults]

Can't wait to see what the MPH is on this setup in the 1/4.

[viper04]

"Mr. Winkles", would love to pick his brain to find out more details about our motors.

[lochnessmonster]

Only 3 GTS for Canada in 2013, I ordered mine in Dec '12 and got it in August '13, so that's two of us, who's got the third one ?

Hey Claude, not sure, but we certainly are part of a very select group.

PS- mine arrived July 9th, 2013.

[Jack B]

Everyone is with you, but, keep in mind mph will not win you the race. I would prefer 120 mph with a 10.5 et.

Can't wait to see what the MPH is on this setup in the 1/4.

[ViperDC]

I think that is the biggest problem for those of us up here in the GWN eh. Finding qualified/experienced people to work on these cars isn't easy. The problem stems from the fact that, for example, in 2013 there were 3 GTS Vipers brought into Canada, and I am driving one of them. And the only reason I got a hold of mine is because the owner of the dealership got his hands on the car by agreeing with Chrysler to take on several "less desirable" cars with the deal.

You could literally go your whole life up here and never actually see a Viper on the road. I like to think my car is more rare than a Ferrari, or a Lambo, and I'm probably right. As a result, we just don't have the "talent pool" to draw from. Unless someone else in the VOA has some suggestions, it's gonna take a trip back to my homeland to get the job done. Not a big deal. I've got an Aunt in Austin who'd love to have me stop in sometime

Just go down to Austin for the F1 race and get your car worked on. Two birds with one stone.

[Steve M]

Look who stopped by today

Always great spending time with Mr. Winkles. We flashed a new calibration in my car to fix the slight bucking issue I mentioned above, and he is taking our other Heads and Cam test car out for a few days for some more testing.

It was great to watch him work and explain a little bit of what he was seeing on my car. He could tell the motor still had a little more breaking in to do based on friction numbers he was seeing at idle. I went out and drove his latest calibration and low speed driving (parking lot) was even better. We have a couple other things to try that should help some of you that might be on the fence.

Andy

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

Can I borrow his laptop for a few minutes?

[FLATOUT]

Everyone is with you, but, keep in mind mph will not win you the race. I would prefer 120 mph with a 10.5 et.

If you just want a drag car why not put a TH400 or power glide with a brake in the car You have more than enough stock trap speed to run mid 10's hangin' the wheels leaving on a trans brake. Trap speeds in this case are relevant as this is still predominantly an acceleration based package, that should just happen to double as a great straight line car as well. And yes I am just trying to nudge you into putting a 1/4 type trans in your gen V so I can see the results

Andy

- - - Updated - - -

Just go down to Austin for the F1 race and get your car worked on. Two birds with one stone.

That's a great idea! Lonestar Lemans is another great one as well.

[FLATOUT]

Can I borrow his laptop for a few minutes?

I love the software he uses. Really amazing to watch everything going on real time.

[Rapidrezults]

Everyone is with you, but, keep in mind mph will not win you the race. I would prefer 120 mph with a 10.5 et.

For me personally, I am more interested in roll racing and road racing, so yes, MPH is a good indication of if you will win the race in most cases. Lowest ET's are great, but then you want DRs, clutches, etc. I want a beast on the track(road course) that can fare well against anything you might encounter on the highways in Mexico.

[Jack B]

I agree with you again, but, the press/mags do not post that stat.

I do disagree with you on the higher mph winning the race. In most cases my best mph is associated with my worst et.

For me personally, I am more interested in roll racing and road racing, so yes, MPH is a good indication of if you will win the race in most cases. Lowest ET's are great, but then you want DRs, clutches, etc. I want a beast on the track(road course) that can fare well against anything you might encounter on the highways in Mexico.

[Carbon GTS]

Last week I had an O2 sensor go out on me so I had my excuse to visit Viperexchange and ask Andy for a ride.

Andy greeted me as soon as I arrived and we made our way to the side of the building where Andy was parked. We popped the hood and minus the headers it looks all factory... not a wire out of place. We jumped in and I left the door open on purpose so I could hear the cam up close. As expected listening to audio clips on the forums just didn't do this car justice. The cam is definitely audible and adds a slight rumble/shake to the car that constantly reminds you "your not stock".

Well pulled out slowly and I was immediately expecting some sort of cam surge at low speed and there was none. While still in the parking lot I was looking to see if Andy would bring the car up to speed quickly in an effort dodge the low RPMs but he didn't. The car was so well behaved there was zero special treatment or adjustment from normal driving. It just felt solid...

We made two pulls and man did this car preform. We made one pull from lower in the RPM band in 1st and the second from 60mph in 2nd. She was strong though every gear nose up from 1st to 4th. I've got a quick car with basically the stage one package and I could immediately tell this car was quicker. My car with the VVT cam wakes up around 3500-4k rpms and just wants to rip your head off but Andy's car feels like that much further down the rpm band. The second pull from 60 was with traction control off Andy had to feather the pedal a bit to get her to hook but when she did it ran like a raped ape.

The guys did exactly what the meant to do when they wanted to build a daily drivable hands/cam package. I liked how it made the Viper feel more like a muscle car. A little less refinement and more of the "ass-puckering effect" is exactly what the Gen V needs. Everything about this package felt natural with OEM quality all over it. I come from the muscle car side of things and have grown to appreciate the Viper for more than just racing straight. The car sacrifices nothing with from what I could tell.

I was both impressed and pissed… Thinking on one hand damn that car is just right with a good cam note on the exhaust, good power all over the RPM band and no reliability issues. On the other hand I was pissed bc this is exactly how this car should have come from the factory.

[Rapidrezults]

I agree with you again, but, the press/mags do not post that stat.

I do disagree with you on the higher mph winning the race. In most cases my best mph is associated with my worst et.

Okay, okay, 3rd gear only roll race, who wins? ET car or MPH car? Lol. Of course ET will always play a part in everything, shifting quickness, traction etc..

I get your point too, all in good fun!

[lochnessmonster]

Just go down to Austin for the F1 race and get your car worked on. Two birds with one stone.

Now you're talkin'!!!! Actually, my wife, kids, and I were in Montreal at Circuit du Gilles Villineuve for the F1 race last month (awesome btw), and I've told her I reeeeeeeeeally want to go to COA to see that one as well. That track looks gorgeous!!!!! It happens in the fall, and I just don't think we can get it together for this year, but next year, oh yaaaaaah. F1 + Aunt visit + headers/cam etc. Many birds with one stone.

Edit - Just as a side note, hey Andy, I was a flight instructor down at Weiser Field back in the summer of '99. My wife and I were down on FM 1960, and I flew into DW Hooks many times while giving instruction.....not far from you as I recall. Sugarland, West Houston, Hooks were our regular stomping grounds. I remember attending a crawfish festival in a little town north of Weiser, that was a blast. We really liked Houston. Attended some Astros games, flew down to Galveston and Corpus Christie. Met some really terrific people, some lifelong friends to this day. I also remember waiting for the afternoon thunder storms to roll in like clockwork off the Gulf and cool things down. Cheers.

[VENOM V]

Andy, great write up!!

Question- Is this set up optimized more for drag racing or the road course? I learned the hard way with my Camaro that a cam with too aggressive of lobe profiles won't live long on the road course. After blowing it up I had a new engine built. I had a cam custom designed just for the road course- gentle ramp rates, conservative lift to avoid a lunched motor in the event of a missed shift, hollow stem valves, Etc. Is this package road course worthy, will it live a long happy life in a track car?

[FLATOUT]

Road course not drag racing. a 750hp NA Viper weighing in at under 3,300lbs just happens to make a nice little roll race car too. This setup was developed on Bens GTD race car and was meant to be a factory feeling and performing option for Gen V owners. I want to say we went through at least 9 different cam profiles before they decided on this one. If they wanted a max effort really aggressive setup I am sure they could have made more power but that wasn't the goal. It was meant to be usable everywhere, street, strip, road course, and autocross. Our mule at Arrow has well over 10,000 miles on it at this point, and it running like a champ.

Andy

Andy, great write up!!

Question- Is this set up optimized more for drag racing or the road course? I learned the hard way with my Camaro that a cam with too aggressive of lobe profiles won't live long on the road course. After blowing it up I had a new engine built. I had a cam custom designed just for the road course- gentle ramp rates, conservative lift to avoid a lunched motor in the event of a missed shift, hollow stem valves, Etc. Is this package road course worthy, will it live a long happy life in a track car?

[FLATOUT]

That's cool sounds like you know the area really well. Looking forward to seeing you again.

Andy

Now you're talkin'!!!! Actually, my wife, kids, and I were in Montreal at Circuit du Gilles Villineuve for the F1 race last month (awesome btw), and I've told her I reeeeeeeeeally want to go to COA to see that one as well. That track looks gorgeous!!!!! It happens in the fall, and I just don't think we can get it together for this year, but next year, oh yaaaaaah. F1 + Aunt visit + headers/cam etc. Many birds with one stone.

Edit - Just as a side note, hey Andy, I was a flight instructor down at Weiser Field back in the summer of '99. My wife and I were down on FM 1960, and I flew into DW Hooks many times while giving instruction.....not far from you as I recall. Sugarland, West Houston, Hooks were our regular stomping grounds. I remember attending a crawfish festival in a little town north of Weiser, that was a blast. We really liked Houston. Attended some Astros games, flew down to Galveston and Corpus Christie. Met some really terrific people, some lifelong friends to this day. I also remember waiting for the afternoon thunder storms to roll in like clockwork off the Gulf and cool things down. Cheers.

[VENOM V]

Road course not drag racing. a 750hp NA Viper weighing in at under 3,300lbs just happens to make a nice little roll race car too. This setup was developed on Bens GTD race car and was meant to be a factory feeling and performing option for Gen V owners. I want to say we went through at least 9 different cam profiles before they decided on this one. If they wanted a max effort really aggressive setup I am sure they could have made more power but that wasn't the goal. It was meant to be usable everywhere, street, strip, road course, and autocross. Our mule at Arrow has well over 10,000 miles on it at this point, and it running like a champ.

Andy

Sounds like you guys bulls-eyed it, Andy. Nice work. I am planning to keep my future ACR stock for now but who knows down the road.

Todd

[Jack B]

None of the words matter, install it or you will
be left behind

Okay, okay, 3rd gear only roll race, who wins? ET car or MPH car? Lol. Of course ET will always play a part in everything, shifting quickness, traction etc..

I get your point too, all in good fun!

[Darius]

Everyone is with you, but, keep in mind mph will not win you the race. I would prefer 120 mph with a 10.5 et.

I'd rather run a 12.0 at 170!

[FLATOUT]

I'd rather run a 12.0 at 170!

Big POWA! LoL

[Rapidrezults]

I'd rather run a 12.0 at 170!

Exactly! Haha

[TexasSnake]

I want to say we went through at least 9 different cam profiles before they decided on this one.

Andy

Are any of the other 8 tested cam profiles or a more aggressive cam available that just sounds pure freaking nasty? I've been thinking about the heads/cam package since dropping my car off earlier but must admit I would prefer something with a nasty obnoxious lope to it.

While these cars are not capable of sounding like the old big block muscle cars, my 05 sounded badass when I attempted it and had an aggressive sounding cam with a nasty lope to it.

- Justin