NJ Steves Pit Viper Revival

[njsteve]

Well, looks like the boy has the whole Tremec 6-speed thing down pretty good. After driving his 2011 Challenger 6-speed for the past couple weeks we tried him out on the Viper today. Amazing. Not a stall or anything even close to it! We went for a 10 mile cruise around town and back, and got home just before it started raining (again).

He did mention that he likes the mushy factory shifter in the Challenger much better than the super-short-throw racing shifter in the Viper.

Looks like I have to start hiding the keys since he now knows how to drive it, no problem.

[njsteve]

I had to pull the radiator from my January-1993-built Viper yesterday after seeing a puddle of antifreeze under the nose.

Just a heads-up in case anyone out there mistakenly thinks you can pull the radiator from a 1992 or 1993 (with the early style dual fan set up and filler neck) by following the one-hour Gen II procedure. NO WAY!!! It's an 8-hour job on the early cars.

The first two years of production used a fiberglass front bulkhead that holds the radiator in front of it, in the space between the bulkhead and the front fascia. There is NO opening to the rear and the shroud is part of the bulkhead itself. Only the fan motors are removable. The mid-year 1993 with the removable single fan unit and the fender-mounted reservoir, and the newer 94 and 95 (and Gen II) use a front bulkhead that had the radiator mounted behind it facing the engine and a removable fan shroud. On the Gen II you can unhook the rad hoses and the top mounting nut and pull the radiator out in the space between the engine and the bulkhead in a matter of minutes, even with the hood still attached.

On the 1992/93 Gen I, cars you have to remove the hood, remove the hood latches to get the cables out of the way and then remove the entire hinge assembly, which is nearly impossible because 2 of the 3 mounting bolts are underneath the headlight pods, then disconnect and remove the A/C condensor, if so equipped. Because the early cars have that radiator filler cap on the radiator, there is no way to maneuver the radiator the required 5 inches or so to get the inlet and outlet out of their respective holes in the bulkhead while clearing the radiator filler neck around the hinge mounting point. And no, you can't pull the front fascia off to get at the headlight pods because the early 92 and 93 cars used a giant styrofoam reinforcement inside of the fascia that wraps around and over the aluminum crash bar, which wont come out either, when you remove its mounting bolts because the side edges of the front fascia wrap around the inner fenders in a way that will crack the paint and the plastic if you attempt it in anything under 90-degree weather.

So in the end, I used an insane combination of 1/4" and 3/8" drive universal joints, straight and swivel head sockets and some wooden and plastic wedges to pry the headlight pods the extra millimeter or two up, so I could get to the last hinge bolts under the headlight pods.

I then dropped it off at Fingers Radiator Hospital in North Brunswick, NJ this morning. They have been in business for over 95 years! They do amazing repair work. They will be recoring it as a 3-core instead of the factory 2 core.

https://www.fingersradiator.com/fing...tor5v1_002.htm

Just thought you might want to know.

[njsteve]

And you gotta just love the 1993 factory service manual that intricately described the removal procedure as follows:

Step 1: Remove hood and hinges.
Step 2: Unbolt radiator.
Step 3: Remove radiator from vehicle
To replace, reverse procedure.


Just like a 1970's Chiltons manual. Jeez

And by the way, most of my angerfullness is due to the fact that those unobtanium headlamp pods are going for around $10,000 a pair at the moment in the event I damaged them in the process. Sure glad I have an extra NOS set that I got under warranty back in 1993.

[A12pilot]

Man, I’m glad that wasn’t the deal with my 97 Gen II GTS, Steve. Massive improvement on that. I did what you did but upgraded to a 4-row and that really helped. Did all the common Gen II things too: idler pulley, PS pulley, hoses, PCV, water pump, etc. I even added two extra smaller cooling fans to the AC condenser which really helped the lack of air flow. I miss that car! I remember doing the brakes and when I got to the rears I thought, “Did these come off a Neon?” The pads were about as big as a flip phone. Painted the calipers red and it was comical to see those tiny things in the wells.



They seemed to have come back down to realistic prices again, but definitely higher than when I bought mine for $40k.

Cheers
Dave

[njsteve]

Yeah, those brakes! Here's a funny factoid: the "giant" brakes (for the day) on the front of the Viper are actually the exact same Brembo calipers that come stock, on the back of our Hellcat Redeye. Talk about progress!

And there was also the infamous move by Dodge when all the owners of the early cars complained about how the cars were running hot and that the temp needle on gauge was always in the red zone...What did Dodge do as a fix?...


...They removed the red zone from the gauge for the next model year!

[A12pilot]

That car would never run 180\190. There’s too much heat in that engine. 220 was normal on my end with no overheating and I never drove it above 90 outside. Too blasted hot!

I’d love to get another, but it seems parts are starting to get really scarce and as the 1990s “quality” parts disintegrate, you’re not left with many options other than more 90s junk to replace. A buddy had a Gen II and he had all interior parts leather wrapped. Smelled like a dead ox in there, but it looked REALLY sharp! But the invoice…..

Cheers
Dave

[njsteve]

Yeah, that fuzzy, grey finish on the entire dash plastic is a nightmare for Gen 1 owners. I think the same era Ferraris have the same problem. It all turns to a sticky goo. I was able to stabilize mine by wiping it down with Prep-Sol. No one makes a reproduction paint to replicate the fuzzyness.

Down in Florida, the car would run insanely hot. We were in touch with the engineers at team viper at the time. Best advice was to unplug the A/C compressor and then activate the A/C - it turned the A/C button in to a full time dual electric fan on/off switch. That was good for 10 degree reduction...and it wasn't like the A/C did anything in an open car with no windows in Central Florida in August.

The recore should be done next week. They estimated around $695 to convert it to 3-core from a 2-core. He said the prices went way up due to the copper costs rising a lot. My previous recores with them (the 70 Cuda and Grampa's 71 Lincoln) were around $500 a few years ago.

[njsteve]

Got the radiator back in. It took about a month for the core to arrive so they could assemble it. Beautiful job they did. I installed it Sunday and used one of those new-fangled vacuum purge contraptions to refill the coolant. Amazing what technology can do! I kind of miss spending a week filling and refilling the coolant through a funnel into the heater hose inlet on the cowl with the car's nose one foot higher than the tail. Anyway, She's back on the road now and reading for drivin'

Of course I did have to wait for my son to get home from the gym so we could install the hood and start the car to check for leaks...I kind of forgot that I couldn't open the car doors to get in with the hood sitting on the roof, and covering the sides of the doors. (sitting on several car covers and a papa-san chair cushion for protection.)

[Too Many Projects]

Very nice job, it looks original. Then you covered it all up with the intake plenums..

The shop I used to work at had one of those evac tools and I used it there and HAD to have one. Mine is an Airlift that I've had for 6-7 years and only used a handful of times, but what a time, and frustration, saver.

[njsteve]

Yeah, I have never even had an air compressor. I'm an unfrozen caveman mechanic from the neolithic era. So I decided to go to Harbor Freight and get a small compressor to power up the purge contraption. Worked amazingly well although the coolant intake hose had a filter on the end that was too large to fit into an anti-freeze jug! DOH! So I dumped the four gallons that I had drained from the car, into a big bucket and clamped a vice grip on the end of the filter to weight it down to the bottom, and it worked out fine.

All that is left is getting the A/C system recharged. It was a little low anyway after 31 years.