NJ Steves Pit Viper Revival

[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.

[Too Many Projects]

And here I thought I was behind the times as a Neanderthal mechanic...LOL A mid size compressor was the first purchase when I had my previous shop built to park my Pete at home.

You were better off getting all the coolant in 1 container anyway. I did the jug by jug the first time and the system loses a little vacuum with each change and I was left with some coolant to add after a full run cycle.