Goodbye Porsche hello Viper

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Steve Viegas

I think that is awesome. Wish I could pull the trigger.

LOL! Reminds me of my favorite car review. "Wish I could pull the trigger. Oh wait.... I just did. I'll go wash up now."

[LSA]

Hmmm iceman at 6'3" I sort of get that vibe, the cockpit is small for sure borderline cramped but it really fits like a glove. I love those huge chunky center console and arm rest over the torque tube. To me it just feels driver oriented or focused especially with the way the gauges are tilted towards the driver. Granted it's only been a few days but have driven it to work every day this week and will probably mostly daily it into the future because I am some sort of sick masochist that loves seeing money turned into noise and atomized rubber. The visibility is pretty good, certainly not as good as the 911 though, there's a bit of a blind spot over the shoulder with the B pillars but otherwise front and back visibility is decent enough.

Jeremy is right, definitely analog.

After a few days of living with the car to get a feel for it there's really only one thing I'm considering changing. The exhaust setup... The sound is monster and the volume is just borderline too loud but what I don't like is the drone at 1500rpm which... I know doesn't sound bad but the ratios are so tall at 70mph on the freeway fifth gear is barely turning 2k and sixth drops it to near 1400rpm and the drone is real. So usually I end up cruising in fifth and don't even touch sixth. It also makes departure in the morning quite the occasion as I try to baby it out of my beach neighborhood at 6:30 in the morning.

Overall, still love the car. It's a hoot, nothing but positive reactions from people too. It puts a huge smile on my face every time. Half of me is still thinking how utterly absurd the notion of driving one of these regularly is but then I sit in it, step on the gas and just enjoy the ride. I wouldn't call it an impulse buy as I had been looking for a while but I did what I always do and fell in love with it. Life's too short to be stuck in some economy box.

[icemann427]

Originally Posted by LSA

Hmmm iceman at 6'3" I sort of get that vibe, the cockpit is small for sure borderline cramped but it really fits like a glove. I love those huge chunky center console and arm rest over the torque tube. To me it just feels driver oriented or focused especially with the way the gauges are tilted towards the driver.

LSA,

Yes, I think a 2nd Generation would be just fine for me and I'm 6'2". The 3rd Generation that I sat in (the 2006) has a lower roof line than do previous generations, and as such, just felt cramped to me. Forward and side vision was marginal, I felt. Maybe I should try driving one, though. I was just looking at the newer ones as I figured their AC systems were better since I live where it is very hot.

Great ride and congratulations!

[LSA]

Oh, derp on my part. I misread, yeah I've not sat in the roadster of any generation. I know the generations after the 2nd have a slightly higher belt line so that already inhibits visibility. The ac well it's... not great. I suspect however it's an issue with my car specifically rather than the viper as a whole. There are some guys on viperalley who say their ac is great. After eighteen years it could probably use a charge.

Mine still blows cold but it's not -that- cold. Fortunately I'm spoiled with the weather and while where I work will sometimes crest the 90s home is usually low 70s lucky dog indeed. Thanks man, blessing have been counted.

Edit:: and how could I forget the most revolutionary feature to be fitted onto any modern car -ever-. The hvac vent pointed at your balls, you've not had luxury until your balls have their own ac vent and they said the viper was spartan ha!

[JD159]

Originally Posted by LSA

I wouldn't call it an impulse buy as I had been looking for a while but I did what I always do and fell in love with it. Life's too short to be stuck in some economy box.

Love this.

I'm trying to somehow justify to myself one day DD'ing a newer 911. The more I think about it the more I just think **** it, we love to drive might as well do it if you can.

[LSA]

So a little bit of an update and some pictures since those always make a thread better.

Everything's been more or less fine baring replacing of the drivers window switch and door button and rear glass strust. It's lasted longer than the 911 did and I'm even managing double digit miles per gallon if only barely... ha. So a coworker who also own a body shop was interested in buying my 911 and we worked out a bit of a deal. So the viper is getting a ton of bodywork (which it sorely needed) and a full paint job. It was a good 10 footer but up close there were a lot of glaring imperfections and a kind of ****ty respray done on the hood. Lots of paint cracks and clear coat runs here and there.

So first here's a shot without the bra next to it's stablemate for now.



So that's the before and the color I've chosen issss the absolutely gorgeous stryker red multistage from the genV viper which from the factory is close to a 15k option ouch!

Here's the swatch sample, pictures don't even come close to capturing how much depth the color has to it and with the black wheels ahh man. Speaking of black bits, while the body is being prepped I have the gas cap off (which holy crap that's $800) and the exhaust tips (which are already starting to corrode) and those will be getting cerakoted black to match and mainly to protect against that corrosion from the beach.


The crappy windshield wiper cowl that was done up with the chintzy 3m carbon fiber tape is being replaced with a nice vented piece from a kickass company which makes to order viper parts along with a couple other subtle body bits.

As it sits now.




The worst part of the car was the front fascia which had quite a bit of paint imperfections and a lot of damage underneath from being bottomed out. Second was the hood which is being prepped next.

Fascia before in one of the worst spots and after, primed and ready to paint.

[Kirk911SC]

Nice! Sold my 930 about 4 years ago (before the market went crazy ) and ended up with this:



So different than the Porsche. Tons of fun, cheaper to maintain, and dead reliable.

[Noah930]

^^Beautiful car, Kirk.^^

[LSA]

Shame you missed the peak with your 930. I feel like with production coming to an end on the viper the gen2 has the most iconic lines and maybe they'll start to rise a bit in price.

That does look fantastic, the blueish gray is amazing. I've never much cared for the gen 1 or 2 wheels though. I love the viper in the more understated grays and silvers whereas I despise them on the 911 really. That being said, I just fell in love with the red and it was the one. There were three colors I was considering all viper colors. The same vapor silver, shadow blue pearl and stryker red. In the end red won out by far.

Amusing story of coincidence. The company I work for produces insulation for aerospace applications though throughout the years has taken up the oddball contract from car manufacturers. The only one I was aware of before recently was a contract with bmw for insulation blankets that were in the hood of the z3. Anywho one day I was walking to one of our other buildings and was assailed by the president (a large boisterous german man who speaks with a thick accent), the operations manager (who's quite interested in cars) and a gaggle of customers from Saab GKN.

They had been apparently checking out the car which was parked nearby. They asked me about it and asked me the year. It seems the company I work for made the insulation shields that go in the side sills of all gen 2 vipers and the president couldn't stop going on about it. I'd never seen him so animated before, it was pretty great. Possibly the most amusing part was when I popped the hood to show the swedes. Seeing the engine when used to the standard sub 2L engines so common overseas their jaws dropped and out came the cellphones for pictures.

You get a lot of attention in it but not too much I'd say and nine times out of ten I'm usually more than happy to talk about the car with people.

[Kirk911SC]

I sold the 930 for what I paid for it 5 years earlier ($30K.......Canadian). DOH!
I think you'll start to see prices creep up on the Gen II in the coming years, although I doubt we'll see a Porsche bubble.

Agreed about the stock wheels......don't like 'em either. Gen V wheels are on the wishlist. The Gen V red will look fantastic on the car I'm sure.

The car certainly attracts WAY more attention than the 930. It's interesting because the car gets accolades from both "muscle car" people and "sports car" people like no other car I know of. Surprisingly, even young kids know what it is!

[LSA]

Ouch, that's pretty rough... just stay away from the classifieds. Oh well, live and learn I suppose. No, I don't think they'll go crazy but they'll definitely be some nostalgia for it.

Oh man, there's some really nice GenV five spokes I'd like. I think they might be the rattlers I'm not sure. I've got the gen3 roadster wheels which I like but am not crazy about. I'm glad the car came with them so I've got more tire choice for the rear though over stock which was a bit worrying. Ideally I'd love a set of ese carbon wheels or strasse carbons but those are $$$ and strasse is one of the few wheel companies I know that makes everything in the viper 6 bolt configuration. What I'd give for a set of Volks Te37s that fit the viper mmm.

Yeah, everyone loves the car except for maybe the prius ladies who get quite the start when I step on it. Ha, there was this kid maybe 10 or 11 walking with his dad after I parked and his face lit up as I walked by "That's a nice viper!" he just sort of blurted out. Is yours stock?

[Kirk911SC]

Mostly stock:

- ROE smooth tubes on the intake
- Random Tech hi-flow cats - best mod......drops the heat in the cabin and the sills substantially
- Billet p/s bracket & pulley
- Muffler delete
- Shortened shifter
- Trans lockout bypass
- New speakers and head unit

[LSA]

Ahh, I finally have it back well for a few weeks anyway. Lots of delays and random things Took a while but man worth the wait. While painting I also redid the exhaust with Kooks green cats, added a resonator and swapped to a moroso spiral flow muffler which some of the guys on viper alley go crazy for. I also started redoing the interior. I had the door panels stripped of the chintzy carpeting and redone with some suede; the headliner is next. I haven't stopped smiling yet mpgs be damned. Some preventative mods are next, I'd like to do the billet p/s bracket & pulley but on the list now is silicone coolant hoses, plugs/wires, engine and trans mounts. Before I got it the shifter lockout had already been disabled and the rear o2 sensors turned off.

Some pictures of the stryker red job and how it came out. They don't really do it justice, the luster in the light is crazy and how dark it gets at night is amazing. Found a set of gen4 six spokes with new tires for cheap to replace my 10 spokes which unfortunately had a crack on one of them.






I also laser cut a badge at work to replace the old grey badge from a gen3 that the PO stuck on the car. Not quite finished yet but it's pretty rad.

[bivenator]

That red is really nice. Enjoy.

[masraum]

Nice rides fellas!

I had no idea that there were 5 generations of Viper. I was only aware of 2.

[RANDY P]

nice!! Bout time we have a Viper owner on here.

rjp

[onewhippedpuppy]

That looks fantastic!

[JossP80]

Originally Posted by LSA

As for the 911 I mean the conversion worked well enough it worked as a car totally drivable and to be honest getting it smog legal is doable it's just I'm not the greatest at wrenching and don't have a lot of space so it was just at that level where I couldn't decide and just started looking for vipers. Specifically this is what needs to be done which would require at least one more engine drop to swap the wiring harness.

The referee to his credit was a great guy and did all he could to help but it was beyond his jurisdiction and he had to go to the regional manager who had to talk to CARB in Sacremento.

This was the email I got from him.

for your 2002 Porsche 911 with 2011 Chevrolet Camaro LS3 engine change see below for items needed to pass

1 factory ECU 2011 6.2 Camaro one can only alter the security chip for no start theft situation's
1 factory wiring harness and OBDII connector in correct location in the vehicle where factory Porsche connector is.
1 factory air cleaner box assembly or legal aftermarket with Ca. Executive order #'s
transmission manual on Camaro has a Clutch switch + Trans temp Sensor + Speed sensor
OEM Charcoal canister and OEM fuel pump assembly that also has the PSI Sensor and Level indicator for the evap. monitor

I love that red!

Hey, LSA! For the benefit of other Pelicans, I wanted to ask: did the smog ref ever mention or take issue with the exhaust manifolds pointing "the wrong way"? As far as I know, there are no backward facing Cali smog legal exhaust manifolds. Which did you use and what did the ref think about them?

Thanks!

[LSA]

Yeah five gens though 3 and 4 kind of blend together pretty samey I think more like a model year refresh like going from the 996.1 to a 996.2.

Thank you, I love it too and thanks everyone for the kind comments. It was a toss up between three colors from the viper offerings. Keeping it silver, Shadow Blue pearl and what ended up winning Stryker red or as the boyz on Viper Alley like to call it Snaketitz maroon.

It's funny you mention the exhaust manifolds at least funny to me because they just seemed so out of hand when I built the car. But the ref had 0 issues with my exhaust setup. Which as pictured was just the headers turned around backwards and then the exhaust piping that came with the ls3 erod with pre and post cats and then a pair of resonator tips. No muffler no anything. It idled quieter than my viper does with a muffler, resonator and more piping but it was pretty loud when you stepped on it.


The referee process is so subjective it really just depends on who your ref is. I think a stricter referee might have told me to pound sand but they have a reasonable amount of wiggle room.

[DWBOX2000]

Wow, that is a beauty. Thanks for the side by side with the 996. It's interesting to see the size comparison. Unless my eyes are off, surprised to see the 996 is bigger. Either way, I love your car choices. You obviously make good ones.