NJ Steves Pit Viper Revival - Page 6

**A12pilot** · #51 10-23-2022, 01:50 AM

Chuck is the man for the Viper parts. When I redid all the stuff on my 97 GTS he’s the one that supplied the most needed parts. Invaluable resource. How are your tires? Jon B is a good source for those. Every five years Michelin makes a run of the these tiny diameter rubber bands. Miss it, and you’re ten years away from a new set!

Cheers

Dave

**njsteve** · #52 10-23-2022, 01:32 PM

Tires! Yeah no-one really makes the 335/35x17 out there other than Michellin (and Hoosier?) once in while for this application.

When I replaced the throwout bearing earlier this year I sprung for a new set of Michellins from Jon B. The old gal drives real nice now.

The old XGTZs she was sitting on were "somewhat" unsafe at this point. I have several sets of zero-mile, assembly-line Michellin XGTZs that Team Viper gave me, that are 30 years old and would make for perfect restoration sets but otherwise could double as hockey pucks if Andre the Giant played hockey. No cracks in the rubber but they are fossilized plastic now.

The XGTZs were dangerous tires even when new as the rubber compound they developed for this application gave zero transition warning when it was about to lose grip at the edge of adhesion. And with the 50/50 weight distribution, the cars would instantly swap ends, repeatedly, until they hit something immoveable that would stop the spin. Lots of 1992 and 93 Vipers were wrecked due to the XGTZs when they were new. Dodge pretty much immmediately went to the Michellen Pilot series as a replacement after about a year or two for the Gen II cars with the updated (more drive-friendly) suspension (1995 to 2002). The Gen I cars had basically a race car suspension and took a lot of focus to drive safely.

**njsteve** · #53 10-23-2022, 02:11 PM

Here's the suspension details. The factory installed, fixed spring, Koni shocks were sent back to Koni in 1993 and they installed the adjustable spring perches for aftermarket Eibach springs.

I have been on the phone with Koni and Eibach this week trying to find the correct spanner wrench for adjusting the spring heights in case I ever want to mess with the settings. Back in the day I uses a 5/16" drill bit inserted into the adjuster hole in order to spin the spring perch. Not too easy with 500 lb rated springs. Neither company makes the wrenches so I had to search to find an old style round tip spanner for a 82mm perch. It should arrive tomorrow. All the modern perches now employ a square adjuster slot and use a flat, hook style wrench.

FYI, In 1996, the Gen 2 suspension replaced everything you see here with forged aluminum control arms, different shock/springs and a totally different articulation geometry that made the car much easier to keep in a straight line and much more forgiving to newbie owners. It was a night and day difference. They also added airbags, roll up windows, and actual door handles on the outside of the car. Simply preposterous, I tell you!

Too cushy for me though. I like the brutality of the belligerent, original, Go-Cartosaurus Rex.

**njsteve** · #54 10-23-2022, 09:35 PM

My early birthday present arrived!

An NOS Gen 1 Viper Steering Wheel still in the box. My original one has all sorts of scuffs, nicks, and scratches in the leather from 30 years of abuse. I'll retire the original one up into the storage closet for safe-keeping.

**olredalert** · #55 10-24-2022, 02:57 AM

----Steve,,,Steering wheels are great garage art. Hang it up!....Bill S

**njsteve** · #56 10-24-2022, 03:38 AM

Good idea - maybe my son will get it for his birthday which is a couple days after mine!

**njsteve** · #57 10-24-2022, 08:33 PM

The spring perch wrench was delivered today. It's a hefty piece of iron, indeed. $50 worth. And it fits, too: an added bonus for sure.

**njsteve** · #58 10-26-2022, 11:04 PM

I got the transmission oil analysis back from Blackstone. Looks good for 27 year old Dexron (Torco Synthetic version that I filled it with around 1995). I guess I changed it just in time as it just hit the .1% insoluables level. :-)

Waiting on the rear differential and engine oil results next.

**njsteve** · #59 10-26-2022, 11:24 PM

And I finished the engine oil change I started over the weekend and sent off the sample to Blackstone.

It had 5-year old Valvoline traditional 10W30 with around 500 miles on it from the last change in 2017. I went with Mobil-1 10W30 this time. These big engines take 9-1/2 quarts to fill. And I used a Wix 541085XP filter. As far as I know, it's the best filter there is on the market.

A good friend of mine has a vintage case of STP Oil Treatment from 1973 and he gave me one to throw in the Viper.

It's got the good old oil additive stuff in it from when we were kids!

It's got real sugar I tell ya. None of that fancy, schmancy high fructose corn syrup for my baby.

**njsteve** · #60 10-27-2022, 04:00 PM

I've started hunting down extra spare parts for the car when they pop up cheap on rockauto. They actually have some dealer closeouts of the early Gen1 front and rear inner tie rods. TRW units for $11 each as wholesaler closouts. I got four of them. They still have some left. (BTW they're actually a Dodge Dakota truck part!)

And a Early Gen1 1992-93 waterpump for $135. Original box was chewed up but the waterpump and O-ring were fine inside. This stuff is gold!

The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to njsteve For This Useful Post:
olredalert (10-23-2022), RPOLS3 (10-23-2022), Tenney (10-23-2022)

The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to njsteve For This Useful Post:
L_e_e (10-23-2022), olredalert (10-24-2022), RPOLS3 (10-26-2022)

The Following User Says Thank You to njsteve For This Useful Post:
olredalert (10-27-2022)

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to njsteve For This Useful Post:
olredalert (10-27-2022), RPOLS3 (11-01-2022)