Chronicles of SneakySnakes | Vol III

[paintless302]

Very interesting thread...great attention to detail and focus without getting lost in the middle.

I've been in the market for a gen v viper for a bit now, if you don't mind my asking, how many miles were on it when you bought it...and now, lol. I remember how quickly the miles came on in my gt500, unfair really especally for a weekend racer.

Great car, nice work and the only color I'd get.

I purchased the car with around 6800 miles, and it has around 7500 miles currently. This isn't really representative of my usage since on this car I decided to do EVERYTHING all at once and the car has spent more time in the shop than any other car I've owned. It's currently in the shop getting some trans goodies.

I usually put around 7-8k miles on my vipers a year.

 

[Iamchris]

I have grown to love cars for what they are. I think a good and well kept performance car from 1975 is just as good as 2017, obviously with a disparity in performance... but the cars themselves are to be appreciated.
That said, this is one of the few newer cars I'd like to get my hands on(well, of the cars I can afford anyway)... but I won't trade my Gen II in for it, since I think it really appeals to me because it is an improved and modernized Gen II GTS.

Love the car though, great pics and thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[paintless302]

Around a month and a half ago, I was driving the car quite spiritedly and realized that when I would get on the power hard from a roll-on, there was a tiny stumble before the car took off. I definitely thought it was strange, but it was intermittent, and seemed to clear itself up the following day. I didn't think too much of it, bad gas I thought, as I was very low on fuel when this occurred. The problem seemed to worsen over the coming days and got to the point where the car refused to accelerate at upper rpms. It idled fined, fired up fine, rev'd fine, with no codes, but under load at high rpms it would break up. It behaved as if I had rolling anti-lag, hesitating and backfiring out of both banks. Talked to a few people in the know and gave it some thought, we all concluded that it had to be a spark issue. Maybe coil packs going bad. Did a quick sanity check in the engine bay and started to pull on coil wires, lo and behold, 1 coil wire (boot end) on each bank was somehow loose on the plug, and grounding out. I was the first V8 viper since the VM01 Viper prototype in '89

Had the car taken to Viper Exchange to get this sorted under warranty, and while they replaced all of the coil wires, we decided to throw in some fresh plugs as well. Old plugs had 7,500 miles on em and looked fine;

Since I was already at VE I decided to do something fun while we were at it. I had long disliked the move to the shorter 6th gear in the early Gen 5s (there's no reason a 8.4L V10 should be turning 2000+rpm at 70mph), and always longed for the short ratio ACR 5th like I had installed in my old gen 4. So we decided to do both. The transmission was pulled, and 5th and 6th gears replaced. 5th is 0.80 ratio (actually 0.796) from the 2010 ACR, and 6th is 0.50 from the 2015+ TR6060s.

The results were dramatic. The car now pulls like a freight train coming out of 4th into 5th, and makes quick work of 160+. It will be great for 1/2 mile events. And the tall overdrive is wonderful for freeway cruising, improving mileage and decreasing cabin noise.

 

[paintless302]

Had an opportunity to head out to San Antonio with the local Viper guys and visit Lackland AFB. One of our club members is a retired Master Sgt stationed there, and he was able to get us some access and escort around base. The draw for the trip (for me), was to see my favorite aircraft of all time (SR71), to finally get some extended seat time in the car, and to break in the new gearset in the trans. Plus San Antonio hill country offers some incredible driving roads.

So we cleaned the beast up, filled up the tank, and headed out west.

This was the first time I'd taken the car on a multi-hour trip and I have to say its so much more livable than my old coupe. Even with the full exhaust, the improved sound deadning keeps interior noise reasonable, and everything just feels rock solid in the interior (no squeaks/rattles/etc). It was an absolute pleasure to drive. The only gripe for me is that the seats are more suited towards holding you in place, rather than spending hours driving in a straight line, and I'd find myself stretching every hr or so to avoid fatigue. I would never want to drive my old gen 3 or 4 for more than 4-5hrs at a time (mostly because of road/exhaust noise, they actually had more comfortable seats imo), but I could set off for an extended road trip in this new one with zero reservations.

The new 6th gear is so much better for cruising as well. It helps keep drone to a minimum, and we turned 20mpg (hand calc confirmed at fill up) on our trip between Houston and SA. It was funny because when we left on a full tank the range showed 165 miles, and it stayed at 165 miles until we were 70% of the way to SA! On the next fill up in SA, the range was showing 325 miles.

Following morning we were up bright 'n early to head to the base to meet the rest of the gang;

 

[paintless302]

As more and more arrived we caravan'd over to the beauty that be the SR71, and lined up for some shots;

Walk around of all the snakes https://www.instagram.com/p/BWkt-ehlE7X/?taken-by=sneakysnakes

We then roamed about all the static displays and took it all in. Some very classic aircraft on display;

 

[paintless302]

Still can't get over this thing, it's an absolute engineering marvel. As an engineer myself, doing what these guys did in the timeline they had, by hand, no FEA, no CFD, I'm just speechless. I can't believe it was done to be honest. The flow surface development, all the compressible/incompressible flow calcs, overall design/effeciency tricks of the J58s, just unreal. Kelly Johnson was one hell of an engineer.

As a huge dog fan, this service dog memorial was awesome.

We stopped by an old hanger on our way to grab some lunch;

 

[paintless302]

Hit some incredible driving roads on the way to a 2/3 replica of Stonehenge. https://www.instagram.com/p/BWoDnUZFskF/?taken-by=sneakysnakes

Which, apparently, a man created to decorate his backyard, but got so tired of the locals trespassing on his property to view, that he donated the ensemble to the city. Now its on display for the public in its own location. Pretty neat, but I enjoyed the drive through the hills on the way there more than the destination. Had an absolute blast.

We finished off the night with a beautiful dinner view from the Plaza Club in Frost tower.

Just missing a cigar and some bourbon in this pic;

Headed home the following day, absolute blast of a trip, saw new things, drove new roads, met new people, and got to fall in love with the car all over again.

Oh, and we saw some corn. Lots of corn.

 

[Sn95Snake]

This car just looks so perfect!

 

[paintless302]

 

[Serpent]

Damn Alex, how did you manage 20mpg?
My 2015 SRT enroute from San Diego to Silicon valley managed about 19 and I was driving around 68mph-70, letting everyone pass on left lane on I5. I have same TA splitters front and rear.

Might be my heavy Venom wheels and heavy one piece rotors. And I think the car being lowered might have helped you too!!! lol

I already ordered MCS coil overs and the barrel shifter. Next will be mufflers and maybe larger brakes w/ 2 piece rotors.

I ****en love my gen V.

 

[13COBRA]

Damn Alex, how did you manage 20mpg?
My 2015 SRT enroute from San Diego to Silicon valley managed about 19 and I was driving around 68mph-70, letting everyone pass on left lane on I5.

Might be my heavy Venom wheels and heavy one piece rotors. And I think the car being lowered might have helped you too!!! lol

I already ordered MCS coil overs and the barrel shifter. Next will be mufflers and maybe larger brakes w/ 2 piece rotors.

I ****en love my gen V.

Then twins?

 

[Serpent]

^ Nah, his is a GTS, mine is an SRT, but owner got Bernie at ViperX to install 18-speaker upgrade. its ****ing awesome!!!

 

[gimmie11s]

This ****ing thread delivers!!!!

Outstanding.

 

[DSGCOBRA24]

Damn Alex, how did you manage 20mpg?
My 2015 SRT enroute from San Diego to Silicon valley managed about 19 and I was driving around 68mph-70, letting everyone pass on left lane on I5. I have same TA splitters front and rear.

Might be my heavy Venom wheels and heavy one piece rotors. And I think the car being lowered might have helped you too!!! lol

I already ordered MCS coil overs and the barrel shifter. Next will be mufflers and maybe larger brakes w/ 2 piece rotors.

I ****en love my gen V.

Pics of your viper please?

 

[Serpent]

Pics of your viper please?

@ bakersfield fueling up, it was 96F last Friday.

 

[ZYBORG]

@ bakersfield fueling up, it was 96F last Friday.
View attachment 96454

@ bakersfield fueling up, it was 96F last Friday.
View attachment 96454

Jesus man...

OP, gives us pro level photos and you give us this crap?

Nice Viper tho!

 

[Serpent]

I dont want to muck up Alex's thread.

 

[DSGCOBRA24]

I dont want to muck up Alex's thread.

Gorgeous! Thanks man. I'm debating on a gen v or zr1/c7 z06

 

[Lethal SVT97]

thats a beautiful car. love the color

 

[paintless302]

Damn Alex, how did you manage 20mpg?
My 2015 SRT enroute from San Diego to Silicon valley managed about 19 and I was driving around 68mph-70, letting everyone pass on left lane on I5. I have same TA splitters front and rear.

Might be my heavy Venom wheels and heavy one piece rotors. And I think the car being lowered might have helped you too!!! lol

I already ordered MCS coil overs and the barrel shifter. Next will be mufflers and maybe larger brakes w/ 2 piece rotors.

I ****en love my gen V.

Don't know, i was hauling ass too. The car weighs in at 3300lbs, but weight should have really minimal effect at cruising speeds (within reason). I have the tall 6th (which you should as well in a 15+).