50 viper owners :thumbsup

HAHAHA ... I actually did! Too hilarious. Christmas present, actually. When I hit the gas and it snapped 0-60 off in 3.5 seconds and put the old crappy Vipers to shame ... I got off my high horse about the "new" Vipers losing the "spirit" ... same reason I'd drive a 2010 GT500 over the 1960's Mustang. Just my :2 cents: I guess ...

Post pics of your older model Viper ... would love to see if you have any mods under the hood to make it less slothly.

I had a 2001 and it was an absolute beast. I put less than 1200 miles on it in 5 years, but it really looked good in my garage. Not built for comfort, but if you are a weekend racer it's the tops!

:1orglaugh Thanks, owned a few:winkwink::thumbsup

Care to share some pics of your friends you once had? :1orglaugh

what years?

That one was 400 or so HP, right? You should try the newer ones .. they're an 8.4L with 600 hp ... it's a HECK of a ride. I took mine out yesterday on the highway and had some fun.

too bad its not 600hp to the wheels, more like 515rwhp, even still 500+ is like you said, a blast to ride!

I drove one once for about 2 hours a long time ago and decided I didn't like these cars. It was too small for my 6'3" body so I felt a little cramped. Visibility was ok with the top down but strange with the top up. It had alot of power but bad traction control. The back end bounced alot when going over bumps and if you happen to step on the gas during one of those bumps, it became scary. It also had some rattles here and there. On the plus side, it's a sexy car to look at and I loved the styling both inside and out at the time. I'm sure the newer ones have all of most of these kinks worked out though and have heard from 2 friend/owners that they kick ass.

I drive a skyline, I have no desire to drive something with a huge engine engine that makes like 70hp per liter. I think I'm making something like 200hp per liter right now :D Also I can spin to 8300rpm, the viper is to lazy for my tastes. I wasn't refering to the spirit, however. I was refering to how the new viper doesn't make you think "that car looks like a snake... like a viper!". It's a viper that looks like a fast sports car, not a snake. The older ones however, when I see one of those puppies, I immediately think "that car looks like a venemous snake".

I wish they put the update engine in, but kept the original body style.

mustang4life bro rock on

I kinda prefer this:

http://www.mercedes-amg.com/images/s...3_1024x768.jpg

More expensive, but at least its a quality built product inside and out, and it handles very very well. Including in corners ;)

If you plan to spend above 100k on a car, save some more money and get something real...

Yes, the newer have all the "kinks" fixed. Unfortunately, the looks of the newer ones are not the same, shitty imho.

So, for a 1stGen or 2ndGen itll take some money to get the kinks out...

Now do you drive a skyline or the new gtr? The gentlemen who sold me my viper, owns a ford gt40, the viper I have, 2010 camaro, mini cooper... he says the gtr are by far the most bang for the buck. Hp, handling and all. Understand this is coming from only one guy/one opinion, yet hes also built cars for earnhardt jr and tony stewart so I would take his word lol.

With that said, if you guys/gals have a car in mind and want it 'built' let me know and I can forward you his information.

So true!

Um duh, the first Gen rt10s was a race car on the street.

This isn't pointed at anyone specifically here, but most of the "hate" I get about my Viper is NOT from fellow Viper owners, but from losers driving shit cars who couldn't afford a Viper if they cut the price in half.

But you have the balls to brag about it on an internet forum, youre great. :thumbsup

I was looking into them a year ago considering getting rid of my camaro and buying one of these to leave stock...

But then several thousand dollars later my car makes as much to the wheels as a Viper, gets slightly better MPG, has loads more room and is less likely to get keyed.

It's still and ugly, beat up, pile of shit rattle trap and I still want a Viper but for now it's the same power for WAY less money and still doesn't do shit for cornering just like a Viper so I'm happy with it.

An example would be this fine fellow, who also lacks the ability to read the thread title, which solicited opinions.

Let's end this bullshit. I'm not calling you an idiot, but I'd like to explore the facts. A lot of non-Viper owners are talking shit about its ability to corner, so let's compare.

Viper skidpad average acceleration: 1.06 g (10.4 m/s²)

2010 Camaro SS is apparently 0.90g. What other cars are people comparing the Viper to on the skidpad?

Mine has NEVER broken loose unless I wanted it to, and even without traction control, ABS, or any of that other pussy shit, I find it a pleasure to drive hard into the corners.

Seriously, let's talk hard numbers, so we can end this "the Viper can't corner" ridiculousness spouted by people who have probably never even driven one.

Again, not directed at you, Jon, you were just the latest to say it.

in all seriousness you'll get a better ride with a newer z06 and just as much power 'as you can use' in an everyday situation. put a supercharger on a z06 and you'll be putting 650-700hp to the ground easy... reliably as well... that should keep ya pretty busy :)

It's interesting to compare the Z06 and the Viper. I love eating Z06's up on the road, but Edmunds is an independent source to confirm it.

From Edmunds, comparing the Z06 to the Viper:

Here are the key points for the TL;DR crowd:

Article here: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=122700

Get em EdgeProd! You are absolutely right. Most of these guys relay the "hearsay" about hp, cornering, etc etc. I doubt half of them have ever driven a viper to know about the drive of the vehicle.

All late model American cars suck dick!

LOL I'm just giving the Viper crowd a little shit. They can corner but your average driver will be doing donuts all the way around the track because it makes more torque than most people can handle properly.

Hell, my car BEFORE the new motor put down 446/509 to the wheels on a dyno, the motor baseline with the LS2 was 414/386 so assuming the kit didn't mysteriously stop working right the car should make roughly 560/600 to the wheels through a loose converter on 19's. That's in Lambo territory and yet just about any car with a mediocre driver can get around a track faster than me because it's not set up to do anything but go fast in a straight line and stop about twice before I have to let the brakes cool down for an hour. And I've even got upgraded brakes LOL.

I have yet to drive a 2010 SS but frankly I'm unimpressed and don't care to. I'll stick with my 8 year old car with fresh running gear that will walk most exotic cars all over a (straight) track. When I get bored with this set-up in 6-9 months from now I'll be doing a full suspension swap, putting a 6spd in it and doing the heads and intake, possibly putting a couple of small turbos on it.

Fact of the matter is that the Vipers perform EXTREMELY well stock. They go fast in a straight line AND they corner well - but you have to know what you're doing and really respect the fact that you're driving a car that makes over 500lb/ft of torque from an 8L+ motor.

Put it in the hands of a skilled drive and you have yourself one helluva car.

But you put it in the hands of the other 99% of the world and you've got a huge powerful car that drives like it's on a frozen lake.

I can dig the response lol. Say, you got any pics?!:thumbsup

Of my shitbox?

current
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...SS2010036c.jpg

few months ago with the drag set-up
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...rostars027.jpg

cam-only dyno print-out
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...amonlydyno.jpg

little twisty fun
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../cruise1-1.jpg

a little extra horsepower to merge onto the freeway
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...Nitrous005.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...us011Large.jpg

nice, way to NOT hide the bottle haha jp jp....

My friends viper rt-10, has his hidden in a cubby hole and a velcro hardened curton over it. (really nice and slick install) THEN he has a "dummy" braided hose in the trunk very visible incase the cops look and see, clearly theres no nos bottle hooked and ready lmao.

Car looks clean bro!

LOL it's easy. I don't want to put a remote bottle opener in the car because it's too much fucking wiring for me, then it would end up being a bottle heater, a remote pressure gauge, and a lot MORE wiring but you can put them in the spare tire well.

I MIGHT do that if I keep the unit in the car, but when I'm not using it, it's easy enough to throw the back seat back in the car and have 4 seats in it again. Plus with the bottle where it's at I can reach back and crack the bottle open when needed - which honestly isn't often. 19's aren't the best for traction and even on the 325/50/15 BFG Drag Radials it still blew the tires off unless they had a lot of heat in them so for the most part I drive it like a granny.

Cops don't give a shit about nitrous around here as long as you aren't in the middle of using it. :)

The car is super quiet now too :) I don't know when the last time I posted the video but this was before the exhaust was modded again to quiet it down so you could talk in the car.

Haha, I hear ya. Like any tool, though, it's more useful in the hands of a skilled user. Of all of the Vipers I've owned, I'm most impressed with the 8.4L engine, making 600hp out of the box. It's unbelievable how well it performs when you learn that driving isn't about stomping the gas and hoping for the best.

Great looking F-body. I've had two Firebirds and two Camaros, and I loved every second of making them into stage-2 and stage-3 cars. Here's two of my F-Body babies, on either side of my Porsche (don't ask -- mistake to have bought, LOL).

http://www.edgeprod.com/dom/toys.jpg

Camaro is an SS, and the Firebird is a Trans Am convertible. I've also owned the WS6 Firebird (sold now), and the LS1 SS Camaro (also sold). I go through muscle cars very rapidly ... buy 'em, build 'em up, get bored and sell 'em.

My wife is driving a Denali now, so I am using the Viper as a daily driver so I don't put miles on any of our nice cars.

edgeprod send me an email of your email lol. seriously, I have a few questions for ya. :):)

my email is Tilimakeabillion [at] hotmail

Thanks in advance.

That's a good way to put it "stomping the gas and hoping for the best" ... that pretty much sounds like my drag racing experience.

The vipers do make a ton of power, but then again it's a 500+ ci motor so it damn well better LOL.

Thanks for the compliment, the car on the outside is totally stock aside from lowering kit and the 9th set of wheels. Only exterior stuff I might do is the SLP CME and valance but that's like 1000 bucks just for an exhaust tip, which is about the same amount as a fast 92/92 set up which will actually add power so I'm torn.

I won't give you too much shit about the 911, but the engine IS in the wrong place. . . just so you know LOL.

This is my third Camaro, 2nd SS. First one was an 01 Sunset Orange Metallic SS I got at 17 with 15k miles on it, did a little street racer suspension set up (removed sway bar, dumped the ass end and pulled the right rear strut so it would squat) sprayed a buck fifty on it and would drag peoples asses up and down the road. My first big race in that car was with a single turbo Supra (67mm I think) and I yanked him out of the hole and kept out a couple cars on him through the 1/4, all with a stock A4 SS with a little spray. Then I raced a 383 stroked older pontiac on bigs and littles and blew his doors off too, after that it was a little tricky getting a race because I couldn't just say "It was the other copper orange SS on chrome wheels running around west phoenix."

Then I sold that, went through a couple of Mustangs and ended up with some shit box SOM/Black two tone V6 Camaro that I ended up blowing up 2 motors with due to nitrous and ended up with this current car that had a stock LS1 + Spray until about 6k miles ago when it got the huge cammed LS2, built automatic and decent sized stall converter and a slightly different kit. You have to pay attention to it but it still drives docile when you don't have your foot in it. I absolutely love these cars and have been wanting to get something more practical as a driver but couldn't stand the thought of selling it. It's too much fucking fun :)

I get bored with these cars too, but I found that changing the wheels every 6 months helps a little bit.


Wouldn't mind having a Viper as a DD though.

I did the Mustang thing, too ... a GT (California Special, convertible) followed by a GT500. came running and screaming back from those mistakes, LOL. Talk about a car that can't take corners ... why have a sportscar without an independent rear suspension? It makes no sense.

I've always loved the F-Bodies, and oddly, I tend to take better care of them (having them detailed, waxed, etc) than I do of the "higher end" cars.

If you're ever out toward Raleigh or Richmond, I'll take you for a ride in the Viper and show you how it handles the corners, LOL.

Sure thing. E-mail sent.

LOL you don't know anything about non-handling piles of shit until you've driven the foxbody platform cars on bigs and littles. I daily drive an 89 LX on convo pros, doing 100+ on the freeway with that thing was a suicide mission. Stopping was even worse. I won't buy a car with drum brakes anymore.

I know why they didn't put the IRS in the GT500. It was SUPER expensive to make work and not blow up and most people have been putting the Mach 1 straight axle in the 03/04 Cobras anyway because the IRS sucks in those cars unless you leave it stock. Ford probably looked at the aftermarket community and said fuck it, save them some trouble.

I'll take you up on that, but I don't leave AZ much and if I do it's either LA or Hawaii. I'll make it out there eventually.

Makes sense, re: the IRS, but without it, the car performs like ass on the slalom, etc. Watch the videos .. it doesn't even COMPARE to cars like the Viper, Z06, etc.

I don't think there has ever been a Mustang produced by Ford themselves that actually handles well.

That's where companies like Roush and Saleen come into play. Shelby is a lot about power and handles better than stock, Roush is all about cornering and the cars don't make much more power over stock (minus the Roush 360R and 380Rs of days past) and the Saleens are kind of going in both directions but aren't really doing anything well.

BUT, companies like MMR, Steeda, and others are making a lot of bad ass suspension components that make those cars handle pretty well as long as you have the money for it. You'll end up spending more on the suspension than you paid for the car though.

Lucky f-body owners have Sam Strano who creates all of his own suspension components and doesn't sacrifice quality for mass production. He orders his springs in runs and you can only get them like once every three months.

That's the issue: I feel that by the time you make the Mustang into a real car, you could have just BOUGHT a real car. The Viper is on the "lower" end of "exotic," but it's fine for a daily driver. I find it comfortable for trips up to one or two hours .. which is all I really drive.

My SS's came with all of the SLP components already done, so I had to take some of those out before I started putting in "real" parts. However, the SLP loudmouth with appropriate up-front work sounds like a BEAST.

I'm looking EVERYWHERE for a great exhaust kit for the Viper. People who complain about the V10 haven't heard the 8.4L and are thinking of the 1990's Vipers most likely, but I'd love for it to be LOUDER at idle.

By the way, Jon, I did a video a while back (on a rainy day, d'oh) .. got any vids of the Camaro? Here's mine of the Viper .. I need to do a new one. This was right after I took the Paxton supercharger off and went back to naturally aspirated. Also was the 8.3L engine before the 8.4L swap.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=T1sEgdnVLQM

Bump for a Camaro vid from Jon .. car looks amazing.

I don't think I have any other videos. I can never find anyone who can hold a camera steady when I go out and I really don't hang out with car people anymore. Plus the track is like 40 miles away and at 8mpg that's not a trip I feel like taking.

I'll look around though. I have like 25 minutes of video from the tuning at the dyno, I could probably put together more video from that.

From experience, I could not agree with you more. They are a real POS especially the first gens :disgust

If you ever do get one, I'd love to see it ... or if the car ever happens to make a trip to NC. ;)


Yeah. I wouldn't touch a first or second gen Viper. Some people truly love the looks, but too many of the buyers are broke-ass idiots who think they "own a Viper" when they buy an older one. Then they bitch about the $80 wiper blades and realize they bit off more than they can chew.

At least the newer ones come with warranties, of which mine has been amazing.

... you know that I e-mailed you, right? A while ago ... no response. :winkwink:

Skidpad is a function of tire... Post some slalom numbers :)

gotta get one of em soon

without reading this thread, I bet we have at least 10 owners here on gfy lol

I think it was a '94 model I drove for a short while in 95, the back used to get out whenever it felt like it. Sideways was always just a little bit too close for comfort, used to be able to lock the back up a lot, or it felt like it on hard downchanges into corners as well. Nice and fun however, lots of power, but not the most inspiring thing to push hard with, but I guess a Viper is supposed to be able to bite you. I cant remember this part fully, but I think the GF used to burn/scald her ankle a lot on the exhaust pipe as well. In some ways it always felt you were like trying to drive a dart backwards, and the soft top was a pain.
Although like many viper owners there always seemed to be some excuse for parking up and opening up all the doors and the bonnet :)

looks like a fuckin mazda miata

.... I don't think the early ones had side exhaust, did they? Maybe that's why you can't quite remember it? LOL. Mine has side exhaust, and it gets VERY VERY hot when you get out.

Who cares how much horse power you make per litre? Seriously? Horsepower is always a function of fuel and air. That is to say, to make X power you need Y amount of fuel and Z amount of air. Who cares if you do it at atmospheric pressure in a large cylinder or in a smaller cylinder with boost. It's not magic.