Topics

I wanted to thank my friend Eddie, a SoCal Viper club and VCA member, for inviting me over for a visit at his Fire Station this morning.  Okay....not just a Fire Station...but the famous Station 51 which was home of the TV show "Emergency" from the 1970's .  (It is actually Station 127 in Carson). 
We were barely 5 minutes into my tour of the station when they got a call.  I got to see these guys react and respond, literally in a matter of seconds.  Without going into details, I can tell you that these guys are top notch and something we should not take for granted.    <1 

Thanks again for the tour Eddie !

Lance


P.S.  After watching Eddie handle the back end of the huge hook and ladder, flying through traffic and around tight corners....My money is on Eddie the next time we hit the track.  This guy CAN drive!!!   ^9 



 

I have tenatively set up a tour of the Edelbrock Facility in July.
They generally do tours once they have 120 people signed up.......It would be great if we could commit 120 SoCal Viper Club members and have our own tour.

Similar to the Saleen tour,  they will give us a tour of their facilities, dyno a motor with and without their headers etc..  They will even feed us LUNCH !!!   Hard to pass this one up.

The date is not yet set, but will likely to be the 3rd or 4th Sat in July.
I need to know if we will be able to get 120 people or if we will have to "share" the tour with others and NOT have control of choosing the date.

Any interest?

Lance


www.edelbrock.com

Viper Days came to ButtonWillow Raceway again this month.
The weather was perfect and the drivers had a great time running the track clockwise ( in Feb we ran it counter clockwise)


Here are a few of the pictures.....    The rest of them are posted as usual at   www.kouchicentral.com


Dan & Cathy rented a garage so that the SoCal Club members had a place to hang out.


Cathy hard at work as usual.  Everyone should be grateful for all the behind the scenes stuff that they do for OUR club !


We even had a vicious watch dog.


Skip Thomas.....He does a great job teaching us about our cars and how to drive it.

















Track time was awesome....with NO car casualties !













Skip and I at the Viper Days Banquet

It was yet another beautiful morning in Malibu.  We had 7 Vipers meet up at Coogies followed by a great run through the canyon roads.

For those who have not made it out to this.....I promise that this is one of the best morning runs you will find.












They insisted that I be in the picture too !














It is always great to eat breakfast with such good company and taking a spirited run on Mulhulland Dr.

Hope to see more people next month.

More pictures are posted here    www.kouchicentral.com

Happy Birthday to YOU !
Happy Birthday tooo Yoooouuuu !!
Happy Birthday Dear KALA !!
Happy Birthday to You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great B-day Kala and hope to see you soon !

It was a great turnout (23 Vipers), perfect weather, awesome route through the back roads and a great time with fellow VCA members.

A special thanks to Richard and Dave C. for putting this event together for all of us to enjoy.



We had 14 Vipers meet at the OC rendevous point.























Thanks again!!

More pictures posted here   www.kouchicentral.com

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday To YOU,   HAPPY BIRTHDAY OH GREAT ONE, Happy Birthday to you!!!   ^1



Hope you have a Happy Birthday Dave !!!!!

See you next week!!!

Lance

Here are a few of the shots I took of the Comp Coupes.












It was a lot of fun watching them and seeing first hand how stupidly FAST they are.

Here are just a few of the pictures I took at Viper Days.
In all, I took over 200 pictures which is pretty good considering how much time I spent on the track and in the classroom.

I cannot say enough about this event and how it really should be a mandatory requirement for ALL viper owners to attend.  It is designed to teach car control.  Once you learn and apply what is taught, lap times drop, and the car glides through the corners. 

I don't want to bog down the site with all the pictures so here are just a few.

Go to www.kouchicentral.com and click on Viper Days to see more pictures.

This will be my first time to Viper Days.  I've been reading and trying to learn as much as possible to prepare for the event.

What I can't seem to find is a checklist of sorts for what will be required to participate. 
Obviously personal safety equipment such as a rated helmet, close toed shoes, cotton long sleeves and long pants.    ( I know.....Attend the Sube Sports safety clinic this Sat to learn more....)   

How about car requirements?   Safety harnesses, optional or required??  Fire Extinguisher ??  Etc, etc.   

I have a new set of 18" Pilot Sport 2's going on, so rubber shouldn't be a concern.

What brake pads should I be running??    Dave C. ??

Any special setup on the suspension required ?   ( I know that there is a lot to be gained from "proper balance" and alignment....but is it necessary for us beginners?)

I don't want to show up ill prepared and have to spend time up there scrambling to meet the "Minimum Requirements"
I know that there are a bunch of us Green Newbies going and figured we could all use some tips from the experienced members.

Thanks,
Lance

Viper Days at ButtonWillow is just around the corner.   I remember reading a great post on the VCA site about their first time experience and what to expect.
It took a while for me to search and find it.... I figured I'd post up the direct link to it here.  So if anyone wants to check it out, they can with out having to frustrate themselves with the VCA search feature.

http://www4.forum.viperclub.org/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB14&Number=708104&Searchpage=1&Main=708104&Words=%26quot%3B+viperdays+%26quot%3B&topic=&Search=true#Post708104

Lance

I finally had some free time to do my brake upgrade.
After doing some research and talking with many people, I decided to go with the SRT10 Brembo calipers front and rear. I bought the entire package from Dave's Big Brakes.

Shown above are all the parts: 
14" slotted and dimpled EBC rotors
SRT10 calipers custom powdercoated blue
Dave's big brake brackets
Stainless steel brake lines
14" emergency brake
EBC red pads
Brake fluid

I was originally planning on doing the upgrade in my garage at home,
but decided to do it at my shop since I recently put in a 2 post lift.
The lift made the upgrade soooooo much easier and in the end saved me a whole lot of time.

Once the car was up on the lift, I pulled the wheels off.

This is the stock rear brake with integral E-brake.

Stock front brake.

Both the front and rear calipers are bolted on with just 2 bolts.

Rather than trying to drain all the brake fluid out and removing all the old brake lines and caliper first, I decided to just unbolt all 4 calipers and hang them off the spring coils till I was ready to pull them off.  This allowed me to pull off the stock rotors and do all the prep work with out having any residual brake fluid dripping all over the place from the open brake lines.

Shown above is the rear hub with the ears for the original calipers.

These ears need to be cut off and ground back in order for the rear brackets to be installed properly

I made the first cut using a sawzall with a Bi-Metal blade. It worked fine, but decided to finish cutting the rest of the ears off using a Porta-Band bandsaw which was really easy to control and quicker.


After cutting off the ears, I used a disc grinder to clean up the cut.

Once this was done, I pulled the 2 bolts which hold the bearing housing and positioned the rear caliper bracket.  There is a small flashing spot that needs to be ground off the back side of the hub in order for the new bracket to sit flush. 

Using the grade 8 bolts supplied, I torqued them down to secure the rear brackets.

The front spindles do not require any cutting, other than grinding the small flashing on the backside of the hub in order for the bracket to sit flush against the backside.  The front brackets use 4 grade 8 bolts in the existing holes to secure them to the hub.

Once I had all 4 brackets mounted and torqued down, I installed the new rotors and slipped on the calipers.  Since the SRT10 calipers do not have an integral E brake, a new E-brake had to be installed. It comes preassembled and was an easy bolt on item to add in.


Once I was sure that everything was fitted correctly, I pulled off the caliper and secured the steel braided lines and fittings.  Once the new caliper was bolted in, I was ready to disconnect the old brake caliper and line.  As soon as the old brake line was disconnected, I was able to connect the new steel braided line and had minimal dripping of brake fluid.

The fronts were done in the same fashion.

Special care must be taken to route and secure the E-brake line, Steel braided line and the Anti-Lock brake wiring.  I found that after I had installed the wheels that the lines were rubbing against the inner rim of the wheel, so I had to go back and secure the lines so that they would not rub.



This is the backside of the front calipers.

Again special care must be taken when routing and securing the lines.

I used zip ties to secure the brake line and ABS wire to the A arm

Everything was going smoothly till I discovered that one of the calipers had a stripped out hole.

My only real option was to repair the threading, so I drilled out the hole.

Tapped it to fit a special metric Heli-coil.

I carefully installed the Heli-coil, and machined the fitting face to be perpendicular to the threads of the heli-coil.  It was a time consuming, but relatively easy fix.
Once all the calipers were installed, I flushed out all the old brake fluid and bled the brakes 2 times.  Then I checked every connection for leaks and tightened any that showed signs of fluid.

I put on the wheels and checked to make sure I had enough clearance

The fronts caliper retaining nuts were extremely close to the inside of the wheel, so I filed them back to ensure that they would not rub.


The entire project took about 6 hours, (not counting the time to fix the stripped caliper).
It was a lot of fun to work on...and was very easy to do utilizing the car lift.

After every thing was all done, another member from the VCA pointed out the fact that I had criss crossed 2 of the EBC rotors.  The rotors ARE directional so I had to switch 2 of the rotors around.  After pulling the front wheel, I removed the 2 nuts that hold on the caliper and slid it back.  The rotor slid right off.  VERY EASY to do.


I put the correct rotor on and slid the caliper back in place and torqued down the nuts.


Finished product

Before

After

My wife and I just returned from Monterey Bay where we attended the Northern California Viper Club's Christmas Party. 
It was a long 6 hour drive up on Saturday, but the weather was absolutely beautiful and the Viper loved the wide open roads..  We drove through some very nice Wineries in the Paso Robles area and made a mandatory stop at Laguna Seca.






We watched with envy as students were running on the skid pad in SRT trucks at the Skip Barber classes.

We continued on in to Monterey to the Portola Plaza Hotel where we spent the night.  It is a very nice hotel right at end of the Fisherman's Wharf.





It was a lot like VOI9 for me...Special parking, meeting many enthusiastic VCA members, and sharing in a very special event.









The party was held at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Tables were set up in front of the million gallon tank which had some absolutely incredible fish.
The food, ambience, table centerpieces, and the members of the NorCal Club were phoenominal.





I was especially impressed with the fact that the Current VCA President Steve Wedel attended the party and presented Maurice and the NorCal Club with the Club of the Year award.
Very Impressive!





I was so happy to meet and have my picture taken with Maurice Liang, President of the NorCal Viper Club, Past President of the VCA, Author of the Viper Buyer's Guide (I now have an autographed copy).........

I want to thank him for his warmth and hospitality and welcoming us to share in their event.


We look forward to attending future events with them and spending some time with many of the great members in this club.





I had to post this one.......it left me wondering how many people actually DID "flash" the white shark !!     

San Diego Randy made me do it!!!!

Check it out!!!  www.kouchicentral.com


Lance

OK, so he wasn't lost and he told everyone that he was going to Tators for Tech day.

I found proof that he was there.



Hope you had a great time Dave.
P.S.  how were the White Castle's??

I have so much to learn     

Thanks Sherrie. 
I called Kevin and he was very nice and appreciative.
Exterior, interior and engine pictures were taken of my '02 GTS this morning.
The pictures will be used to generate a digital model of the Viper for a video game called "Juiced II".
The game will be released September 2007.   The graphics and attention to details are a critical part to the games realism.
Can't wait to get my free copy of the game. 

Thank you Dan, Kim and Tony!!!!!!!!!!



Dan did a great job explaining and showing us the mechanical side of our Viper's











Dan gave us some great maintenance tips and talked about the many different upgrades available.



Welcome to the club Stephanie (and Glenn).



Stephanie's Silver SRT10



Cathy's Race red ACR





Sherrie's Supercharged RT10



It was great meeting and talking with Barbara



Barbara's retired race baby


Yes,  that's right....4 female Viper owners were at DC Performance Tech Day!!! Awesome!




Dan C. with Dan E.



Dan C. gaurantees that this will be next years Champion... I believe him.



Hugh with his Drag viper.....all I can say is WOW.













Albert takes some of the nicest pictures....C'mon Albert...how about some pointers?



Here's the best I got Albert......


Thanks again DC Performance!

A great time was had by all who attended the 2006 Viper Club Picnic

Hey Eric,



Nice collection of cars!!!!........BUT where is the Mini-van?? 

Lance