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A set of DC performance rocker pannel vents for 1992-2002 Vipers to help reduce the heat in the rockers and interior of the car. Never installed. $135 or OBO

I recently removed my center console in the car and discovered that the rubber shifter boot that is located bellow the leather boot of your shifter was completely ripped and I could see the top of my transmission. this was letting exhaust fumes in the car, not a good thing. This is off a 2006 SRT10 Viper with 35,000 miles.

   You can easily check this part too. Use a 5mm allen wrench and remove the bolts that hold the trim ring on around your leather shifter boot. Underneath you will be able to see the rubber boot that goes around your shifter and mounts to the transmission tunnel. Here is what my boot looked like.
 
   The part is held on with 8 large pop rivets. These can be drilled out fairly easy. Make sure you use a nice sharp bit and good powerful drill for the job.Drill out the rivets and the boot just lifts off. The replacement part is available from VPA  Rubber gear shift boot #5037319AA. https://www.viperpartsofamerica.com/index.php/products/2003-2010-dodge-viper-srt10-rubber-gear-shift-boot-04865679ac

 However the part does not come with replacement rivets so be sure you can get them.You can order them online, they also have them at Harbor Freight tools. I had to purchase a larger pop rivet tool as well $18.00. It comes with the rivets you will need to do the job.
http://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-duty-17-1-2-half-inch-hand-riveter-with-collection-bottle-66422.html
The replacement rivets are 1/4" in diameter. When I put the new part in I also used the high temp silicone under it first before replacing the rivets.

Here is the photo of the removed and damaged rubber shifter boot.

Here is the new and freshly installed part

[During my recent sound proofing of my Viper (2006 SRT10) I uncovered some serious issues that you may want to check and address on your on Viper if you have a Gen 3. First of which was the wire harness that runs under your passenger side floor carpet all the way to the front right of the passenger foot well. This harness was melted pretty badly to the point it was stuck to the floor and side of the sill (under the carpet). This is a potential problem in 2003-2006 Viper models, in 2008 they addressed the problem and put a heat blanket over the wires. The harness comes off the main harness of the car and feeds your all your radio parts, Amp head unit and speakers. If this melted though it could cause a short to say the least and possibly cause a fire and effect more then the stereo. See the photos and you will understand the damage my harness had. In fact the heat also melted my Lowjack antenna wire completely off! The good news is you can inspect this very easily and without any tools. Just pull your passenger side carpet all the way back to the seat. You may need to pull it from under the plastic piece that is holding it on the left side under the glove box. You can see my first photo how my wire harness was melted.Close up of melted harness. The second thing I uncovered was the seam that runs along the right side floor pan was rusty. The factory epoxy/sealant that they use to glue the floor on had been completely burned off. This stuff is right along the side sill where the exhaust pipes lies. Surprisingly it was so cooked it actually just cracked right off and there was a slight gap allowing water to get in from outside and created some rust! Ah, I hate rust! To fix the first problem first I carefully pealed the wire harness off the fire wall it was melted to. Then I added a layer of accumatt (sound and heat proofing) under the harness then I wrapped the harness with cloth heat wrap that is used for exhaust pipes. It's not going to melt now.For the second problem, I wire brushed this area and painted it with rust inhibitor primer on it. Then used 500 degree heat proof silicone to fill the gaps. Then covered the floor with a layer of sound/heat proofing. I also repeated the high temp silicone and rust inhibitor primer on the outside of the car under the rocker panel where the seam was hidden out of sight. (This is where water was getting in the car)Here is photo of the wire harness repair.This is a photo of the repairs to the floor.Close up of the seam filled with silicone.Floor covered with sound / heat proofing.The black and the silver are both heat and sound proofing. I ran this on the transmission tunnel and side sill.]

During my recent sound proofing of my Viper (2006 SRT10) I uncovered some serious issues that you may want to check and address on your on Viper if you have a Gen 3.

    First of which was the wire harness that runs under your passenger side floor carpet all the way to the front right of the passenger foot well. This harness was melted pretty badly to the point it was stuck to the floor and side of the sill (under the carpet). This is a potential problem in 2003-2006 Viper models, in 2008 they addressed the problem and put a heat blanket over the wires. The harness comes off the main harness of the car and feeds your all your radio parts, Amp head unit and speakers. If this melted though it could cause a short to say the least and possibly cause a fire and effect more then the stereo. See the photos and you will understand the damage my harness had. In fact the heat also melted my Lowjack antenna wire completely off! The good news is you can inspect this very easily and without any tools. Just pull your passenger side carpet all the way back to the seat. You may need to pull it from under the plastic piece that is holding it on the left side under the glove box. You can see my first photo how my wire harness was melted.



Close up of melted harness.



   The second thing I uncovered was the seam that runs along the right side floor pan was rusty. The factory epoxy/sealant that they use to glue the floor on had been completely burned off.



This stuff is right along the side sill where the exhaust pipes lies. Surprisingly it was so cooked it actually just cracked right off and there was a slight gap allowing water to get in from outside and created some rust! Ah, I hate rust!

To fix the first problem first I carefully pealed the wire harness off the fire wall it was melted to. Then I added a layer of accumatt (sound and heat proofing) under the harness then I wrapped the harness with cloth heat wrap that is used for exhaust pipes. It's not going to melt now.
For the second problem, I wire brushed this area and painted it with rust inhibitor primer on it. Then used 500 degree heat proof silicone to fill the gaps. Then covered the floor with a layer of sound/heat proofing. I also repeated the high temp silicone and rust inhibitor primer on the outside of the car under the rocker panel where the seam was hidden out of sight. (This is where water was getting in the car)

Here is photo of the wire harness repair.


This is a photo of the repairs to the floor.
Close up of the seam filled with silicone.


Floor covered with sound / heat proofing.

The black and the silver are both heat and sound proofing. I ran this on the transmission tunnel and side sill.

   First let me start off by saying that if your considering sound proofing your Viper (2003-2010) and or replacing your stock speakers this is the place to start. If you like to hear the bottom line and want to know if this worked too bad, you'll have to read all my rambling to find that out.
   I started this as an idea last year when my stock 6 disc head unit in my 2006 Viper coupe decided to eat one of my CD's. As most of you know it's a shame we have such a nice car and such a terrible sound system. I could go on and on about it but if you drive a Viper and like to hear your tunes then you understand my complaints. Some of you out there subscribe to the motto "I don't need a stereo, I just put loud pipes on my car that's all I need to hear!" Well I don't entirely disagree with you however, there is a time and place for everything. If you know me, you know I enjoy the track days (When I'm there I turn the music off) and auto cross events. I also have to realize that my car is always pulling double duty. Car shows one day, track days the next weekend, off to Sedona AZ the next. So primarily I need a car that I can enjoy going to and from events. Driving three or four hours in a Viper is always an adventure, at freeways speeds we all know the dreaded "droning" sound. Don't get me wrong driving to Laguna Seca for five hours is fun! The track for two days was better, enough said.
   Before my head unit died, I had already exercised the Mopar ipod kit (Don't do it) and the Sirius satellite kit as well. Both of these kits can work depending on your model year and head unit. I experienced problems with the Mopar iPod kit, my dash went crazy with lights and the gauges did not function, so I returned it. Some people have had success with this kit, but the bottom line is that it was not designed for the Viper.
   With the stock head unit dead, I considered buying aftermarket units( Plans for a double din head unit are next). I had in my garage a Pioneer DVD head unit that was removed from my truck. This was a pretty good single din head unit back in 2004 (Dodge stock unit is 1.5 din) now of course it's dated. Since my cost was zero I decided to put this in and give it a try. I ordered a wire harness kit and a dash kit for 1.5 din down to single din down size. Total cost for these was a whooping $18.00, not bad for a test. (I know your thinking when is he going to get to the sound proofing, relax it's coming). Since this was pretty easy to pop in I had a my head unit installed in under 30 mins. No cutting no modifications! Everything worked with my new head unit, and the difference in sound was really noticeable. Even though this was an older head unit it still was quality and has many audio adjustments compared to the stock unit. Plus as an added benefit, this unit had an iPod direct connection and XM radio tuner so I had both options I wanted. The good news is anyone can do this and it's not hard, really it's not. Minimal investment in a $100-$200 head unit and install parts.
   What this did however was point out how bad the stock speakers are, and also how much noise is in the cabin when driving normally with the stereo off, I said driving NORMALLY!
   So I decided as my winter project I would jettison the stock speakers and in the process I would sound proof the car since it would be apart anyway right?
   I had done some sound proofing on my Mini and it was a big difference. So armed with that I ordered up some sound proofing material from Ebay. There are many different types of sound proofing. One of the more popular brands is Dynamat it's also one of the most expensive. For this job I actually used three different brands. Dynamat extreme, Accumat by Schosche and generic soundmat.
In this like many other things you buy, you get what you pay for. The Dynamat extreme and Accumat hyperflex extreme material are almost exactly the same. Prices vary so do your searching. I paid $150 for a box of Accumat hyperflex with eight sheets of 24"x27" on ebay.
   I didn't want to just install this stuff without some kind of measurement to know if what I did even made a measurable difference. So I ordered up a sound meter online as well. These are surprisingly cheap. Since this is not a crucial measurement I spent $20 on a meter on Ebay. As it turned out it's not half bad.
   My sounds test were conducted the following way.
My daughter Julia in the passenger seat holding the sound meeter up in-between the two seats in the center of the car, about where an adults ears would be. Next armed with pencil and paper we hit the freeway and proceeded to go "freeway" speeds in different gears and recorded the RPM, Speed and the sound DB levels. Since the meter does not do an average we held the meeter and just watched the levels until we had an idea of the middle measurement. ( I know not exactly scientific, but hey it worked ) We repeated the same gears and, speeds on the return trip on the freeway. For base line, The Viper is a 2006 with deleted crossover pipes and 2008 exhaust. Also for the guys out there that are in the know, K&N filters and BBK intake are also installed since the intake can make a lot of the noise you hear as well. The car is also riding on Sport Cup tires which you may know can be stiff and the tread or lack of can create issues on the grooved pavement as well.
   
   Now that we got that out of the way. This is what we came up with.
Before:
Gear   MPH   DB
4th gear   70 mph   81db
5th gear   70 mph   82 db
6th gear   70 mph   84 db

   Now it was time for the first modification. To start I removed the carpet and the plastic side covers from the rear deck and inside the back of the car. All of this comes out pretty easy. The first thing you notice once you have this removed is actually how thin the Viper "tub" or bottom of the car, is. Then you understand why the sound comes right through the floor. The sound proofing is self adhesive so all you have to do is pull the backing of and stick it down. I started by laying out the material and doing some tracing on cardboard to make templets for my sound proofing. Since this stuff is expensive you don't want to waist any of it. Save every scrap you have because you can use it someplace else. I used four of my sheets of 24"x27" to do the entire rear of the car and covered as much of the area as possible. We then ran some sound test again to see what if any results we had achieved. The results although noticeable and measurable were not enough to make a huge difference. What they did point out was how much sound was actually coming from the doors and side sills of the car.
   I Moved into phase two of my project. The doors and door speakers. Of all the things I removed from the car these have the most little screws and plastic pop parts. All of which can break and will if your car is older like mine. So be careful. If your only going to change out your stock speakers there is no need to remove your door panel. The speakers come off with three screws and the wire unplugs from the speaker. I removed my door panels but did not disconnect my door handle cable which is attached behind the door panel. No big deal since there is enough cable to leave it connected and do the job. I proceeded to sound proof the entire back side of my door panels. As much area as I can cover I did. This takes roughly one 24"x27" sheet.
   For my speakers I also got some foam speaker cones that go inside the door for added sound proofing, $6.00 for a pair. The speakers I got were a direct replacement for the stock 6.5". JL audio makes a 6.5" door speaker model C2-600X . these drop right into the stock holes and the stock grills fit right on. You could change these out in less than 20 minutes. I took the connector right off the old speakers and soldered it on to the new speaker so it clips in very easy, Cost $179.00 for speakers. (this and the head unit makes the biggest difference in the stereo)
   Next it was time to tackle the hard stuff, the sub and tweeters behind the seat! Most people will avoid this because of the fact that they have to remove the seats. In my experience you only need to remove the passenger seat to remove the plastic bulk head behind the seat that covers the sub woofer. It again is not hard but it's best to have two people for this job, the seat needs to be turned and tilted to get it out of the car and the plastic bulk head is just awkward to get out so having two people simplifies the process. I'm not going to go into removal details, just follow all the screws. If you have questions just email me.
Once the bulk head is out you get a look at the sub woofer box. Again this is pretty simple removal to take the box out of the car a few bolts and a wire.
   At this point I also removed the driver seat so I could put my sound proofing behind and under that area as well. While both seats were removed, I added sound proofing on both sides of the transmission tunnel (Between the seats). Also along side of both seats on the side of the door sills, both floors, under the sub box and behind both seats under the plastic bulkhead. All of this is under the carpet and can't be seen. While this is apart you should get a good look around at your car. I discovered a few things that had to be repaired while I had this stuff removed and the carpet pulled back. I will start a different thread for the problems and repairs with photos.
   The plastic bulkhead behind the seats houses two small tweeters the stock size is 2.75". I removed these and replaced them with the JL audio C2-350x 3" tweeters. These however as you imagine are slightly larger. So I used a piece of universal abs plastic to fabricate some brackets to up-size the speakers. This was actually pretty easy, the stock tweeters are held in to the bulkhead with 4 posts with screws in them. I simply cut a square from the abs larger than my replacement speakers. Then used a hole saw to cut an approximately 2.75" hole in the center. used a small 1/4" drill to drill holes for the 4 posts. screwed the plastic on to the post. then offset the new speaker on top and drilled holes to mount it. The wire connector on the old tweeters where removed and soldered on to the new tweeters. Then they simply clip in to the wire harness.
   Next it was time to tackle the subwoofer. This is one of the most problematic parts of the system. The basic problem is the sub is in a poor location and to add to that it's too small. I chose to use the stock sub enclosure. I first chose to use a JL audio 6.5" shallow mount sub. Let me tell you now. I tried two different JL audio subs and they both are too big for the stock enclosure. Do your self a favor benefit from my research and pain. Use the Kicker sub if your going to retain the stock sub box. After installing the kicker and testing it. It vibrated and distorted pretty bad. So I removed it and gutted the stock sub box, by removing the inner tube and plugging the hole on top of the sub box. Again I used the abs plastic to make a cover to fit on the sub box with a tracing I made out of cardboard. The plastic is easy to cut with a jig saw. I used black silicone to seal it on and also used small screws to be safe. I filled the sub box with polly fill, same stuff inside of pillows. Then put everything back together. The stock sub box is not great. It still distorts a bit, I think from the plastic construction I will most likely create my own and replace it. Note: since this install I pulled the sub back out and added some foam tape around the sub where is mounts to the sub box. This worked great. I also plugged the holes in the sub where the plastic guide mounts to the outside of the box. (the guide that holds the wire for the speaker). Any place air can escape from the woofer needs to be plugged up. Once this was done there was no more distortion. It now sounds fantastic.
   At this point with my modifications finished I proceeded to start the process of putting everything back together. be sure and check everything twice to be sure you don't mis any thing.
   Now it's time to test out what I did and hear the difference. First let me say the sound of the stereo is greatly improved. Of course this is hard to measure, but it's a huge improvement and for the low cost worth the investment.
   For the sound proofing it was time for a test drive to hear first hand what I did. You can notice straight away as you start driving the difference in the cabin. The outside road and engine/exhaust noise is knocked down. the car just sounds more solid. It also cured many of the small little creaks and squeaks from the plastic panels. I had a passenger comment "I can tell the sound is kinda dead in here."
   Here are the results of the sound test after sound proofing. They don't seem as dramatic a change as I expected, but the change in your ears is greater than the results below spell out. To give you an idea of db measurement going from 70db to 80db it's doubling the sound level. So basically I 1/2 the db. Not bad.

After:
Gear   MPH   DB   Difference
4th gear   70 mph   77 db   -4 db
5th gear   70 mph   78 db   -4 db
6th gear   70 mph   81 db   -3 db

   The total parts cost and descriptions are below.
All of these parts can be found online. I like to use www.crutchfeild.com they are a great source of information and have pretty good prices, they carry most everything you would need. However they don't have any information on Vipers and installs so don't ask. They carry everything I purchased to finish my upgrades.

Parts   Cost   Total
XTC 5-1/4 foam muffs   $6.99   $6.99
Dynamat xtreme 10425 (sound proof)   $65   $65
Husmat (sound proof)   $123   $123
Accumat (sound proof)   $150   $150
JL audio C2-600x 6.5" speaker   $179   $179
JL audio C2-350x 3" Tweeter   $89   $89
Universal plastic panel   $9.99   $9.99
Kicker 10cvt654 6" shallow mount Sub Woofer   $84.95   $84.95
All parts   Grand total   $707.93   
   In conclusion, I would recommend doing these upgrades to your car. Some can be done fairly quickly like the door speakers, and sound proofing the rear hatch area. If you enjoy driving your Viper long distance and would like to get rid of some of the drone on the freeway this is a great inexpensive way to do it.
   I have include photos of most of the process and highlighted key areas of the install. If you have any questions feel free to contact me and I will help you if I can. Enjoy your ride!

Scosche Accumat

Plastic removal , don't forget the little screws here

Rear parts all removed



Partial sound proofing on rear deck

Making cardboard tracings to use for the accumat

Entire rear deck finished.

One of the replacement door speakers

Foam speaker cones added to the door

The sub woofer under the plastic bulkhead

The beginning of sound proofing in the front with seats removed

Soundmat installed behind the seat (Hard to see in black)

Sound proofing on trans tunnel and rear bulkhead behind seats

Sound proofing on passenger floor, transmission tunnel and along the side

Replacement tweeters for behind the seat

Making of ABS plastic rings to fit the new tweeters

Mounting ring attached to the underside of the plastic bulkhead

New tweeter mounted to the ABS and bulkhead

JL audio sub that does not fit , it just doesn't fit, you can see how far it sticks out

The sub box with guts removed

ABS cover used to close the port on the sub

The Kicker sub mounted in the car under the grill

Hey guys I just bought this desk and chair set. I love it and it's great but it's too small for my needs and it's not going to work out. I can't return this after I assembled it so I need to sell it. I just would like to break even, or come close to it. Paid $849 with tax. I will eat the tax so $800.00
It's already to go and sit in someones office! if you know anyone interested let me know ASAP. I will even consider delivery within reason.

Up here in the country I know some of you don't get your Snakes out to often. Drive your car to the event , weather permitting. January 16th at 6:30pm.
Meet up and have some food and drinks at MB2 and do some Karting. (Mon-Thurs is two races for $30 or $20 if your a member)
Everyone is invited of course. This gives us country people a chance to get our cars out and also practice on our karting so we can beat the city folk. Cheap fun last moth we had a blast.

MB2 link:http://www.mb2raceway.com

MB2 Address
1475 Lawrence Drive Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
805.214.9999

From Los Angeles & The Valley
101 Fwy North towards Ventura, Exit Rancho Conejo Blvd. & turn right. Proceed straight ahead to Lawrence Drive & turn left. Make first right into parking lot & follow signs straight back to 1475 Lawrence Drive.
From Ventura
101 Fwy South towards Los Angeles, Exit Rancho Conejo Blvd. & turn left. Proceed straight ahead to Lawrence Drive & turn left. Make first right into parking lot and follow signs straight back to 1475 Lawrence Drive.

Attending:
(Special guest, could be Miss Amber?)
Scott Hirko

Calling all you Viper owners. There is not excuse to say you don't have an event near you! If you have an idea we want to know about it. The Club is always looking for new fresh ideas, especially if it's some place the club has not gone to. Always keep in mind we will need safe and ample parking for the Snakes and someplace that we might be able to eat. (Not always a factor, but some of us are always hungry) So let us know what you might have in mind, and we'll see if we can make it happen.  >r

Up here in the country I know some of you don't get your Snakes out to often.
I was thinking we could maybe do a MB2 karting event up here in Thousand Oaks once a month if we can get a good turn out. Maybe the first wednesday of the month in the evening meet up and have some food and drinks at MB2 and do some Karting. (Mon-Thurs is two races for $30 or less if your a member)
Everyone is invited of course. This gives us country people a chance to get our cars out and also practice on our karting so we can beat the city folk.

MB2 link:http://www.mb2raceway.com

MB2 Address
1475 Lawrence Drive Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
805.214.9999

From Los Angeles & The Valley
101 Fwy North towards Ventura, Exit Rancho Conejo Blvd. & turn right. Proceed straight ahead to Lawrence Drive & turn left. Make first right into parking lot & follow signs straight back to 1475 Lawrence Drive.
From Ventura
101 Fwy South towards Los Angeles, Exit Rancho Conejo Blvd. & turn left. Proceed straight ahead to Lawrence Drive & turn left. Make first right into parking lot and follow signs straight back to 1475 Lawrence Drive.

Attending:
Scott Hirko
Lance Kouchi
Rob & Cathy
Mike V.
Ben K.
Keith Philips.

Okay I'm planing on looking for a trailer in the near future. Those drives to Laguna Seca and Spring mountain are rough in the car with the sticky tires and ACR suspension .
I would like to know what kind of things I need to look for.
I know to start I would like to get an open trailer similar to what Ben uses for his GTS race car.
looking for things like brand, options, size etc.
Thanks for the help, I think this could be a good topic for others later that want to do the same.

Calling all the ACR owners. If you have the stock ACR KW shocks. (2008-2010) and you drive it on the street then you know the ride can be somewhat harsh. If you do any freeway driving at all you know there is always a chance you can hit your head on the roof  ^8 if you hit the right bump. not good!
Dan Everts has recommended changing the rear springs out and making them a bit softer. Dan as well as Lance have both done this on their ACR's and the ride is noticeably different and better.
If your interested I am planing to put together a group order for these so we can try to get a group discount.
Please let me know if your interested in getting a pair.

Looking for a nice set of ACR wheels. I don't want to spring for new ones. Let me know if you have some. Post pics

All members, if you didn't know already we have a facebook page now >g www.facebook.com/socalviperclub
Check it out, Lance has uploaded photos from recent events. We will be using this page more to help dynamically inform our members of events and you can post live as we attend event. There are obviously facebook apps for Apple iPhone and Android and most other smarty phones. If you need help feel free to ask Lance, Anhtuan, Or myself. See you on Facebook  <L
Thanks Hirk

I have a set of Dodge service manuals. The big book for 99 (97-2002 are almost the same) Coupe and Roadster.
Two smaller books one for body and one for power train .
All there are very useful for any repairs or service.
$25
[email protected]

I know some of us discussed this race in TX at the http://circuitoftheamericas.com/
Is anyone iterated in making a group trip to see the race? Nov 16-18th.
Hirk

What's the big diff?

   A few months ago, I was approached by So Cal Viper Club president, Lance Kouchi. He asked me if I had ever replaced the differential in my 2006 SRT10 Viper. My answer was quick "No, Why?" He told me that Autotech (http://www.wavetrac.net) was looking for a Gen 3 Viper to install their new Wavetrac differential. Well, my next question was why do I need it. I didn't seem to have any problems with my current differential, so why change it? The simple answer was "They have been known to fail". Well I did some investigating and called a few other knowledgeable people, including previous SoCal president Dan Everts. He promptly asked me "How many miles do you have on your car?" I told him 31,500. He was amazed that my differential was still the original Dodge part, called the "hydrolok".  In typical Dan fashion, he laughed and said "The way you drive, you better get it checked out". True, so true.
   In case you didn't know, here is what the differential does. The differential is a device that splits the engine torque two ways, allowing each output to spin at a different speed. In automobiles and other wheeled vehicles, a differential allows the driving road wheels to rotate at different speeds. This is necessary when the vehicle turns, making the wheel that is traveling around the outside of the turning curve roll farther and faster than the other. Got that?
   Now some history.  Dodge used variations of this Hydrolok system in all the Gen 3 Vipers. In talking with Devon from Unitrax (http://www.gounitrax.com), he told me that one of the problems with this system was the metal used in creating the differential's internal gears or spider gears. This metal was not the best quality for the high stresses that are subjected to the internal parts and thus the metal begins to break down and fail. Dodge attempted to correct this in later versions, however, parts were still prone to failure. Gen 4 Vipers got a whole new differential called the "Visco lok" which cured the poor metal problem. Since Dana is in the business, he has seen plenty of Viper differentials in his time and shops all over the country send him Viper differentials as well as diffs for other makes and models to be rebuilt.
   Well armed with this new knowledge and knowing that my car is not a garage queen. I decide to call Dana Clark at Autotech. They wanted to have a Gen 3 Viper to test fit and install their new differential. The design was already proven since they had been running it on the SRT8 Jeeps. With some modifications, it was a quick fit to go in the Gen 3 Viper. Dana explained the process and told me they would need my car for the day.
   Showing up bright and early at Unitrax and with my car on the lift the process began. Removing the diff is surprisingly, not that difficult.  Remove the rear wheels, skid plate and E-brake lines. Removing the upper "A" arm bolts on the driver side to give some range of moment and space. Pop off the half shaft and the drive shaft. Loosen the bolts holding in the diff and with an extra pair of hands, the diff drops out. I'm not going to go into all the details of the procedure since this is not a technical bulletin but rather a review and documentation of the entire process.
   From the outside at least, my diff looked great!  Over to the bench it went. The Unitrax technician drained the fluid and cracked open the case. Let's see what's inside this bad boy. Then the bad news. The tech started fishing out pieces of metal. These pieces were not small either varying from 1mm to  5mm or larger.  As I'm sure you know, there should be no metal pieces floating around at all. So where did they come from. Some quick checking found  that the spider gears were starting to fail. Teeth on some gears were chunked and others were gone. Once the metal pieces start to move around inside, they get caught up in the gears and create more damage. My differential was only miles away from eating itself alive. Since I had no indication this was happening, it could have failed anywhere. Once it fails your Viper can come to a screeching halt! Talk about Snake bite, ouch! This can result in very high costs as you can imagine. A differential failure could cost anywhere from $2,500 on up depending on what needs replacing.
   I was somewhat fortunate in that the damage for me was only on my spider gears and not on my ring gear or pinion gear, and everything else looked good. The Wavetrac part was just what I needed. In the process I had Unitrax replace all the seals bearing races etc. Its a cheap thing to do and a must when rebuilding the diff. After a quick steam clean up, the diff is closed back up.
The procedure for putting it back in the car is as simple as the removal. A test drive later and everything is working great.
   Dana explained to me a little bit about why the Wavetrac unit is a better design. As far as function goes, I will attempt to explain it in layman terms. When corning briskly the inside wheels are receiving less weight than the outside, pretty simple right. With the stock Gen 3-4 differential in the car the inside or unweighted wheels will continue to receive power, and can spin faster then the weighted wheels. Thus when the weight starts to even out and that wheel gains traction the car becomes unsettled or "upset" and this could result in problems. Just imagine rounding a high speed turn and having the car unsettled and start to move around in the back. Sound familiar to you, as a Viper owner, this is an all too common problem.
   One of the benefits of the Wavetrac design is that when you have a unweighted wheel, this design does not continue to send power to that wheel. Instead it shifts the power to the weighted wheel. Thus traction continues and the car is not "upset" by the power. Makes perfect sense, why didn't we have this before? I know I will be a lot less upset with this new diff installed and so will my Viper. There is also the added benefit that their differential is bomb proof. The quality of the parts and machining that went into its design and production are top notch. That's why they stand behind them and give them a lifetime warranty.
   I have had this diff in my car for a few months now. In that time I have done some street cruising, auto-cross, and track events. I'm glad to report that there has not been a single problem with this install or differential. My two days at Spring Mountain Raceway recently where great. The Snake was very predictable in the corners. I got to the point where I was getting into some of the turns and getting on the gas much earlier. Getting the car to give me a predictable drift, allowing me to finish off the turns better and get the drive onto the following straights. Great fun and no drama.
   In conclusion I would highly recommend this differential to any Gen 3 owners who need to replace their stock HydroLok system. Also to any Gen 4 owners who are looking for that little more of an edge and performance gain.
   A big thanks to Dana at Wavetrac for offering this opportunity to me. Also thanks to Devon at Unitrax for doing the install and letting me hang out during the process. A couple of great guys that are happy to answer any questions about your car's diff or just talk shop. Its companies like this that help us keep our Vipers going and that's what it's all about, so we have to support them as they support us. Please contact them if you have any other questions about your differential in your Gen 3-4 Vipers.
More information can be found in the Moparmax.com story found here : http://www.moparmax.com/tech/2012/vii_7-wavetrac-1.html

Autotech Driveline
Dana Clark
29 Journey
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
Tel: +1.949.362.8700
email: [email protected]
http://www.wavetrac.net

Unitrax   
Toll Free: 1.800.622.4327 Local: 1.714.630.4327   
1280 N Sunshine Way Anaheim CA 92806 • Email: [email protected]
http://www.gounitrax.com

Hey Viper club,
I had a few people approach me about the Gun club and returning to do some shooting. I wanted to see if anyone was interested in going to the Supercar Sunday event this coming weekend and then leave from there to the gun club for some shooting. We would meet at the Super car sunday event at 8:00 a.m. and depart to the gun club about 9:15 a.m. At the gun club you can shoot either pistols at the pistol range or shotguns at the trap/skeet range. If you don't have guns you can rent/buy them there at the club. You can even buy and shoot the gun on the same day!
This is not a planned SoCal event so we will be on our own for lunch plans etc. Let me know who can attend so we can see if I can get a good group to go make some noise. >g

I am looking for some track tires ASAP. I need a set of toyo r888 for the front of my snake. 295/30/18 would be great or a complete set of something else. Keep in mind I have to drive on these to spring mountain so I can't be running Hoosiers out there. Let me know what you might have. I need them no later than next Tuesday or Wednesday .
Hirk

2003 - 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 Sirius Radio Receiver & Antenna Package
Used for two months. Pulled the radio and put a aftermarket one in.
Mopar Part # 82206488AB
NOTE: This package includes the receiver, antenna, antenna cable (P/N 5064246AB),  for adding Sirius Radio to your RBQ or RB1 Navigation Radio package (sold separately).  You will need to buy a subscription directly from Sirius/XM.
here is a link to the Ebay auction. Let me know if interested.
Re listed with lower price
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2003-2010-Dodge-Viper-SRT10-Sirius-Radio-Receiver-Antenna-82206488AB-/250990588354?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUA%26otn%3D5%26pmod%3D230741105243%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6195568091547170245#ht_500wt_1180

I have a brand new neck brace I never used. Have had it a few months. Would like to get what I paid for it. $30 I will pay for shipping if I need to send it to you. LMK
Hirk
Ultra Shield Race Products,Black SFI 3.3 Helmet Support
Ultra Shield SFI 3.3 Helmet Supports are made from the highest quality flame retardant materials.
SFI 3.3 approved 360* Helmet Support
Made from flame retardant materials with high density foam

Anyone interested in doing another calendar this year?? Let us know if so we need to start planing it. >u
Hirk