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Thanks Justin for reaching out!  I would never have known (I'm terrible at keeping up with social media; me, of all people).  Ben, thanks for letting me know about dinner.  Todd, thanks for including me!


Since that weekend is also the the Monterey Jazz Festival, Lena and I will go up Friday to seek out some splendid live music, but if Lena gets called in to work Friday and we must postpone a day, I'll let you guys know and we can meet up in Paso Robles Saturday on the way up.



Looking forward to Laguna Seca for the first time!  I wonder if they will have the microphone out so I can find out if my oversized pipes and cat backs have truly been too loud all along.


Ken

As an aside, I found that many of the auto parts store's on-line cross-references for the 1996 Viper GTS (with air conditioning) accessory drive belt came up with the WRONG belt.  Mine was replaced several years ago at the dealership with a Mopar 4763795AC.  The dealership now calls for an 04763795AD.  Mine had "7PK2059" inked on it which indicates that it has 7 ribs and an effective length of 2059mm (about 81").  Note that effective length is NOT as simple as measuring the circumference (although, can be close).


The Goodyear Gatorback 4070810 has an effective length of 2055mm and is extremely close in length to the Mopar belt that was on my car.  Additionally, it has the "randomized cog" pattern on the inside similar to my Mopar belt (which had cogs as well, although not randomized).  I was told by Goodyear that this is a patented pattern, leading to the assumption that the Mopar belt was sourced from Goodyear.  Also, my Mopar belt indicates that it was made in Canada which is where a Goodyear rep told me they were making OE (original equipment) belts at the time.


I purchased the new Goodyear belt from Jox Auto in Washington state (eBay) for $24.99 (free shipping, no tax).  The dealership wanted $77.35 plus tax for a new Mopar belt and I would have had to drive an hour to get there since our local dealership when bankrupt.

Curious, how many miles did you have on the car, Ken?

33807 (many of the latter half are "hard" miles, IYKWIM).

Has anyone heard of the automatic belt tensioner pulley failing on the Vipers?  Mine is a 1996 GTS.  Just after crossing the finish line of an autocross yesterday I heard my belt squealing.  A fellow autocrosser brought a plastic ring to me that he said fell off my car after I crossed the finish line.  It turns out it was the "front face" of the tensioner pulley!  Upon investigation, it turns out that the outer portion of the pulley broke away from the inner bearing section and the bearing housing appears to have broken apart.  Additionally, the front face of the pulley sheered completely off!  It almost looks as if parts of the pulley melted, but it is hard to tell.

The only modification I've done in this area is replacement of the power steering pump pulley with the aluminum one made by Ipsco.  I followed all directions and even changed the position of the power steering pump shaft to ensure the pulley was in line with the other pulleys (per Mark's instructions).  My car delivers about 10% more horsepower than factory due to air box and exhaust modifications.

Perhaps this is a common failure similar to the plastic power steering pump pulley failure?  Maybe the bearings just froze up and the belt spun the pulley hard enough to break it away from the bearing hub?  Perhaps something else entirely is wrong and got the pulley so hot it failed?  Is there any history on this subject someone could impart on me, or point me toward?

Thank you in advance.
Ken

Count me in if not too late!!  Will meet you at corner of Lockwood and the 33.

Click on this link to view a short video I took of everyone heading up the pass (officially "the 154"): http://youtu.be/3tIPCN-Ppk8

Ken and Lena just signed up and paid.  Since we live "up the street", we won't be staying at the Double Tree, but we'll be participating in the events!  Looking forward to seeing everyone in our home town (although, we are really 15 minutes up the 101 in Goleta where UCSB and the Santa Barbara Airport are located).

If anyone has any questions about the area, or there are any breakdowns where tools are needed, a garage, a place to park (maybe store your new 2013 Viper until the next event in our area , etc., we are relatively close by!  Feel free to PM me, email, or just give us a call.  Lance has our contact info.

Hi all - I'm new to the group as of today.  My wife (Tammi) and I will be joining tomorrow as well.  Looking forward to it!

Welcome!  I'm told you are from the Santa Barbara area.  I'm in Goleta - one of the furthest North in the club.  Sorry didn't get a chance to meet you both on the cruise.  Nice to know there are TWO 1996's in the area!  I'll tell the cops it was YOUR car they saw - not mine.  =15  Maybe we can encourage more people up here to buy Vipers and participate in the events.

Ken

Ken and Lena plan to see you all there!  Not a Ventura Viper, but hopefully Santa Barbara Vipers are OK.  ^17

I'm supposed to be doing taxes, but after reading Glenn's post, I had to go out and snap some shots of my old go-kart!  A few years ago, my dad was cleaning up and asked me to repossess it.  It now sits on my back porch awaiting an engine.  It had a 3.5HP (as I recall) Briggs & Straton chain-drive pull-start in it which is still in my parent's garage awaiting a hard-to-find part.  However, we've got a brand new 5HP Harbor Freight special sitting in my office as well; just need to find the time to put the kart back together so the nephews can enjoy it.

This kart is circa early-1970's - my elementary school years.  My dad made it from a bed frame (look carefully).  Many things in our family were hand-made from our clothes, to our cars (of which we seemed to have about seven at a time, including my dad's 1927 type 35B Bugatti replica on a VW chassis), to our first computer (months of wire-wrapping to create a machine that ran from cloned TRS-80 ROMs).

I believe the steering wheel on my kart was from an old VW (perhaps someone who recognizes the insignia on the horn will correct me) which was cut in half to clear my legs (perhaps after I grew).  The floor-board is a piece of plywood.  The pedals are old push-rods.  The tires were all solid rubber (like the rear right - I don't know where those fancy knobby pneumatics came from).  The seat is foam covered with the traditional vinyl we used for so may projects, like our bar stools.  The brakes are friction-pads; not sure where those came from (I always thought it would be fun to have disc brakes, but that required a live axle).  Many parts are made of threaded iron pipe and fittings.  My dad was always proud of the custom steering set-up so I've thrown in a couple of close-ups.  THOSE WERE THE DAYS!

In high-school I eventually graduated to a "bigger go-kart" (aka sandrail) - 5th picture (Lena and I towed this to Jawbone Canyon behind my built 1973 Ford Gran Torino 351C when she was probably 16 and I was probably 18; it is now on the same porch as the go-kart, awaiting repairs), and I eventually graduated to the biggest go-kart of them all - 6th picture.  Ironically, during my first Viper test drive (a 1992, as I recall) I will never forget the salesman stating "they ride like big go-karts"; I recall it was a pretty jarring drive like my original kart with solid suspension (less so in my current Gen2 GTS "kart").

Always wanted to do Laguna Seca, but I just don't think I'd pass sound check.  I believe I was told there are weekends when they lessen the sound restrictions, but it doesn't look like this is one of them.

Happy Birthday!  I just had an ice cream Sunday here at the Ayres Hotel in Ontario in honor of your 12 years!   >p

I would like to watch, and maybe even sign up; but depends on the date we pick.  I noticed the September date overlaps with VOI 12.

Sure!

Jonathan - I took video every session, however, we were not running in the same group and I'm assuming that you are looking for someone in your group; if otherwise, let me know.