Viper & Winter upgrades
Discussion
With a lovely warm (it was +ve degrees anyway) sunny bank holiday monday. Nothing to do, and SWMBO away. I figured it was a perfect opportunity for some garage time. And so, my Viper got all the last little jobs done. Earlier in the year it got put up on axle stands and the old standard exhaust taken off.
I already had the race catalysts and rear sections of the exhaust, so waiting for the headers to arrive, I mounted what I could.
I then changed gearbox oil. Changed the diff oil. Did various little jobs to fill time, as and when I could. Christmas came and went. And the headers still didn't arrive. So then I decided whilst I was waiting I may as well address a know Viper problem - ie, hot brakes. So I ordered some EBC black dimpled and grooved discs, front & back, together with Brakeman3 pads and stainless steel hoses, and set about mounting those. Here's the left rear.
A few weeks later, finally, my shiny new Belanger headers arrived.
And with those installed
and bolted up to the rest of the exhaust there wasn't much left to do. After a few test starts, and running the motor warm, bolts were inspected/retightened and everything was airtight. A friend was round yesterday and helped as brake pedal pusher, and I got the brakes bled. So today, wheels were cleaned and polished (and after a few hard dabs on the brake pedal to check for leaks on the new braking parts) remounted, and the car lowered from the axle stands. Which meant I finally got to drive it today !!
Well, 1 metre backwards and 1 metre forwards in the garage. Still a good covering of snow outside 
I'm dying for a good drive now. Firstly to find out if the Belanger promised 50hp at the wheels materialises. (It should do with the aid of the race cats and 3" pipes all the way back). And secondly to bed in and test the new brakes.
Which means I've just had to sit in the garage with a beer and look longingly at her. That and take pics to post up here on PH.....
Now it's been warm and the car has had it's first few runs bedded in the brakes, and retorqued the header bolts. And it's just come back from the detailers. These pics don't really show the quality of the finish - but here's some more
Daughter getting in on the pose.
I already had the race catalysts and rear sections of the exhaust, so waiting for the headers to arrive, I mounted what I could.
I then changed gearbox oil. Changed the diff oil. Did various little jobs to fill time, as and when I could. Christmas came and went. And the headers still didn't arrive. So then I decided whilst I was waiting I may as well address a know Viper problem - ie, hot brakes. So I ordered some EBC black dimpled and grooved discs, front & back, together with Brakeman3 pads and stainless steel hoses, and set about mounting those. Here's the left rear.
A few weeks later, finally, my shiny new Belanger headers arrived.
And with those installed
and bolted up to the rest of the exhaust there wasn't much left to do. After a few test starts, and running the motor warm, bolts were inspected/retightened and everything was airtight. A friend was round yesterday and helped as brake pedal pusher, and I got the brakes bled. So today, wheels were cleaned and polished (and after a few hard dabs on the brake pedal to check for leaks on the new braking parts) remounted, and the car lowered from the axle stands. Which meant I finally got to drive it today !!
Well, 1 metre backwards and 1 metre forwards in the garage. Still a good covering of snow outside I'm dying for a good drive now. Firstly to find out if the Belanger promised 50hp at the wheels materialises. (It should do with the aid of the race cats and 3" pipes all the way back). And secondly to bed in and test the new brakes.
Which means I've just had to sit in the garage with a beer and look longingly at her. That and take pics to post up here on PH.....
Edited by AndyBe on Monday 24th March 18:29
Now it's been warm and the car has had it's first few runs
bedded in the brakes, and retorqued the header bolts. And it's just come back from the detailers. These pics don't really show the quality of the finish - but here's some more Daughter getting in on the pose.
Edited by AndyBe on Saturday 19th April 10:38
or the picture. They're actually around 14" across. The caliper on the otherhand is rather small.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff