Wow dream car is within reach!

[Daston]

hey guys

I have dreamed of am RT/10 since I was 7 and now the prices of them look very apitising. However I know next to nothing about them apart from their stats and they changed the models around 3 times. Is there any links to some FAQs about the RT/10 like what they changed over the years why they ditched the side exit exhausts in 96. Did they make any with side exits during 96 can the later ones be changed to side exits? (I want side exits by the way).

Any way you get the point.

Thanks in advance for any help

[RT/10Dave]

Buy a copy of this:



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Viper-Buyers-Guide/dp/0760...

Should tell you just about everything you are likely to need to know.

[viper kev]

Welcome and good luck.

You have just made the best move possible by posting here.

Use the expertise on this forum in your search, there are folks who post here who have enormous knowledge of the Viper car. If you find a car you like, post it on the forum, you will be surprised what information is already known about the car by other Viper owners, its not always good news!!! But best to know before you buy.

http://www.theviperregistry.org/ Is a great source of information

As regards the exhausts, certainly the Gen1 cars have a problem with corrosion on the side exhaust covers. There are various links on the Viper sites that give technical explanations of why this happens. But if you buy a Gen1 Viper this is a likely problem. It is repairable, but if left can be expensive. Many of us change the exhausts which helps improve exhaust gas flow which in turn means that the exhaust is cooler and this slows down/stops the problem. Some folks have changed to fiberglass exhaust covers. This maybe why they stopped the side exhausts for a while, although they are back now on the later cars.

Apart from that, cheap to service, seem to be very reliable. There were apparently problems with the head gaskets on Gen1 cars, you may need to change them at some point, although there are folks here with 40k miles still on original gaskets, with no problems at all.

Try and buy one with a hardtop included, soft top is ok, but you really need a hardtop. I have just brought one for my car and its cost me over £2.5k with the windows as well.

I have had my car for just over a year, enjoy ever minute of it.

[ViperDave]

Rear to side exit conversion is not insurmountable as the exhaust still runs through the side sill and on the rear exit just turns back inboard and then out the back instead of out the side. The biggest issue you would have would be cutting or replacing the sills (body panels are expensive)and filling the hole left at the back. You could always do a NAD and add a interchangeable tow bar/parachute in the hole. did she ever finish that project?

[ViperDave]

I don't think the corrosion was the reason for the change to rear exit as the gen2's suffer from it as well. I suspect it had more to do with the European markets which were imposing the regs for sound and rear exit. The euro Gen2's have a lot more sound quenching than the US cars and one of the differences for the 'cant be called a viper' GEN3 SRT's is a rear exit exhaust IIRC. For SVA you can get away with the US side pipes though.

[Daston]

whoa thanks for the info guys. How hard is it to get one imported from the US or is it better to buy one over here? Its just that some of the RT/10's over there are going for $20-30k so thats like £10,400-15,600! I take it that it would cost nearly double that to get it shipped and sorted for the DVLA test thing.

What sort of power can you get out of a Gen 1 with out seriouse mods? I would be looking at 450-500ish as my Supra currently puts out 400 (ok a twin turbo 3L Straight 6 is going to be tottaly different to a 8L V10)

[viper kev]

I would check through some of the posts on here, I think Zed Sump has just imported a car, look for SVA.

There is also a topic on importing on the club website

http://www.ukviperclub.co.uk/


450 to 500 output is "easy" to achieve without major mods, I am sure someone will post re what you would need to change to get there

Edited by viper kev on Thursday 20th September 13:59

Edited by viper kev on Thursday 20th September 14:00

[ViperDave]

Sports exhaust, headers, high flow cats, K&N air filter for a gen2 will get you into if not well on the way to 500bhp. A Gen 1 may need a little more but will be darn close

Don’t forget these will be real shire horses with bags of tq right across the rev range, not those Japanese rice eating single furlong ones


Ps Save your money on headers for later cars that came with them

[Atlanticvipers]

I have all three generations in our showroom inc a 1 owner 94 RT-10 if you want to come see us for a chat and a spin. I have supplied several others to owners on piston heads. cheers

[N GTS]

Best wishes with getting your Viper! It's quite easy and can be done not too costly either to change a rear exit exhaust to side exits. Club member Colin can supply you with fiberglass copies of either OE GenI or the later smooth GenII sills (which you'll need to cut a hole out!) if you want to keep your originals. I've done both, cut OE sills and cut and used Colins for conversions. Janspeed have also done a lovely job and make performance stainless Viper exhausts (tuned to a specific db rating) if required.

Yes my tow bar is in full use, and came in handy when I had to tow another Viper the other weekend! Not needed to let the 'shute off yet!

Edited by N GTS on Friday 21st September 02:04