The ABS plastic headliner backing panel once all the old adhesive residue was removed.

Time to clean off the old adhesive on the underside. It was some type of green epoxy resin. Some areas were flaking but others stuck like...glue. So I got out a heat gun and used my wife's oil-paint palette knife. That worked great. All I had to do was slip the blade under a loose spot and then gently slide it along and most of the outer perimeter glue came off several feet at a time.

I then used the 3M 08327 Semi-Rigid Parts Repair epoxy and put down a bead in the same areas where the old green glue was. I then placed the headliner panel on it and covered it with some old towels and around 45 pounds of weights to press it in place. The 08327 cures in around 5 minutes so you have to work rapidly in laying down the glue.

And the final result:

Steve, I found these in one of my parts boxes, an image search came up on a 94 Viper for sale ad. You want them? Or should I chuck em? :)

I can always use more license plate screws. I never seem to have 4 of the same style so that makes them super duper rare! I PM'd you.

I've been driving the Viper the past few weeks to use up the 22 gallons of fuel in the tank in time for refueling and winter storage. We took the car to a couple cars and coffee events and had a lot of fun with it. This old relic is gonna be 30 years old in four months!

During the recent drive my son noticed that we had no back up lights, no brake lghts, no flashers, and only one turn signal working. Great!

So I pulled the tail light lenses and replaced several of the 29 year old, 3157 bulbs. That got us the turn signals working and the flashers but still no brake lights or backup lights.

So I crawled underneath the dash and looked at the brake light switch. It was very hot to the touch! So I pulled it out. I took it apart and noticed all the contacts were tarnished and causing so much resistance that heat was building up but no contact was being made in the switch. So I used an fingernail emery board and cleaned them up and reinstalled the thing. (I also ordered a spare unit since any parts for this thing are either unavailable or in the process - it turned out the unit is from a Dodge truck and is made by Standard Motor Products under part S-151 so I ordered one for $25). I reinstalled the switch and YAY now the brake lights work again.

I figured the reverse lights were due to the switch in the transmission no longer working from being parked in reverse for so long during storage, so I ordered one of those which is still available from Mopar for $29. Since that required putting the car up on jackstands and pulling the big transmision skid plate I figured I'd change the 29 year old transmission fluid at the same time.

I tested my bad switch hypothesis by jumping the two terminals on the wire connector and the lights lit up. Bad switch, it is. I swapped out the old switch for the new one and YAY we have reverse lights now too!

Now here's the bug in the ointment. These cars came with a T56 6-speed which used Dexron II(E) as the lubricating fluid. In 1994 Dexron II was replaced with Dexron III which was OK'd by Dodge for use in these transmissions. In 1998, Dodge put out a very specific TSB stating that the fluid in all Viper transmissions should be upgraded to Mopar ATF+4 to avoid neutral gear rattle...all EXCEPT the 1992 and 1993 cars. It had something to do with the blocker rings and synchros in the early transmissions being made of a material that was not compatable with a synthetic fluid. So...I had to find actual non-synthetic Dexron II or III. And of course the current Dexron VI synthetic is out as well.

I searched and eventually located a currently available, cheapo non-synthetic AC/Delco version that is called ATF Type III(H). It turns out that no one can call it Dexron III any more because GM no longer licenses it to be made under that trademark.

I also decided to drain and refill the rear diff as well. Luckily this is a very early car that actually has the drain plug in the rear diff. Shortly after this car was built, they did away with the drain plug and those owners have to suction out their diff for maintenance (not fun).

I did take a sample of both fluids and sent it off the Blackstone labs for analysis. I'll update when the results come in.

And if you're wondering what all the little yellow specks are in the photos: I ran over an Osage Orange (Maclura Pomifera) while coming home from the cars and coffee on Sunday. The frikken things are as big as a grapefruit and are all over the local roads around here. I thought it would clear the underside but it struck the front crossmember and then got neatly sliced in half by the transmission skid plate as evidenced by the section sitting on the plate when I removed it this morning. So now the underside smells citrus fresh! So I got that going for me.

Here's that TFFKAD-III (The Fluid Formerly Known As Dexron) III(H) that you can currently get under the genericly named "Type III(H)" since Dexron is no longer licenced in its prior iterations as it is now considered "the name that shall never be uttered again" AC/Delco part number 10-9240

Since she is up on jackstands I am still "mission creeping". I was greasing all the ball joints and tie rod ends when I noticed that all the sway bar link rubber boots have turned to rubble. They were a clear poly material originally and have totally decomposed after 29 years. Don't even get me started on what a new set of sway bar links go for if you could even locate an NOS set of the unique 1992-95 links - try around $300 each!!! And no one makes replacements.

There is some Viper parts place out west that advertises a new set of boots for $200 !!! (The dreaded Viper tax) Seriously guys? You can just measure the flanges and then shop for replacement boots on the net.

Before I started measuring and searching someone recommended I give Tator's Garage a call http://www.tatorsdodge.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJwL...el=LewisboroTV

So I used some ball joint pullers and got the links off today. They were all in perfect shape other than the boots. I was able to make contact with Chuck Tator at Tator's Garage last night. (they were formerly known as Tator's Dodge, est in 1908 and they were the oldest Dodge dealer in the world, when Mopar decided to cancel their franchise during the bloodbath of 2008 when they killed off 1/3 of their dealership franchises because they were not multi-branded.) They were also one of the largest Viper dealers for Dodge back in the day.

I left a message for Chuck and he called me back at 8:30 this morning and said he was mailing out the new set of boots for $40 and needed my address. I then asked if he was ready for my credit card info. He replied: "I don't do credit cards - the bank takes too much money. I just send out the parts and an invoice and you can send me a check when they come in." He even encloses a stamped, self addressed return envelope.

Holy Cow! It's like I'm back in olden times.

One day later, they arrived from Tator! :-)

$45.50 for the boot set including a stamped, self-addressed envelope for payment. I rounded up and sent him a check for $50 just for the helluvit.

Easy install, The small ring clips go on first and are easy to slid over the flange. You then grease up the joint and slip the seal over until the big flange goes over the collar in the link. Then you gently wrap the large spring clip around while holding the end in place. Takes some practice but by the 8th one I could do it in around 15 seconds.

Chuck is the man for the Viper parts. When I redid all the stuff on my 97 GTS he’s the one that supplied the most needed parts. Invaluable resource. How are your tires? Jon B is a good source for those. Every five years Michelin makes a run of the these tiny diameter rubber bands. Miss it, and you’re ten years away from a new set!:rolleyes2:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Tires! Yeah no-one really makes the 335/35x17 out there other than Michellin (and Hoosier?) once in while for this application.

When I replaced the throwout bearing earlier this year I sprung for a new set of Michellins from Jon B. The old gal drives real nice now.

The old XGTZs she was sitting on were "somewhat" unsafe at this point. I have several sets of zero-mile, assembly-line Michellin XGTZs that Team Viper gave me, that are 30 years old and would make for perfect restoration sets but otherwise could double as hockey pucks if Andre the Giant played hockey. No cracks in the rubber but they are fossilized plastic now.

The XGTZs were dangerous tires even when new as the rubber compound they developed for this application gave zero transition warning when it was about to lose grip at the edge of adhesion. And with the 50/50 weight distribution, the cars would instantly swap ends, repeatedly, until they hit something immoveable that would stop the spin. Lots of 1992 and 93 Vipers were wrecked due to the XGTZs when they were new. Dodge pretty much immmediately went to the Michellen Pilot series as a replacement after about a year or two for the Gen II cars with the updated (more drive-friendly) suspension (1995 to 2002). The Gen I cars had basically a race car suspension and took a lot of focus to drive safely.

Here's the suspension details. The factory installed, fixed spring, Koni shocks were sent back to Koni in 1993 and they installed the adjustable spring perches for aftermarket Eibach springs.

I have been on the phone with Koni and Eibach this week trying to find the correct spanner wrench for adjusting the spring heights in case I ever want to mess with the settings. Back in the day I uses a 5/16" drill bit inserted into the adjuster hole in order to spin the spring perch. Not too easy with 500 lb rated springs. Neither company makes the wrenches so I had to search to find an old style round tip spanner for a 82mm perch. It should arrive tomorrow. All the modern perches now employ a square adjuster slot and use a flat, hook style wrench.

FYI, In 1996, the Gen 2 suspension replaced everything you see here with forged aluminum control arms, different shock/springs and a totally different articulation geometry that made the car much easier to keep in a straight line and much more forgiving to newbie owners. It was a night and day difference. They also added airbags, roll up windows, and actual door handles on the outside of the car. Simply preposterous, I tell you!

Too cushy for me though. I like the brutality of the belligerent, original, Go-Cartosaurus Rex.

My early birthday present arrived!

An NOS Gen 1 Viper Steering Wheel still in the box. My original one has all sorts of scuffs, nicks, and scratches in the leather from 30 years of abuse. I'll retire the original one up into the storage closet for safe-keeping.

----Steve,,,Steering wheels are great garage art. Hang it up!....Bill S

Good idea - maybe my son will get it for his birthday which is a couple days after mine!

The spring perch wrench was delivered today. It's a hefty piece of iron, indeed. $50 worth. And it fits, too: an added bonus for sure.

I got the transmission oil analysis back from Blackstone. Looks good for 27 year old Dexron (Torco Synthetic version that I filled it with around 1995). I guess I changed it just in time as it just hit the .1% insoluables level. :-)

Waiting on the rear differential and engine oil results next.

And I finished the engine oil change I started over the weekend and sent off the sample to Blackstone.

It had 5-year old Valvoline traditional 10W30 with around 500 miles on it from the last change in 2017. I went with Mobil-1 10W30 this time. These big engines take 9-1/2 quarts to fill. And I used a Wix 541085XP filter. As far as I know, it's the best filter there is on the market.

A good friend of mine has a vintage case of STP Oil Treatment from 1973 and he gave me one to throw in the Viper.

It's got the good old oil additive stuff in it from when we were kids!

It's got real sugar I tell ya. None of that fancy, schmancy high fructose corn syrup for my baby.

I've started hunting down extra spare parts for the car when they pop up cheap on rockauto. They actually have some dealer closeouts of the early Gen1 front and rear inner tie rods. TRW units for $11 each as wholesaler closouts. I got four of them. They still have some left. (BTW they're actually a Dodge Dakota truck part!)

And a Early Gen1 1992-93 waterpump for $135. Original box was chewed up but the waterpump and O-ring were fine inside. This stuff is gold!

I got the rear differential fluid analysis back from Blackstone and got quite the shock: Looks like there's a problem. The 3.55 gear set was installed back in 1994 and this is the fluid that has been in there ever since. it has a total of 5,000 or so miles on it - mostly at speed on the track. I asked them what the minimum amount of mileage they need on the new fluid can be before I send them another sample to be retested.

Luckily I have that spare NOS diff sitting on my basement floor.

The memories are coming back slowly now after checking my old records. The rear diff in the car now is one that Team Viper sent me as a spare back in 1994. This was the paper tag that was wired onto it. Note what it says:

REMOVED FROM
COUPE #1 on
9-2-93
NOISY

I guess it's actually a piece of history since it came from the first Viper Coupe show car. :-)

And the other tags are from the NOS rear differential that I got under warranty after the first one blew up at Sebring at around 145 mph on the short straight coming into the 25 mph hairpin. I heard a "ping" ricochet sound from the back of the car on the straightaway and then smelled rear diff fluid. When I got into the pits there was what looked like a bullet hole originating from inside the rear diff at the very top of the case. The ring gear bolts had loosened and one shot clean through the case and out onto the track somewhere. Luckily the hole was at the top and nothing leaked out onto the tires. And it missed the gas tank. THAT would have been a significant emotional event at 145 mph.

So to continue racing that day, I trailered the car home to Lakeland, pulled the damaged diff and put in the "COUPE #1" diff and then went back to the track the next morning to race some more. The following Monday I went to Jerry Ulm Dodge in Tampa and they got me the NOS 04709414 rear diff, overnight from Detroit. The labels are all that was left since the diff arrived unpackaged, in the remains of a carboard box soaked in 75W140. The diff had been prefilled with gear lube and of course it all leaked out of the top vent and dissolved the box. Luckily the labels were still good enough to save.

I spoke with the lab tech at Blackstone about the diff today. He said the results could be from of a combination of heavy early use from extensive racing back in the day, combined with subsequent surface rust from 25 years of storage since these diffs have an open air valve at the top that can let in moisture. He recommended driving it a few miles and then flushing it again, maybe with a good internal soaking with solvent and let it sit, then drain it fully again and hose it out with a couple cans of brake clean. Then refill with fresh 75W140 and additive and drive it. Then sample in a hundred miles. If it comes back as fresh oil with no contaminants it may be good. Versus it showing new iron contamination at a similar level, then its time to swap out the diff and perform an autopsy.

So I took the old gal out for a 100 mile trip today with the new diff fluid in to see if it helped as I was going to take a new sample and send it back to Blackstone.

I got back home and put her on jackstands and drained all the fluid out. While I was doing that and rotating the wheels to get any leftover gearlube off the gears I could hear a "tinkling" and "clicking" sound inside the differential. Sounded just like busted roller bearing with a broken cage and the roller shifting into place after a short movement.

So out comes the old rear and in goes the NOS 1994 differential that I've been saving for 28 years. To get ready, I dragged it out to the garage and set it up to drain the old clean fluid out. It looked nice and amber-colored until the last of it was coming out and then a lot of yellow marking compound was coming with the fluid. Can't get any "newer" than that. I'll let it drip over night and then refill with new 75W140 and additive made in the 21st century, versus the old pre-turn of the century stuff that came out.

Too bad the service replacement Dana 44 differentials didn't come with drain plugs like the assembly line 92/93 units.

That’s awesome, Steve-O. I’ve got a spare ECU for my Gen II GTS among a couple other parts. I really wish there were a better aftermarket for these. I’d like another, but prices are nuts. Stuff starts wearing out on these and 1990 starts looking and smelling like 1990:rolleyes2:

BTW, fun fact: I have the same radio in my shop in about the same condition. Standard Jersey issue I believe!:eek2:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Yup, Standard issue Jersey radio given away at every NJ motor vehicle department while you're waiting in line, along with a pair of parachute pants and Bazooka bubble gum.

I think that ECU might be worth something if you post it one one of the Viper sites. It's the old OBD-2 style that has to be reprogrammed with a computer to tune it. But the cores are very hard to find.

Yeah, it's crazy to think I bought this thing new 30 years ago. I've owned it half my life! It's the first car I bought when the wife and I were first dating.

I got the old diff out in about an hour. It's kind of like one of those bent nail puzzles trying to work it out between the narrow frame rails regardless of whether the half shafts are still in the car. I actually remember the secret formula of move it left, then move a half shaft back, move it right then move the other half shaft forward and then heave it left again and there is 1/4" of wiggle room by the front of the right frame rail to get one ear down and then...it falls on your chest.

Ok, so who is good at diagnosing gear patterns here?

Looks to me like the ring gear and pinion have been devouring each other. Also, I can hear that loose roller in the pinion bearing when I turn the pinion flange and the is a bit of clunky backlash in the pinion. Much more than the NOS rear has.

So did the bad bearing cause the pattern to change or was that a byproduct of the gear pattern being set badly and the the contaminated fluid ruining the pinion bearings?

I rechecked my old pile of records and it looks like they were an aftermarket set of 3.54 gears I had installed back in 1999.

At least I got some new wall art out of it. And luckily I kept the original set of 3.07 gears that I took out at the time. If I want to get this diff redone, I'll just use that set and get it all refurbushed.

And here's the original set of 3.07 gears from basement for comparison of the wear pattern.

NOS rear diff in place and ready for winter!

I got the engine oil sample results today and everything looks good for 500 miles and 5 years of use.

Tomorrow I'm dropping off the 3.54 rear differential at my favorite old-time machine shop to refresh. Hopefully they can reuse the 3.54 gear set, otherwise I'll have him revert it back to the origina 3.07 gear set I saved. Always helps to have a spare handy.

At least for the moment I have my wall art nice and clean and ready to hang up. It has been soaking in Purple Stuff for the past 5 days. It cleaned up nicely. Awaiting the report from the machine shop next week.

The machine shop called me today. He pulled apart the diff and found that pinion bearing race had some marks in it.

He asked if I used synthetic diff fluid and I said yes.
He then asked if the car sat a long time without driving. I said yes.
He said that was the problem.

In his decades of experience, synthetic differential fluids don't have a good fluid film thickness for long term storage like traditional fluids have. He said the races got abrasions from lack of lubrication and the rollers basically made corrosion divots in the races. He also said the synthetic diff fluids seem to attract moisture more than traditional fluids. That would explain the test results showing the presence of water in the fluid.

So he will replace all the bearings and seals and set the existing 3.54 gears back up. (which he said were fine and just need the depth adjusted a little.)

Picked up the 3.54 diff today. Total cost was around $750. More than half of that was the bearing kit and seals.

Looks like Blackstone was right on the money. It was devouring the bearing rollers in the main pinion bearing, which was contaminating the fluid with iron.

That was also the "tinkling" sound I heard. The rollers in the main pinion bearing were probably around 75% of the size they should have been. And all the races were showing severe brinelling. The main pinion bearing race was bad enough that you could catch your fingernail in the divot at the 12 o'clock position in the photo.

Here's the main pinion bearing. Notice how high the roller is in the first photo. And then how low it drops in the second. Now compare them to the third photo next to the low mileage pinion. You can see how worn the rollers are on the bad bearing compared to the low mileage bearing on the right.

That was the "tinkling" I could hear when I rotated the yoke and heard the roller drop to the other side of the cage slot. The damn thing is so loose it sounds like a tamborine.

And the shiny, clean diff with the 3.54 gears all reset and ready to go.

I contacted the techs at Blackstone to send them some photos. They always appreciate the feedback when their analysis is confirmed with real-time photos/data. They were quite excited to see the reason behind the fluid's iron contamination.

$50 clutch slave cylinder hack for the unobtainable 1992-2010 factory part and LUK LSC134

After seeing some mention on facebook about a workaround for the unobtainable clutch slave cylinder for 1992 to 2010 Vipers, I decided to test out out the rumor. And it is absolutely true.

The $50 Luk LSC002B is EXACTLY the same unit as the no-longer-available $300+ Luk LSC134 or the double that price, equally unavailable Dodge factory replacement part. Same base, same height, same inner diameter, same shaft diameter, same throwout bearing.

The only difference is the bleeder and the pressure fitting.

All you have to do is tap out the roll pin that secures the pressure fittings on your original slave cylinder and the new LSC002B, and then swap them, along with the rubber seal. I ended up reusing the rubber seal from my original slave cylinder as the pressure fitting flt tighter with it than the new seal on the shorter fitting. Then tap the roll pin back in. You then swap out the original longer bleeder for the short one on the LSC002B, or use as most people do, install an aftermarket remote bleeder line for easier bleeding.

Here are some camparison photos of my original 1992 vintage slave cylinder and bearing, and the new LSC002B in the middle and a Sachs SO536/SH6151 (a relabled LUK LSC134 under a different brand name).

BTW, the LUK LSC002B is a Ford/Mercury application. For example, it fits the 1989 Thunderbird with a V6 and manual transmission.

Well I finally installed the rebuilt 3.54 rear differential today. It took a leisurely three hours with water/food breaks in between. Boy those diffs are getting heavy or I'm losing my ability to bench press underneath a car.

I think it's time to finally get myself a four post lift so i can get off the ground when working on these things.

After the install, the boy and I went for some Italian ice at the local Rita's. And of course forgot that this damn 30 year old relic doesn't have any cup holders. (First World Problems)

Not a sound from the rebuilt rear. Not that you could hear anything anyway with the open side exhaust blasting in your ears. But it was smooth sailing anyway.

He said he wants us to bring the Viper to the next cars and coffee event. He said there were too many Hellcats there last time and we didn't stick out enough. LOL