Snake Bite!

[A12pilot]

In continuing my quest for the perfect Viper....well...not really, but since it's Hurricaning out there, I might as well update a few threads!

Up on jack stands it goes for a brake redo and a cleaning up of the front and rear suspension is in order as well. Of course, factory markings present as well as parts tags will remain. The last worn out parts to replace are the sway bar end links front and back too. Brakes on the Gen II Vipers are...well....not exactly up to today's standards on the Gen Vs or even the later Gen IIIs. After exploring a bunch of options and realizing this thing will never see a track day (OK, maybe one day for fun), I decided that slotted rotors with Hawk pads would be just fine. Of course, what's a B&W GTS need to really look good!? Simple....shiney red calipers which always make the car go faster!

Look at how puny those back calipers are! Like leftover Neon calipers. I'm going to make a cover eventually to go over that (Tom at Tom's Big Brakes used to, but they no longer exist) just for asthetic purposes so I can have a Viper logo on the rear ones too. Just a brake bleed away from being back on the road! Well, that and a week of no rain!

Cheers
Dave

[njsteve]

They could very well be Neon brake calipers as the overwhelming majority of parts on the Gen 1 cars were sourced from existing parts throughout the Chrysler corporation. You like the 6-lug wheel hubs that came from a 1500 pickup truck?

I just had some expensive fun with my snake-car. I washed the car and then turned on the wipers for the first time in about 24 years. They promptly did their little "I Dream Of Jeanie" dance and then jammed together in the middle of the windshield. The Viper uses two separate electric motors - one for each wiper blade. They are synched through a series of sensors inside the motors. One worked fine, the other would start and stop and then get caught in the path of the passenger side blade. I then tested each by unplugging them and running power to the correct terminal on each motor. They both worked fine when separated.

Here is the important thing to remember for when yours start going out. The bad wiper motor is NOT the one that is stopping. The bad motor is the one that appears to be working fine.

It seems that the sensors in the one that is working fine are no longer sending the correctly timed signal to the other motor to swing - so it starts and stops awaiting the next signal that never comes. I had to order a new Mopar passenger side wiper motor which is no longer available but still stocked in some dealers (PN 4643065 at $248) and hopefully it will arrive next week. The driver's side part number is PN 4708171, in case you eventually need one or the other. These part numbers cover all the Gen 1 and Gen 2 Vipers.

My next project on the car is either the non-working Alpine cassette deck (no sound coming from the speakers) or the falling headliner in the detachable hardtop. Jeez, it's like a typical old car already...and it's only been 24 years.

[JRC99]

Originally Posted by njsteve

You like the 6-lug wheel hubs that came from a 1500 pickup truck?

Ah, yes, the bane of my existence. Trying to find nice 15 inch wheels for my Dakota is like a needle in the haystack.

On topic, I love the blue n White GTS Coupes, they're probably my favorite of all the Vipers. Speaking of that Dakota, I ought to paint it in that blue if I ever do get it painted.