NJ Steves Pit Viper Revival

[njsteve]

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.

[olredalert]

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

[njsteve]

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

[njsteve]

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.

[njsteve]

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.

[njsteve]

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.

[njsteve]

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!

[njsteve]

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.

[njsteve]

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.)

[njsteve]

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.