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Finally Joined the Viper Club!

4K views 52 replies 13 participants last post by  qtix 
#1 ·
I’ve wanted a B/W GTS since I was a kid! So happy to have one finally. Picked this up a couple months ago and it appears to need quite a bit of work. I’m trying to go through it and figure out all that’s been done to it. It has Hennessy front fascia and rear wing but no Hennessy badging so I’m assuming all the engine work done isn’t Hennessy. Anyway - does anyone recognize this car or can tell me what type of rockers these are? I’ve literally searched this forum for hours trying to find anything on this car and can’t come up with anything. According to carfax the original owner had it from 96 until about 2012 in Illinois. The next two owners had it in Georgia and then Texas. The previous owner was DOJ! Quite the history. Excited for this project but would love some build history on this car! Thank you all in advance!
 

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#2 ·
Sorry I forgot to add that it’s a 96 with about 87k miles on it. Appears to have larger throttle bodies, Borla exhaust, fire suppressant system, MSD ignition, headers, front brembo brakes, battery cut off switch, and other random things I’m trying to figure out what they are.
 
#5 ·
Yeah I haven’t seen any other vipers like this either. I’m sure they are out there but trying to get info on setup! DOJ is the Department of Justice. Apparently this car was impounded for some reason. Sat for about 4 years. Like I said it’s in rough shape! Trying to figure it all out.
 
#6 ·
Good luck with your new project! There's an awful lot going on under that hood. Where are you located? You might need some tuner recommendations.
 
#9 ·
It didn’t very well at first until I found out 1) the fuel pump inlet was clogged with a tag 2) the plug wires were all cracked and some not even connected and 3) the gas was 4 years old and bad. After changing all that it seems much better but still doesn’t seem just right. Pictures are how I found it.
 

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#10 ·
What are all those electronic boxes in the engine bay? This should be fun to reverse engineer what the prior owner was doing.

I thought I had everyone beat with electronic boxes. I still have my MSD boost spark retard box attached. Dialing back timing on the fly has come in handy a few times.
 
#14 ·
+1 on this. Get the manual and start putting the electronics back to original.

Just be aware, these cars are starting to get difficult to get parts for on certain things. Sometimes you'll find that you might be making your own replacement. I'd start searching around for recyclers for certain parts you might want to replace. I've had some good luck with don scharf automotive on a few small items and i know others could chime in as well.

Good to see another viper saved and being worked on and brought back up to snuff.
 
#12 ·
I would also recommend a 1997 service manual if a '96 can't be found easily. I've also found that ordering parts for a '97 gives me a better chance of getting the right pieces with almost no confusion with the '96 RT/10 parts from the same production year.
 
#13 ·
That’s a great point. I’ll do that! Honestly I wanted to get this back to stock electronics, have just been a little hesitant as I’m not sure what all these parts are even for or even if necessary. I’d hate to remove something that is tuned in for a reason. It’s just crazy that I have yet to see these parts on another viper on this forum. I’m sure it exists but I haven’t seen it yet.
 
#15 ·
Thank you for the input! Yes I would say another Viper saved is accurate. Unfortunately whoever had this last didn't take good care of it at all. Sad to see!

Another weird thing to add to the list is after starting the engine the high speed fan won't shut off after I key off the car. The only way to turn the fan off is flip the battery shut off switch. It's weird things like this that make me nervous messing with too many electrical things but it needs to go back stock!
 
#16 ·
Figured I would post a few pictures of some of the weird items or aftermarket parts on it. The car also has a fire suppressant system. Anyone know what that module and canister is in the driver wheel well? Also the dipstick doesn’t go in all the way...weird stuff! Trying to make sense of all of it.
 

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#17 ·
Nice, big Accusump oil system protection under the air box.
 
#20 ·
We're gonna need more pics & info on the black box and aluminum cylinder in the LF wheel well. What are they connected to?
 
#23 ·
That's a pretty serious ignition system, they seem to sell for a bit of change on the used market. Think it had nitrous or big boost? You should do a compression test to see if it differs from stock numbers; who knows what's been done to the bottom end or heads. Maybe there's some goodies hiding.

The Accusump is a bonus!
 
#25 ·
Viper Days Unlimited class required fire systems to be able to run more than one event. If you were running super or turbo chargers, you automatically bumped to Unlimited. Hi boost SC systems often required ignition upgrades.
 
#26 ·
According to carfax the original owner had it from 96 until about 2012 in Illinois. The next two owners had it in Georgia and then Texas. The previous owner was DOJ! Quite the history. Excited for this project but would love some build history on this car! Thank you all in advance!
You might also post on the VOA club website, driveviper.com to see if someone remembers it or used to own it.
 
#27 ·
Thank you guys for the input and ideas! Really appreciate it. I totally agree it would seem that this car wasn’t N/A at some point. I can’t find evidence so far of anything removed. Still will work to get this back to stock wiring.

On another note decided to figure out why the dip stick wouldn’t go all the way down. Wanted to clean all the oil out too as it was pretty bad. Found out some one put that shield on backwards which is why the dip stick wouldn’t go in fully. Also found some nasty metal shavings, chips, dents, and major scratches! Looks like the crank is ok but bearings are toast. I’m still searching through forums for the best path forward. Anyway to tell if these are stock or aftermarket rods?
 

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#28 · (Edited)
Bearings aren’t truly toast. If there was copper showing I’d say yes they’re toast, but the scoring is absolutely concerning for sure and they look beat up for sure.
Honestly, I’d change all the rod and main bearings after seeing that. Can’t tell entirely but looks like the piston skirt is trashed on that one piston or the cylinder liner? Honestly it looks like it’s all salvageable based on what you’ve shown so far, but I think pulling the motor is VERY good idea at this point based on what you found already.

Are the headers stock? Exhaust stock? Check for any hammering of the foot wells for clearance of turbos or perhaps if the rocker bar where the heat shields bolt to over the exhaust is missing or hacked up. Alternatively it It could have been a nitrous car perhaps.

As far as finding out about rods being stock, couldn’t tell you. Someone else here might be able to help identify them though.

Kinda makes me want to take a look at my own bearings since I’ve got 68k on my motor and see how they’ve held up from previous owners, but honestly I’m a bit afraid of what I might find.
 
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