Exhausting experience

My other main complaint about the Viper is that it was too quiet. The stock exhaust, even without cats, sounded pretty wimpy and was way too quiet. A couple of times, I almost forgot to shift out of 3rd on the highway because it was so quiet. I also didn't like the look of the stock exhaust tips. One of the first things I did was remove the stock rear muffler. Viper catbacks are all pretty expensive, way more than I want to spend. There are a couple muffler delete pipes on the market too, but even they come in at around $500. I decided I'd just make my own. I chose 304 stainless so it'll look good for years to come. Here's what I started with. 8' of 2.5" tube, 1' 2.25 tube, one 180°-45° bend pipe, some stainless rod, 2.25" band clamps, and a pair of Yonaka 3.5" polished tips. I can tell already that this is going to be an exhausting experience...

Clutch link

One of my few genuine complaints about the Viper is the clutch throw.  You've got to step the pedal down a long way.  I'm 5'10", and when I adjusted the seat and pedals to where the gas, brake, and steering wheel were most comfortable, I had to fully extend my leg to get the clutch all the way down.  The pedal is connected to the clutch master with a linkage.  Installing a shorter link is supposed to shorten the clutch throw.  There is a commercially available one, but I just made my own.  My new link is 5 5/8" x 3/4" x 1/4", with 1/2" holes on 4 3/4" centers.  Both the original and new link are aluminum.  Here's the new shorter link next to the original:

Even with the new link, I still think that the clutch pedal travels too far.  Fortunately, the Gen II GTS has fully adjustable pedals.  All three pedal adjuster cables are tied into one knob under the dash.  By removing the adjustment cables from the central hub, you can individually adjust the pedals.  I moved the clutch up in relation to the other pedals so I don't have to extend my leg as far.  While I was at it, I moved the gas pedal up a bit too so heel-toe shifting is easier.  I also greased all the plastic bushings with some silicone grease to get rid of a squeak in the mechanism.

Some pics

Here's how far the Viper's come at this point. 

Gyro

After my last crash with the Drift Star, I decided that I needed a gyro to help me keep the car straight.  Here you can see the difference with the gyro off and on.  I'm using an Esky EK2-0704B gyro with the gain hooked into ch3 on my receiver.  If the car starts to slide, the gyro will steer it back straight much quicker and more accurately than I ever could.  I haven't driven it yet, so the settings are still pretty rough, over steering it slightly.  I'll be able to get it dialed in better once it's on the road.

New wing

I decided for my new wing, I'd use the simple pro mod style.  It should be plenty effective, and is super easy to make so if/when I crash again, I can whip up another one quickly.

Fixing, part 1

It's cold and rainy out, a perfect day to work on the Fast and Cheap.  When I crashed, the rear body mounts cracked out, and the rear body section cracked.  Unlike Lexan, Shoe Goo doesn't really stick to PETG so the Shoe Goo/Drywall tape method of repair is out.  Instead, I elected to just skin the inside of the tail with another sheet of PETG.  This should provide reinforcement, and help stiffen the rear of the body too.

Packed in like sardines

In order to increase my chances of success with the Fast and Cheap, I added some more stuff to my already cramped chassis.  The first thing I did was switch from the RTR radio to my FS-GT3b transmitter.  It's got a dual rate function that actually works, so I'll have much better control over the steering.  The second piece, which I should have left on from the get go is a gyro.  I'm using an Esky 0704B gyro.  This will help correct any slides as soon as they start, much faster than I can react.  To get it to initialize, the yellow gain lead gets plugged into ch3 of the receiver.  The third item, and just as important, is a handheld GPS unit.  It's got an on board speedometer and top speed recorder.  This means no more marking distance lines on the road, and no need to set up my radar gun.  With less setup involved, I can just take the car out and run it with less worry about traffic and making a perfect run.  All of this I managed to (just barely) squeeze onto the chassis and still fit under the low body.

Battle scars

I finally have the motivation to do some work on the Fast and Cheap.  I haven't touched it since it's first(and last) outing and subsequent crash.  It was the back of the car that took the brunt of the damage.  The wing broke, the diffuser cracked, and the body cracked.  While not polycarbonate tough, the PETG I'm using did surprisingly well considering the tumbles it took.

The stock CD player in my '97 GTS didn't work when I got it. Here's what it did: Any time I turn the ignition on, the player tries to eject a disc, even if no disc is present. When I try to insert a disc, it will not suck the disc in, doesn't matter if the radio is on or off. If I push a disc in, it won't play, but still ejects ok. Any time it ejects, the ejector mechanism click multiple times. Here's a video showing exactly what it was doing:

I think I've found the problem. Maybe anyway. I had the CD player section out of the radio chassis(only 4 screws hold the CD player assembly into the radio chassis), and I made a discovery. The bottom of the CD player has three ribbon cable connecting the bottom circuit board to the rest of CD player. When I pulled them out of their housings, I noticed that there were little dents in the contact surfaces. From the digital speedo in the Mighty Caprice™, I know that this can cause all sorts of odd behavior. The way these contacts work is there is a spring loaded "finger" that presses on the cable contact pad. Over time, the spring tension can dent the cable, making contact spotty. I wiggled these cables around a bit, and reassembled everything. Low and behold, it works! It's been a month now, and it's still working like it's supposed to.  If it goes wonky again I've got a technique for filling in the little dents that I'll try out. Here's a pic of the bottom of the CD player section. You can see dents in the cable. All three of the ribbon cables have similar little cable dents.

Console

Another flaw in the Gen II Vipers is the center console.  It's a large molded PVC piece, but it's only got four tiny posts under it for support.  If you lean on it too hard, it will crack.  If it cracks and you don't fix it, the vinyl covering will begin to tear.  Mine was cracked, and the vinyl was just starting to tear by the e-brake boot. Here you can clearly see the problem.

After doing much research, I decided to use fiberglass as my main repair material. Polyester fiberglass resin does stick to PVC, though it relies more heavily on a mechanical bond than a chemical one. Plus, I had everything necessary already. The first step was to do a whole lot pre cleaning. These consoles are notorious for being covered in mold release compound. I used mineral spirits, followed by acetone to clean the surface, then repeated the process a couple times. With that done, I roughed up the whole bottom side with some 36 grit sandpaper. This gives the resin some "tooth" to grab onto. Then more cleaning. Then I planned out where I wanted to put the fiberglass. I decided that since I'm doing it anyway, I may as well use it for reinforcement too. I went shopping in my fiberglass scraps box and laid out overlapping layers of mat where I wanted it.

With that done, I set the mat off to the side and started the lay up process. It's pretty simple, put a piece down, work the resin into it, work the bubbles out of it, and repeat. If you mix it right, you should have 20-30 minutes of work time before it sets up. When I had all the layers down down, I still had resin left so I added even more layers.

All told, there's almost 1/4" of mat over the whole thing, with it approaching 3/8" thick in some areas.  This thing is now almost solid enough to stand on.  I also put a piece of plywood on the trans tunnel to add some support across the e-brake recess.  No pics of that, but really, it's just plywood.

Huh?

I had to remove my console to fix it.  Like everything I've taken apart, this was a mess too.  Seriously, how does someone get this much sand and dog fur under the console?!?