1995 Dodge Viper - Because I'm a masochist, I guess.

Well, at this point everything is nearly back together.  Going to finish up the oil pan tomorrow.  New rod bearings are in, everything is torqued down properly.  Nearly finished at last.  Interestingly enough, in my updated manual, I found a procedure to prime the oil pump that wasn't included in the old one, so I found that interesting.  

Now, originally when I pulled the rod bearings, I had only pulled the lower portions of the caps, and the bearings looked a little hot but not horrific.

Then I pulled the top and realized my sound was certainly rod knock, and perhaps not a lifter after all.

Several of these are through multiple layers of metal, they were pounding the crap out of each other.

So I'll start the new year with a knock knock joke.

KNOCK KNOCK

Who's there?
Abotta.

Abotta who?

ABOTTA'SENDA ROD THROUGH THE BLOCK IF YOU DON'T REPLACE THESE BEARINGS.

Things I have left:

- A few bolts to tighten and properly torque down on the front of the car for accessories.  

- Replace oil pan gasket, and torque down the windage tray

- Remove oil pressure sensor, prime system

- Verify oil pressure

- Spark plugs and wires back on

- Enjoy car

Nearly there!  SO damn close.

Keep in mind I do have the new airbox.  However, I want to go ahead and datalog the OLD filter setup vs the new box and then also get data with improvements I'm making on it.  FOR SCIENCE>

Nearly there.

Rod bearings are done.  Windage try has been cleaned up and installed, torqued properly.  Sensors are all plugged in.  Vaccuum lines are all good to go.  Exhaust and headers are all doned.  New header MLS gaskets installed.  

I'm down to needing to do the accessory belt, put a cooling hose on the lower rad, fill it with oil, prime it, and it's time to fire it up!

dirty as hell but that'll change soon and i'll give it a fantastic detail.

Parts didn't make it over the pass last night, but no worries, would rather the driver be safe than rush in this insane ice and snow.

I'll post an update once parts are in and i'm ready to get this thing fired up.

In the meantime, here's some amazing music to pass the time, happy 2022.

Update:

Everything is buttoned up.  Everything is torqued down.  Successfully primed and got oil pressure.

Battery is super dead so letting it charge tonight and will try first start tomorrow.  SO CLOSE.

The snake lives again!  I need to clean up the engine bay, make things pretty, sort all the stuff and meticulously go through all the things i need to but, IT LIVES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QRRmqzLKn8

Congratulations! Many happy RPMs to you.

In reply to clutchsmoke :

I'll try to get some actual good footage and audio sometime this weekend.

In reply to corsepervita :

Happy Snek!

11GTCS said:

In reply to corsepervita :

Happy Snek!

No knocking, no clacking, no clanking, only happy viper sounds.  Fingers crossed my break-in period goes well.  This would be my first pushrod engine rebuild.  So this is new territory for me.  I'm used to shim over bucket or shim under bucket solid lifter engines and euro cars.  But it's been pretty straightforward, and I took my time.  Still, my anxiety is going, "OK BUT WHAT IF YOU berkeleyED UP?"

nicely done, makes me miss my second gen

one of the cars from my past I wish I never sold

All buttoned up.  Oil pressure good.  Running like a top.  Everything butter smooth.  It's home at last :)

Here's an audio and video clip I got - I overlayed the audio from my recorder since my rode mic pics it up better than my phone by far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LATQPSEme4

Love the license plate!

Recon1342 said:

Love the license plate!

I feel it's a pretty accurate one for it lol.  Even with the 335s it'll get goosey when you want it to.

In reply to corsepervita :

From what I understand, pretty much all of the Vipers are tail-happy burnout machines. I watched the Jalpa thread with interest; it'll be neat to see what you do with something a bit simpler...

Well guys, interesting news.  I took a new job at a new place, and took some time off inbetween.  So come this next week, now that the viper is back up, I plan on working on the Jalpa and getting that back on the road.

Complimentary picture of the Viper enjoying its break-in period with the first time being parked next to my C6.

I'm about due for the first engine flush, will then inspect for any particles and go from there.  So far, purring like a kitten, running super smooth, and now that all the vacuum leaks are addressed and it's able to get ratios correctly it even has a bit more pep.  I imagine this must be what a new viper felt like.  Feels like a dream come true.  

Ended up finding out that the cam position sensor was busted as I was taking stuff apart, so it's been stalling and very unhappy lately.  Got a new one, spaced it to what I believe is the correct amount and so far, no problems.  I'll get some pictures of the old sensor here shortly but also have a replacement crankshaft sensor as well since those are also known to be culprits for the cutting out and stalling/dying issues I'm experiencing.  At least on the positive side I know the issue isn't mechanical and was electrical for that.  Given it was losing cam sync that explains the weird sudden loss in power and then suddenly back into it.  Most certainly not an issue I want to have in this car mid corner, at the track, or really any time.

At this point I will have replaced all of the sensors on the engine lol.  At least I know where it's at.  

It's been a few now, the engine is running great but I am still encountering stalling issues.  The Cam sensor was most definitely messed up.  Was cracked and malfunctioning, leading to misfires and stalling.  Today the car ran great for a few hours and then I got stalling again.  It was the stalling I got when I came home where it would just die, and then come back.  No misfires.  

Checked the engine code and came back with a 14, which is "Voltage on map sensor too low or too high" - looking at what others have experienced, this is a failing map sensor.  Which is odd, since mine is brand new.  However, even new things can fail and I did get it from the same online viper store that sold me a cam sensor which was the wrong part and simply did not work.  I have another map sensor on the way that's an OEM replacement and hopefully that'll fix it.

Oddly enough, the stalling and voltage too high or too low error usually only happens a few minutes within starting the car back up, and doesn't do it again.  Part of me also wonders if my alternator is spiking intermittently and the regulator could be going out.  The voltage does seem a little high, and I know that ECUs can be very grumpy when it receives an extra voltage spike or drop and doesn't get the right amount back (My C6 Corvette is a prime example of that).  So I ordered a rebuild kit for the alternator as well.

One day at a time, but it's running like a new car.  No more misfiring, no more weird erratic idle, engine is happy.  Oil pressure is fantastic.  So far so good.  Can't wait to get whatever this bug is out of the system so I can drive it in confidence again.

Took some pictures today of the C6 and Viper together since it's the first time they've really been together at home, and clean.

Oh man, serious fleet envy! 

maschinenbau said:

Oh man, serious fleet envy! 

word

corsepervita said:

I love this picture.  Lots of excitement and lots of boredom.  No in between.

Is it only stalling coming up to a light? Or is it stalling in general? The battery voltage faults are a red flag for sure and an alternator sounds like it might be a good idea, but didn't you bypass the clutch switch on this? I have had a car and a few motorcycles that used the clutch switch for idle logic, and deleting the switch caused a bunch of issues where they would either hang idle or it would stall coming back down to idle if you didn't basically coast in gear all the way down to engine idle speed before putting the clutch in. Not sure if these are known for that, but it's something.

gearheadE30 said:

Is it only stalling coming up to a light? Or is it stalling in general? The battery voltage faults are a red flag for sure and an alternator sounds like it might be a good idea, but didn't you bypass the clutch switch on this? I have had a car and a few motorcycles that used the clutch switch for idle logic, and deleting the switch caused a bunch of issues where they would either hang idle or it would stall coming back down to idle if you didn't basically coast in gear all the way down to engine idle speed before putting the clutch in. Not sure if these are known for that, but it's something.

It's stalling in general.  You could be doing 30mph and it'll just completely cut out and die, then wake back up.  Then I get a check engine light for "MAP voltage".  Have never heard of a clutch bypass on these causing that.  But it would be weird for a clutch bypass to cause a map fault code.  Though to eliminate it as a possibility I could hook it back up to rule it out.  But I'm leaning towards alt or map sensor.

bigeyedfish said:

corsepervita said:

I love this picture.  Lots of excitement and lots of boredom.  No in between.

My partner's Murano is certainly not exciting lol.

Mopars of this vintage are famously picky about sensors. They really only like to function with OEM parts. I'm willing to bet the OEM sensor you bought will fix the issue. 

Beautiful car, as always. 

The code is for "too high or too low."  I wonder if you're losing 12 v intermittantly.