West Coast Choppers Viper (pics)

[AkinaKO]

I personally think the whole theme of the car is awesome. Dark and evil.

[Jetts]

looks cool but would of been better if it was a new viper

[v10_viper]

Jesse's car is extremely awesome, I love that Viper, have you seen the one show where he has it out and does a few 360's with it??

[TexasF355F1]

I saw that show, i was like HOLY FU**ING SH*T!!! Jesse is an overall terrific custom builder weather it be bikes or anything else.

[SuPeRcAr_MaN]

I'll take this over ANY motercycle. Interesting color choice, but still easily one of the nicest Vipers I have seen. I am not too crazy about the dash, mostly around the guages... It doesn't look right.

[Viper 10]

FYI, from what I understand it was a salvaged Viper. Jesse's shop is here in SoCal.

[v10_viper]

Originally posted by Viper 10
FYI, from what I understand it was a salvaged Viper. Jesse's shop is here in SoCal.

Any way you can maybe talk to him see if he has many things done to the engine or anyone else know?? Maybe he bought it salvaged cuz he can do the work himself, he is pretty damn good with his hands and such with the motorcycles he makes and all. Btw, how about you Brad, what do you think of Jesse's Viper??

[Viper 10]

Originally posted by v10_viper
Any way you can maybe talk to him see if he has many things done to the engine or anyone else know?? Maybe he bought it salvaged cuz he can do the work himself, he is pretty damn good with his hands and such with the motorcycles he makes and all. Btw, how about you Brad, what do you think of Jesse's Viper??

He hasn't done much to the engine or the handling at all. I like jesse's eye for detail, but this Snake is overdone for me. There's just too much burgundy. He also has a 360 Modena that is just too black. Everything on it is black. There is nothing trimming the black to accent or enhance the color. The same goes for the Viper. It needs to be framed or trimmed with something or it just looks like a big jelly bean. JMO.

I have to admit that he does have style.

Brad

[DeViL]

I like his paint job and chrome engine, but I would of left the interior alone. The seats are a terrible choice, it already has leather racing seats in it, why replace them with some cheap cloth ones?

And replacing most of the console with that plastic black cherry color, thats just stupid. Thats something you would find on like a little show car Honda.

If anything just replace or have the guages customized to look like the SRT-10's guages. They have more of a sporty look to them then the older ones. Love the pistol grip shifter.

[v10_viper]

Well maybe the reason for him doing the interior things was because of the salvage title that it got damaged inside there? I hadn't known he had a 360 Modena, not that he doesn't have the money, at each of his bikes goin for 100,000+ U.S. dollars.

Edit: I read somewhere that his Viper is twin-turboed...any evidence that this is true?

[Viper 10]

Originally posted by v10_viper
Edit: I read somewhere that his Viper is twin-turboed...any evidence that this is true?

Not true. His Viper is not turbocharged. It is very close to stock.

I think I agree the colour needs some accenting [maybe classic white/grey stripes would bring it out ?] and the interior is maybe a little OTT but aside from that I think the concept is stunning, but obviously isnt to everyone's tastes [as you'd expect from such a custom job]

if I had a Viper, I'd love it to look like that [At 22 I'm a bit young yet, but there's still time for me to make my fortune and import one of my very own to the UK !!]

[Skaala]

Viper 10


I have seen some of your posts here and you seem to have a resonable amount of knowledge on tuned vipers.
I always belived Hennessey was the best, then SVSi etc etc.
Once and for all, can you tell me which company to go to if I want , let's say twin turbo's and 6-7-8-900hp?

Also I wonder about the durability of these cars. I live in norway and cant stop by the shop every now and then. I need parts that last. Do'nt concider price, just give me (if you can) an example of where to go.
I would be very grateful.

the car is a 1999 viper acr

if anyone else should happen to know a lot about this, please send me an email [email protected]

[v10_viper]

Originally posted by Skaala
Viper 10


I have seen some of your posts here and you seem to have a resonable amount of knowledge on tuned vipers.
I always belived Hennessey was the best, then SVSi etc etc.
Once and for all, can you tell me which company to go to if I want , let's say twin turbo's and 6-7-8-900hp?

Also I wonder about the durability of these cars. I live in norway and cant stop by the shop every now and then. I need parts that last. Do'nt concider price, just give me (if you can) an example of where to go.
I would be very grateful.

the car is a 1999 viper acr

if anyone else should happen to know a lot about this, please send me an email [email protected]

While Viper 10 is the most capable one of answering your question I'm not sure you could get Hennessy to work on your car. I'm not even sure SVS has sold any cars yet. But Doug Levin makes a supercharged Viper that has around 1000 hp. I think the Video link might be somewhere here in the Viper forum of a guy who just had gotten his and does an amazing 60-120 mph in like 3 seconds with the tires spinning the whole way almost. And because I am young I wouldn't know about the warranties they put on these cars.

[Viper 10]

Originally posted by Skaala
Viper 10


I have seen some of your posts here and you seem to have a resonable amount of knowledge on tuned vipers.
I always belived Hennessey was the best, then SVSi etc etc.
Once and for all, can you tell me which company to go to if I want , let's say twin turbo's and 6-7-8-900hp?

Also I wonder about the durability of these cars. I live in norway and cant stop by the shop every now and then. I need parts that last. Do'nt concider price, just give me (if you can) an example of where to go.
I would be very grateful.

the car is a 1999 viper acr

if anyone else should happen to know a lot about this, please send me an email [email protected]

Skaala:

I've seen a few tuner cars up close and personal (right down to the internals). It is my opinion that most of the Viper consumer market are nothing but glorified ricers (I am referring to their crappy attitudes). IMO there are very few "tuners" that I would trust in the Viper community. This car seems to attract very dishonest people who look at each car like it was the golden goose.

The basis of my comments is that almost all of the tuners are engine guys who don't know squat about chassis or suspension. They design engine that exceed the chassis and suspensions ability to keep everyting on the road and under control.

The reliabilty of these cars is greatly impacted when going to forced induction or NOS (period). 95% of the people who do this to their cars don't drive them (or know how to drive them). They are a bunch of arrogant "wine & cheese" crowd people who sit around polishing their Snakes in the garage with a cotton diaper. They live to build the best dyno queen that can't get power to the ground.

The Viper was designed to be a road racing vehilce. It was never designed to run straight lines. You can put $20,000 into a POS late '60s Camaro and beat a Viper. When the Snake is on a road racing venue, it is truly in its element (as long as the driver respects the torque and handling capabilities. It'll teach you how little you know about high performance driving.

My recommendation is to invest your money into driving schools and chassis, suspension and brakes (I prefer Stop Tech because they actually perform). I personally like John Archer of Archer Racing (based in Minnesota). They are honest and very knowledgeable on Vipers suspension and chassis. Stay away from the dyno whores on these BB's.

If you have to go with an engine tuner, I would suggest Lingenfelter, Levin (I have also heard good things about Heffner, but have not seen his work first hand). I have talked on numerous occasions to John Lingenfelter (before his tragic accident last year) and have met Doug Levin on a several occasions. These people are honest and trustworthy human beings who do good work. They also stand behind their products.

If you can think of all of the ways that someone can cheat you out of your money, think of the rest of the Viper tuners.

Case in point, the dyno whores love the small HP gain that you get from exhaust upgrades, but they forget to tell you that it adds 120 pounds of additional rolling weight to your car with stainless steel. One popular exhaust maker has 3 different configurations of headers for Viper and yet has never dyno tested any of them to determine the true performance of each of them.

How does a 1,000 HP Viper not break 10 seconds on a race prepped track? Because it is using OE transmission and rearends.... A 1,000 HP car should be running consistant 7 seconds (if not faster). It'll never perform until they go to a 4 link reaend and a racing transmission like a Lenco. I laugh when I see the number of tuners that take such a long time to learn the value of intercooling... it's because their customers are stupid and don't know any better. Why would anyone put a non-intercooled blower on a creampuff car without dropping the compression ratio? Someone who is very stupid...

That's my $.02. Flame suit on.