RickP
Well-known member
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
You must be an extremely happy camper with that car sitting in your driveway!
You must be an extremely happy camper with that car sitting in your driveway!
Above 1200 Sq/FT The Warthog Hidey Hole
- Thread starter jbmatth
- Start date
Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.
I actually don't know if I had the poster, a brother, or just friends but definitely remember them. I'm excited and beyond belief still.
I'm certainly a happy camper, but the car isn't sitting in the driveway.
I actually don't have a good place to store it at home since the cobra is in the garage so it is staying at my friends shop, the one with the red and black '68 Mustang.JB
jon72vega
Well-known member
JB,
The Viper is really cool!
The Viper is really cool!
LutzTD
Well-known member
great color!
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Congrats on the new toy JB. Looks like a fun car.
I thought so too, I'll try to get some photos of it and the cobra together, would be very neat.JB,
The Viper is really cool!
It was supposed to be the stock blue color for the GTS from the first few years but seems to pop more than others, it could be the lack of strips, not too sure but I really like it as well. I'm starting to wonder if I have a thing for blue, this makes the 10th blue vehicle I've owned not counting motorcycles, but I've also owned 10 red vehicles, hmm.
I like the way you think, yes, that is basically what I did.So, you basically traded a poorly running old tractor for that?
Thank you Mike, it certainly is fun, not nearly as fast as the cobra but much more comfortable with the roof and even AC.
JB
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Well done JB!! And congrats on paying off the mortgage. Being debt free is a beautiful thing.
mybigwarwagon
Well-known member
That is a sweet car. From what I understand it is not a tall person's car.
And congrats on the mortgage.
And congrats on the mortgage.
Grizz1963
Well-known member
Nice.
You never told me.
You never told me.
bugnut
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Sweet ride, congrats! And that face breaking grin says it all!
jbrentd
Well-known member
Congrats on the Viper and paying off your house! Love the color. If you need to find another place to store it, bring it down and I'll make room for it.
XJSuperman
Well-known member
Well color me jealous, thats pretty sweet.
Grizz1963
Well-known member
So JB told me he had a surprise for my visit……
And the only clue was that it has wheels, knowing him, it could be between 1 and 18 wheels.
So I drove down from Kansas to Oklahoma to visit.
Thanks for lunch and the rides JB.
I feel pretty privileged and honoured you let me in there.
Of course preceded by a long ride to the state line in this beast.
I can only say that the GODZILLA motor kicks like a mule.
And the ride is incredibly smooth for what should really shake and break the passengers.
And this is no different a smooth ride than other open tops I have driven or been in.
A job execution way beyond expectations.
And a little video.
And the only clue was that it has wheels, knowing him, it could be between 1 and 18 wheels.
So I drove down from Kansas to Oklahoma to visit.
Thanks for lunch and the rides JB.
I feel pretty privileged and honoured you let me in there.
Of course preceded by a long ride to the state line in this beast.
I can only say that the GODZILLA motor kicks like a mule.
And the ride is incredibly smooth for what should really shake and break the passengers.
And this is no different a smooth ride than other open tops I have driven or been in.
A job execution way beyond expectations.
And a little video.
rattle_snake
Well-known member
'Zilla intake really makes the whole package look sharp!
Guess you like snakes. congrats on new toy!
Guess you like snakes. congrats on new toy!
Grizz1963
Well-known member
Soooooo.
Lunch in Oklahoma with JB.
He had told me there was some surprise with wheels.
But knowing him, it could be anything between 1 and 18 wheels.
So the video tells it all.
So we went off for a Mexican lunch and the largest Margarita in history.
A very comfortable ride for sure.
Got messaged today that the rear silencers may have fallen foul of the impact wrench too.
This may be raucous.
Lunch in Oklahoma with JB.
He had told me there was some surprise with wheels.
But knowing him, it could be anything between 1 and 18 wheels.
So the video tells it all.
So we went off for a Mexican lunch and the largest Margarita in history.
A very comfortable ride for sure.
Got messaged today that the rear silencers may have fallen foul of the impact wrench too.
This may be raucous.
Johanfpa
Well-known member
Congrats on getting your dream car, looks in fantastic condition, love the colour and out of what I read about it a great car to drive. The MPG LOL plate would be suitable for the Viper GTS as well.
Also congrats on paying off your mortgage, a great milestone in one's life!
Also congrats on paying off your mortgage, a great milestone in one's life!
Thank you Finallygotit, I was a great feeling for about two weeks until the Viper popped up for sale, now back into debt for a couple years. But also stashing the extra I was paying on the house into more retirement savings. In all honesty I should have been doing that all along rather than paying the house off early, but done and done and I could "justify" the Viper.Well done JB!! And congrats on paying off the mortgage. Being debt free is a beautiful thing.
I think the limit I've heard is 6' to 6'-2" depending on torso height, they also make seat lowering kits. I obviously don't have trouble with head room being 5'-7".
Shhh, don't tell.
That sure does, I was all smiles until driving in traffic in a car I wasn't used to and not knowing how to recline the seat.
I have it stored at a friends shop since I don't have any room in my 1 car garage for it. Very fitting, but I'll let you know if I need to find another storage location for it.
Thanks XJ, been a long time dream that I thought wouldn't happen, but kinda fell into this one I wasn't going to let it pass me up.
It is very nice having them both, glad you could come for a visit and get to take both for a spin.So JB told me he had a surprise for my visit……
And the only clue was that it has wheels, knowing him, it could be between 1 and 18 wheels.
So I drove down from Kansas to Oklahoma to visit.
Thanks for lunch and the rides JB.
I feel pretty privileged and honoured you let me in there.
Of course preceded by a long ride to the state line in this beast.
I can only say that the GODZILLA motor kicks like a mule.
And the ride is incredibly smooth for what should really shake and break the passengers.
And this is no different a smooth ride than other open tops I have driven or been in.
A job execution way beyond expectations.
And a little video.
I didn't realize I had a thing for snakes, but I suppose I do. Know any other snake named cars? I'm thrilled with how the cobra turned out.
The previous owner of the Viper saw my MPG LOL plate and flipped, he has been trying to get that plate for the Viper since he bought it but I have had the plate for 11 years now, not giving it up.
I'm considering MPGROFL for the Viper though.I'm definitely happy to have the mortgage paid off, been a lot of extra payments since I bought my first house in 2009 and now finely mortgage free.
On cloud nine,
JB
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
JB, when we paid off the mortgage at another bank, I got a call from Wachovia (yeah, this was a while back) offering me a $100K line of credit. They called it a zero loan but that was misleading -- it was 0% over the prime rate. They also failed to mention the fees to establish the line of credit. When I told the rep to cancel the loan, they offered to waive the fees if I would pay the Florida tax stamps (~$300). I caved and went ahead with the loan. If I didn't use the line of credit, there was a $50 fee so each year I would borrow money for some modest item and pay it off the next month with a single digit interest payment.
Not recommending you do this but it makes it easy to pay for big items (mine was a $22,000 roof) without having to apply for a loan. I put the roof on the line of credit because I had some stock ready to sell but it would have been short term gain, four months later it became a long term gain and I paid off the loan. Used the line of credit a few times and it was handy knowing it was there.
The year after Wells Fargo took over Wachovia, they sent me a bill for $9,000 because my homeowner insurance company exited Florida and I failed to notify Wells Fargo about the new insurance company ($1,100 premium). They didn't contact me so I refused to pay their insurance company and canceled the loan.
A truly stupid side-effect of paying off your mortgage and not having other installment purchases is the ding to your credit rating. Not a huge ding, in the 30-40 point range but it prevents you from getting a perfect 850 score.
Not recommending you do this but it makes it easy to pay for big items (mine was a $22,000 roof) without having to apply for a loan. I put the roof on the line of credit because I had some stock ready to sell but it would have been short term gain, four months later it became a long term gain and I paid off the loan. Used the line of credit a few times and it was handy knowing it was there.
The year after Wells Fargo took over Wachovia, they sent me a bill for $9,000 because my homeowner insurance company exited Florida and I failed to notify Wells Fargo about the new insurance company ($1,100 premium). They didn't contact me so I refused to pay their insurance company and canceled the loan.
A truly stupid side-effect of paying off your mortgage and not having other installment purchases is the ding to your credit rating. Not a huge ding, in the 30-40 point range but it prevents you from getting a perfect 850 score.
OutlawDrifter
Well-known member
I have thought about the HELOC loans but don't particularly want to have anything that could be tied against the house, just one more thing for my family to have to worry about if I get hit by a bus. Also to be fair the interest rate I received was pretty darn low and less than prime right now so I can't complain on that front either. I've had great success with loans from banks for anything but when homes were involved, there is just way too much paperwork for my liking. I also refuse to get into my investments especially this early in life, I want all of those little dollars growing interest (historically averaging at least double the interest rate on the loans I've had). That also gives me incentive to save a little harder to pay the loans off with my "play" money.
Speaking of "play" money, wow tires for that thing aren't cheap, the rears are 345/30-19's and fronts are 295/35-18's, that is a lot of rubber and nothing in the rear size available right now has a tread rating in a reasonable range, but wow they are sticky.
I won't tell if you won't, just leave a stack of $100 bills in a trash bag out back, it'll be fine.You've got to watch out for those bankers Bob!
JB
I must have been having too much "fun" to take the photos I meant to take but I put the Viper on jack stands to pull the wheels for new tire to be installed last Friday. With the car so low this was no small feat, it took a scissor jack from the car and a low profile 2 ton jack and strategic placement to finely get it to this point:
I decided while I had the wheels off I'd replace the rear mufflers with the straight pipes that came with the car, the mufflers in the side pipes will stay in place to keep it from being too obnoxious. In removing the clamp at the rear of the side pipe I noticed one of the mount pins was broken and I broke one of the retaining bolts off in the captive nut when taking it out. Luckily I took this warning and was very patient with the remaining ones and didn't break any others. I took the hanger home along with the mount bolt to work on a repair plan, this was what I came up with:
OE bolt on left, broken OE bolt on right, new sleeve on the lathe. I wanted to reuse the broken bolt but couldn't figure out how to mount it in the lathe so just made a sleeve and used a new bolt and washer.
All back together now and it sounds great, not too loud, but noticeably louder.
JB
I decided while I had the wheels off I'd replace the rear mufflers with the straight pipes that came with the car, the mufflers in the side pipes will stay in place to keep it from being too obnoxious. In removing the clamp at the rear of the side pipe I noticed one of the mount pins was broken and I broke one of the retaining bolts off in the captive nut when taking it out. Luckily I took this warning and was very patient with the remaining ones and didn't break any others. I took the hanger home along with the mount bolt to work on a repair plan, this was what I came up with:
OE bolt on left, broken OE bolt on right, new sleeve on the lathe. I wanted to reuse the broken bolt but couldn't figure out how to mount it in the lathe so just made a sleeve and used a new bolt and washer.
All back together now and it sounds great, not too loud, but noticeably louder.
JB
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
JB, when I pulled the cat-back pipes off the Corvette it wasn't as loud as I expected -- the catalytic converter acts like a muffler. When I removed the catalytic converter, things got pretty raucous. A single muffler with the cats is just about right.
You did such a nice job on the Godzilla exhaust, it seems a shame to put those pipes back in the Viper without at least eliminating some of those clamps. It looks like the first muffler in the original two-muffler setup was replaced with a couple of pieces of pipe. Thinking I would be helpful, I looked up replacement systems in stainless and my wallet started screaming. Then I looked for 6-lug wheels for the Viper and my wallet went completely silent. Put the new tires on and enjoy the car. First order of business is to pay it off.
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
You're having fun with the new toy JB.
As for lifting it, when I had my street rod I had to drive up on blocks before I could even get a low profile jack under it. Raising it up to clean or perform maintenance took a bit of effort getting it off the ground before actual work could even begin.
As for lifting it, when I had my street rod I had to drive up on blocks before I could even get a low profile jack under it. Raising it up to clean or perform maintenance took a bit of effort getting it off the ground before actual work could even begin.
I agree on wanting to install SS mandrel bends on everything and buttweld it all other than the one slip fitting or v-band I would need which would be ideal, but that isn't in the cards right now, I have too much else on my plate and prime driving season is beginning now. It is noticeable the difference in the sound level. The mufflers on the side pipes are Borla and likely much louder than the stock ones in that location would be. I've begun to notice nothing on this car is cheap, even the Viper labeled oil filters are $27 each, before shipping and tax.
The wheels on it are Sidewinder wheels that are actually very lite weight for factory wheels and are eye wateringly expensive, more than double the cost of the wheels on the cobra I just bought and that is used. The last set I saw for sale were listed for $5,000 with bad tires. I'll take extra good care of these.
I've had to do a little of that with the cobra mostly due to the side pipes when using the lift, but this took it to a whole new level. I had to start at the front to keep from pushing the air damn into the ground, then could only go up a few inches before putting the low profile jack under that same side, going to the other side starting there and going up a bit more, jacking up until the short jack stand could fit. Go to the back with scissor jack until low profile could be used and repeat for the rear.
I plan to get a set of race ramps like These from Summit Racing, that should speed up the process so I can just use the low pro jack and not the scissor jack.
JB
mybigwarwagon
Well-known member
It is bad when you have to jack up your car before you jack it up.
don long
Well-known member
JB Congrats on your new ride
Have you found the battery in your viper yet?
I looked for a week on mine before I discovered it. It is behind the left rear wheel of all places on my 96 viper
I bought mine new just before the roof model was available. I went to the Indy 500 in 1996 and the viper was the pace car that year and everybody that owned a viper was in town that weekend. there were vipers everywhere you looked. I had to have one so when we got home I went to the Chrysler dealer that we did bodywork for and struck a deal with him for 5% above his dealer cost.
Have you found the battery in your viper yet?
I looked for a week on mine before I discovered it. It is behind the left rear wheel of all places on my 96 viper
I bought mine new just before the roof model was available. I went to the Indy 500 in 1996 and the viper was the pace car that year and everybody that owned a viper was in town that weekend. there were vipers everywhere you looked. I had to have one so when we got home I went to the Chrysler dealer that we did bodywork for and struck a deal with him for 5% above his dealer cost.
Don,
Between the videos online and the seller warning me I did discover some of the oddities of the Viper before I bought this one, like the 3 step process for opening the hood, battery location, seat belts being on the wrong side, etc. One thing I didn't know for almost 2 days was how to recline the seat, it made the ride home a bit uncomfortable as the seat was almost past vertical.
Mine was originally black with silver stripes as well, are the stripes on your factory, I thought they usually went all the way through the front bumper and had no accent strip? I'm very excited to have it and never actually thought I'd own one, I thought it'd just be the poster car from my childhood forever.
JB
Between the videos online and the seller warning me I did discover some of the oddities of the Viper before I bought this one, like the 3 step process for opening the hood, battery location, seat belts being on the wrong side, etc. One thing I didn't know for almost 2 days was how to recline the seat, it made the ride home a bit uncomfortable as the seat was almost past vertical.
Mine was originally black with silver stripes as well, are the stripes on your factory, I thought they usually went all the way through the front bumper and had no accent strip? I'm very excited to have it and never actually thought I'd own one, I thought it'd just be the poster car from my childhood forever.
JB
don long
Well-known member
My stripes are the factory stripe however I have replaced the hood and front bumper along with the right headlight and right front wheel
All from letting my brother pick it up from the dealer after the first 1000 mile oil change and dealer inspection.
He got ran over by a flatbed tow truck coming out of the dealer parking lot.
I still have ALL the damaged parts including the hood which got a chip on the underside. I made the insurance co. replace it with a price tag of $18,000 the total bill was just over $25,000 and he drove it home hoping that I wouldn't notice the damage.
All from letting my brother pick it up from the dealer after the first 1000 mile oil change and dealer inspection.
He got ran over by a flatbed tow truck coming out of the dealer parking lot.
I still have ALL the damaged parts including the hood which got a chip on the underside. I made the insurance co. replace it with a price tag of $18,000 the total bill was just over $25,000 and he drove it home hoping that I wouldn't notice the damage.
don long
Well-known member
I just found the pic's of the damaged hood
And this is the damage from the wreck. Because it is carbon fiber and you can see the damage when the hood is up I insisted on a new hood being the claimant they had no choice
And this is the damage from the wreck. Because it is carbon fiber and you can see the damage when the hood is up I insisted on a new hood being the claimant they had no choice
Yeah the price on those hoods is incredible Don, when new they were the most expensive single piece of body panel ever produced for a vehicle, at least that is what I've heard.I just found the pic's of the damaged hood
And this is the damage from the wreck. Because it is carbon fiber and you can see the damage when the hood is up I insisted on a new hood being the claimant they had no choice
When I worked for GM as an intern in 2007 I visited a production plant in Indiana, they produced the hood for the gen 4 viper, they had a preproduction one hanging on the wall in a conference room fully painted. Sadly they let me know it wasn't for sale and had no blemished ones to sell either.
I kinda like the look of them too:
JB
I've been working on a few odd jobs at home and remembered to take a few photos so I figured I'd share them. One of the jobs was for a friend who's AC wasn't working in his 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, upon hooking up my gauges it was just a touch low on freon, still well charged just a bit low. I hooked in a can and only had to add a couple of ounces before it was blowing ice cold again. I don't like just hap hazardly adding but don't have a good way to evacuate the system to start from scratch so we went this route:
Hard to see but the gun said 33°F (1°C), I used my trusty cooking thermometer and it settled out to 42°F (6°C) which is about as good as I would expect, much better now.
Cat had shown some interest in going fishing with me at our pond so we went early Saturday morning, she schooled me, caught the first fish:
Then that was it, no more the rest of the day, she had some bites but was trying to catch frogs and I couldn't get to her pole in time. Oh well still fun, will have to try again this weekend, it is supposed to cool down on Sunday some.
Most of Oklahoma has been struggling with rain lately and we are no different, the "renter" is responsible for bailing and was struggling to get to it but finely did this past weekend. He swathed then I raked, then Sunday morning he baled, sadly we only got 9 bales. I had the hay forks on the front and back of my JD 3020 so it made short work of it:
One up front, and one out back:
The next day there was a bit of dew and no wind so I finely decided it was time to burn one of my last brush piles, I started off by mowing circles around the pile for about 50' (16m), filled my 200 gallon spray tank with water and was ready to go:
For scale, that old bale on top is about 3' (1m) in diameter, it didn't take long and I had this:
I'm glad I had the sprayer this time, it was used and I didn't have to burn my boots stomping it out. I was just about done and a friend decided to walk by so I took a picture with him:
Then let him go on his way. I've been working on our pond for about 3 weeks on and off to make it a little bigger and dig it slightly deeper along with extending the damn along the high side, just to hold a bit more water in the future, after lots of seat time, this is what I ended up with:
Doesn't look like much that that was probably 50 bucket loads in the foreground with another 10 on the background on the low side of the damn.
All in all a good few days other than not having enough hay, I'll have to find some but it has been tough for everyone around here this year.
JB
Hard to see but the gun said 33°F (1°C), I used my trusty cooking thermometer and it settled out to 42°F (6°C) which is about as good as I would expect, much better now.
Cat had shown some interest in going fishing with me at our pond so we went early Saturday morning, she schooled me, caught the first fish:
Then that was it, no more the rest of the day, she had some bites but was trying to catch frogs and I couldn't get to her pole in time. Oh well still fun, will have to try again this weekend, it is supposed to cool down on Sunday some.
Most of Oklahoma has been struggling with rain lately and we are no different, the "renter" is responsible for bailing and was struggling to get to it but finely did this past weekend. He swathed then I raked, then Sunday morning he baled, sadly we only got 9 bales. I had the hay forks on the front and back of my JD 3020 so it made short work of it:
One up front, and one out back:
The next day there was a bit of dew and no wind so I finely decided it was time to burn one of my last brush piles, I started off by mowing circles around the pile for about 50' (16m), filled my 200 gallon spray tank with water and was ready to go:
For scale, that old bale on top is about 3' (1m) in diameter, it didn't take long and I had this:
I'm glad I had the sprayer this time, it was used and I didn't have to burn my boots stomping it out. I was just about done and a friend decided to walk by so I took a picture with him:
Then let him go on his way. I've been working on our pond for about 3 weeks on and off to make it a little bigger and dig it slightly deeper along with extending the damn along the high side, just to hold a bit more water in the future, after lots of seat time, this is what I ended up with:
Doesn't look like much that that was probably 50 bucket loads in the foreground with another 10 on the background on the low side of the damn.
All in all a good few days other than not having enough hay, I'll have to find some but it has been tough for everyone around here this year.
JB
OutlawDrifter
Well-known member
The dry stuff runs all the way up through KS into SD, if not further.
That's a lot of work on the dam doing it a bucket at a time, time to start upping your equipment game...articulated 4WD tractor, pan scraper, dozer, backhoe, etc etc etc
That's a lot of work on the dam doing it a bucket at a time, time to start upping your equipment game...articulated 4WD tractor, pan scraper, dozer, backhoe, etc etc etc
jollygreengiant
Well-known member
Don't forget the dragline lol.The dry stuff runs all the way up through KS into SD, if not further.
That's a lot of work on the dam doing it a bucket at a time, time to start upping your equipment game...articulated 4WD tractor, pan scraper, dozer, backhoe, etc etc etc
XJSuperman
Well-known member
Steam powered, preferably.
mybigwarwagon
Well-known member
Give me your address and I will send you lots of rain. We have had more than our share.
OutlawDrifter
Well-known member
Just send C/O the Midwest...but give us about 45 days, harvest just started here.
I was very tempted to buy a dozer a few months back but got into the rabbit hole of well a D4 isn't much more than a D3, then the D5 isn't much more, before long I was looking at old mining dozers in the D9 range that would do anything I every could imagine for only double what I wanted to spend initially but shipping would have been almost that much again. In the end I bought none of them, but still look from time to time.The dry stuff runs all the way up through KS into SD, if not further.
That's a lot of work on the dam doing it a bucket at a time, time to start upping your equipment game...articulated 4WD tractor, pan scraper, dozer, backhoe, etc etc etc
Oh a dragline would be a fun to play around with, not many for sale around here though.
Oh now we are talking, I just need an open pit coal mine to run the boiler, for that I need a dozer, excavator...
Just send it to all of Oklahoma, Kansas, north Texas, etc. we really could use some.
All,
I'm looking into the option of putting in a solar powered well to fill the pond, I'll check back next spring and see if I want to go that route or not.
JB
OutlawDrifter
Well-known member
Most of the guys that do terrace and pond work around here run a D6 size dozer, but they run them every day. I think you could get into plenty of trouble with a D4. I grew up on a flat-track open station D8 and it was OVERKILL.
Might not be a bad idea for the pond...then you could keep it stocked with the fish of your choice!