My first sled build 04 Viper ER

[JeepTherapy]

I have built jeeps for 25 years. Here is the latest, my daily driver, a 1974 CJ5. I hand build many of my jeep parts. For this one I have built front and rear bumpers, side steps, roll cage, dash, and some other here and there goodies. It is lifted using YJ springs and sits on 35" tires.

I start snowmobiling in 2002 and at my wife's request bought an 02 VMax. Feeling the need for more power I bought a Viper in 04. Because of my disabilities electric start and reverse are a must. Here is how the Viper started out.

My goals; I want to build a more unique to me Viper. As I am sure you can tell by my jeep I can't just leave well enough alone and leave it like it is. My performance goals were pretty basic. I wanted pipes because I like the sound and it is my understanding that is the way to make power. So along with the pipes I am adding a peak performance head to try to keep detonation under control.

I also wanted a longer track. We get those 4' blast snow storms where I feel the snow was too deep for me to try and ride. I decided on a 136" predator with a 1.25" lug.

I don't move so fast anymore and don't trust my workmanship like I used to. So I will be getting my work inspected along the way to ensure I haven't forgotten something important. If you see something I am missing along the way please point it out. I will not be offended.

 

[JeepTherapy]

Progress

I have been collecting parts for a couple years. When I bought the Viper I bought the YES warranty with it. I have given up on waiting for the warranty to expire. Here is where I am at;

Getting started;

Test Fitting Pipes;

Extension parts bought here from TheSledSurgeon on the board. His items were exactly as he described them and arrived when and how he said they would. Good guy to deal with. He even went way out of his way to make sure I was happy with the parts.

Tunnel extension installed. Also from TheSledSurgeon;

New track is laying on the floor beside the sled. Track from RichieRich on the board. Another good transaction. He got me the track earlier than originally stated. He was also the lowest cost for that track. I am going to start on the suspension removal next. Sure looks long sitting next to the seat. Yes the shoes in the pic are mine and yes I know better than to get my shoes in a pic...

I still need to get new slides for it. They aren't available from my dealer for another week. Not a big deal as I don't move that fast anyway. Peak head should be here in another couple weeks also. Pipes need to come back off and get coated. I bought a pint of Tech Line Coatings "Black Satin" Header Coating. It is a high heat thermal barrier coating. AKA ceramic coating. This stuff is designed to either be oven baked or baked on installed. Kind of spendy at $75 a pint as I recall. Supposedly it works very well. Also available in the shiny but that needs to be pellet bounced to shine it and I don't have that capability.

 

[kinger]

Looks great so far! I am in the process of my virgin sled build with my RX1, its a lot of fun when things go right. Have fun with it!

 

[JeepTherapy]

Made some progress on the viper thanks to the help of my buddy next door. He has done the long track conversion before so it was nice to have someone with some experience. So as it stands now, the track is in and the extension is pretty much completed. I have yet to decide what I want to do about the cooler. I have the smaller cooler installed right now.

 

[fasttoys17]

looks good man!!! now you just have to polish it

 

[Vmax Al]

How ridgid do you feel that rear bumper is? I used the Hartman kit to extend my sled to a 136 and it included a couple pieces of aluminum strips to reinforce the area. Mine is rock solid and I would have no problem using it to tie down the sled if needed, but the main use is a grap point when it is stuck and it feels as rigid if not more so than the stock set up.

Just a thought for you as it was one extra I liked with that kit but it is simple to do on your own....

What track is that, looks like a 9834, same as the one I have, Predator 1.25", fully clipped? I loved it riding the big snow of the Keweenaw March storm last year.

You are doing the best mod you can do to a sled as far as I am concerned and you have a much better piece to start with in that Viper, mine was only a '00 Vmax 700.

 

[JeepTherapy]

VMax Al, My kit is also the Hartman kit. The reinforcement parts that you speak of are on the outside of the tunnel on a Viper. I agree, feels rock solid. I lifted the back of the sled by the bumper using my electric hoist. I think I could pull the whole sled up off the ground with it.

Also, the track is a 9819. Predator 1.25 closed every third or something like that.

FastToys, I started the polishing. My buddy worked on the left side, I worked on the right. Holy smokes is that a lot of work! As you can see in the pics he did a much better job of it than I did...

 

[maxout01]

Great builds! I love the viper but I like the jeep even more!! Not to pry or anything but you said you move really slow and have trouble doing things now a couple times in your pic comments. I just wanted to say you look like you do very clean, awsome work. So what ever is wrong don't let it get you down, cause it all looks great!!

 

[JeepTherapy]

I was diagnosed with cancer in 98, 5 days after I retired from the Air Force. I had a stem cell (bone marrow) transplant in 2002. From the treatment I am left with some serious side effects. Two replacement hips and osteoporosis so bad that I have 9 compression fractures in my back. Pain is constant and I take a handful of drugs to combat it. Walk with a cane...

Made a little more progress on the pipes. Bead blasted with some metal slag stuff. Sprayed the ceramic coat on them. The sun was very bright and it was hard to look at them to spray. I really needed a better place to shoot the coating on them. Live and learn.... They came out much better than I had anticipated. Had I known I would have made it a point to clear out the garage and spray them inside. Will get some better pics later.

Hardest part was bead blasting

you can see a little dry spray on this one. I touched it up with a brush. I am a little afraid to try and re-coat as the directions on the can specifically say not to. Now I need to bake them for an hour at 750*. Can says it can be done on the sled.

Thanks for the jeep compliments. Pretty proud of it It gets treated like a jeep too;

 

[SWEDE]

Jeep Therapy, are you running a rear heat exchanger with your Hartman extension?I have a 136" extension from them on the way and supposedely my smaller flat sx-r style cooler will fit, but it looks tight.Tom told me I don't need a rear cooler, but he thought I could get mine to fit, besides I'd be happier retaining it anyways.I was just curious what you did on yours.

 

[JeepTherapy]

Mine had one of the SX style heat exchangers in it when I got it. I am thinking about adapting my Viper cooler to fit. Going to run it first and see what it does. The small heat exchanger fits very well.

Slid the pipes back into place. I scratched them pretty good getting them in there. Oh well... I do think that once the ceramic coat is baked that I can polish the scratches out. It doesn't look like it went through the coating, just marred it.

 

[SWEDE]

Thats good to know on the rear exchanger, I'm golden then with my cooler.Your pipes look good and your gonna like 'em.I have drove a sled like mine with Benders and it was awsome, yours should be just that much better.I was surprised how quiet they were, definetely quieter than a bored silencer and yours should be quieter yet seeing that its an exhaust valve engine.Thanks again for the info, Josh

 

[JeepTherapy]

Really kicking myself now. I found that I was a little conservative in applying the ceramic coat. Directions called for .001 to .0015 inch thick coat. How the heck do ya measure that....

Anyway, I ran the sled today for about an hour to try and get it baked on. I couldn't get the pipes hot enough just idling. I don't see that as a big deal. I would certainly do it again. The pipes never got hot to the point where I couldn't lay my hand on them past the mid point of the pipe. The one adapter that goes from the center pipe to the muffler I thought I had way over coated. Turns out that is the best looking part on the pipes. Lots of gloss and very smooth. The rest of the pipes look really good, just not as good as that one piece that I thought was going to run. Oh well, at least I will know for next time. I will probably use this stuff on my jeep headers and see how it works there.

The marks I put in it putting them on came right out with a little polishing with a clean dry rag.

 

[Vmax Al]

For a rear cooler, I tried the Hartman tube and I was overheating at first.
I am pretty sure it was because I didn't bleed it properly though.
Just to be sure I took the rear cooler from my Vmax, cut the tubes off, rotated them 90 degrees and had them welded back on. I could then mount it on the top side of the extension instead of having it stick down from the back edge.
I was concerned that it might not pack with snow being mounted on the top but it must get enough as I ran some marginal condtions and never had an issue. I definitely never had an issue with snow build up on the top of the tunnel behind the tail light so that was an added bonus.

With all I have heard about Vipers having cooling issues to begin with I would think you would want at least as much volume in the system as the original. It helps having longer hoses but they aren't as efficient at cooling as the cooler itself.

Of course you probably don't have to worry about running marginal conditions unless you can't stand the itch in mid-Nov or April as the rest of the time you have pretty "fair" snow in your area, ha.

If you do mount the orignial cooler in your extension, I would love to see a picture of how it turns out.

 

[viper17]

If that is marquette in the background of that first pic we need to ride sometime. I am going to school here and I also ride a viper. It is a shorty but I got a 2 inch track on it so I will manage. My sled won't be up here until january but I will let you know when I get her.

 

[JeepTherapy]

Yes, Marquette in the background. Your location is Three Lakes, is that where you are at now? You going to Northern? I ride a lot in the mornings during the week. My favorite time to ride, low traffic and the trails are typically pretty good. Let me know when you want to go out. I also ride weekends and evenings with a buddy on a Viper shorty with a 1.25 track. He brings his now 13 year old son along at times. You would be more than welcome to join us.

 

[viper17]

I live in Three Lakes but am currently enrolled at NMU so I live up here in the dorms. I am all about trail riding but with the 2 inch track I will be looking for more off trail stuff.

 

[JeepTherapy]

I got my Peak Performance Head installed. I am pretty close to getting everything wrapped up and packed up waiting for snow. Is there anything to be learned about the condition of my motor from the piston tops? I had good intentions of doing a compression test on the motor before I removed the head. I guess that shiny new head got me so excited I forgot. I did do a test after I installed it. I got 125 across the board. With the 22cc chambers that is about what I would have expected. I did check the squish on it but not sure I did it correctly. I am going to check it again today. I got ~.060 checking it with a digital caliper. I expect that compression & squish combination should be good with the pipes. How does my compression tester compare to what others have? Mine has a very long hose that I would expect skews the results some? I don't even recall the last time I used it to have some form of baseline for the tester. I bet it has been over 20 years since I last used it.

 

[sxviper65]

I also am enrolled at NMU and ride a 02 shortie viper. I am also looking for people to ride with up here. ive riden most of the UP trails but have not really ventured to far off the trail. I would really enjoy riding with someone who knows the area

 

[SRXer]

I would not base any decisions on jetting on your existing piston wash, as you have changed a lot of things with the pipes/heads, so what is there now is non-representative. Nice lookin head set-up BTW.