I'm selling my 680whp 2003 Dodge Viper SRT-10 and am looking to replace it with a 996tt...

I know there will be a significant power difference initially, but am curious to hear about other aspects between the two cars.

Any previous viper owners?

 

Yessir.. I had a 04 White Mamba, slightly modified. While I miss the raw power and GT2-like "kill you" attitude if you got out of line, I am definitely enjoying the refinement of my Turbo. I think at that power level you had you definitely need the mods in my signature. I track my car on occasion and it is a great car! Let me know if you have any other questions as I will be glad to share my thoughts.

 

I have an 03 996tt that I track and have owned 2.5 years and love. Just put some used gt3 seats, techquipment roll bar and 6 pts in her last week. I bought an 04 viper about 1.5 years ago and also prepped her for the track with moton club sports, corsa track exhaust and high flow cats kn air intake motor/tranny mounts in poly and roll bar/6pt harnesses.

I wanted them both because they are so entirely different to drive, like worlds apart. After overcoming initial fear of the viper and its rawness I managed to beat my best time at texas world speedway one year ago of 2:06 in the turbo running counter clockwise.

Last month in the snake I pulled a best time of 2:03.1 running clockwise. I was shocked at what a track beast the viper is and can be. Neither are daily drivers for me although the turbo was for almost a year until I put in a triple disc ats clutch with lightweight fw in and for a while it made the turbo hard to drive until I broke the clutch in after one year.

The turbo has a Protomotive/Motorwerks 650 tune with k24/18g turbo's amoung other things so on race fuel it would pull on the viper which may have 525 hp with current mods.

I love them both and plan to keep them for as long as I can but the viper would be tough as a daily driver imo. Two awsome rides imo and I have had Z06 c6 vette and f430 but for what I use the cars for, they are the perfect fit for me.

Enjoy the turbo.

 

Depending on how you mod it a 996tt can be just a rough and raw. I got to instruct at a NARRA viper days this weekend and divexxtreme's old 996tt could run down every car there in the straights. The JIC's, 295 R888's, and malfunctioning ABS proved no match for the SRT10 ACR's on 335 R6's in the turns however. If you want a change, go for it! If not for my 993tt I'd seriously consider an ACR, they're just awesome cars.

 

I'm going to be building a street car, but would love to find a nice 2002-03 650-700whp 996tt if anyone knows of one here on the boards...

What are the k24/18g's good for on race gas? pump gas?

I'm hunting for an upgraded twins car.

I'm brand new, feel me in....

 

After owning many cars (27), I ended up with a 996T. These cars are truly built to last. In every respect. The interiors, the galvanized chassis, engine, tranny etc.. it is thoroughly over engineered. Teh more you drive them the more you appreciate them.

It will be very hard to get a car that makes more than 650 engine HP on pump gas. Realistically, more mods and more power will require race gas or meth injection whichcan be questionable long term. Meth is very corrosive. Your post says WHP. If you're prepared to run race gas and go after fueling mods the next weak link are the rods. Yes there are people here running up to 700 WHP on race gas and stock engines but IMO these are ticking time bombs that aren't driven daily.

My opinion is keep the rev limit at 7,000 RPM and you can expect much better longevity. It has only recently been noted that some of the cars running stock heads and 74-7600 RPM have been exhibiting some issues which IMO don't justify the gains. Almost everything I stated is up for debate of course. Keep us posted!

 

I have both a viper and a 997 turbo. They could not more different. I absolutely love them both for different reasons. If I had to choose between them I would keep the Viper but I would cry as the Turbo left. I just love the raw nature of the Viper. I feel more connected to the Viper when driving. The Viper has more personality and gets more attention than the turbo but more people want to race the turbo for some reason. I have not started moding the the turbo yet but straight pipes will be installed this week. You will like the Turbo but you just cant compare the two. They are just too different. The viper feels powerful and fast while the turbo feels refined and rapid. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

I agree with v10nut, they are so much different. I had a better feeling in the viper, meaning just being stopped at a red light the car would feel raw and powerfull. While my turbo is faster and better in every aspect, it just doesn't give a feeling as the viper does.

No doubt though, the turbo is better in everything except look and feeling. I had a GTS though, the srt-10 are better machines than the GTS was. I still prefer the look of the GTS...

 

ditto on the above... i had a Gen1 RT-10 and then a Gen2 GTS -- raw power throughout the RPM range. The 996 turbo is much more refined (nicer interior, smoother ride) which needs to be revved higher to feel the same power. Up until recently, I wanted the raw power, now I prefer the refinement of the turbo.

 

+1. Ive had 3 Vipers (see sig) and loved them all. Just so raw, loud, and obnoxious. I thoroughly enjoyed them all and will def be picking up another blue/white 96-97 GTS again.

The 996TT otoh is very fast as well, and just so smooth and civilized. Def more comfortable and easier to live with. Taking the vipers out was like a big production...too much attention. I also like the fact that I can strap my little ones in their recaro car seats and take them along for a ride too

 

I had a gts with 700 rwhp and agree with all the above.
I drive my 2003 X50 much more. The viper was a lot of fun but all you have to do is look at the average milage of the vipers vs the turbo.

The turbo gets driven and the viper usually sits. Anything over 20,000 miles on a gts is considered high mileage. I got rid of the viper because I hate to let a car sit.

 

i too had a pair of vipers, 05 srt10 with a paxton and nitrous and a 00 gts.

the poster above me nailed it on the head, value drops at 20k miles where the porsche can go 50k before the mileage starts to affect value.

they are worlds apart when it comes to differences. everyone else is spot on with their descriptions.

good luck with your p car

 

you can have your 996 be violent and raw... my setup on my tt is straight violent !! and i love it !! and it sounds posessed !!

 

I went from a 600hp '06 viper coupe to a 500hp '01 996tt.
What everyone else said is true but they left out one very important fact. The power in a viper is linear. In a turbo it is very much not. So, you feel the power much more in the turbo as apposed to the viper. My turbo FEELS faster then my viper despite less hp. When the turbos spool up you really get put back in your seat. Although I'm sure my viper was a hair faster in reality.
Look around on the boards. You will see that turbos have their fair share of problems. 2nd pop out, accumulator/slave leaks, rear main seal leaks...etc. Some of which can be VERY expensive to repair unlike a domestic car. They are also very computer driven cars (relative to the viper at least).

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

 

rms leak on a turbo is very rare . 2nd gear pop out not so much accumulator /slave leak pretty common but not hard to fix and prevent it from happening ever again.