Venom Dodge Viper Replica Kit Car

Venom Dodge Viper Replica Kit Car

Author
Discussion

VPRMAN

420 posts

242 months

Thursday 12th November 2009
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Some of mine finished, tried to use aftermarket lights that were similar but much cheaper as I was thinking about marketing the kit.







Colin

carnut1974

Original Poster:

33 posts

172 months

Thursday 12th November 2009
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Wow VPRMAN - thats a cool looking car !

And u say - u moulded this yourself ?

The lights - where did u get them from ? they viper aftermarket replacements ?

is that body - sitting on a Auto Speciali or Fiero Chassis ?

Damn good job i must say !

rhinochopig

17,932 posts

197 months

Thursday 12th November 2009
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carnut1974 said:
Wow VPRMAN - thats a cool looking car !

And u say - u moulded this yourself ?

The lights - where did u get them from ? they viper aftermarket replacements ?

is that body - sitting on a Auto Speciali or Fiero Chassis ?

Damn good job i must say !
Lights look like Mk2 MX5.

VPRMAN

420 posts

242 months

Thursday 12th November 2009
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Yes MX5 front lights and MX3 rear lights. When I started the project a set of genuine viper lights would cost about £2500 and realised that people wouldn't pay that sort of money for a kit car. I didn't want to make plastic replica parts as I thought that looked cheap and nasty, so I went for lights that looked close to the original.

Yes I fabricated all my own panels from scratch and moulded them.

No it wasn't on fiero chassis, I fabricated my own aluminium chassis and suspension for the project. I'm not sure If it would fit onto a Fiero chassis or not

carnut1974

Original Poster:

33 posts

172 months

Sunday 15th November 2009
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Well - now the engine is built - the hubs are on, the diff is fitted.
Waiting to test drive a sierra 4x4 V6 to check the gearbox is alright - ready to build out hybrid box.

In the mean time we are trying to sort out the harness that has already been fitted loosely to this kit.

We are having a problem locating the fuse box. As we are using a complete wiring harness off the donor 1988 Granada 2.9 V6 - the fuse box is usually located in the engine bay area - in the bulkhead below the screen. however - we dont have that facility on this vehicle - so im assuming it fits upside down under the driver side of the dash ( which we dont have yet ) . Is it right that it fits on the right hand side of the steering column ? in between the column bracket and the chassis side frame ?

We are hoping to use most of the granada electrics - the only things i can see that need cutting out are - electric sunroof, rear door electrics, possibly the cruise.

Does anyone ever make severe cuts to the harness - multiple joins ? What do u use ? i would like to use single connectors that will house multiple pins - similar to ecus etc if possible. has anyone ever done this to locate the fuse box in a better place or for anything on the car really ? oh and where did u get these from ?

any advice at this point would be helpful before we get too deep in with the electrics.

cheers

BASH0001

6 posts

172 months

Wednesday 18th November 2009
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Good old electrics eh?
There should be plenty of space to stick the fuse box inside or just on the outside of the firewall. I'd avoid cutting into the loom if possible but of you can't work around it, you will have to.
If you can stick up some photos, I might be able to recommend a location for the fusebox. When I picked up my car, most of the electrics were in place built under Keith Kirks advice. If I remember rightly, the fuse box and associated stuff was bolted to the inside firewall along the dash and any extensions needed were spliced in later. I.e. Fuse box fixed first and then any individual wires that needed to be longer were soldered in.
Hopes this makes sense!


Incorrigible

13,668 posts

260 months

Wednesday 18th November 2009
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I re-pin ecus and multi plugs all the time. For the terminals try VWP (vehicle wiring products) or Wurth (you may nee to find someone in the trade to get wurth stuff)

HTH

carnut1974

Original Poster:

33 posts

172 months

Wednesday 18th November 2009
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Cheers to BASH0001 & Corrigable.

I dont want to put to many joins in.
Im a Jaguar / Land Rover Technician in the day time. Join wires all the time, but i dont want a huge clump of joins bulging out of the harness - so i was wondering about multi - connectors like the manufacturers use. Re-pinning is not the problem. its the connector housings im after. will take a look at those companies later corrigable.

I cant really house the fuse box in the engine bay area with out cutting the harness.

I will try and get some more photos tonight if i get the chance. im picking up a sierra 4x4 2.9 tonight for the donor gearbox, flywheel etc. So gonna be busy running round with that.

Will post more info when i next get the chance.

cheers to all guys !

Edited by carnut1974 on Wednesday 18th November 18:17

carnut1974

Original Poster:

33 posts

172 months

Thursday 19th November 2009
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Ok - got the Sierra 4x4 !

So now i have a LSD Differential if needed - (depends if dad wants to use it).
Got the flywheel and sandwich plate for the manual gearbox fitment.

Spare engine. Fuel pump, and lots of bits extra.

Got the 4x4 MT75 gearbox now to fit on to the V6 engine. Now i need a 2.0 DOHC gearbox to use to help me convert this 4x4 gearbox to RWD .

Anyone got one laying about ?

Aint manage to get pics of harness yet - but dad has done a lot of work sorting this out. got me genuine Ford Granada Wiring diagrams to help in detail later.

Anyone got any more pics of there builds too ? post them on here - will all be so helpful.

Should i start a NEW thread with a thumbs up rather than thumbs down for us Viper builders to contribute more ?




BASH0001

6 posts

172 months

Friday 20th November 2009
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I've got this pic from a guy I know who is building a viper replica based on the sierra set up. I think he has done what you want to do and put the fuse box in the car by the dash.
I'll keep looking and see what else I can find for you.

carnut1974

Original Poster:

33 posts

172 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
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yes thats brill pic - very similar to what we have done. dragged the harness across to passenger side a bit. heres some pics.


Edited by carnut1974 on Sunday 22 November 19:03


Edited by carnut1974 on Sunday 22 November 19:19

kitcarkeef

1 posts

172 months

Sunday 22nd November 2009
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Great thread! I have been building a venom viper GT2 replica for the past few years and have been looking to share ideas/info with other builders!

As for the location of the fuse box mentioned by carnut1974 - I fabricated a bracket to bolt on next to the steering columne chassis mount so the fuses can be accesses from the drivers footwell via a removable panel under the dash. The rest of the fuses I attached to a panel in the passener footwell as shown in the picture by BASH0001. The remainder of the other fuses (only 4) live in the engine bay as they did on the donor vehicle mounted on another fabricated brcket.

See photos of fuse box bracket being fabricated and in situ...





Have any of you got as far as making up the doors/electric windows as this will be my next big challenge?

BASH0001

6 posts

172 months

Sunday 22nd November 2009
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How ya doing Keith???
Hope you didn't mind me sticking your photo on here but thought it would help someone out. Waiting to upload pics from denmark visit so will throw them on facebook asap.
Speak to you soon!

carnut1974

Original Poster:

33 posts

172 months

Sunday 22nd November 2009
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hey keef - great to have you here. i was hoping to attract clever guys like you to this place - so handy to have guys with experience.
im a mechanic but - never built a kit car - so all new to me and dad.

As usual your venom chassis looks slightly different to ours too ! lol.

i found these pics too - of chestersports cars - will help many i think.



Edited by carnut1974 on Sunday 22 November 19:33


Edited by carnut1974 on Sunday 22 November 19:39

carnut1974

Original Poster:

33 posts

172 months

Sunday 22nd November 2009
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Face book friends wud be cool too - if anyone wishing to exchange - please - message me private - and we can swap info.

i have just uploaded pics there - and will continue to do so as i go along.

a cool little Venom Viper Community will become very useful to us all hopefully.

carnut1974

Original Poster:

33 posts

172 months

Sunday 20th December 2009
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hi again guys,

thanks to those who contacted me privately to add to our face book community.

some great pics.

What i have noticed - and i expected this is - all your chassis are different. we all know this is the norm with these cars. however - ours is significantly different on the back end.
All of your cars appear to have the sloping rear bulk head box frame work. Ours does not - but it has to mounting points to which i think a roll bar should bolt to - but was never fabricated due to Keith's sad death.
i will try and show a pic in here in another post reply of what i have and what you guys have - but i need to ask your permission first - so i will contact those involved shortly.

in the mean time - can anyone tell me - if they are aware of who - bought the last couple of kits off keith kirk before his untimely sad departure ? im trying to find out if others have my kit - is it earlier or latest chassis. so im guessing - anyone who bought a chassis in 2006, - 2007 - im very interested to see pictures of your chassis if possible .

Thanks in advance !

And .....

Have a fantastic Christmas !

And ....

A Very Happy New Year !!!


carnut1974

Original Poster:

33 posts

172 months

Monday 25th January 2010
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Some new info !!!!

Auto Speciali Ltd, Redditch, Worcs - announcement

It has been decided from 1st January 2010 to appoint Vindicator Cars (based nearby in Cradley, West Midlands) as our sole sales and PR agent. Please refer all sales, PR, spares and technical enquires to John Butler on 07703 289833 or via email to john@vindicator.co.uk

07703 289833 / 07886 177531


if you are not already aware of my company and want to know who you are talking to first, you may like to check out www.vindicator.co.uk

DodgeViper

1 posts

169 months

Friday 5th February 2010
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Hi All,

If anyone is still interested in a Venom (Dodge Viper Replica), let me know: I'm selling mine & it's listed on Piston Heads, see CLASSIFIEDS section.

Keith Kirk built most of it for me: sad to hear he's passed away, he was a right character & really knew his stuff.

carnut1974

Original Poster:

33 posts

172 months

Saturday 6th March 2010
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Well - today we successfully managed to complete the 1st stage of our MT75 manual transmission V6 Hybrid project.

We took a 2.0 DOHC MT75 transmission - removed the bell housing, removed the gears and selectors from the end housing.

Then we got a 2.9V6 cologne MT75 4x4 transmission - removed the transfer box, chains etc. Removed the bell housing. Removed the gears & selectors from the end housing again.

3 main things are different here.

1. the output shaft is longer on the 4x4 box ( to accomodate the transfer box drive ) - this needs to be short for it to fit into the DOHC box.

2. the input shaft is shorter on the DOHC box - which needs to be swapped with the 4x4 one to work with the same bell housing - ( will explain later )

3. the bell housings are different - hence why we want the 4x4 box.

So what next ? -

Take the gears completely off the main shaft of the 2.0DOHC box, and discard. Discard the secondary shaft gear assembly.

Now take all the gears off the main shaft of the V6 4x4 gearbox and fit them onto the DOHC shorter shaft. Also take the secondary shaft gear set too.

Finally - discard the 2.0 DOHC input shaft. Fit the V6 4x4 input shaft to the new gear set you have just assembled.

Your hybrid gear set is now complete for refitting into your new hybrid transmission housings as follows -

Take the DOHC end housing - and fit the gear set assembly into the housing. ( this may need to be pressed in )
Take the V6 4x4 bell housing and fit this to complete your Hybrid V6 rear wheel drive MT75 transmission !!

Obviously thats just a brief guide of what we have done, and does not include all the fancy tools, presses, pullers, heat we used to help us complete this job.
However - that should help anyone to understand that it is possible to build your own Hybrid MT75 gearbox to your own requirements.

Also i would like to add that we will be fitting a new seal kit as part of the final assembly.

The 1st stage we have completed at present is - the gear train assembly. We will be assembling the casings once we have the seal kit - which i have on order via ebay !

Any problems i have with the assembly - i will report on here as i find.

over and out !

Carnut1974 & Dad !


Edited by carnut1974 on Saturday 6th March 22:05

Teacherman

2 posts

168 months

Sunday 7th March 2010
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Hi - just joined this group after finding the thread here from you guys. I am the 4th owner of an unfinished Venom Viper - I have installed a 5.7LChevy and moved it on to the bodywork and interior stage but I have a bunch of things to ask you all (I am not allowed to use the e-mail service yet!!) Since the death of Keith the company was difficult to get hold of and it is great to find out that there are others out there in a similar predicament sharing experience and ideas.

Firstly, do the lights from any version of the Mk 2 MX-5 fit into the apertures or are there some year boundaries that we need to look for?

Also does anybody have experience of having converted the old style doors (my kit is from 2002ish - no windows) into having elecric windows as I want to do any major work like this before the paint job rather than trying to retro fit them?

Finally, I have yet to get into the Facebook thing but the prospect of getting Kit Car info from it makes it seem a whole lot more useful - can anyone tell me the name of the group that you have set up so that I can have a read?