Viper Sound

[Viper 10]

Ling:

There are lots of people who just read magazines and turn their cars over to tuners (Hennessey was no exception). In the Viper world, tuners like SVSi, TNT and others have tarnished pasts. Keep in mind that the Terpstra's (who own TNT) used to work for Hennessey as his engine builders. They know all of the tricks that John H pulls on customers.

If you read the Corvette Forum thread, you will find a copy of Hennessey's D&B report. It is a mile long, filled with lawsuits from customers and suppliers.

I am not at all surprised to hear the story about the Z06 owner getting ripped. I have seen first hand TNT and Hennessey's work, and it is scary to think that anyone would put their name on these cars.

One car that I saw intimately, was sold to a customer as a 880 HP car, in reality only turned about 580 HP on the dyno (he spent almost $200k). When we opened the engine up, we found many OE parts (that were supposedly replaced and upgraded).

Why would anyone continue to use these tuners (and give them their money up front) is beyond my understanding. I am sure that there are tuners in the Corvette world who do similar things. The key is that you need to find a way to share that information to prevent this from happening again.

Brad

 

[Ling_650vette]

Sad that happens. Sounds like decent people getting screwed over. I didn't know that about TNT and SVSi, though. Thats pretty crappy too if u ask me. I can't believe someone would have a dream job like that, and throw it all away. Some people....

Thanks again for those listings Viper. I had a few friends of mine, not believing some of the things i've heard, glad i've got some proof on it.

 

[Viper 10]

Like I said Ling, don't believe what they write in magazines. They are pretty much expensive advertising.

Another example of this is Motor Trend's love affair with Hennessey. They took the Venom 800 twin turbo car out to the track to test. What the folks at Motor Trend forgot to tell you were things ike:
- They were running racing gas for their drag times.
- They ran drag radial tries.
- They swapped rear end gears.

On top of these techniques to gain an edge, the car couldn't finish more than two runs (out of 10), because the chassis had so much flex in it. All that it wanted to do was auger into a wall.

By the way, I know that Lingenfelter has been known to do this in their tests too. Case in point, this is what they did while doing the top speed shoot out against the TNT King Snake 800. I talked to the folks at TNT after the test (that happened to occur at the same time that the R&T editor died driving the Mercedes at the same track trying for a top speed run).

Unfortunately for most of us, there is very little accountability to customers in teh tuning business. John H has also been known to show up at track events and drag races (street and track) driving customer cars without their permission. In one case, he put the car into a wall and totalled the car.

Brad

 

[mhaber]

Great discussion, but back to c5Blue's question. I've read lots of great comments about the Borla Stingers. Halltech sales them for $479, or close to this and it shouldn't be hard to find some internet reviews by people who have installed them if you want to go this route. I heard a set a few days ago and it was awesome. I need to hear more feedback from other on how they resonate in the cabin at crusing speed.

 

[c5blue]

corvette is my best

hayyyyyyyyyyy guys just hold down .... i'm just wanna know what is the best exhaust system to make my c5 sound like race car ......that's it .......

any way me and viper owners are a friends