Vicious Viper: Jim LaRosa’s Twin Turbo Viper GTS

BWviperleadartWhen your first car is a brutally fast big block classic, it will change how you look at anything with a motor. Jim LaRosa was introduced to high performance cars at a young age by his father and never looked back. LaRosa’s 1997 Dodge Viper GTS may look stock, but this American supercar is hiding a pair of big turbos that pack an even bigger punch that rocket this street car into the eight-second zone at the track.

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From the outside, this Viper GTS looks basically stock. Under the hood lies a different tale.

LaRosa is an electrician by trade and grew up in North Olmsted, Ohio. He got into fast cars just after he got his driver’s license at the tender age of just 17. “My dad is the one who got me into cars. It was 1994 and he got word that a friend of a friend was selling his 1968 Camaro RS. We went to take a look and both fell in love with 454 big block Chevy with a 4-speed Muncie transmission,” he said about his first ride.

So, with the help of his father, he purchased the Camaro as his first car. The big block engine with a rear end full of 4.11 gears ran in the 12-second zone at the track and back in 1994 when he purchased the car that was pretty quick. The car saw plenty of track time as well as street racing with LaRosa enjoying every minute of it.

Over the years he and his father wrenched on the Camaro together as a team, with father teaching son more and more about cars. He speaks fondly of these early hears of his car journey, “my dad was always into cars. He was the one that inspired me to go fast, with all his GTO street racing stories from when he was younger.”

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Would you guess that twin turbos reside under the stock hood?

LaRosa eventually fell in love with the looks of the Viper and has owned a total of four including his current ride, along with a 1996, 1997, and 2000 Viper GTS trifecta. What turned him onto the mighty Mopar is the look and performance offered by the car. Every one of the previous Vipers have been close to stock and have seen plenty of street duty; his current ride is no different when it comes to street use.

After his first stint in the Viper realm, he stepped away from cars. “I took a long break from cars, then in 2012 got a bug up my ass to get another Viper. This time I wanted something ready to go either supercharged or turbocharged,” he said. After a six month search, the right car was found: his 1997 GTS that was sporting a pair of 62mm turbos and made about 720 hp to the massive tires out back.

The Viper was stock, outside of the turbos, intercooler, fuel system and the custom tune, making it the perfect blank slate to start with. As soon as the Viper made it back to Ohio, it was pressed into service on the street and strip. “The car performed really well, beating everyone on the street,” he said. The speed bug bit LaRosa even harder and he wanted to go faster, so he dialed up the boys at Big 3 Racing in Hinckley, Ohio, to go even faster.

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The first hint that something is a little different with this Viper GTS.

A more efficient turbo kit was built with a pair of bigger, 71mm turbos to match along with a custom air-to-water intercooler. After the upgrades, some unforeseen issues arose, explains LaRosa. “The car never went on the dyno because we found out the stock motor was pretty much beat, so I decided to have Big 3 Racing build the motor.”

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All Viper, all badass. And then some. The GTS always looked fast, this one is faster.

That single choice turned this build from a 700 hp monster to a 1,000 hp animal that decimates any opponent the second LaRosa mashes the loud pedal. Since this was not your average build, the team at Big 3 Racing went the extra mile and really put some work into the Viper’s heart, making sure maximum power would be pulled out of the V10.

Starting with the base 488 cubic inch stock motor, the new bullet has been punched out to 533 cubic inches with a 4.010 x 3.980 bore and stroke by Compuflow in Medina, Ohio. A modified stock crank rotates a set of Oliver connecting rods and Ross pistons inside the Race Engine Development sleeved block that has a final compression ratio of 9:1. An upgraded stock 10 quart oil pan with an IPSCO Baffle Kit keeps all the moving parts lubricated.

Unless you know they are there the turbos are totally hidden under the hood.

To help the Mopar mill make over 1,400 hp to the wheels, the top end of the motor received some special attention. Big 3 Racing worked over the stock gen 3 Viper heads with Greg Good doing a masterful valve job and final assembly. Brain Tooley Racing spec’d out a killer hydraulic Comp Cams bump stick with a 238/239 duration and .579/.584 lift and 116 LSA that move a set of 1.7 ratio Jesel rocker arms.

To feed the engine all the air and fuel it needs, Big 3 Racing went with the best parts they could find. A ported stock gen 3 Viper intake and Roe Racing billet throttle body fill the engine with all the boosted air it can take on. A set of 1,400cc injections get their fuel from an Aeromotive fuel system to keep the Viper fed whatever fuel LaRosa chooses. AEM Smart Coils and custom MSD plug wires provide the spark to the engine while an AEM Infinity ECU keeps everything running with Big 3 Racing doing the tuning.

This Viper hides its true abilities VERY well.

The custom turbo kit by Big 3 Racing is tucked away nicely in the cramped quarters under the hood of the Viper. A pair of 78 mm Comp Turbo oil-less units provide the large amounts of boost the Viper loves to produce. Twin TurboSmart RacePort BOV’s and TurboSmart 40mm CompGate waste gates help to keep all the boost in check when LaRosa drops the hammer. A fabricated twin custom-built air-to-water intercooler keeps the air nice and cool as it enters the engine.

After the turbo system upgrade, LaRosa’s ride made 1,148hp and 1,200 lb-ft of torque on e-85 through the stock six speed, but that led to additional problems. “The car was fast, but each shift was very shocking to the whole car and drivetrain. The Viper T56 spec transmission blew up racing a Lambo, so it was time for an upgrade,” La Rosa explained. Since the car sees heavy amounts of street driving, including trips to the store and gym, LaRosa and Big 3 Racing decided to go with an automatic transmission setup, but not your average unit by any stretch.

_MG_8399LaRosa and Big 3 did not mess around. “I wanted overdrive along with everything else so we went with an FTI built 4L80 transmission with paddle shifters, this is the only Viper in the world to have paddle shifters. I wanted the paddle shifters so I could keep both hands on the wheel during any kind of racing,” he told us.

The fully built GM 4L80E unit from FTI is matched to one of their 3500 triple-disc stall converters. This combo sends all of its power through a Drive Shaft Shop custom driveshaft to the stock IRS that is filled with 3.07 gears and an OS Giken limited-slip differential.

Now all the pieces were in place for LaRosa to really turn the wick up on his car and the final results were astounding, to say the least. Running on 112 octane race gas and 20 psi ,the Viper made over 1,200 hp and 1,200 lb-ft of torque on the Big 3 Racing dyno. On 93 octane pump gas the car puts down over 1,000 hp and has run 8.94 et at over 161 mph in the quarter mile.

What is so impressive about LaRosa’s ride is this is a true street car, right down to the stock wheels. The term street car gets used pretty liberally these days, but this Viper still has air conditioning, the factory stereo and a subwoofer in the back. At 3,700 lbs the car has run 8.75 at 161 mph with race gas in the tank. There are no numbers available for all the street action the Viper has seen, but it has broken more of its fair share of hearts for those who bought the line “it’s just a street car”.

Inside the viper things look fairly stock outside of the gauges and that slightly different shifter.

So you have an eight second street car, you have made over 1,000 hp to the wheels; a sane person would be more than happy with that, but not LaRosa – he wants more. “The goal with the Viper is to run and do well in the Texas Invitational Roll Race event someday,” he said. That is an extremely lofty goal considering the level of cars that compete in that event, however, LaRosa’s car has plenty on tap for the best super cars in the world.

Jim LaRosa was introduced to fast cars at a young age by his father, and never let go of his passion for speed. The Viper that he has built is the kind of sleeper that legends are made of, it is subtle, beautiful, and brutal all at the same time. This Viper has a set of fangs that are full of horsepower venom, and it will strike anytime LaRosa mashes the loud pedal to the floorboard.

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About the author

Brian Wagner

Spending his childhood at different race tracks around Ohio with his family’s 1967 Nova, Brian developed a true love for drag racing. Brian enjoys anything loud, fast, and fun.
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