078: Viper V10 — Tickled-Up Truck Motor or Lambo-Derived Powerhouse?

Eight-point-something litres, 10 cylinders, one camshaft, and a whole lot of noise — the Dodge Viper is as weird as it is cool, and in this episode of Tuned In, we’re joined by Viper-specialist Mike Kuchavik of Havik Performance to dive deep into this unique piece of engineering to get the truth behind America’s poster-worthy supercar and it’s brutish V10 motor.

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Havik Performance specializes in all five generations of the Dodge Viper platform, which makes it a fairly niche business, but this has allowed Mike and his team to build up a loyal customer base of Viper owners, as well as an in-depth knowledge in this most American of supercars.

In this episode, we explore Mike’s path to opening Havik Performance in Pennsylvania at a fairly young age, as well as his early love for Chrysler’s supercar that would go on to become his bread and butter later in life. As you’d expect, we’re also able to take a good look at the different generations of the Viper and discuss all their pluses, minuses, foibles, and limitations — including some in-depth discussions around the car’s famous V10.

Although part of Mike’s day-to-day involves looking after private Viper collections upwards of 60 cars, he doesn’t stop at just general maintenance, so the conversation naturally covers the modification and tuning of the Dodge V10 — whether that be staying NA and focusing on headwork and cams, or going nitrous, turbo, or supercharger — Mike and his team have built and tuned them all and have plenty of insight to give.

With some good discussion around aftermarket standalone ECU vs reflash for the Viper, as well as the challenges that working within such a niche realm and at such a young age present, this episode with Mike Kuchavik of Havik Performance is well worth a listen.

As mentioned, check out our episode with John Reed: https://hpcdmy.co/johnreed

Follow Havik Performance here:
IG: @havikperformance
FB: Havik Performance
YT: Havik Performance
WWW: havikperformance.com

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