Power upgrades from Viper Xchange for Generation 5 Dodge Viper-totally misguided and emissions non compliant

Dodge Viper has been on the life support ever since Generation 5 was first announced.  The unsold cars from 2013 still sit on dealers lots.  Yet, somehow, instead of just going away with some dignity, the car continues to limp on, with its death being postponed through heavy discounting offered by Chrysler and Dodge dealers.

Apparently, there is another effort being launched to keep the relic alive, this time through increasing its power.  The power increase comes in three stages, off road only OEM modified ECU as stage one.  The offroad ECU is good for about 30 extra hp, about the same gain as it was possible in Generation 4.

Stage two includes camshaft swap, VVT elimination, head work, exhaust headers and better flowing exhaust.  This upgrade is good for about 80 hp and it is about 15k.  Quite a pricetag for 80 hp.

Finally, the top power upgrade, consisting of stage two plus supercharging system that includes a custom ECU, 4.3 l twin screw supercharger and chassis modifications is good for about 250 hp should retail for about 30k.

On the surface, this seems like a much needed update to the ailing Generation 5 Viper but... there are too many problems here to consider this as an actual Viper salvation: elimination of VVT causes the car to be non compliant with emissions laws in most of the states, due to the size of the supercharger, there is about 180 pounds added to the already portly car and to top it off, due to these heavy modifications, there is no factory warranty available.  In other words, strictly a Texas special for a few spending their time on the drag strip or illegally street racing and then extrapolating the rest of the performance figures based on these dubious achievements.

The problem is further compounded by a truly obsolete and ancient steel frame the newest Viper uses, recycling it from its predecessor.  Excessive torque and weak frame do not add up to anything inspiring.  As always, better than nothing but very misguided and failing to address the major problems that plague the newest Viper.