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 While all of the new Johnny Lightning® ThunderJet 500™
cars look great, and are a great addition to any HO slot collection, it has been pointed out that the Viper GTS Thunderjet 500 body sits a bit nose high. A 'bit' is an
understatement. Even the picture in their brochure shows it sitting lower than what you receive. On the now lengthy "PM CARS" thread on The Slot Car Center bulletin board
, I had doctored a photo of one of the Vipers as it sits in stock form to show how much better it looked with the nose at the proper stance. Being a major Viper fan, obviously I wasn't going to stop at a picture.
Below you'll find step by step instructions on how to lower your Johnny Lightning Viper GTS body:
The reason for the awkward nose height of the JL Viper is the windshield mounting tab clearance. It would interfere with the
bodyr clip on Super G+ chassis if the body sat lower. This is the first area you will have to modify. First remove the windshield from the body. It's held in by a dab of glue on the 2 mounting tabs.
Use an X-Acto knife and carefully cut off the front mounting tab from the windshield. Then trim the lower front edge of the
windshield. Be careful not to scratch the windshield.Next you will have to cut off the front post from the body, and trim the chassis tabs. Note the locations in the example: 
You will have to carefully cut the front upper chassis tabs little by little. Use gentle force to slice small layers. You may find that you have to remove the front upper mounting tab
completely, but test the body with a Super G+ chassis and a body clip. Once you get the front wheel fender lip to sit just above the front tires, you will notice the body still springs back
up. You will now have to carefully cut the back chassis mounting tabs to adjust for the new angle of the lowered body. Go easy here. The body will pivot from the center as you do this. You will now notice that the body clip on the chassis will still hit the lower windshield base. YES, you will have to trim this
also! Trim off the corners and edges from the front of the clip, near the windshield base as shown;Once you have the body at the height you want, you can put small dabs of clear silicone into
the chassis mount tabs, and mount the body. If you spray the body clip with WD40, it won't stick to the silicone. Allow the silicone to dry at least 6 hours before removing the body or racing the car.
Now you will have a BAD looking Viper Body at the correct stance.    
I removed the back spoiler to make it easier to work on the body.  I will probably leave this one as a stock GTS. The other Viper body I have will become a GTSR with the wing. This body is far superior to the Tyco RT/10 elephant. Have fun.
Go Johnny Lightning! TOP
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