Charonblk07's build thread

MGRAM said:

Wow didn't realize your build was so in depth. Lots of stuff your doing I didn't even know could be done with the new rams.
Can't wait to see it in the spring

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Lol, I like being different, what can I say. I mean c'mon, I live in Alberta and I lowered my 4x4, you won't believe the comments I get about that at work. Last night my wife made a comment about how much I've done in the 11 months I've owned it, or should I say that I've done TOO much in the last 11 months. My last truck was built over 3 years, I have it to the point it is now in 11 months, or almost exactly 1 year since the last one met its demise.

Good Progress!

BTW: When is the "other" Car Forum Back on Line (Can't say the Name as I have been Warned already...Rules)?

I dunno, but I've been checking several times a day. I remember them saying: "it should only take a few hours"... 3 days later...

Yeh, Waiting on news about the Calendar! Question which applies to your build? Why did you decide not to go with the SFI Flex Plate you got set aside, fitment with the new trannys?? or did you stay with the stock one or get something different, Ie. B&M, 6.4? Just Curious and what Tranny mods do you have/going to get done, TC?

This truck looks badass! I wanna see more pics.

03MopaRamman said:

Yeh, Waiting on news about the Calendar! Question which applies to your build? Why did you decide not to go with the SFI Flex Plate you got set aside, fitment with the new trannys?? or did you stay with the stock one or get something different, Ie. B&M, 6.4? Just Curious and what Tranny mods do you have/going to get done, TC?

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The flex plate I ordered from Arrington, even specifying it's for a Ram, they shipped the LX flexplate. It's damned near impossible to find a SFI rated flexplate that fits the Ram since every company just assumes that the ATI Hemi flexplate works, but it doesn't. Now, Don @ Sharadon has said he can get me one, so it may be a future mod if the OEM one doesn't hold up.

I've already got the L&M trans installed, I had to beg Mike to build it as I got the 3rd one he ever built, before sales took off like a rocket, been running it since the spring and it's been doing fine, it's coupled with a 2800 Circle D converter that may get bumped up to an Edge Pro but I'm staying below 3000 for the stall as it's less of a hit on the trans. Aside from that, the trans has the deep pan, relocated exhaust so it's not sitting under the pan, and the cooler is relocated more into the lower air flow with the lower front air dam removed.

so I had to track down your build thread and see what else you had going on w/ the truck.
Holly crap you are committed, (or should be committed, LOL)

You have a good eye for what looks good!
Any pics of the dash put back together?

jeff

Yeah, my wife isn't happy with me right now, but I'm so far in that I can't just stop until it's all said and done.

I don't have any pics of the completed dash because the interior is still partially pulled apart for other parts being worked on. Things are going to be changing because the cold has made the Di-Noc pull away on the corners, which has cracked the clearcoat, so it'll be getting more hydrodip but with a green/black carbon fiber look instead.

The truck is currently at my brother's dealership to fix the oil leak I have. I figured it was the cam oil cap and seems like I was correct, however they say there's still a small leak, so hopefully it's not the rear main, but they have to pull the trans again to check it out. Hopefully the tech just didn't get the cap seated and it's still leaking out. The alignment tech was freaking out because he can't get the caster and camber setup properly, but he didn't take my 4/6 drop into account. The caster will never come back, and the camber can only be fixed with a set of adjustable upper control arm. It was a little funny having to argue with the tech on the phone over it all.

Looks like I haven't updated anything over here for a while.

Truck's running probably about 70% right now. Josh and I are still refining the tune, but I've been either working or on vacation for the past 6 weeks, so I haven't have a lot of free time. I still haven't taken it to WOT yet, but it's definitely a lovely feeling even at half throttle. I'm building 12psi right now and have found my headunit's leaking oil so it's just more incentive for me to swap to the D1SC like I have wanted to do from the beginning.

Now, as for other mods, I've finished the interior paint and hydrodipping and am happy with the results




I also got the grille frame back from my painter and was able to get the mesh installed plus the new 'emblem'. I'm going to pull the mesh and get it powdercoated gloss black since it's just carbon steel mesh.





Dropped off my tonneau cover to the painter's as well. It's a *******'s customs speedstur cover and I'm very impressed with this thing so far.



Installed a hellwig rear air spring to give the back real adjustability and to carry loads when required. Pulled the McG's drop coils out and it's a complete bolt-in air spring. I'm running the rear at 34.5" and the front at 33.5" to give the rear a bit more suspension travel until I get the Accu-ride in the summer (tax season is not friendly to me like everybody else, this year I get to pay $26K)





To keep the front sway bar level I'm now running the Alston Chassisworks adjustable front endlinks, and these things are spiffy with dual uni-ball joints.

You may or may not have noticed I have the oem headlights back in for now, that's because I'm working on something for the '13 projectors. I really want white LED running lights, so I pulled the housings apart AGAIN and have installed a bunch of white SMD chips onto the oem board. The plan is to switch them with the turn signal circuit so they will alternate between white and amber for the turn signal.

Got any more info about the Alston front end links?

TylerB said:

Got any more info about the Alston front end links?

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Here ya go. They do have a longer size if required. On my 4" dropped 4wd front I'm almost at max length on these ones, but on Rich's truck they're shortened right down with his 4" drop on the 2wd.

Chris Alston's Chassisworks, Inc.; Chris Alston's Chassisworks, Inc. - EndLink Inline 4.72 Center Tra

$226 damn!

Safety Coordinator standing in a plastic chair, classic! You pay more in April than I do, and I thought I had it bad.
Sweet build, since this is my first Ram build it's nice to have guys like you to look to. Bad ass truck.

TylerB said:

$226 damn!

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Sadly that's a drop in the bucket with this build. My wife has stopped questioning anything under $500. The quality is worth it though, joints are rebuildable which is a big plus. I'm trying to get everything to a uniball joint on the front end as they have more range than a balljoint, only the lower joint left now.

Lhemi said:

Safety Coordinator standing in a plastic chair, classic! You pay more in April than I do, and I thought I had it bad.
Sweet build, since this is my first Ram build it's nice to have guys like you to look to. Bad ass truck.

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You like that one, eh? The truck was on the hoist, the fuel tank was on the trans jack, and I had to reach the top of the tank and there weren't any step stools.

Got some alone time with some nice weather and I made hay while the sun was shining. Got to play with some appearance mods today, installed the roll pan, bed rug, tool box, and gave the truck a much needed bath. I can't wait until I can get my summer wheels on, these winters look like crap. I really don't know if I like the exhaust tips anymore with the roll pan. I wasn't 100% happy with them to begin with, but I wanted to see how it'd look with the roll pan, I'm pretty sure they will go soon.

I'm not feeling the tail lights or the exhaust tips, they both stick out like sore thumbs on an otherwise clean truck. Just going by your headlights, I'd think you can do better with the tail lights. Just my two cents of course.

I like the exhaust. So what's next?

TylerB said:

I'm not feeling the tail lights or the exhaust tips, they both stick out like sore thumbs on an otherwise clean truck. Just going by your headlights, I'd think you can do better with the tail lights. Just my two cents of course.

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The exhaust will be disappearing, I'm starting to hate it more and more. Luckily it's completely sectional, so I'll just have the shop pull the section from behind the axle and put both out the passenger side, flush with the bottom of the Mopar body kit when it comes in.

As for the tails, when it gets painted next spring I'm going to have them follow the two tone and divider through the tails or they'll just get paint matched to the black if we can't get the green to match and be transparent since it's a 3-stage color.

Cruizer said:

I like the exhaust. So what's next?

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Cleaning up the engine bay, relocating batteries to the truck box, running all power cables for the audio system, then audio install.

Love the green!