Dapepper9's build thread- 2001 Ram 1500

Hey all! Figured I'd get one of these going now. It would be nice if I had started this much earlier to see steady progress but whatever lol.

To Start:
I got my truck the summer of 2011 before I turned 16, handed down from my father who had been driving it since 2003. At that point it was completely stock with only BFG AT KOs. Step bars and exhaust system were rotting away so Dad pulled the steps and installed a Flowmaster Super 50 cat-back system, SI/DO, 45 degree exits. Loved it.
Now pics of what it USED to look like.

Drove it for roughly a year, then bought a set of SmittyBilt Tube steps.



Shortly thereafter added a set of SpecDTuning headlights. I'll come back and edit to post pics, can't find em right now.

Other than those 2 things, only other thing I did was buy a set of GoodYear Wrangler SilentArmor ATs in 245/75/16 size

Didn't do much else other than some rain guards. Also don't have pics of just that.

Installed an interior lighting kit from LEDGlow.com that flashes to the beat of the speakers or other patterns. Just green lights.




Cut the muffler off in late July-early August 2014 a couple weeks before going to basic training. While I was in tech school, I ordered a new Magnaflow 14x4x9 SI/SO 2.5" muffler. Put it on in December of 2014 after getting back. Also ordered a new grille and a Superchips programmer I found cheap on Amazon.

1-2 days after installing new grille, rear ended a classmate and the hitch of her Durango punched the middle of my bumper. Crushed the bumper, tweaked both mounts, smashed the AC condenser (didn't leak though), knocked an already leaky radiator into a not so slow leak, and the bumper left sharp dents/creases in the radiator support bracket.



Replaced the radiator, ac condenser, bumper plastics and mounts, and pulled a bumper from a junk yard. Got tired of crappy SpecDTuning halos and bought Eagle Eye headlights on eBay.

Followed up the headlights with SuperBrightLEDs 9004 LED Drop-In bulbs. Great upgrade.


Finally did my plenum fix and timing chain. For plenum I picked up a 2nd manifold to mod and toss in when I did it but ended up finding this beauty. Painted it the only Green engine enamel available.

Painted the dash bezel to match the truck and picked up a brand new DeeZee grille guard for $200 from a guy on Craigslist. He ordered one for his 2007 Chevy 1500 and they sent the wrong one. Supposedly whoever he ordered it from has a ****** return policy so he decided to sell it instead.


Couple months later my town had it's annual Grafiti Night. Big car show (big for my area anyways) and they had a trailer dyno. Put my truck on and with M1, Maggy free flow muffler, Superchips 91 octane, and AC Bypass pulley she laid 223hp and 281ft/lb to the wheels! For so little being done that comes out to roughly a 50hp increase over stock. And that was with O/D turned off, if it had been allowed to go into O/D then rapped out it prob would have made slightly more. Sorry no pics of that but on my YouTube channel I do have video!

That brings us up to now. Just put new shoes on! ProComp MT2s, installed a 91 Octane M1 Manifold canned tune from FlyinRyan, and added 2 LED Flood Pods to the grille guard.

Today I finished installing a set of JBA Stainless Steel shorty headers I picked up for $100 on Craigslist. Look kinda ****** because they're 5 years old and have been exposed to the weather for nearly 3 of those. Love em. Those with the other parts I've done it burns the 265/75/16 ProComps like nothing. Might as well be stock 245/75/16s. I'll get pics of this stuff later.

Somewhere along the timeline I also installed a Spectre CAI (for engine sound lol).

Nice build up so far. That's a lot of power to the wheels for such little done. Any pics of the under hood? Kinda interested to see how that intake looks after the paint. When I do mine, I might go red. Curious if it would stick out or even be visible.

Nice build! Everything looks great so far!

NightMares said:

Nice build up so far. That's a lot of power to the wheels for such little done. Any pics of the under hood? Kinda interested to see how that intake looks after the paint. When I do mine, I might go red. Curious if it would stick out or even be visible.

Click to expand...

Thx! Yeah the power surprised me for sure. I bet with these new headers and SCT instead of superchips I'm probably CLOSE to about 250hp! I'm happier than hell about that lol.

Intake sticks out pretty well and i get compliments when people see it. That's with my engine bay looking like **** too lol. Somebody who actually knows what they're doing (like yourself) and building a functional show truck, it would look a lot better. I did have a problem with my injectors leaking when i first got everything put back together so gasoline has eaten away some of the paint but overall its hardly noticeable. What is noticeable is that it doesn't look shiny. Kinda dull not a lot of gloss. Can't remember if i cleared it, would have to go back and look through my mess of left over paint cans.

A deep, bright cherry red would look badass on your truck. That's what i was going to do but it seems everybody goes red and i have a green truck so hey, I'm gonna do something different and go bright vibrant green! Lol.

Today while cleaning out tune garage from my header mess, i found this. Homemade tool dad and i made for back flushing the coolant system with air. Figured I'd post it here instead of "What did you do today? " so it's easier to find for future reference.

Just checked your thread again, nice to see the update. Yeah, it sticks out pretty good. I was actually just researching the intakes to see which one I wanted to do. I've always just replaced the gaskets, I've never actually replaced the intake but I'm wanting to go bigger with this particular truck so I'm budgeting for the Hughes Airgap for mine. Going brand new I feel more comfortable about it over the M1 just for replacement sake in the future.

Question for you though, seeing as how as I've said I've never actually replaced the intake before, do I still need the Hughes plate or is it just the intake kit I need. Here's the two I'm looking at.

Intake

Plate

Pretty sure I just need the intake from the research I've found on here, but figured I'd ask the professional haha.

Keep up the good work man. I miss my truck that I used to tinker with....

NightMares said:

Just checked your thread again, nice to see the update. Yeah, it sticks out pretty good. I was actually just researching the intakes to see which one I wanted to do. I've always just replaced the gaskets, I've never actually replaced the intake but I'm wanting to go bigger with this particular truck so I'm budgeting for the Hughes Airgap for mine. Going brand new I feel more comfortable about it over the M1 just for replacement sake in the future.

Question for you though, seeing as how as I've said I've never actually replaced the intake before, do I still need the Hughes plate or is it just the intake kit I need. Here's the two I'm looking at.

Intake

Plate

Pretty sure I just need the intake from the research I've found on here, but figured I'd ask the professional haha.

Click to expand...

Depends on what you want out of the truck. Both the AirGap and M1 will lose a fair amount of low end tq because even though it's a lot of air, it's just not moving fast enough. Shorty headers really really help as will a tb though. The modified kegger however will open up your rpm range from 3k to 4500-5k without losing much low end if any. Also, idk what you know about the intakes but most people on here (including myself) will recommend the M1 over the AirGap, to the point that several of us call it the AirCrap instead (shoutout to Merc). M1 was made specifically for our trucks vs the AirGap is a carb intake modified for efi and because of this the plenum chamber of the AirGap has a large volume chamber meant to swirl the air to atomize the fuel. Since we're efi, all this does is disrupt air flow make it take more parts to regain lost tq. Also doesn't flow as much as the M1 so for racers the M1 is better for making large power numbers. PERSONALLY on MY truck I would modify the kegger before spending the money on the AirGap so I don't lose the tq. HOWEVER, you work for an off-road shop and having a product that is readily available on your truck that customers can buy might be better than having a discontinued part sitting on your engine teasing them.

Just intake yes unless you modify the kegger like I mentioned.

You're too kind

saintsreturn said:

Keep up the good work man. I miss my truck that I used to tinker with....

Click to expand...

Thx man!

Cut out the muffler and after messing up trying to replace it with my dynomax bullet, had a peeve of pipe welded in temporarily.

Installed a catch can. Drilled 2 holes in the useless heat shield of my spectre and bolted it on there.


Installed a trans temp gauge. Install pics can be found in the diy section for 2nd gens

Installed new F&B 52mm throttle body. Little to no low end loss, picked up the mid to high range noticeably, smoother acceleration, quicker revving and throttle response. Looks shiny too



Had to modify the stock clamp a bit to work. Will get pics next week when i pull site hat off to check how well my new catch can is working.

Went and had some fun in the mud and snow the other day. Also pulled an extended cab long bed 6.0L F250 out of a field.

Pulled a van out of a nice deep ditch. In the pic you can see the field side wasnt as deep but the crest was sharper and pulling that way he high centered. I couldn't get enough traction to really get some pull power to get him over it. Pushed him back down and came around and tried the much taller side from up on the road. Smoother crest. Worked a lot better. Ditch was about 20ft on this side.

We haven't had any snow yet, lol.

Subbed, love old truck restore threads!! Nice truck!

A lot in the last 2 weeks. Replaced the IAC and installed a set of Bosch 0 280 155 923 fuel injectors out of a 2000-2005 Cadillac Seville. From what I've been able to find our stock are about #22pph-ish at 43.5psi flowing about 220cc and right at about #24 at our operating 49psi and these are like #23.5-24 at that 43.5psi and 246cc but come out to about #25-25.5 on our trucks. Compared to stock it seems to have a little more low end grunt and better pull at WOT vs the stock. However in normal driving around at part throttle it's like the pcm can't trim them back enough and it has a throttle lag, similar to a diesel truck on boost lag. MAYBE -0.5mpg is all I'm seeing different.

Ordered a set of 1.5" hubcentric wheel spacers. Prob won't use em because i like my current setup and not sure if i would like the stance.

Also ordered 2 new matte black Gibson 2.5" ID/4" OD 12"L slash cut tips to go with my new Carven R Series "muffler", Magnaflow y adapter, and old Flowmaster tailpipes.


Ordered an Innovate wideband 02 sensor and a/f ratio gauge for tuning and research purposes on account of the injectors.

Today i replaced the TPS and IAT. 1/2 because of the way it cold starts, 1/2 simply for peace of mind since both were original. Also bought a 4.10 ratio ring and pinion out of an ORE for the front axle.

Hanging out with my buddy today we had a quick photo shoot. His 98 Dakota ecsb 318 4x4 and my 01 1500 qcsb 360 4x4. Soon his truck will have a guard on the front to go with his nice thrush glasspack exhaust.