Dapepper9's build thread- 2001 Ram 1500

In the last couple weeks I've put the stock injectors back in and my misfire went away. Got the exhaust welded up with dual tailpipes and carven. Sounds absolutely amazing. Also had a wideband **** installed. Don't have a driving video yet.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RniDeUnm-wI
Found this little puppy on Facebook for sale for $900. Needs the internal seals replaced but the bearings are good. Picked up some #39 factory Cobra injectors to support it.

Also pulled out my LED headlights and opened the housings up because i bought a TRS retrofit kit. Got it all installed with Morimoto Mini H1 7.0s, 55w ballasts, 6500k bulbs, and the mini graphite shrouds and i love em. Best light I've had yet. Good custom look. And it was so easy I'm trying to get myself setup to do it on the side.

That sounds wicked man

NightMares said:

That sounds wicked man

Click to expand...

Thx man! I was trying to figure out how to post it so that it didn't take you to another Web page.

Been awhile since I've added anything to this. Currently overseas so no work being done but LOTS of parts in waiting. So far the list includes:
-Pacesetter Longtube headers and offroad ypipe
-Efan
-Harland Sharp 1.7s
-4.10 diff gears and Eaton TrueTrack rear LSD
-New upgraded idler pulley bracket for the Vortech
-Vortech still needs a rebuild
When I get back I'll probably be starting with the exhaust, 1.7s, and efan. Then I'll be looking for a trans shop to swap in my PATC MegaViper and if I'm lucky they'll do the 4.10s while they're at it otherwise I'll need to find a shop to do that. Eventually I'll get the SC sent off to be rebuilt and once that's done, I'll be buying a new fuel pump. Fuel pump, injectors, wideband, and SC will all go on at once. Still requires a little bit of bracket fab.

Well things haven't gone quite as planned. Got back and 4.10s install is on hold, 1.7s is very soon, headers soon, pretty much forgot about the e-fan and have had both some real fun and some real pain in the ass.

I had found a 52x55mm throttle body bumping the air coming in from 860cfm to 980. However along with that I've fought idle issues where it would idle anywhere from 1300-2200 and it was random what rpm it would pick. Put in a tps and it fixed it for about 3 weeks. Then that failed so i recently put in another one but one with a lifetime warranty. Hoping that works.

Around the time i put that tps in i also discovered one of my 4 month old (2 of those months the truck was sitting) tie rod ends were ******. Replaced it on a Saturday morning then right after attended a mud bog event an hour away. Truck did AWESOME. For fairly warn 265s, open diffs, not great low end and not very good trans i had one of the best running trucks and showed up a bunch of chevys jeeps fords and a couple other dodges. 15 runs and nothing broke. All that i suffered was front wheel well liners broke clips and rubbed on my tires, bent the driverside step bar and made a hell of a mess. Oh and rear driver turn signal got ******.

Replaced the other tie rod. Replaced the air filter i destroyed cleaning the truck. Left the plastic bag on it and started the truck. Implosion. I've been working on my new headlight retrofit a little bit as well but I'm currently waiting on a few parts yet.

Lastly, on Saturday i was looking on Craigslist and found a set of front and rear Ranch Hand bumpers for $600 2hrs away. Ad had only been up for 15hrs so i immediately called the guy. Offered him $700 to meet me halfway and he was more than happy to do that. Picked em up Sunday night and installed them Monday. I love em. Was supposed to drop the truck off Monday for the gear install but I've got way too much going on and will be gone the first half of October so i canceled. Now I'm free to enter the truck and tractor pull Saturday. Hopefully going to get the 1.7s installed before that, had to order 2 new pedestals for em. Tried doing them Monday but 2 missing pedestals halted that. Last night i ordered a receiver shackle mount for the sled pull.

Last night i hooked up to a pulling sled for the first time. Honestly one of the most nerve racking, aggravating, and absolute funnest things I've ever done. I was nervous as all hell because i had no experienceand didn't want to break anything, aggravating because i could've done a decent amount better i think, and just plain fun.

Out of 6 trucks i got 3rd at 191.84ft getting beaten by a 90s 5.7 Chevy at 195.something and a 77-79ish Ford with a blown 351 who got first set 210.something BUT was technically supposed to be in a different class. I was pretty pissed because i never got above 3000rpm in 1st gear 4-low. It pulled the sled fine but just couldn't build quick enough. Factory engine I'd have done awesome but with M1 instead of kegger and the size of tb i have i don't make **** for power below 3000. By the time it bogged i was just about to start my powerband. Talked to the guy with the Chevy and he broke 4500rpm lol. I did have awesome traction though.

So now that I've bored you with a book, here's the video i was able to get.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JE05RcIZBR4

Wow I'm horrible about updating this. I've done quite a bit since I last posted.

Things I don't have pics of:
Got the Pacesetter longtubes and single 3" exhaust in. Started out no cat and Carven TR, stupid loud. Added a cat and swapped the Carven with a 5x8x18 Magnaflow. Great tone but a little too quiet. Gutted the cat, perfect now.
Also added Harland Sharp 1.7 ratio roller rockers. LOVE the performance of both.
Lastly I deleted the CAD on my front axle by running an EMS Offroad solid shaft conversion.

Things I do have pics for....
Added 17x9 Vision Prowler 422s with -12mm offset and wrapped em in 285/70/17 Toyo OpenCountry ATII's. Here's what it looked like after


Then I added a HellBentSteel 2" leveling kit.


Sold the steel bumpers and went back to a factory rear and a 4th Gen front. It was full chrome but had a little rust on top from where the previous owner welded on the brackets. Got it down to bare metal there and filled it in with bondo, sanded and painted the bumper like this. Not black like it looks but factory PG8 Forest Green. Didn't think and used black primer so it came out black. Oh well. Headlights got switchbacks too.


New set of headlights I started building and recently finished. This will be the 3rd set for this truck. Had the clear/chrome 2pc, started building the green ones in my earlier posts until I found out it was going to be impossible to sink the projector back far enough to clear the headlight lens so ditched them and cobbled together another set of 2pcs using black this time with chrome shrouds. Added Morimoto Demon Eyes while I was there but I'm ultimately unhappy with that setup and the demon eyes lost the blue, driverside was dim vs passenger, remote didn't like to cooperate, and hardware for em came apart even with Loctite. These new lights won't have that issue.
For these I upgrade to Morimoto D2S 4.0 projectors in order to fill the headlight bucket more and have better output. Simple chrome housing with clear turn reflectors, chrome shroud, green passive demon eye (I'll get pics later) and changed from 6500k/50w setup to 5500k/50w for EVEN MORE light. Awaiting install because I'm waiting on 1 of the igniters to show up yet.

Continuing on lights....I have BIG news. I found, after 8 months of searching, a set of the aftermarket clear taillights in the factory style. Brand new too. Needs some paint because as you can see the area around the lens is silver. These are impossible to find. So impossible I paid $215 for em and then got offered $600 to sell em. I'll never find another set so I declined.
HERE is where the big news comes in. I MAY have found a way to duplicate these things or at least very similarly. I have some experimentation before I can say for sure but once I find out if I can seal the deal on the house I'm currently trying to buy and hopefully move into in July I'll be starting this project. So we'll see. But here's the set I picked up.

And what they looked like on one of the very few pics I could find of these


Last thing on the list is this bracket for that Vortech headunit. The plate is part of the original kit they sold. The rest is stainless steel that from my own measuring, research and comparing with those that have the full kit I have started fabbing. However, I'm thinking I'm going to have to ditch it and build another out of mild steel. Thing is just WAY too hard. Stainless is already hard material and then my drill press doesn't have enough torque or go slow enough to do the final 3/8" holes. Working my way up 1 size at a time it works fine but the 3/8" just won't do it. Pretty sure I work hardened part of it. Think instead I'm going to use 4 pieces of 1/4" mild for the end pieces, stack em, use the pipe to create the cage and gap it then weld it all together.