03 Reg cab build

[Demon-HeMi]

Its time for an official thread for my black 2003 reg cab project that has kind of been in the shadows, so ill be updating this thread with the past of this truck and the future progress of it as it comes.

those who do know of this truck know its been one HELL of a rough road to get it where i am now and you will see the progress which will be picture heavy so brace yourself lol

Ultimately the plan for this truck is that it will be another show truck to go along with my super slammed one i already have...

So stay tuned cause updates will follow soon

 

[chrisp2493]

Following. This is the v6 right? Just going for appearance on it?

 

[Demon-HeMi]

yeah this is the V6 one, virtually all appearance, these V6 motors arent fast lol

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Ill start with some pix of the day i got the ole girl, i bought her with a blown motor cause i was looking for a solid base to start a build and it was pretty muchh exactly what i was looking for...

Btw the guy in the pix is the previous owner...

 

[Demon-HeMi]

The first night it was home I decided to start tackling the paint, i washed the whole truck in the garage, and then polished the driver side of the bed, it may not look it but in the pic below the truck was actually washed, twice, and I scrubbed hard as well, thats just how bad the paint was...

 

[Demon-HeMi]

The next morning i dug through my pile of ram parts and found a smoked set of clear corner headlights and threw them on the truck

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Followed that with trying on some 24s to see how i liked the look, but i knew chrome wasnt going to be an option on that truck so i took em right back off

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Then I decided to play with plasti-dip on the grill

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Then I decided to do more paint restoration on the truck, this time on the tailgate, removed all emblems and then polished the tailgate to almost perfection

Before


After



Mind you this is 100% oem paint from 2003

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Off with the rear bumper



And on with a roll pan...

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Next was a headlight change

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Then i scored a complete oem black sport bumper

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Dipped the wheels black to tie the truck together

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Took a spare fender i had and rattle canned it black to replace the dented fender that was on the truck...



The dent i wanted gone




New fender painted and curing before a final sanding and polishing




After a full sanding and polishing to be perfect



Next to oem paint you cant tell this was a rattle can job




Installed and rest of the driver side was polished as well



Rattle can fender on the left and oem paint on the right, the rattle can paint is actually smoother lol



And then moved onto polishing the hood

 

[Demon-HeMi]

To get rid of he dipped grill i tried out a big mouth grill painted glossy black but i wasnt feeling it....



So i decided to go custom, shaved ram head and matte black painted sport inserts to really bring the front together

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Some will ask what happened to the motor that was in it when i got the truck, well here is some of what i found in the oil pan



Two pistons were completely destroyed, low compression on two others which left me with 2 good cylinders on this v6

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Took off the ebay projectors, put back on the smoked clear corner headlights and add some LEDs behind the grill

 

[Demon-HeMi]

Made the switch to some black oem 2014 20" wheels

 

[Demon-HeMi]

At this point i had the truck a little over two months and found my first motor, it came out of a 2004 dodge ram so i thought all was good, spent a few days going through, cleaning up and changing gaskets and other various parts on the motor



Then I prepped the truck and took it and the new motor over to my shop and the fun began



Stabbing in the first replacement motor, and i was getting really excited thinking my truck may run!



After i got the bad news that the 04 engine i just installed wasn't compatible with my trucks computer, it was that moment i was trying to accept the fact i just wasted a day on a motor swap and all that time and money on the 04 engine, also was wrapping my mind around the fact he motor was going to have to come back out




But ehile i was there and had access to the passenger side of the truck I decided to pop out a dent that was bothering me...


Before


And after, not perfect but much better

 

[Demon-HeMi]

The next day she got the trailer ride of shame back to my home garage



And there she was tucked back in her spot with a new motor that couldnt run because of a stupid ass software change on the PCM