03 Reg cab build

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
And then the fun began, full teardown, new gaskets, complete going through, all new sensors and a deep cleaning!

571786dd2026825ccad6561a35faaf60.jpg

New water pump was installed as well

32fe7c818b6f0a2586c11d978f6e34e9.jpg

Pretty much i went throughout this moto with a fine tooth comb, checked the rods, bearings, valves, you name it i checked it, i replaced the intake manifold, the throttle body, all the tensioner and idler pulleys, i was making sure there was nothing about this motor that was going to fail


Here it was all complete, i degreased this thing from too to bottom, cleaning everything i could, and made this thing look like bran new, also did an oil change and new filter at the time too

4c3dc8eb39d2d065fbd47513a59fc3f6.jpg
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
That's unfortunate you're having all those issues I suppose a new pcm is harder to come by than I'd have thought I'm sure the best universe will provide. You could maybe diesel swap it lol

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

a PCM swap would have been a blessing if that was all i had to do, Dodge completely re-wired the rams in 2004, so they slightly modified the motors and completely changed the wiring and PCM in that year, which is why the 04 motor i had in it didnt work, i did look for a good PCM and wiring harness to swap in but finding a good COMPLETE engine harness wasnt easy either, PCMs can be found all day for under $100
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
So the day came for the next motor swap, i prepped the truck a d waited on my buddy to show up with our car hauler so we could once again take it to our shop and do a swap on her

a64b2df882a64039582241f28099eef1.jpg

ea5ea1c87839980b7728c783314e35c0.jpg


I couldnt pass up the chance to take this pic, i rolled the truck out of the garage and into the street so we could load it up and I finally got a chance to see the result of my polishing on my truck and its 14 year old paint in the sun

61aed362fb198b50fd033a1215e93f3e.jpg
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
Just some pix from the swap...


9a7fe93ca1fa65ac1b04afb6a9730449.jpg

699d66506c8dacbab68a7624c50966e7.jpg

The 04 V6 is out

dd22790aa05ce4b7738ef7eed22eb277.jpg

And in went the freshly redone 03 v6

d98f4b3caf5820866dbbdb7164f52709.jpg
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
so one would think, the motor goes in and all is well right?

well wrong, we got the motor seated down and all in place, everything all hooked up, and then no matter what we did the transmission wouldn't slip into place, nothing we did would work, had us completely stumped, and frustrated so we removed the trans and decided to try and see if the motor would even run, if it did we could tackle the trans then, so we hook up the starter to the motor and let the truck prime and then give it a start...


and nothing, apparently these trucks will not start without a transmission in them, but that wound up being a blessing because the fuel rail was cracked and spraying gas everywhere under the hood so we were both thankful that it didnt start up
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
after some inspecting we figured out that the torque converter wasnt slipping into the grove on the crank on the back of the motor like it was supposed to, so off to google i went, found out that the jeep i got the motor from came with two transmissions and the jeep i got mine from didnt have the truck transmission, so it was at that moment i thought i was screwed, i started looking for a different torque converter, called a friend who had a CNC shop and was going to have him modify my torque converter, i was going for every option i could dream up.

so i made a call to a local trans shop and explained my situation and he told me to call him back the next day that he would do some cross referencing and see what he could find that would work
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
2 days later i get in touch with the trans shop and talk to a guy there, i told him my story and he sat for a minute and then told me "there is a spacer in the back of the crank, take an air hammer and it will pop out and you can stab your trans in like its supposed to"

So i hung up and headed to the shop, and 30 seconds later with an air hammer i pop out rhis little *******...

00f5733fc3fa5c4ae23ef69a487c14a6.jpg
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
after that my buddy and I slip the trans back in place, hook the starter back up, then I replaced the Fuel rail and it was time to start the ole girl up...


and it barely got one crank over and it fired up and purred like a kitten...

so then it was button up time, check all the bolts, put the radiator back in, top off the fluids, i couldn't have been more excited:favorites13:
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
So we basically get it all together, purge the coolant of air bubbles and take her on her maiden voyage, to the gas station lol, i filled the tank with premium and we cruised back to the shop, and this thing drove beautifully, and on this trip i even found out theba/c system worked amazing too!

28a7c54f29bb0275a171a1898807e2d5.jpg
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
At the very end of our trip home I noticed the truck felt a little funny, so we pull it into the shop and find the pass side calipers completely seized up...

3b1ea238b9d34bd99eb52a1fda080f2e.jpg

No big deal, an hour later we had her back on the road and driving like new again!
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
This was my happiest moment, i after all this time and work, my reward was driving this thing home, words couldn't describe how i felt and how happy i was that i never gave up

1801a86eb2cc303e2e4252f84b5ad354.jpg
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
Now before she was reunited with her parking spot in the garage, she got herself a much needed bath and waxing!

ec2086fb29374a7d6e04b8d617109dad.jpg
947c90f2b7f358febeb3365752e01c74.jpg
b89bee58918acf4f946aeaae51fe4afb.jpg
 

ramportin1

Sickest member here
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Posts
3,408
Reaction score
2,221
Location
Oregon
Ram Year
2007
Engine
Hemi 5.7
F'ng amazing to look at those last pictures and think about the before pics lol! awesome work on the whole project :favorites13::driver:
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
She has spent her time in the garage since she got home due to family events going on, work and bad weather, right now im waiting on the rain to stop so i can get her out...

While i love my black 2014 20s i bought my friends black and silver 24s for he truck, im not 100% on what wheel and tire combo ill run but the deal he gave me on these i couldnt pass up!

Anyways here are the wheels...

076c3b321b5914fef3e7179b9ef91e02.jpg
d5dc4fa64c49d49e5410a50e8421d6bc.jpg
04dfa44613522da039d97f82c1e39454.jpg
c91503f60ceb752b73e0d5d2d1fa8024.jpg

Yes i know a centercap is missing in the pic but i got 5 wheels and 5 caps, just didnt have it on in the pix...

Now he had the wheels with some blue vinyl over the silver and a texans logo on them but i removed all that crap, but i had to do a test fit first lol...


9185c4525ec28973fc16149f5ac73358.jpg
364b7578818830cd68aa51cfc202c174.jpg
a7c72244cd27b3d829404baf57742c0b.jpg
 
OP
OP
Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Posts
4,346
Reaction score
3,297
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2003, 2003, 2008, & 2013
Engine
(2) 5.7 HEMI, 3.7, & 3.6
at the moment i have a power lock, and window system that just showed up that i need to install in the truck, i have full rockford fosgate components to put in the doors coming in the mail, i also have 2 fosgate 12s and a fosgate amp to put in her so she is gona have some great sound quality, also have new LED tails to replace the Recons i put on it a while back and i just ordered a new 3rd brake light, ill be removing the crappy ebay projectors and building a retrofit out of the black oem style lights with clear corners, much more will come as time passes but thats where she is as of this moment...
 
Top