Bought my first ever truck, and it's a CLUNKER!!....for now (pics inside)

[big_k]

Hey guys,

so I bought myself a truck for somewhat of a steal..

It's a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 Hemi Sport 5.7L 4x4

Quick Background about me, I work at a primarily BMW/Volvo shop and don't know much about trucks besides all the basics.

This is how I got it

After replacing some parts: Hood, Fenders, Roof, Doors...

I have what resembles a very ugly truck!

As far as Mechanical I believe there is some kind of after-market exhaust. It's loud and also a Brute Force AEM Cold Air Intake.

I changed the Oil to 5-30 Mobil 1 Synthetic and just did a Transmission flush.


I am now smelling a lot of fuel vapor in the cabin so I am having it checked out today.

I will be painting it soon, and as well as fixing the dents and dings.


This thing roars when I start it up.

I mostly wanted to say hi, and hopefully get a few tips and tricks from veterans of this truck and get some advice on upgrades.

My next upgrades will be..
Audio - I have a new radio, speakers are blown so I will probably install an AMP and Component Speakers, also would like to do a subwoofer.

I will be tinting the windows to very dark.

Lastly I would like to lift it, but I am not in a rush, and am perfectly happy with the clearance right now. But I will begin researching suspension...BUT I look for economical yet functional solutions. So if I don't have to...I won't


This is what my Frankenstein truck looks like right now.

60k Miles forgot to mention

 

[USMC1188]

Welcome! That thing is a clunker, lol. Can't wait to see you get her back to the quality it deserves.

Your current pic did not show up

 

[TexasRammer]

Welcome!

 

[big_k]

Woops! Accidentally deleted it

here we go

 

[SmokedRam]

Welcome to RF...it has plenty of potential.

 

[suzukiquadrider]

It seems to have a lot of potential at this point, it looks better put back together than in the first pic,s after a coat of paint it should look great.

 

[Stangshcky12]

Welcome to rf
Should be a fun one to watch!

 

[big_k]

Thanks guys!

Already running into my first snag...

I will post in this thread, but most likely have to do quite a bit of research for this.


I found out that I have aftermarket muffler (Flowmaster) and straight pipes (no catalytic converters)

The fuel smell is coming from the fact that the truck is running rich, due to the fact the rear oxygen sensor has the same readings as the front O2 sensor.

Does anyone have any tips how to deal with this?

So far my only solutions are...

Install two catalytic converters (boo) and allow the computer to put the truck under proper fuel control.

Or perhaps find an ECU programmer and put a racing program or something of the sort, and either tell the computer to ignore the rear oxygen sensor readings (like a racing program would do)
or to manually change the readings.

 

[Sagebrush2500]

That truck's beautiful compared with what you started with!

 

[Hemitom]

We got another "HEMISPORT" owner here is the Club!!! welcome....

 

[mrfyram1500]

I wish I had the talent (and guts) to do a rebuild like this! What caused this mess? Good luck with the rebuild. Lots of pics please!!

 

[smiley]

Only way to fix that smell is put a cat back on and to me that is best since they run crappy without anyway. You do awesome work that thing is looking good.

 

[KGBIGCOUNTRY]

Glad someone else noticed it was a hemi sport also lol. Far as the fuel smell replied in your other thread about that. Im guessing a tree fell on it looking at the damage?

 

[Budakane]

Buy some bullet(hi-flow cats) I think that will help a bit.

 

[Belgiquebasterd]

****, how the hell do you change out a roof? That must be a time consuming project to get everything to line up perfectly!?

 

[Hollabakzach23]

Interesting! Great work thus far!! I can't wait to keep an eye on this one and see how your truck progresses!!

 

[bigbadram1500]

welcome. wow that is awesome to rebuild it to what it once was and even better.

 

[BLKDODGE04]

welcome! thing looks pretty good after you fixed it up. nice work!

 

[big_k]

I will start off by saying I've never done anything like this truck before... I was told it can't be down and laughed at by some acquaintances and friends, and after about a weeks worth of work it's looking like a truck again, I'm gonna baby the paint job just so I can tell the doubters to shove it.


Sadly I didn't take pictures of the process of the roof...that was by far the biggest PITA.

But I'll explain it for anyone that dares to venture down this path...

Had a few choices on what to do with the roof...

Other bodyshops, know-it-alls, etc. said the ONLY WAY to do it would be to buy a new cabin... or a junkyard Cabin, so my first step was shopping for cabins for a quad cab...yikes...
Prices of $2500-$3500
..plus the time to take it all apart...NO THANKS



1. Put in a Sun Roof! The roof was so bent and mangled there was no way of straightening it out.. This would of been very custom, and we're not great at custom! Wanted mostly stock look...

2. Cut a Roof at the posts and weld at the posts

3. Buy a Roof skin, straighten the posts and remove skin and install new skin.
$New Skin is $800, still needed two doors, plus other parts


I found a junkyard that was willing to work with me, he cut the roof at the posts half way...and two doors, wanted $1200, haggled down to $800

Removed the skin from the old roof from junkyard and skin from the broken roof on the Truck.

The roof came off of a 2500 and it was a BITTTTTTTTTCH to remove from the roof frame.

Bought a windshield glass to help with making sure the frame is straightened properly and began mounting the 'new' roof skin.. took about two days, with the help of another guy.

Got to learn a lot about how Dodge built these, the sound deadening adhesive helping hold the roof panel to the frame was a nightmare...

Welding everything back, grinded the welds a little, put the moldings back on, and we were surprised ourselves how great it turned out..

The first clue was when the windshield guy who sold me the windshield came back to install a new one (cracked the windshield in the process) and said he's never seen such a good roof repair.


I will be buying premium paint probably next week, and primer and will begin spraying some primer...

CONSIDERING asking my close friend for help with airbrushing something on it.... BUT he is super busy.. and I cannot really decide on what exactly ... so I think keeping the paint job stock might be the way to go.



Really excited to paint it, I can do it myself, and I have a guy that will do the paint (parts and labor) for $1100...but I figure with my own man power, I will use a higher product, and he does decent work... but I want more than decent

 

[big_k]

As far as what accident it was in...

AT first I thought he may of hit a cyclist...a very overweight cyclist.

But after inspecting the whole truck, it looks like he was going fast and most likely lost control or slipped in rain/snow and when off the road..

I'm thinking it went off road and went under a branch, or possible broke a branch on top of it, it also had a lot of damage on both sides...

Perhaps brush? who knows.. I am by no means CSI but it was fun looking around and trying to figure it out