Wrecked 1996 Indy Ram Rebuild and Mod

[fundcom]

So Im in the process of fixing up my 1996 indy ram that I wrecked when I was 16.

I live in Ohio so of course I wrapped it around a telephone pole in the winter.

Wanted to get some peoples opinions on what Im doing and hopefully get some pointers on it.

the good on the truck:
engine, trans, and passenger side of the truck. It had 80k miles when I balled it up

the bad on the truck:
the entire driver side of the truck, frame

what my goal is:
I want to keep this truck with me as it was my first vehicle, I have a weird obsession with manual transmissions so a manual swap is in order, and hopefully get it up to good condition once again.

the parts I have:
I have a Florida frame for it, which Im in the process of sand blasting and putting chassis saver on it
NV3500 manual trans
flywheel for the 360 magnum
new clutch
new throwout bearing
new pilot bearing
new master and *****
new crank sensor for manual 360
arp bolts for the trans and flywheel
new to me driver door
new to me front driver fender
some cheap headers

what I need
new cab
new bed

why didnt I just buy another indy ram as it would have been cheaper? Building it is 90% of the fun, at least for me.

is it still the same truck after im done with it? well the vin is going to be the same and thats about it plus the motor.

Im on a college student/pizza shop manager so money is the biggest problem for me right now

Im also entertaining the idea of turboing it with a junkyard cummins turbo, if I do that then Ill probably go standalone ecu, most likely a microsquirt

here are all the photos that I have of the project

Before I wrecked it, funfact all of these trucks are totaled but Im the only one that kept it


this was taken before I started any work on it, also if your wondering why it doesnt have the indy wheels, its because I wrecked it in the winter and these were my set of winter wheels and tires.

got the bed off of it, this was taken around 2016

taking it to a frame shop to get the frame straightened, this was before I got the florida frame so $500 wasted

trying to straighten the cab before deciding it was a lost cause

removal of the damaged fender and I got a new fender for it but sherwin williams sold me the wrong paint so its the wrong color, so I never put it on.

this is when we took it to a body shop to see how much it would be for them to fix just the cab, they wanted $2,000 yikes! and the other indy ram is my dads

pictures showing how the frame was bent.

Im doing a rebuild video series on youtube
but I want to get it done before I post the videos so they can be uploaded consistanly
this is my first post on any forum so please excuse any F ups in the post

 

[MADDOG]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the build!

 

[DodgeTx]

Really Rad! look forward to the updates and good luck!

 

[clifford15]

Nice project! Looking forward to updates.

 

[mboymopar]

Great project for sure, keep us posted.

 

[HemiLonestar]

Shame about the really tight budget, that thing is screaming for a 408 stroker lol...also saw one of these get fitted with a 488 V10 (the truck engine, not the Viper engine) with some tweaks. Should be fun once it's done, just take your time.

 

[fundcom]

Shame about the really tight budget, that thing is screaming for a 408 stroker lol...also saw one of these get fitted with a 488 V10 (the truck engine, not the Viper engine) with some tweaks. Should be fun once it's done, just take your time.

man would I kill for the v10 out of a 2500, but here in Ohio they are extremely rare, and yeah if I had the budget this would have been done years ago, my dad used to have a viper and the sound is ********

here's a pic of my ram and his viper before I wrecked my ram


going to be taking the cab off of the frame this weekend to start swapping everything on to the new frame, I'll post pics when I can.

 

[HemiLonestar]

A V10 swap with an actual Viper engine would be better, the truck version doesn't really lend itself well to too many perf mods; it's a torque/towing engine, whereas even the least powerful Viper engine started out at 400hp lol.

 

[fundcom]

not really looking to blow the tires off it, but if I could have the sound it would be all I need.

 

[fundcom]

Here's an update to the build, I got the body off the old frame still need to finish up sandblasting the new frame.
here is some pictures I took, this weekends weather was pretty crappy so I didnt get everything that I wanted to get done



the old frame with motor and trans on it.

the engine and tranny still on the old frame, if anyone needs a 46re $950 has around 80k miles on it works perfectly.

parts trailer lol

this is the cab that I had bought to replace the smashed cab, but in closer inspection its a little too beat up and rusty for me, if anyone in northeast ohio wants it, $100 comes with full interior. but i do not have a title for it.

this is the new florida frame that just has some surface rust on it.
behind is my buddies 1999 isuzu rodeo that were in the middle of an engine swap on it.

this is the old cab under the tarp.

 

[HemiLonestar]

not really looking to blow the tires off it, but if I could have the sound it would be all I need.

Well that part is completely dependent on you lol