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Cdnoilram's "Green Mamba" build log

13K views 38 replies 7 participants last post by  dmcelhannon 
#1 ·
The truck is a brilliant black '09 1500 QCRB Sport 4wd that I bought with 100,000km on it, so it was out of factory warranty, which was perfect because I had vowed to change every damned thing on it, so why care about a warranty, it just had to have a solid body and frame to start with.

Here is the expected build plan for this truck. It will be a full show and go truck just like the last one, only better.

Performance mods are almost complete:

PWR VVT 349cuin block
with a 6.1L crank, manley rods and pistons, ARP 2000 main studs, running 9.6CR.​
Ported eagle heads with stock valve diameters,
6.1L spring swap,
ARP head studs,
6.1L intake manifold (this may change to a 6.4L SRV manifold) powder coated metallic black,
Arrington billet fuel rails,
-8AN supply and -6AN return fuel system
A1000 fuel pressure regulator,
Walbro 400 pump with 10micron in-line filter,
SRT4 Stage 2 60lb injectors,
P1SC (D1SC will go in next spring) with 3.20" pulley (~12-15psi),
custom FMIC,
N2O Outlet nitrous plate with a Zex kit,
1 7/8" primary catless AR Headers - titanium cermaic coated for appearance,
Custom bent 3" true-dual exhaust with twin 30" magnaflow 12641 - dual tip rear side exhaust,
QTP cutouts - just because who doesn't love to be loud and have full WOT flow,
Upgraded all engine grounds to 4ga (also audio related),
2800 stall Circle D converter,
85mm true-bore BBK Throttle body,
Hydroboost brake conversion,
EBC sport rotors and Greenstuff pads,
Stock 3.92LSD,
Triple gauge pod - boost, AFR, fuel pressure,
Dual dash pod - Nitrous pressure + nitrous control center,
Diablo Trinity,
L&M trans with deep pan and relocated trans cooler,
AIS water/meth system,

I think that's it for performance, I may have forgotten a few items, but it's hard to keep track of it all some days.

The suspension is not typical, I'm dropping a 4wd, which many people hate or are confused by, but I live in Alberta and deal with our winter conditions. This is my DD and drag truck, so having traction in winter and at the track is the only reason it's a 4wd. It has:

4/6 drop with GF front springs and McG's delux spindle kit,
Spohn adjustable control arms and panhard bar with Delrin bushing upgrade,
Michigan Metal Werks front upper control arms with uni-ball joints,
Kore high Angle CV shafts,
Belltech rear 2wd shocks,
Hellwig rear anti-sway bar,
Alston Chassisworks adjustable front swaybar endlinks,

Engine bay will be getting some appearance TLC:

Painted and hydrodipped half covers, fuse box cover,
KillerGlass upper rad hose with Hose Candy coverings,
Hose Candy heater hose covers,
Relocated and coated A/C lines,
Powdercoated supercharger piping,
Battery relocation to the bed,
Complete Billet Tech engine bay appearance upgrades,
Billet washer fluid and overflow reservoirs relocated,

The exterior appearance mods are ongoing but the end result will be:

Street Scenes roll pan,
Stock hitch and spare tire delete,
Custom hidden hitch,
Shaved tailgate, fuel door, stake pockets, and antennae,
Gaylord's Speedstur fiberglass tonneau,
APM hood,
Custom built deep mouth front grille,
Custom lower air dam grille (possibly with tow hooks for the track),
2 tone paint - snakeskin green, brilliant black,
22" D'Vinci Ragno wheels with 305/40R22 Nitto NT420S rubber (should completely fill the wheel well),
Bedrug ,
Under rail tool chest to house batteries and water/meth kit.

Lighting is as follows:

Custom painted '13 projector swap (did this before the RS harness was available),
Projector fog lamp swap using Morimoto M1s - painted,
AAC RGB LED halos in heads and fogs,
Spyder smoked LED tails,
Recon smoked 3rd brake light,

Interior will get:

Painted, hydrodipped, and Di-Noc carbon fiber panels,
Corbeau front seats with 4-point harness for driverseat - backburner idea only,
Harness bar,
Katzkin rear seat and console upgrade,
Headliner recovered (still deciding on color/material),
Pillars painted and hydrodipped,
B&I carbon fiber steering wheel swap,

And lastly audio:

Complete interior sound deadening layers with Damplifier Pro, a closed cell foam , and a mass loaded vinyl,
2x JL Audi HD 900/5 amps,
1x JL Audio HD 600/4 amp,
2x 12" JL Audio 12w6v3 subs,
Net Audio tall underseat upfire box,
Each front door will get custom pods to hold:
1x JL ZR800 mid sub,
1x JL ZR525 5.25" component speaker​
Rear door:
1x JL C5 650 6.50" components​
Processing will be done by a JBL MS-8

I think that's it for the build plans. A lot of it is already done or in progress over the past year or is planned for the next 6 months over winter. I know I've missed some things, but it's the little stuff that come with every build. I am doing all the work myself except paint and block assembly, those I will always leave to professionals.
 
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#2 ·
And now the obligatory photo posts of work to date:

Here it is all of 1 day after picking it up from the dealership. Nothing fancy... too much chrome for me, hate side steps, and stock lights need major TLC.


First thing I did was take some of the insurance money from the old truck and pick up some initial mods. A set of Spyder smoked LED tail lights just so I could call it modified since I truly hate. I had my Trinity from the last truck, so after an update I loaded in the 87 tune as soon as I was handed the keys, literally the first thing I did in the dealership parking lot. It'd get me though the winter until I could start working on it in earnest.



After that it was stockpiling parts and getting things lined up and prep work for the next 4 months. I started working on my headlights






Here's a video of the new halos at work:
MVI 3815 - YouTube

At the same time I got parts ordered and started filling my storage unit; suspension parts, engine block, heads, transmission, :









Once I had all the parts, I started assembling the new powerplant



Remember... don't drop the VVT cam phaser, they actually explode:





Spring finally rolled around and I got the hood and headlights installed. Finally it was looking less like a stock truck



 
#3 · (Edited)
After my wedding folled by a major shutdown and mainenance turnaround where I was the safety coordinator for the whole plant that took up 2 months of my life, I got home and got started on the performance upgrades.

Got started by renting a bay at the local U-wrench... where I would spend the next 2 weeks on a hoist... still cheaper than having a shop do the work.



this is why I love trucks... you could never do this with a LX... and yes, the engine is still in there



Engine is gone



Old vs new



Remember... I'm a safety coordinator...



With the help of several local ALX club members and a local truck member we got the engine pulled, swapped accessories over, LT headers installed, and mill put back into place.





Once it was all assembled I went to fire it up, and nadda. Wasn't building compression at all, but I was making oil pressure enough to find I had a major oil leak. Turned out that the block was shipped without oil gallery plugs, and I didn't even think to check for them. Pulled trans again and installed plugs. Still no firing though.

Figured it out after a week of pondering and troubleshooting help from another local truck member who has been totally awesome. Turns out I screwed up the timing and had it 90 degrees out - you apparently use the timing mark and not the open hole in the cam phaser :pp:

Got that sorted out and fired up first time when reassembled the third time after setting the chain off by a tooth.

While I was on the hoist I also got some suspension work taken care of. Installed the Ground Force front drop springs, and the McG's 2/4 delux spindle kit as well for a total of 4/6 drop on the 4wd. Did the hellwig swaybar and spohn adjustable 4-link control arms as well.







Springs in place


Just a few cut coils


Everything that came out of the truck, suspension-wise:



After I got it all running, I took some time away from the truck, I'd blown a CV joint in the first 5 minutes of driving it. Coincidently, prior to moving the truck I'd told my wife it was a matter of time with the CVs how they were... and 5 min later... I was a god damned prophet!




After all this I was happy to just having it moving around and IMHO it looks completely badass, but still needs lots of TLC

 
#4 ·
Took a break from the mechanical side of things and did some appearance mods while the weather was nice on my days off.

Pulled a bunch of interior pieces off, did some fiberglass work, prep, and paint. Here's the center stack, notice the deleted lower "RAM" insert where the heated seat controls would go, I also deleted the front pocket under the center stack on the console cover.





I was happy with the final paint, hydro dip, and di-noc results. It took a while to get it perfect but I wouldn't change a thing now. Paint is the snakeskin green and I used the "baby snake skin" film from Mydipkit.com. After that it was the di-noc followed by about 5 layers of clear over everything.











While I was finishing off the interior, I dropped the truck off to have the exhaust welded up. Again, something I leave to a professional because my welding is so-so at best and the place I go is amazing at getting placement perfect for tips and clearances. I'm not 100% happy with the tips and after a year with the exhaust, it's too loud for cruising around, wife refuses to ride with me because of it, and no, she won't wear ear plugs, so next week it's getting dropped off to have a 3rd muffler welded into place to try and quiet it down. If I want loud then I have cutouts for that.



 
#5 ·
New front upper control arms from Michigan Metal Works with the uniball joint to replace the old ball joint; installed the new Kore high-angle CV shafts; installed the EBC Sport rotors and greenstuff pads (7000 series front, 6000 series in the rear); removed the rear bump stops and cut a set of 2" McG's drop springs down to the height I wanted since the 4" weren't making me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Comparison between the MMW and OEM upper control arms.




Kore vs. OEM CV shafts




The front install went really smooth, pulled apart the whole spindle assembly, swapped CVs, upper control arms, and did brakes. I had to ream out a very SMALL amount of the spindle's taper bottom to clear the larger diameter bolt on the new upper control arms.

Turns out that with the McG's spindles there is a clearance issue between the lower balljoint/wheel with the '13 17" stock wheel, so I trimmed the balljoint flush with the bottom of the nut... and that still wasn't enough. Picked up a 1/2" spacer and no issues with the 17" wheels all winter.

Everything back in place
 
#6 ·
I've finished the interior paint and hydrodipping and am happy with the results, but the Di-noc has bubbled up in a few places over the winter so it's going to go bye bye when I fiberglass another set of gauges into the console.




I also got the grille frame back from my painter and was able to get the mesh installed plus the new 'emblem'. I'm going to pull the mesh and get it powdercoated gloss black since it's just carbon steel mesh.





Dropped off my tonneau cover to the painter's as well. It's a gaylord's customs speedstur cover and I'm very impressed with this thing so far.



To keep the front sway bar level I'm now running the Alston Chassisworks adjustable front endlinks, and these things are spiffy with dual uni-ball joints. I ordered the shorter ones first and they were good until the dealership lifted the truck and destroyed BOTH of them, so now I have the longer version and they fit the lowered 4wd suspension much better with no issues now.

 
#7 ·
I'm working on something for the '13 projectors. I really want white LED running lights, so I pulled the housings apart AGAIN and have installed a bunch of white SMD chips onto the oem board. The plan is to switch them with the turn signal circuit so they will alternate between white and amber for the turn signal but this didn't need to be done because the amber LEDs are much brighter than the whites and drown them out, so the whites can stay on the entire time and the turns activate as normal.







Finished up the cosmetic work on the front end of the truck now. The headlights are now finished, the grille mesh has been powder coated gloss black and reinstalled onto the new grille shell.

I'm now the only Ram with a white LED DRL conversion and they remain on for all ignition-on but the turn signal is powerful enough to drown out the white so they work just fine.



Functional video of the turn signal. The Photobucket video was absolutely horrendous quality, here's a youtube version that's much better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqyDpmn5qp4&feature=youtu.be


And some work on the front end





 
#8 ·
Battery relocation time!

The plan is to use welding cable from the local supply shop as it tends to have a higher strand count and remain flexible in the stupid cold temps out here. I hydraulically crimped every connector and ordered a 10 ton hydraulic crimping tool for $45, it survived this job so it's money well spent.

The setup will be:

Dual Optima Yellow Tops relocated to the tool box in the bed, wired in parallel w/ 1/0Ga, no solenoid
1/0Ga cable from the alt to batteries w/ 300A fuse (I've blown 250A fuses here before)
1/0Ga cable from batteries to Amp distribution block
1/0Ga cable from batteries to Moroso 74102 power shut off switch in the roll pan
1/0Ga cable from shut off switch to (1) 1/0Ga to (2) 1/0Ga distribution block
1/0Ga cable from distribution block to starter
1/0Ga cable from distribution block to (1) 1/0Ga IN to (3) 8Ga OUT distribution block
8Ga cables to fuse box, auxillary fuse box breaker, and spare

Grounds:
1/0Ga engine-frame
(2) 1/0Ga battery-frame

I debated using one Red Top and one Yellow Top but I've decided I really don't want to have a solenoid in between the two like I had originally planned. This will give me a much longer off-key run time and shouldn't cause issues with the charging system. I do forsee requiring an high amp output alternator upgrade in the future, but we'll see what happens with the audio build. I don't like capacitors, so I won't be using any in this build.

I like the bracket, but it's obvious that the manufacturer didn't have a bolt in the nut when they welded it together as the nuts were warped slightly and snapped one of the grade 3 bolts they supply with just moderate pressure. So I had to tap out the holes again and I used stainless hardware instead.

Here's the battery bracket painted and with the dual yellow tops installed.


Then I started the wiring using 1/0ga welding cable. Everything is techflexed with corresponding heat shrink.


A look at the power distribution blocks. The audio system is running off a 140A breaker and the main power distribution will run one cable directly to the starter and the other will run to the Master shut-off switch then to the fuse box.


Just need to run grounds to the frame, and the long power cables. I plan to upgrade the engine-frame ground as well.


Batteries are fully installed. I couldn't get the firewall bushings to work, not enough room on the ribs of the bed floor so I resorted to good old grommets.






Grounds are right under the box. I drilled and taped the frame and cleaned off the paint. Bolted right into the frame, I can't get a better ground without welding directly to the frame.


Installed the Moroso shut off in the roll pan.




Battery is now out of the engine bay, the space was then used to install the new wiring. I also installed a ground distribution block to simplify any future underhood mods. The bolt you see is connecting the alternator to the distribution block, and it's sticking up far enough that I can get a jumper cable on it if ever required.




Wired right up to the alternator and runs all the way back to the batteries in the box.


Here's the mostly cleaned up wiring with my auxiliary fuse block.
 
#9 ·
Getting started on my audio build this week. The equipment list is as follows:

Processing:
JBL MS-8

Amps:
2x JL HD 900/5
1x JL HD 600/4

Speakers
2x JL w6v3 woofers - passive crossover via 900/5 amp from bridged rear input from MS-8
1x JL ZR800 midbass in front door pods - active crossover vis the MS-8
1x JL ZR525 component in front door pods - active crossover via the MS-8
1x C5 625 component in rear door - passive crossover via the MS-8

The ZR800s will be bridged from the front channel of the 900/5s, the C5 650s will be bridged from the rear channels of the 900/5s, and the W6v3s will be on the sub output with input from a split channel from the ZR800s which will receive a 20hz-400Hz signal from the MS-8 and the 900/5 will use its built in crossovers to split the signal. The ZR525s will run active crossover through the MS-8 and powered by the 600/4 so each component will be getting 150W, should be pretty sweet.

I had originally planned a rear wall build but I couldn't get the HD amps and the MS-8 all onto the back wall without them preventing the seat from even bolting into place...so I modified slightly. The MS-8 will be on the back wall along with all the wiring plus a few other electronic devices used in the vehicle that can now be out of sight like my RGB LED controller so I don't have to find a hiding spot for it anymore.

Here was the original idea, with only 2 of the amps installed:


Made some changes to the layout and it's now the 3 HD amps on the floor angled so I can now play with the crossovers and filters as required without having to pull the seats like I would have had to before.







Now that the test fits are done I'll be starting the fiberglass work to smooth everything out and make it look presentable. That will happen tomorrow.

Started making a place for the MS-8's remote display. I'd already smoothed out the area under the center stack so I just trimmed out a hole big enough for the display and then began fiberglassing the remote into place.





That's it for tonight. Tomorrow will be continuing on the center stack that I'm also fabricating in a few gauge pods as well as potentially getting going on the door pods while the truck's in for some exhaust work.
 
#10 ·
Did a few things today. Upgraded the Spohn urethane bushings to Delrin ones. Delrin is a MUCH harder material than the urethane and shouldn't have the same issues with deflection and warpage like the urethane ones did. Mine were groaning and creaking just driving down the road so they had to go. After I pulled them I was amazed at the state they were in. The center steel bushing fell out of each and every one of them and a few were so abused they had fallen apart inside.







After that I did a much needed oil change and am trying out the Redline synthetic oil and while I was under there I started taking measurements for an aftermarket power steering cooler since I am upgrading the vacuum booster to the diesel's hydrobooster and will likely be generating additional heat in the power steering system.

I decided to also start fabricating a few gauge pods in the center stack, I need a few extra gauges for my system and the triple pillar pod isn't cutting it, I honestly need another 4 gauges.

 
#11 ·
Cut the door panels apart today... there's no going back now. Since I know I'll need the room behind the door panel to fit the 8s and 5.25s I've gone ahead and trimmed out the stock speaker pod as well





Been working on the center stack for the gauge pods mostly today, lower pod is complete and the upper is wrapped and going to be glassed tomorrow.



 
#12 ·
Continued on the door pods today. I now have both door skins trimmed down and the door panels all ready.

Inner door pod mounting plates.


Main door pod


Potential mounting locations of the 8s and 5.25s.
 
#13 ·
And this is the end of this chapter, for a couple of weeks anyway since I head back to work tomorrow morning.

Door pod fabrication is now complete. I still need to sand, add a few things to them, some body filler work to smooth everything out prior to paint, but everything's constructed at least.



Here's with the speakers placed



Outer trim ring installed



Inner cover in place now. This piece will be wrapped in vinyl with a plexi inner ring to edge light the speakers. I'm thinking I want to do something with plexiglass in the bottom corner to match the piece I'll be putting into the main panel where all the empty space currently is.

 
#14 ·
I had the exhaust shop do a bit more work on mine truck this week in attempts to quiet down the exhaust, I know it's the opposite of what most people do but I want my wife to be willing to ride with me when we go on cruises and to hear the quality of music that I'm expecting from my audio build; plus, if I want a loud exhaust that's what the e-cutouts are for. When I first picked up the truck I was almost appalled by how quiet it was but I think it's grown on me now, there's no more raspiness above 3300rpm and I can go WOT without waking the dead.

Exhaust I think is complete and will stay this way: 1 7/8" primary ARH headers, 3" QTP cutouts, 2.5" H-pipe, twin 30" magnaflow mufflers, twin 12" baffled Dynomax Bullets. The exhaust is completely modular so I can drop the center section to remove the transmission which I wish would come as an option from the factory rather than their slip joints which are garbage. I'm happy with the set up and will probably get the entire exhaust powder coated now to keep it in good shape.











I also swapped supercharger pulleys from the 3.05" pulley I was running to a 3.35" pulley so I can get the 3.05" pulley sandblasted to try to get proper grip at WOT where I'm having serious belt slippage. I ordered a carbinite coated 3.20" pulley from HHP but they didn't realize that the pulleys are different on the truck blowers compared to the car series. Josh figures Procharger is using a Paxton pulley on the truck blowers because of the required length of the pulley snout. The Procharger pulley is on the left with the Paxton pulley on the right for a reference.



The 730N RHR arrived in good shape and I've got a few adapter harnesses on the way to get it to mate up to the '09 so that project is on hold waiting on parts.

I played around with the mechanical side of the build last week and this week is working on the audio side again. I got the door panels taped up and installed, mounted the door pods and then fiberglassed the edges so I can cover up any gaps between the two panels. Once the fiberglass is cured I'll be going over it with some body filler to smooth out the transitions then it'll be ready for wrapping once my vinyl gets here :buffer:

All taped up




'Glassed in


 
#15 ·
Aside from wrapping the door pods with vinyl they are now complete, all the gaps are fiberglassed and filled/smoothed. Tomorrow will be pulling the interior and sound deadening the floor, firewall, and doors. I'm also going to be laying down a layer of MLV with a CCF backing so the interior should be good and quiet after this.







 
#17 ·
Thanks! I'm back from my shift at work and can get some more done while I'm home for 2 weeks, hopefully I'll be productive, we'll see if the weather behaves itself and works for me. Tomorrow is supposed to be rain :mad:
 
#18 ·
Back from my shift at work and ready to rock. Got started early to give me time to correct any mistakes but after a few practice runs on some scrap I went to town on the panel inserts. The scrap was just practice to set the air nailer's depth and how I could staple the 1/2" mdf with 1/2" crown staples (smallest 18ga air staple available), overall I'm happy with how they turned out.

Here's that snakeskin vinyl patter I was so excited about finding


Added a chamfer to the inside of the speaker ring


Rabbeted the backside of the panel to give a good surface to staple into


A little spray glue... and a view of how small my balcony and workspace is


The outside wrapped, stapled, and trimmed; here's the fingers that allow me to make a clean inner curve


Fingers trimmed


Finished insert




Tomorrow it's supposed to rain so I'm going to tackle the door panels with the snowmobile seat vinyl and maybe pull the interior again so I can get the 730n installed with the new harness that arrived.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Yea worst schedule i had was 8 and 1. And you had to beg for that week off, job security I guess lol.

You and i are true die hard customizers!
I know all about working outside-my current situation :

Sanding body parts for paint on the balcony lol


Installing fog lights and hids


Painting sub frame and cross members lol


Among engine work and interior well you get the idea

Don't mean to thread jack, keep up the good work and keep the ideas flowin
 
#23 ·
So this has screwed up my plans for the week:



I was sitting in the truck in the snow doing some wiring on the audio system, kinda getting fogged up and cold but made some awesome progress. Tidiness is a big issue for me... can you tell?



Driver's side door is wired and complete. Ran the 3 cables into the door by drilling a hole into the cable route and through the available grommet in the truck side.





All wiring is properly labeled on both ends thanks to me 'borrowing' the cable printer from work for an hour.

 
#24 ·
The Ram is lookin' really good! .... :ylsuper:
 
#27 ·
Thanks.

Just stopped in to the E-mortal custom shop in Calgary to discuss the suspension work that I'm in desperate need of to correct the back end geometry and to give me some real axle/frame clearance. Plans are now to keep the Spohn adjustable bars to simplify replacement parts but it'll be custom bracketry for the control arms, relocating the swaybar brackets, adjusting the panhard bar location and moving the axle bracket. She goes in for surgery next month.

After discussing with the fabricator I really don't have enough suspension travel to make the addition of a watts link worth the extra effort, once the panhard bar is relocated there should only be 1/2"-3/4" of deflection side to side at my current ride height which is more than capable of being handled by the spherical joints of the Spohn bars once it's all repositioned.

Also got to have a look at the front end and see what's making all the noise up there, thankfully it's not the CV joints, but the front axle and stub shaft now have a bunch of play in them so they'll need to get rebuilt but it'll be a project in due time, the back end needs the work sooner rather than later.
 
#29 ·
Wow. Thanks for posting your projects. I'm a bit intrigued by the battery relocation; I might try that for slightly better weight distribution. Are you using MDF for the audio boards in the doors? Is the snowmobile seat vinyl self-adhesive? Thanks.
 
#30 ·
Yes, I used MDF for the door pods and the snowmobile vinyl is just a standard 4-way stretch vinyl that stays flexible down to -45C, it's not self adhesive, I used 3M super 77 contact adhesive.
 
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