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Cdnoilram's build thread v2.0

108K views 586 replies 64 participants last post by  Bruja Azul 
#1 ·
After the demise of my last truck at the hands of a Grand Cherokee that thought my truck was a better way to stop than using his own brakes, it's time to look to the future. In that theme, I would like to introduce my new truck... soon to be dubbed "Green Mamba"

It's an '09 1500 QCRB Sport. The important features from the factory are the 5.7L, 3.92 anti-spin diff, 4wd, and I had the dealership put 17s on it for my winter rubber. The guy that had it before me had added side steps, a nasty fuel door, tailgate extender, rear helper bags, a magnaflow 2-in/2-out muffler, and managed to put 100,000 kms on it. Why did I buy such high mileage? Because the entire drive train and suspension are going to be changed out in the next year, so why buy a low mileage one. The body is in OK shape, the expected dents and dings for a used vehicle, and one box side has been repainted, badly.

In true Cdnoilram fashion, I am going hog wild on the build and I was ordering parts even before I had possession of the vehicle :smiley_thumbs_up: Everything will happen in several phases over the next year, because I want to have the truck to where I'll be happy with it by next year. It would be sooner, but I'm also paying for my wedding that will be in June.

Phase 1 mods, already ordered/received:

Stance and handling
McGaughy's 2/4 drop kit, this will be cut for a 3/5 drop
Spohn adjustable panhard bar, adjustable rear upper and lower control arms
Hellwig rear sway bar
EBC sport rotors, green stuff pads (was going to do SSBC kit but would have to run 18s and I don't feel like paying extra for winter rubber)

A few appearance mods
APM ram-air hood
Spyder smoked LED tail lights
Anzo smoked LED 3rd brake
Street Scenes roll pan

Phase 1.5 makin' it look unique in my own special way: (expected ~March)

2-tone paint job by Airdrie Autowerks. A little snakeskin green ('10 ACR viper green) just for a bit of pop :wow:
Custom '13 sport projector headlights
Shave tailgate badge and antennae
Building a custom grille - this is going to be sweet (I'm keeping this under wraps for now, that's all I'm gonna say)
Spray-in bed liner

Phase 2 mods are all performance, have most from old truck:

Arrington P&P BV eagle heads (have)
ARH 1 3/4" primary LT headers (have)
MGH built 545/68rfe hybrid transmission (scheduled to be built)
ported 6.1L intake manifold (have)
85mm BBK throttle body (have)
Nitrous Outlet 85mm nitrous plate (have)
ZEX wet kit (have)

I am looking for a 370 or 392 forged stroker kit/block to handle the novi 1200 I have, but that might take a year with all the custom fab work I'll need to do to make it all work.

Phase 3, may happen before phase 2... audio:

Pioneer 2-DIN HU (have)
Front door panels to hold 6.5" components + 8" mid sub (have)
Modify center console and build box to hold a JL 13TW5 downfire or cheap out and just get a FOX box for 2x JL 10W6s
JL HD 900/5 + 600/4 (have)


That's the plan so far, there will be plenty of changes and tweaks as I make progress, but this is the first truck that I've actually got a plan and want to stick to it. It's warmed up nicely the last few days which means the snow is melting a bit and the truck is absolutely filthy... so no pics until tomorrow after I wash it.
 
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#288 ·
looking forward to ur review on it! guess i have some things to figure out lol which size kit did you buy?
 
#291 ·
Got a look at your toy this afternoon.
Neat toy Kurtis.

You have an electrical plug hanging underneath on the pass side,looks like it might be the plug to the driving light.
Truck looks good,but you need to do something with the inner fender liner on the front drivers side.
It was getting dark so i couldn't give it a real close inspection,but the truck looks really good.
I like your hood
Has to be one of the lowest 4X4's i've seen running around our area, damn thing i think is lower then my 2wd,:smileup:.
I could see why you had static getting it aligned,lol:smiley_thumbs_up:
Rick
 
#292 ·
The hanging plugs are the RGB plugs for my fog halos. I still need to wire the truck side in and I was waiting to get everything running properly before I deal with more cosmetic stuff. I removed the '13 projector halos that were in it so I could do some more retro work on them (can you say white LED driving lights and amber turn signals :smileup:). They'll also be wired in to the same RGB controller so all 4 lights will have the multi-colored halos to match the RGB strips that will be in the engine bay and on the amp rack.

The fender liners are just held in place with a few plugs right now, there will be new fenders and liners put in place when it gets paint next year. They might have also pulled them when doing the alignment and haven't put them back fully. I have thought about sheet metal fender liners, might have to talk to my body guy about it.

Yeah, it's low, the back will sit about 1/2" lower once I remove the bump stops and holders and switch in the air ride, then it will at least be level all around. As it sits, it's so low I have to jack up the front so I can get to the headlight bracket in the wheel well, lol. It should be lower than the 2wd, it's on the 2wd drop spindles with the 2" drop coil-over springs as well, plus the 2wd 4" drop springs out back for a 6" drop for the 4x4.

There's still lots to change on the thing, the new grille will be done by the spring, the tonneau cover will be dropped off to Dwayne for the same green paint, finish the interior and audio build. There is no end my friend.
 
#293 ·
LOL been there / done that,with the never ending thing:smileup:.
I still suffer from that problem,but it's not quite as bad as it used to be,lol:doh:

Audio's probably gonna check it out too tomorrow,i figured i'd get back over when it was better light to look it over closer tomorrow too.

It was too dark to get a good look at your interior,but from what i could see it looked pretty good.

You're a trusting soul ,you're little floorjack is in plain site in the box,and the trucks sitting in the backlot.

When you get back,i'd like a look under the hood if possible,i'm curious i want to check your handi-work over,lol.

Got some show car touring under my belt,so i have a pretty critical eye,and curiousity is getting to me,lol

How often do you and Daniel interact?
 
#294 ·
Dan and I talk a few times a week, depends if I'm at home or work. If somebody walked away with that floor jack I wouldn't cry, lol. I need one with a longer handle but with it lowered I don't need a longer travel anymore :pepper:

The interior and underhood are in pretty sad shape I warn you, so far it's been getting it running, there's parts/crap everywhere, interior panels are still pulled off, and underhood looks like a tornado ripped through with wires everywhere. Everythign will eventually be loomed and neatened up, but after doing it once and having to pull it all apart again I decided to finish the crap work before making it look nice again.
 
#295 ·
In my younger days,it didn't matter what it looked like as long as it was fast.
I rolled my 77 shortbox Ford when i was a kid,had to change the cab and a few other body panels.
Took me 3 years to get it painted,wasn't a panel on the truck that matched,but the truck ran high 13's,so i didn't care what it looked like,lol.
My buddies nicknamed the truck "The Pinto" in relation to the horse ,not Fords wunderbar car,lol.
I have a critical eye,but if it's fast,that makes a differance,lol:smileup:

If i drop some pic's off to Dan,can he get them to you?
He was gone by the time i got over to look at your truck tonight
Rick
 
#296 ·
Got a better look at your truck today in the daylight.

Sum-bitch lad,it's more impressive underneath then up top,:smileup:.

You need some chassis painting,but the truck is definitely nice underneath.

I like your exhaust,who-ever put it together knew what they were doing.
For being done on a tubing bender,the bends are beautiful,and i like the cut-outs:smileup:.

You definitely need paint in the daylight,lol.

Any squeaks out of the Spohn arms,i have the track locator,but you have everything.

Other then it looks like a bomb went off in the back seat,i really like your interior work,lol:smileup:

What are you doing with your back bumper,i've sorta been looking for a dual cut-out one,so if your interested in selling it,let me know.


If you want to lengthen the handle on your jack,you're more then welcome to use my little mig,all you'd need is a piece of tubing that'll slide over the jack handle tube.
Cut the orginal handle in half ,add the length you want and weld back together.
Pretty easy job.
Stopped and talked to your brother,so he can put a face to my name for you.

LOL,gotta admit in the dark last night,i wasn't overly impressed,but in the daylight,it's another story.
Not many trucks/cars impress me,but yours does in the light.
It's done the way i like,performance first,then looks,lol:smileup:
Way to go Kurtis,truck looks good,and is impressive
Rick
 
#297 · (Edited)
Thanks Rick. I've got a roll pan waiting to go on and that bumper will probably get sold once the pan is on, if you're interested that would simplify everything for me. I'm not 100% sure how the dual tips will look with the roll pan, I may end up dumping over the rear axle but I'll have to see it with the pan installed. The exhaust was done by the guys at minute muffler at 17th Ave/52nd St, and they are perfectionists when it comes to placement, I was impressed by them. Cost me a pretty penny for what I wanted but it was worth it in the end. Based on the recommendation of SEVERAL of the ALX guys I took a trip there and had a talk with them. Hell, they even had me come back 3 times just so we could discuss issues with placement and how I wanted it. I love that I can unbolt the center section to remove the trans, that was an absolute must for me.

I plan to get the chassis completely undercoated once everything is finished, but since I may still be doing some cutting/welding I figured it was a waste of time until then. Hell, it's all low enough that you can't see it anyways, lol.

No squeaks out of the Spohn arms yet, but I lubed the crap out of everything when I installed them, though one zerks fitting is pooched and needs to be replaced, and I plan on switching some to 90 degree fittings so I can actually get to them with the grease gun without needing a hoist. They do groan when loading/unloading the suspension on the lift, but aside from that there's no noise that I can hear over the supercharger whine. The line of thrust is out several degrees right now, but I didn't want to get everything squared away then take it all apart when I do the rear air bags, so I'm just planning to wear out tires for now since I'm switching to 18" wheels now that the 17s don't clear without a 1/2" spacer.

I'm planning on a proper low profile floor jack once I get the house/garage next year, the biggest problem with the current handle is the bend in it and I can only get so much travel on it with the height of the truck, it's annoying but not enough for me to do anything about it, hehe, but thanks for the offer.

As for the order of stuff, it's a bit of a mishmash, but I did learn from my last one. I got it all prettied up, then stated cutting/grinding away once I wanted more power, I wasn't going to make that mistake again. As it stands, I'm getting the performance work completed by spring, hopefully tuning is done in time for Castrol's opening, then it will be finishing the appearance. I can pluck away at appearance, hard to do that with performance. I just hope you didn't look under the hood, that's an absolute disaster right now.
 
#298 ·
Your exhaust was the first thing that i could see,after looking it over i had to get lower.
Next time i'll take a pair of cover-alls,lol.

Yes you're gonna need a low profile jack:smileup:.
Have you thought about building yourself some ramps to pre-lift the truck.
They'd have to be long,lol.

Those backasswards jack handles are knuckle busters,i have one like it,lol.

When you get back,i'll loan you a straight handle till you pick up a better jack.
I have 3 of those little jacks kicking around,but can only use 2 at a time,third arm isn't what it used to be,lol.
If i go back over for another look,i'll toss the handle in the box

I'm interested in your bumper that's for sure,wifes been bugging me,she likes the Sport bumper,we'll negotiate,lol.

Once i got looking your truck over a little closer,it gets a whole lot more impressive.
I thought about getting Dan to open the hood,but i figured i'd wait till you were back,lol.

When i seen your interior pic's here,i wasn't sure what i thought about your colour scheme,but damn it works.
Your dash is the nicest one i've seen:smileup:
You have some artist in you,lol.

Once the chassis is coated,it'll totally wake the bottom up.
I approve of what your doing,and the way you're going at it:smileup:.

It takes alot to impress me, you're doing it,lol.

Is the overflow bottle sitting on the seat for the truck?

Looking at the back seat,i'm assuming no kids yet,lol

I plan on heading up to Castrol in the spring,wasn't sure about opening day though,they could still be shoveling snow up there then,lol.
Rick
 
#299 ·
When i seen your interior pic's here,i wasn't sure what i thought about your colour scheme,but damn it works.
Your dash is the nicest one i've seen:smileup:
You have some artist in you,lol.
Rick
Coincidentally, I do paint, so yes, there is some artist in me. My wife actually comes to me for color combinations for stuff, which I know isn't the most 'manly' thing out there, but I stopped caring what people thought about me a long time ago.

Dan says he's seen another truck with a similar two-tone scheme to mine, so I might ahve to change my design a bit, but I'm sticking with the green, I love it too damned much.

Is the overflow bottle sitting on the seat for the truck?

Looking at the back seat,i'm assuming no kids yet,lol

I plan on heading up to Castrol in the spring,wasn't sure about opening day though,they could still be shoveling snow up there then,lol.
Rick
That's either the overflow or the washer fluid reservoir, I have 2 identical reservoirs to install for them, I just have to figure out how/where to mount everything, I'm actually running out of accessible real estate under the hood. I have the OEM overflow currently ziptied to the charge piping and it's on borrowed time.

No kids, that's what the wife says and I'm fine with that, I get to spoil my nephews which is good enough for me.
 
#301 ·
Threw a straight jack handle in the back of your truck,on the pass side wheelwell Kurtis.
I even lengthened it a bit,had a scabby peace of heavy wall pipe laying around the right size,so it's longer by about 2ft.
Let me know how it pans out for you.
After lengthening it,i'm not so sure that was wise,lol.
If it doesn't pan out to be a good idea,we'll chop it down to where you want.
Rick
 
#302 ·
Update!!!

I have official decided to go rear air ride suspension, and the front may follow if I can get a set of air shocks made for the truck. I am using the Hellwig 6298 kit to replace the rear springs, and I will manually fill them for now but I will end up with the AccuAir e-level kit to make it all auto-level and make life easier. I decided that I wasn't going to try and cut springs to get a true level all the way around, so an adjustable suspension was a must, plus, now I'm able to tow properly, even with the 4/6 drop.

The oil leaks have officially been fixed. Turns out that I did some damage to the rear cam oil cap and it was pissing out there and dripping out from between the block and trans, thank god it wasn't the trans pump like i thought it MAY have been. Also had a slightly damaged oil pan from being dropped during assembly, I bent it back hoping it would be fine, but my lucky rabbits foot was hanging from my upside down horseshoe I guess.

On Monday I drop off a section of charge piping to have the mount for the ATI Big Red Race Valve to be welded on, now I can run boost without causing compressor surge.

I also have all the parts to install my dual catch can setup, and I'm just waiting for better weather so I can start fabricating the mounting bracket that will go across the back of the engine bay for the catch cans, washer fluid reservoir, and electric vacuum pump.

I have also decided to relocate and add a second battery to the bed of the truck. One will be the starting battery and will be an Optima Red Top and I will keep the current yellow top for my secondary audio/accessory battery. This will be located in a toolbox in the box of the truck with a relay isolator to charge both batteries.

I'm still waiting for tuning from Josh, I've been having a lot of trouble getting a hold of him, which is frustrating, but 2 other tuners have said they won't touch my truck if Stu's already tuning it :doh: He does good work, but this is getting annoying. I'm still 30-50% rich so my current mileage is in the <10mpg range and I don't want to hook up my AFR gauge when it's that rich or I'll cake the O2 sensor.
 
#305 ·
I refuse to let you see it until I've got it tidied up and covers back in place. I currently have things like alligator clips running the grounds for my accessories block, reservoirs ziptied in place, and other 'stuff' like that so I could get it drivable for tuning. I have everything to tidy it up, just been too damned cold on my days off, I hate winter.
 
#308 ·
Funny story that, I've been trying to convince my wife to do that very thing for years, but she refuses to move if she can't work at a Hyatt hotel, and there aren't any on the island. She also hates rain more than snow/cold :smiledown:

What's your ETA for all that?
Spring, or sooner if we get some good Chinooks on my days off when I can stand to work outside during the winter; gotta love 30 degree temp swings in southern Alberta when the west wind starts blowing. Next week is supposed to be nice out, at or just above freezing, so I'll be able to spend several hours outside hopefully. You know how crazy us Canucks can get.

If it's nice I'm going to try and get my equipment mounting brackets made so I can throw my catch cans, reservoirs, and electric vacuum pump into the engine bay.
 
#309 · (Edited)
LOL,i'll wait till your ready for the unveiling Kurtis:smileup::smileup:
I can relate to not wanting anybody to see things till they're done:shy:

I've seen anywhere from 0C to 6 above for next weeks forecast,should be a good week to slip on a sidewalk.
That'd be a guys luck,crippled up when it's nice,lol:shy:.
What part of the city are you in Kurtis.
I have a little 120 volt Lincoln mig (CrappyTire sale special)and a small portable cutting torch set-up if you ever want to borrow them.
The mig is set up with shielding gas,so it'll do a semi decent job up to about 3/8"

Rick
 
#312 ·
So, I threw my old headlights back in for a while. I was having condensation issues again so I'm pulling them both apart to use a different sealant this time. While I have them open I'm going to try something different with some LEDs I picked up. The '13s have nice amber running lights as well as functional turn signals, well, that doesn't transfer over to the pre '13s, which is unfortunate. I've tried working the harness, adding relays, and in general failing miserably at making it work on the pre-'13 lights. *sigh*

So, instead I'm working around the problem:

adding my own white LEDs so I'll be the only truck with '13 headlights with a true white DRL that will be on its own circuit.

Here is the circuit board in its OEM form


Here's the set of LEDs I'm using, they are all pre-resistored for 12V operation and come with an adhesive pad on the back, not bad for $1.50 per LED. There's 15 per headlamp.



Now the wiring will all be hidden by the main bezel


This is how they look under the lower LED reflector. Some aren't 100% under the reflector, but I'm hoping that there's enough showing that I won't have "dark" spots through the reflector.


I'm off for the next week and the weather's supposed to be good, so I'm hoping to get a lot of the engine bay cleaned up, get my catch cans installed, loom a bunch of loose wiring, install my new boost tubing, and in general make hay while the sun isn't a frozen ball of ice.
 
#314 ·
Ho hum just another cool thing Kurtis is doing to his truck *Yawn* heard this story before!! TOTALLY kidding can't wait everytime you come up with something new I want you to finish this whole thing so we can see it!!!!
 
#315 ·
Which version of the 13 headlights do you have? V1? I have a new set from JJ which are the quick redesigned V2 and I haven't had any condensation issue on this set yet.

Fogs... well after running a thin beat of window sealant around the outside of them I haven't had any issues.

Interested to see what those LED's will look like but not something I have the stomach to attempt myself.
 
#316 ·
I have the V1 lights. I bought mine well before JJ had the harness available, so I have to make them work since I already have over 1K into them so far. I haven't had any issues with the fogs after doing the same bead of silicone, it's just the headlights that are giving me grief. I even filled all the vent holes with RTV, but I found a split in one headlight's sealant, so I'm going to use butyl rope this time and see if that works better than the silicone I've used on my past headlamps.
 
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