Watching My 2nd Gen Get Outta Hand: The Build Thread

[zachu812]

While doing some work on the truck this weekend I started thinking back on where things began with it and what the plan was compared to where I'm at now. As many projects do, I started out with what seemed like a realistic goal given the resources I had at the time. Things got out of hand over the years and I though it might be fun to share the story from the beginning. I'll fill in as I get time, going to take at least a few days.

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Had the above 02 Ram 1500 4.7 as my daily driver for just over two years, was a great truck to me aside from the poor fuel mileage and being painfully slow. After having the 02 listed for a couple months I got a bite and the truck sold in July 2014.

Before I bought the 02 I was looking for a Cummins but couldn't find anything I liked in my price range, while it was up for sale I had my eye on a few others but nothing looked too promising and I was on a college student budget. Found an 01 across the state for sale on craigslist, ad was kinda vague and said that the truck needed steering work but it looked clean. Decided it was worth a call the day I sold my 02, liked what the guy had to say and made the trip after work.

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Got to see the truck and the interior was pretty well trashed, dash lights didn't work, had a few leaks, rode like a wooden wagon, steering was sloppy as can be, and the tires rubbed like mad on a hard turn. The plus side was that the body and frame were VERY clean for a truck found in Michigan. The story I got was that a buddy of the previous owner bought the truck down south and had big plans for it. Truck ended up sitting and he sold it to the buddy who daily drove it a couple years before selling it to me. Decided I was up to the task of fixing the issues, the truck was still perfectly drive-able and that's all I needed out of it at the time. Took it home for $7500 with 228k miles.

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[zachu812]

The truck was purchased to be a slightly more fuel efficient tow rig/daily driver than the last truck. I did enough reading before to know that I wanted to put a tuner on it (for fuel efficiency of course), lift pump, and beef the trans up a little bit but that's all I wanted mechanically at the time. Aside from that I wanted to clean the truck up, make it drive/ride a bit nicer, and change a few things to fit my style a bit more.

On the drive home I noticed a sweet smell starting to overpower the numerous air fresheners in the cab, should've seen that coming. Dashboard was already trashed so I ripped out what was left of it when I replaced the heater core. Also found a rats nest of wires behind the radio and a few missing wire nuts from the install That explained the dash lights being out, easy fix.
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When I was looking over the truck at purchase I noticed the pinion seal was leaking a good bit, couldn't get the tires off the ground to really check it so I hoped for the best. Got a jack under the truck shortly after and sure enough the pinion bearings were completely trashed, just couldn't hear the awful noise over the rattle box under the hood. Found a good deal on a lower mile D80 with a limited slip and swapped that in. Knew the driveshaft would need to be shorter but I though with the lift blocks it might still fit. Ended up fitting the stock one but it was uncomfortably tight, set a few thousand pounds in the bed at work to make sure I wouldn't destroy anything on a big bump and it was ok but just barely. Months later I called a shop to shorten the driveshaft so I pulled the rear driveshaft out, covered up the empty hole, and drove around with a front wheel drive truck for a couple days until it was done.
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Took some stickers off and gave the truck a good cleaning, wasn't quite my style at the time but looking back I almost wish I didn't change anything.
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Got sick of the towel covering the crater where my dash used to be but didn't want to spend money on a new one at the time, got creative with some vinyl and that made it bearable for the time being.
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Started searching for a topper to keep gear dry and use the truck for camping trips and such, ended up finding a truck for sale that already had one and was able to give the owner a couple hundred for it. In the mean time I put some sport lights in to replace the weathered headlights, painted over the peeling chrome grille, darkened the tail lights, and made some grille covers to help keep things warm in the winter. One of my favorite pictures of the truck right here.
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[zachu812]

After the first couple snows we had I realized how much a wide tire sucked for traction, started searching for something different. Had my heart set on some 265/85/16s but money was tight. Borrowed some rollers from a buddy so I could sell the 315s and found a set of 3rd gen take offs with newer tires I liked a few days later. The day after I got them on we loaded one sled in the bed and one on the trailer and made the 5 hour trip up north. Roads were snow and ice covered for all but maybe 30 minutes of that drive, glad I made the tire change when I did.
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Rode about 100 miles the day after we got up there then this happened to my buddies sled. Heard some piston slap but there was really nothing to do but try to make it back. Was a small fire after it blew that took some snow to put out.
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Had to tow his sled about 20 miles back to the nearest town then dropped him at the bar and rode back the last 60 miles or so to the motel so I could get the truck. Got the sled all loaded up and heading back to the motel when we kept feeling this weird vibration that goes away after a few seconds, roads were snow covered, could've been dirt roads for all we knew so just chalked it up to that and kept going. The 4th or 5th time it happened we felt the back passenger side of the truck squat and start grinding horribly, f**k...
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Threw the spare on and had to steal 2 lugs from the other 3 wheels which also happened to be loose. That was the last time I trusted an impact alone to get my lug nuts tight enough.

After that long of a trip I was sick of the sloppy steering, upgraded to the 4th gen style linkage and that tightened things right up. Did the swap in the driveway with wheels on the ground so I wouldn't have to align the truck. On my way to class a few days later I hit a bump on the highway and experienced death wobble for the first time, was quite the pucker moment. Luckily nothing snapped, went to get an alignment in the days after and it happened again. Went back to the stock steering linkage since that was the last thing I changed, still there. Ended up fighting this battle for about 6 months, I'll get into what fixed it in a later post. For the time being I just avoided the highway as much as I could.
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Spring time came around and I didn't have a real need for the cap anymore so off it came, made it much easier to see out of the truck.
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Found a good deal on an Edge Evo HT not too long after that and scooped it up. Trans was supposedly rebuilt not too long before I bought the truck so I didn't worry all that much about the measly 60hp it added, sure made the truck a LOT more fun to drive.
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Was driving down a dirt road near the house and saw what was basically my identical truck in extended cab long bed form for a good price, thought long and hard about selling mine to pick it up but after going over the truck a bit more carefully I found the shoddy rust repair work hiding under the surface. Turned out the owner of that truck also owned the scrap yard it was parked in front of. They happened to have a few 2nd gens in the back, ended up getting all of the interior pieces I needed to fix mine up along with a key fob for $200. Also got some Superduty cab lights to install, still regret drilling those holes in my cab
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Tax season came around so it was time to beef the trans up in preparation for the Edge Comp I had my eyes on. Did a lot of searching and decided on a DPC low stall single disk, Firepunk VB, and TCS combo kit. Northwest diesel, who was local to me at the time, gave me a great deal on everything. Great group of guys. Being my first time pulling or opening any transmission it took about 20 hours of work to complete everything but it worked out good.
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Had enough left over to grab the Edge Comp I wanted along with some Autometer pillar gauges, a Vulcan big line kit, and a Holley Blue pump.
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About 2 months after the first tuner was installed the Edge Comp went on. A few pulls with that setup and I had the bug, suddenly I changed from "A reliable tuned daily driver is all I'll ever need" to "The internet says a VP44 can make about 600hp reliably, lets try it".

Went out to the sand dunes and had some fun, my truck was keeping up with a buddies tuned 6.0 Ford that I previously thought was "fast". Before this I only ever went out there in my 1500 without a trans temp gauge, you can probably tell where this is going. I would beat the hell out of that truck without a single care in the world, always made it back without an issue (except this one time). This 2500 felt like a boat anchor in comparison, it took a lot of throttle to keep the truck on the sand when climbing hills. On one of the laps I didn't make it up test hill until my 3rd attempt, by that time my trans temp was showing 250 and climbing. Didn't know any better so I shut the truck off to cool, never thought anymore of it so we kept having fun until it was time to go. Aired up the tires, got some fuel and back on the road. Layed into the throttle getting on the road 1-2 was fine, on 2-3 the truck just started to rev. Got into OD and same deal, now we're in trouble...
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[zachu812]

After making the 3 hour drive home without issue I realized it wasn't the end of the world, still sucked though. Found out it only slipped when I turned the Edge above level 3. Had a spot of rust starting to peek through one of the cab corners so I went ahead and cut it out.
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Wasn't a fan of the paint the previous owner used around the bottom of the truck so I bought some Monstaliner to redo everything and paint the bumpers while I'm at it. Was pretty impressed with the way it turned out at first but it started coming off the truck in sheets less than a year later. Followed their prep work exactly, never again.
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Found a local guy with a brand new HX35 for a good deal since the waste gate on my HY35 was seized. Ended up trading him my old 4th gen steering linkage for the turbo and he gave me his old locked up Fass 95 since he Ppump swapped his truck.
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Still had the slipping trans in at this point but I didn't let that stop me from having some fun. Ended up going to the dunes again, this time with a new fan clutch and a 6.0 trans cooler. Helped a bit but things still got hot easily. Made a few trips up north so I had some faith in it at this point. Went to DNR Customs dyno event at Milan and drag raced for my first time. Was a bit of a reality check when I ran a best of 15.4.
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Picked up a core trans a few months prior that I was planning on having rebuilt but I found a "good 48RE" for the same price so I grabbed that and swapped it in. Pulled the pan to swap VBs and found a chunk of metal, turned out to be the OD direct snap ring. It was 7:00 on a Saturday night when I found this and a local trans guy, Mike Juntti, was nice enough to invite me over to his shop to swap it out for me at 9:00. He pointed out that the trans was an 03-04 47RE and not the 48RE I was sold, didn't have a better option so I assumed the previous owner didn't know any better either. He said it held the power his 04 CR was making with a Smarty so surely it would hold what a VP truck with an Edge Comp was making right? Nope, I got screwed on that deal, did exactly what the last trans did. Still kept it in the truck for a couple months.
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A friend of mine had a 96 12 valve that was rusting to pieces, used to be a healthy truck from what I heard of it. Worked with his Uncle who built the truck for a couple summers, would always tell me stories about the truck. Had 370 marine injectors, an S300G, Suncoast trans, and the pump was turned up. The truck got hit in an accident and was sitting in the middle of an unfinished axle swap for a couple years, had stock injectors and a stock ebay turbo in it at this point but I knew the Suncoast trans was still in there. Made a deal with my buddy that I'd get the truck running and driving again if he would let me swap my trans for his Suncoast since that truck didn't need more than a stock trans anyways.
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Pulled the pan off the Suncoast and found chunks of clutch material in the pan along with more metal shavings than I've ever seen on a drain plug. Knew that it still ran and drove so I decided to pull the OD unit since that was easy, brake clutches were totally wasted. Swapped over the whole OD unit from my trans. Pulled the pump to check direct and forward packs, both looked perfect so it went back together. After my 4th trans swap that summer I finally had a solid transmission. Billet input, triple disk, solid 2nd gear band, Suncoast VB, double deep pan, and all the other little goodies.
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Finally got around to going through that locked up Fass 95, it cleaned right up and worked perfect on the bench so I threw it in the truck and never had a problem with it.
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Went to my first dyno event at Legendary Diesel, truck made just under 350hp and 800ftlbs. Just about what you'd expect from a stock truck with a tuner.
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[WUnderwood]

Great write up, keep em coming

[thatguy69]

I'm waiting for the part where it gets out of hand...

[56cummins]

[zachu812]

Over the course of that past summer the truck was still getting death wobble on a weekly basis despite trying to avoid it. I snapped two track bars in the process, mostly due to a worn taper on the frame side but that was enough to make me invest in a DOR track bar.
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That didn't stop the problem but it was enough to keep me from changing track bars in the nearest AutoZone parking lot. Found a good deal on a dual steering stabilizer kit, at this point I knew they were just a bandaid but I had to try something, made it occur less often but the problem was still there. Multiple tie rod ends were worn out in this time and replaced, few alignments done with no luck. Had caster maxed out and again it was better but not gone. Hubs, ball joints, shocks, and any other wear items were checked and replaced as needed with no change. Finally I took off the leveling kit and got one last alignment, that did the trick. I'm still cautious going over bumps on the highway almost 5 years later.

With the front end back to stock height I thought it looked goofy with the rear end so high, replaced the stock 4.5" blocks with some 1" blocks and ended up with the rear end sitting 1" higher than the front.
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Since my riding buddies sled had blown up the previous winter and I didn't ride much after that I figured it was time to sell the snowmobile for truck parts. At the time these were the last mods I was planning to buy before going through and restoring the truck. You'll see how that ended up. Decided on an S369, some head studs, injectors, and upgrading my Edge Comp to a Drag Comp. The turbo went on right away but I was still trying to figure out what to do for injectors and refused to install them without head studs knowing I'd probably blow the head gasket otherwise.
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I'd been wanting a sport bumper for a while so I started looking around and found a whole truck for $600 with a nice blue sport front end on it. Offered the guy some cash to let me swap them for my stock stuff and he agreed. I painted over the blue bumper and traded a buddy the blue grille for a white one.
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The new turbo gave the truck enough extra power to know that I needed traction bars. Got the TSC links and some cheap pipe from Alro then went to town with a welder, they turned put pretty good for my first real welding project, haven't really had to touch them since.
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After a little more reading and some asking around I decided on some 6.013s from Weston, he happened to have a lightly used set on hand from a guy who was going smaller so they were gone through and sent out my way.
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Had to wait a few painful weeks to get home and into the shop to install those along with the head studs. At this point I still had no idea what I was in for. Started the day by replacing the tappet cover gasket, repainting the valve cover, and addressing a few leaks. Turned into a long night but it got done.
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Went back the next day to address one last fuel leak and give it a heat cycle and re-torque before taking it out for the first rip. Got it up to temp and finally laid into the skinny pedal and HOLY S**T! I probably went through half of my remaining tread from all the rolling burnouts, had no idea a relatively stock truck could be that fast. It all started to make sense. Was only a matter of time until this happened, scared the hell out of me.
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[zachu812]

Had a coupe weeks of school left before summer so I didn't get to do too much aside from cleaning and hair spraying all of my intercooler boots. Did get to do a little messing around and learned to drive the truck a bit better, still had a lot to figure out being new to something with power. One of the first things I did when I got home was swap in a RedHead steering box, the steering was FINALLY how I wanted it to be after almost 2 years of owning the truck.
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A buddy and I had been going back and forth for a few years modifying our trucks and racing each other. Used to be little stuff but things started to get more serious, his 2012 Sierra got an S369 SXE under the hood as well. I wanted to see how the new setup towed just for fun and he needed a ride to the tuner so we threw his truck on a trailer. Did surprisingly well but definitely had to drive around the turbo, longer hills would've been an issue.
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Once his truck was finished we took a trip down to Milan Dragway. This was only my second time on a drag strip and I was working with a lot more power this time. First pass I left at probably 10psi and spun hard, let the truck lock on its own, 12.6 @ 110, not bad when I was hoping for 13s. Next pass I left easy again with the tires aired down and locked the converter as soon as 3rd hit, 12.07 @ 110 again. I was scared of the stock output shaft in the transmission but couldn't walk away this close to an 11. This time I left at about 20psi, truck hooked and I grabbed lockup as soon and 2nd gear hit. Resulted in an 11.9 @ 111, I couldn't believe it. Went there hoping for a 13 and ended up with this, couldn't have asked for more.
11 Second Cummins 24 Valve - YouTube
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Took a trip out to the sand dunes on Memorial Day weekend, the turbo was a lag monster in the sand until I learned how to drive it. Did a bunch of runs on the drag strip and spun hard with my little 265s but still had a blast, was a nice change not being the slowest one out there. Started searching for a set of sand paddles to try out there, couldn't find anything to buy but I was able to borrow some super scoops from a friend.
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Next time out at the dunes I was struggling for a while, if you haven't driven anything with paddles it's a very different experience. Tons of fun once you figure it out, part of my problem was the front end digging in with the pizza cutters up there. Started using 4wd and it made a world of a difference. Made a couple runs on the sand drag strip and I was right on the heels of some of the quick Jeeps out there. Time to give it a little more and see if we can get ahead of one, got all lined up and staged at 30psi, saw someone jump near the flag so my foot came off the brake and got right back on then SNAP. Should've seen that coming.
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Had to tow strap the truck to a friends property and leave it there, went out there the next day with a trailer behind my dads Ram 1500. Got the truck all loaded up and realized the truck didn't have trailer brakes. Could've sworn I was playing with the trailer brake controller in his truck, turns out it was another Ram. At this point I should've taken county roads back but hindsight is 20/20. Got on the highway on the long downhill stretch leaving town and caught the traction control light come on going over a bridge. Trailer was swaying gently but I was already going too fast and the hill was too long to ride it out. Got on the brakes slowly and of course the sway got worse, the trailer started driving the truck and I was sawing at the wheel trying to stay on the road. Two of the straps holding my truck on the trailer broke and it fell off the side just enough for one of the paddle tires to fall on the highway. That was enough of a trailer brake to straighten things out and I was able to pull over safely.
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Things could've and probably should've gone much worse but we made it out ok. Learned my lesson the hard way. After 4 hours on the side of the highway trying to get my truck off the trailer with 2 wreckers we had them flatbed it back to the property. The following weekend I swapped a loaner OD unit in the truck and made the trip back home. Once my billet output showed up I got the shaft swapped out and put my OD unit back in.
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Shortly after things were back to normal I went for a drive one day and the truck was dead pedaling, pulled out my scanner and verified the APPS was reading correctly. Didn't really have the money for a new VP with school starting back up so I tore into mine to see if anything was salvageable. Found some wires with almost no insulation, fixed that and hoped for the best, no luck. Found a used pump locally for $300, after shipping mine off for core I was back on the road for $100 total. Truck didn't feel like it made quite the same power but it started everyday and that's all I needed to get through my last year of school.
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Was back in the town a couple months later and checked a few things out on the truck, the turbo was starting to get more shaft play than I was comfortable with. Looking back I would've ran that thing no issues, worried me too much at the time. The lag was also starting to get old so compounds were on my mind. Bought a couple cheap HE351s, one to replace the S369 with and another to use for mockup. I opened up the turbine housing a bit, cleaned up the front cover, and made a spring gate for it. Obviously not as fast as the S369 but every bit as fun, after driving a lag monster for months having something that responsive was awesome.
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[Empty_Pockets]

This is great. I love the way your truck looks with the paddle tires on it. Your avatar is one of my favorites

[okish]

11's are impressive as fawk man. Congrats! Looks like it ran clean too!

[zachu812]

Originally Posted by Empty_Pockets

This is great. I love the way your truck looks with the paddle tires on it. Your avatar is one of my favorites

Thanks! There's more pics with them coming, finally got a set of my own.

Originally Posted by okish

11's are impressive as fawk man. Congrats! Looks like it ran clean too!

Thanks dude, I couldn't believe how well it ran with such a basic setup.

[bateman]

Cool to see the progress. You have some good vids on YouTube. And definitely the best avatar on the forum haha

[zachu812]

Once the HE351 went on I didn't have to mess with the truck nearly as much, hood stayed closed for months at a time and it just ran. Plenty of boosted launches in that time and a lot of fun in the snow. Got a night time job as the lab supervisor at school so I took advantage of the machinery when nobody was using it and made most of the flanges and mounts for my compound setup on the lathe and mill. Slowly picked away at it until the following spring.
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My tires were getting bald at this point and I wanted to change the look of the truck, buddy of mine was selling his rims and tires to go bigger. The price was right and I loved the look.
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Had to wait for the semester to end (and graduation) before I could put the compounds on. Made a trip out to US 131 Dragway with some friends one sunny day to see how the truck ran. Started out with some 13.18s @ 100 with the truck at full weight, was running the Comp on level 3 at first. Wanted to see if I could break into the 12s with this setup so we pulled out the tool box, spare tire, subwoofer, and tailgate, only got a 13.14 out of it. The truck was still running clean so I turned the Comp up to level 4 and saw a best of 13.02 @101. Never tried with it all the way up, I was scared of blowing that little turbo with all the fuel I was throwing at it, I'm sure it would've been fine.
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After school was done it was time to install the compounds, what I was expecting to be a full days project turned into 3 days. Primary was a little too high or too far back so the downpipe clearance was TIGHT and the charge pipe was a royal pain. Finally with everything fitted up we went for a drive and were less than impressed, felt like I was running a single S475. Turned out some poor machine work on my side left the gate for the HE351 leaking, I had tried to open up the bypass and replaced the wastegate puck with an exhaust valve but it didn't seal up too well. Put the old housing on that I worked over a little more mildly and it came to life. Boost was almost instant and I couldn't pull it back down under the chargers no matter what I did. Only problem was I kept blowing intercooler boots.
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Decided the trans might be due for a refresh after almost 2 years of abuse from me and many more from the previous owner, that Suncoast was put together in 2006. Drove it out to HTS Transmissions and spent a night going through it with Dusty and Mary. Forward clutches were just about wasted, directs weren't great, VB had a broken spring, and the 2nd gear band was getting bad too. Great service from a great group of people, trans was perfect after that.

Fought the intercooler boot problem for a while and tried a couple things with no success. Jlbayes was nice enough to invite me over and taught me a few things while we completely remade the charge pipe, that was the last time it blew a boot.
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Signed up for an event called West Michigan True Street Drag Weekend, basically a poor man Drag Week. Started at Mid Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, went down to US 131 Dragway in Martin the following day, and back to Stanton for the final day. We had 4 hours or so to run our best time then it was off to all the places on the route and a car show to end the night. I went to the track a couple weeks before for the first time with the compounds, could only manage a 12.3 for some reason. Thought it might've been the heavier wheels so I swapped the 3rd gen wheels back on. Didn't make the slightest difference, got a best run of 12.2 @ 108. I've got a bunch of videos from the event, I can try to post those up if anybody wants to see.
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I had swapped to a PNH converter from a buddy to lower stall speed before Drag Weekend and for some reason it was taking somewhere around 10 seconds for lockup to grab. 3 days of drag racing must've killed it, we cut the converter open recently and found out the stator and turbine were trashed and the lockup clutches were shaped like Pringles. Truck still ran fine unlocked so I went to another DNR Customs event to run in the dirt drags ,with the compounds they put me in the open class. Wasn't the fastest truck by a long shot but I figured out how to cut a tree by then, was able to get 2nd place and went home with a little cash.
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Had plans to fix whatever was wrong with the converter, at the time I thought maybe the VB was causing something but I was pretty happy with how the truck was running otherwise. In the back of my mind I still wanted to get back into the 11s but really it was time to restore the truck. Got outta work one day and the truck took way longer than normal to crank. Didn't think much of it until it happened again and again. Got more frequent and it didn't matter if the truck was hot or cold, couldn't figure it out. Thought the VP might be dying on me, why not ppump the truck? Could get me back into the 11s and I wouldn't have to worry about this again. One last big modification and then I'll finally restore this truck to it's former glory...
ppump.jpg

[bateman]

What happened where the JB weld is on that pump? Just curious. I like learning how to use less heli coils and jb weld lol.

[zachu812]

Originally Posted by bateman

What happened where the JB weld is on that pump? Just curious. I like learning how to use less heli coils and jb weld lol.

I think you're seeing some of the plastic that was left on the fuel fitting from shipping, definitely have some JB weld holding other stuff together though

[zachu812]

By this time the truck was leaking from just about everywhere, compounds had an exhaust leak, and I decided to swap my Suncoast converter back in so it made more sense for the engine to come out for the ppump swap.
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While I had it out I took my time to redo wiring under the hood and cleaned up a bunch since everything was easy to get to.
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It was a 215 pump that I ended up putting on, threw some 035 DVs and some 5k gov springs in it. Kept the same 6x.013s, lift pump, and compound setup. The plan was to keep everything the same, just swap on a ppump and clean things up a bit. Over that summer I had a beater car to drive around but the truck was still my main vehicle for towing and long trips so I wanted to keep it mild and reliable. Engine went back in a few weeks later.
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I got one day of tuning after the swap was finished and had the truck running decent so I decided to go to Northwest Diesels dyno day. Was still scared of that little manifold charger for some dumb reason and I thought this pump would add more fuel that it did so I had the plate pulled back a little bit. Saw a best of 611 hp and 1161 ftlbs at the wheels.
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Wasn't long and I had the fuel plate slid all the way then went to the track, didn't have much more tuning time but I thought for sure the truck would be back in the 11s with this setup. 12.24 @ 109 was the best I could manage, oh well the truck still ran and drove good.
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A few months earlier I got hired into my current job full time, student loans were under control so it was time to pick up a new daily driver. Did a lot of looking for a clean 06-07 5.9, had my brother look at one in NC for me but it didn't pan out. Found an 07 6.7 locally that was pretty clean, had a rebuilt trans and the EGR problem had already been fixed by the previous owner, seemed like a solid daily driver.
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Since I wasn't depending on the 2nd anymore I decided street manners didn't matter quite as much if it's only going to be a fun truck. I still wanted it to be as fast as it used to and I missed how hard the S369 ran when it lit. Thought about building a bigger compound setup or just replacing my secondary but I wasn't sure if that'd be enough for what I was looking for. Had a buddy selling a GTA4202 with a 1.01 T4 housing on it so I picked that up to try a big single again and got a gated manifold in case I was going back to compounds.
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By now the rust had really caught up with the truck so I stopped caring really quickly. I'd always wanted a hood stack for fun but hated how the smoke would come in the cab with windows down, ended up going with a fender dump. The truck FINALLY ran the way it did with the S369, better now that I could spin it over 4k. The fender dump was obnoxious but it sounded great and was awesome for tuning, was able to get this setup running almost completely smoke free now that I knew how an AFC worked.
fender dump.jpg

This turbo had a chip missing from one blade on the turbine wheel and it did the job of showing me that big singles are still fun so I started searching for a permanent replacement.

[zachu812]

At some point in the last post I got rid of my trusty lil Fass 95 and upgraded to a Fuelab pump and a high speed check valve on the return side. Kept a drawstraw in the factory fuel module but bumped it up to 5/8" tubing and ran -10AN lines all the way to the pump. Now fuel pressure was a constant 70psi no matter what.

Called up Weston and told him my goals now that I had a better idea of where I wanted the truck to be at and what I wanted to do with it. Decided on a cast S472/83/1.0, my same 6x.013s with some more needle lift, drilled out edge filters, and a better pump. Was still deciding between a benched 12mm pump or building my current pump into a 13mm, building a pump still scared me some at this point so I kept my eye out.
s472.jpg
injectors and feeds.jpg

I was 3 months into owning the 6.7 and completely over it. Was sick of fighting a bunch of little s**t with a daily driver and getting tossed around on these bumpy Michigan roads in a 1 ton on my commute. Didn't really need something this capable when 90% of my driving was to and from work. Decided to lease a Ram 1500 and see how I liked it.
sold 6.7.jpg
ram lease.jpg

Tax season came around and Jlbayes was still sitting on Don Ms old 13mm pump so I decided I might as well go big and picked it up. Got the pump thrown on after having to learning how to time one again. While setting the idle I experienced my first runaway and promptly threw a frisby on the turbo inlet, intake horn was still off so that did nothing. After some blind scrambling in a smoke filled shop we started cracking injector lines loose and got it to shut off. Luckily Matt was there keeping his cool and knew what to do.

Took a while for the adrenaline to wear off but we got back to it and figured everything out. Took the truck for a test drive and HOLY S**T we had a runner, charger started waking up at 1500 rpm and came on way harder than any setup I've been in before. Cruising at 60mph on a dry road in 3rd gear, tipping into the throttle until I heard a whistle, then matting it would just blow the tires off like no other. This was it, everything I wanted out of the truck performance wise, we finally did it, just a little fine tuning and we can wrap things up then just enjoy it. Took some buddies for a ride the following day, did some boosted launches and pulls, we couldn't believe how this thing ran. Was having too much fun so just one last pull and we'll head back. Locked the truck in 4wd and 2nd gear, brake boosted until I saw about 30psi then let it go. Broke all 4 tires loose for a second then it hooked and planted us in our seats, grabbed 3rd gear and the madness continued until about 3k rpm. The turbo surged hard while I was still on the throttle and the truck started puking black smoke. Slowed down and the truck was idling fine, no leaking fluids. Got back into a bit and it was a little lazy but fine otherwise, tried another pull and even at light throttle the truck wouldn't clean up.

Maybe timing just slipped? I was running a stock gear with a 13mm after all. Bought an adjustable gear slapped it on, set timing the same and the truck still didn't seem to run right. Rechecked timing and changed it either way, same result. During this cluster I found out my DIY gear cover was rubbing on the pump nut and backed that off so I sheared a key. That wasn't enough so 2 bolts backed out of the gear and got lodged in the timing case, there were metal shavings everywhere and at this point I was convinced something was wrong with the engine anyways. Out it comes again to have a good look and clean everything up.
engine out again.jpg

Went back together with the same result. This is weird, maybe something in the pump messed up? Swapped the 215 pump back on and my truck was still a dog but maybe that was compared to the 13mm I was expecting, same exact setup as before. Did a compression test and all cylinders were over 400 but 1 and 6 were 50 psi higher, coolant wasn't pressurizing or going anywhere so it wasn't the head gasket. Valve lash checked out ok too. Threw the 13mm back on, same damn thing.
pump out again.jpg

Didn't want to waste another summer doing nothing so we made a dune trip and were still able to have some fun with it, was just tough to stage at the drag strip. Accidentally got airborne a couple times, almost lawn darted it first run up the hill.
dunes.jpg


For some reason I still thought it could've been the pump so I swapped on a known good 175 pump, sold the 215 pump to fund the new 13mm build. Thought the turbo could've been a cause so I swapped the GTA4202 back on and went to the track with this 175 pump, couldn't even get the truck to stage with that turbo. Swapped the Borg back on in the pits and went back out. Kept falling under the charger on shifts but I was able to get one more "good" run. 12.4 @ 108
turbo swap.jpg

While I was at Matts Diesel Supply talking with him about the pump build there was a crusty looking head with a ZZ Fab intake shelf on it, the price was right and I was convinced my head was coming off anyways. He had it sent out to Engineered Diesel to get surfaced and fire ringed. Turned out great, Glenn does some awesome machine work.
new head.jpg

Picked up what looks to be a 0 mile rebuilt 160 pump to build the new 13mm out of. Everything was brand new inside.
new 160 pump.jpg

Matt and I pulled the plugs off the bottom of the pump and found that the cam was beat up in a few places, not good but probably well enough to run. Either way it wasn't going back on like this. Got a reground cam with a little different profile, had the pins and rollers coated, kept my 5k springs in it and decided to start with 131 DVs. Mapped out the pump cam and graphed it, with a little thought and talking with the right people I was able to figure out where to set LPC and why. Put the whole pump together myself with Matt looking over my shoulder and we spent a day at the shop getting it benched, there really isn't as much black magic to these things as most believe.
new 13mm.jpg

While it was on the bench we decided to learn a few things. Had 3 different sets of DVs and also some open holders so we put a different combination in each of the 6 plungers hen ran the pump from 11mm of rack all the way up to 21mm rack. Learned a few new things, was pretty cool to have all that info at our disposal.
pump bench 1.jpg
pump bench 2.jpg

Put the pump back on and the truck perked up a little bit but it still wasn't what it used to be. There was a dyno event shortly after so I went to see what it would do for fun, pump was pulled all the way back and the truck never really cleaned up. Made 677/1148 on the best run.
dyno 3.jpg

When the head came back from machining I got it cleaned up and we threw it on one weekend with Matt. Did a hot torque and took it for a few easy pulls, felt like the truck was back but it was still early. Put a few hundred nice miles on it, was painful to drive the truck nice for that long, then did one last retorque. It rips again!

Old head had over a dozen cracked valve seats and many of the valve seals were torn up. The tracks were closing soon and I was itching to get that 11s pass again. Spent an evening at Matts shop and we swapped a bunch of different turbos on to see how the truck responded. A cast 75/83/.90, cast 75/83/1.0, cast 80/96/1.10 T4, an Engineered 76/96/1.10 T4, and a cast 80/92/1.0 T4. The 76 ran the hardest but my converter was too tight to spool it, my 72/83/1.0 wasn't too far behind so that went back on. Got home at 6:00 the next morning and went to the track a few hours later. First pass was an 11.695 @ 115, finally the truck was back. Shifted it manually for the next pass 11.438 @ 117.7 . Noticed a bit of oil coming from my janky blowby setup so I called it a day and went home to get some sleep.
11.4.jpg

[zachu812]

Truck seemed to be running pretty good and holding together, needed a few small things before I was happy with it 100% but it was close. Pretty far from the original plan at this point but the truck ran good and I was having fun with it. Plan for the winter was a looser torque converter, FMVB and shifter, new u-joints everywhere, billet timing cover, and a good once over.
timing cover.jpg

Got ahold of Dusty at HTS and got one of his FMVBs on the way and an opinion on what converter to go with. Picked up a B&M Bandit shifter and put a mount together. Was finally able to make the truck shift when it needed to, felt a lot faster from that alone.
shifter.jpg

Around this time I got word that I'd be going to Germany for a month so that put things on hold for a while. The trip gave me some time to figure out what converter to go with and start putting some thought into the VP project. Signed up for the Schuss Mountain Snow Challenge while I was there, wanted to go for years but the truck actually seemed like it would be ready this year.
VP.jpg

Got a Goerend 17-.150 ordered from Dusty shortly after I got back, threw that in one weekend and got around to doing the front and rear driveshaft u-joints. Truck staged so much quicker with the looser converter, after a once over the truck was ready.
converter swap.jpg
goerend.jpg
engine bay.jpg

Borrowed some mud terrains from a friend for the DOT A class and used the same paddles from before for the any tire class. Matt and I towed it out there with no idea what to expect, just hoping for the truck to survive the weekend and have some fun.
going to scuss.jpg

Once we pulled in there was a bit of a reality check, almost everybody was running cut tires in mud trucks that were a lot lighter and still making good power. For some reason I was expecting more pickup trucks and the hill was a lot steeper than it looked in the pictures. Now I was just focused on not burying this heavy truck on the hill and making a fool out of myself.

For the DOT class it was a mixture of some stout mud trucks with cut tires or SUVs and trucks with mud terrains. I thought with a decent match I could have a chance but I got lined up with a mud truck first round and he took it. It was double eliminations so I had another shot, got lined up with another mud truck. Pushed the truck a little harder this time and did better but still lost.
paddles at schuss.JPG

Swapped the paddle tires on for the any tire class, got lined up with what looked like a tube frame buggy with a big block V8, had big paddles on the rear and cut tires up front. Truck spun hard on the launch but picked up steam a few feet out and ran hard up the hill, had to pedal it for the corner and some big bumps. Wasn't enough but WAY better run than with the mud terrains. Next round I got lined up with another mud truck, if I lost this round I was going home either way so no reason to lift. Launched hard again and stayed in it way more through the corner then didn't let off for the bumps this time. That's the run that resulted in this pic.
schuss jump.PNG

Managed to pull off a win that round so we went back around to line up again, got another mud truck. Same routine as last time and we made it through again. Matt and I were pumped at this point, not too many trucks were left. Got lined up with this guy who had a killer looking yellow Chevy, great running truck and somehow I managed to nose out ahead.
2019 Schuss Mountain Snow Challenge Cummins beats Chevy - YouTube

Now I was in the semi-finals and I still couldn't believe the truck was holding on through all that abuse. I was keeping it pinned while we were leaving the ground and slamming down on the bump stops but there we were. Looking around we were way outclassed but still having a blast. Got lined up next to this nasty old Jeep running a healthy big block and some huge paddles. I knew we were out just looking at him but I was gonna run regardless. Gave it too much on the launch and spun real hard, never really had it together and things really got outta hand when it got bumpy. Let out a little bit too late and ended up in a snow bank.
2019 Schuss Mountain Snow Challenge Cummins - YouTube
grille at schuss.jpg

Had to get towed out of it but was still able to drive away after that. Made it further than we expected, got a trophy for being a semi-finalist, and the truck survived, couldn't have asked for a better weekend.
leaving schuss.jpg
smsc trophy.jpg

[zachu812]

Aside from the grille there was really nothing wrong with the truck after the hill climb, was getting excited to get out to the track and see what I could manage with the FMVB setup and some more seat time. Made it out there in mid April and had a coupe friends join, first run out I managed an 11.18 @ 119.20. Pump was set at around 550-600CCs and timing was at 20*. Did a couple more passes with similar results so I slid the plate and the truck started running 11.20s, not the result we wanted. Everybody always gave me crap for running such low timing, and I had a looser converter so I decided to try 26*. Went back out and struggled to stage the truck but was able to run an 11.12 @ 120, ran a few more with similar results and I had enough messing around so I called it a day.
milan spring 2019.JPG
11.12.jpg

It it wasn't already before the truck was REALLY looking beat down with more rust poking through, now on what used to be a nice clean bed, and the busted up grille didn't help. Truck is running great now, goes low 11s consistently, is a blast to drive, and is holding together really well. Time to finally get this thing cleaned up right? Nope, 10s were so close and I had way more fuel on tap so I let myself get greedy again. Started looking for primary chargers and found a great deal on a used GT4718 1.08.
new compounds.jpg

Got the compounds all put together and blew a boot almost immediately, fixed the piping and switched to a better boot. Only got a few short pulls in but the truck was running great. Went out one night for some boosted launches on an empty road and heard the infamous boot popping sound again. Looked around under the hood and everything seemed fine, drove it home with no boost and looked again in the daylight. Blew the welds on my intake manifold
intake manifold.jpg

Had compounds on for 2 days it I was already over it. Pulling the pump seemed to be impossible without pulling the head so I wasn't sure what to do yet. After some struggling and getting creative Matt and I were able to get the pump off and got the shelf welded back up. One week later it happens again in a new spot. Was in a really bad spot so we boogered it back together the best we could and I decided to JB weld the rest because I was over it and wanted to run my truck at the Berville dirt drags again. It's been holding so well that it's still on there, we'll get around to fixing it one weekend.
intake fixed.jpg

Still had a few small boost leaks and I wasn't sure if an intercooler boot would survive the event but I was gonna try anyways. They had a dyno contest so for fun I turned the pump up to about 650-700CCs. Saw a best of 1029/1854 and I was completely shocked, I know it's just a tuning tool and all but comparing my setup to others on there I was expecting 800s.
berville dyno.JPG
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Turned the pump back down and entered in the dirt drags, was able to pull off 2nd place again. This time to a good running single S400 Duramax. I had been fighting a serious blow by problem ever since the compounds went on and was losing the battle clearly. Tried a bigger catch can with better baffling and had the same result. At this point I was convinced I'm just asking more of this engine than it can offer at this point but it keeps taking the abuse so why touch it?
blow by.jpg

Jasonc gave me the idea to use an exhaust venturi to evacuate the crank case under heavy load and leave the catch can for idle and low load. Ever since then the problem was almost completely gone. Got a few splashes of oil when I was really beating on the truck for a while but for the most part it stayed dry under the hood.
new blow by setup.jpg

Truck stayed untouched for a few months after this, just drove it and enjoyed it. Was nice being back to that temporarily. Took some friends for a drive one night and did a 2-3 pull in 4wd, as soon as I hit 3rd the truck revved out so I let off immediately. Remembered that I never re-adjusted my TV cable after the FMVB so I went down and tightened it back up. Knew the damage was already done but it seemed to be holding so I let it ride.

Another dirt drag event was coming up that I had been dying to go to for years and I finally had the chance to make it. Direct in the trans was clearly hurt but 1-2 was fine. Gave the truck a good once over and went out there with the paddles. Had to get used to staging quick enough but not too early for what was essentially arm drop racing. Wasn't racing for money but the truck did well and nothing broke, made for a great day.
dirt drags.jpg
dirt drags 2.JPG

Went a few hours north camping with some buddies and it had been a while since the truck saw a road trip so I took that instead of the 1500. Lost a little oil from the evac setup but it barely moved on the dipstick, no problems otherwise.
road trip.jpg

Was heading to the shop shortly after and had a little too much fun getting up to speed on the highway. Tires started spinning at the top of 2nd gear like normal so I grabbed 3rd and they kept spinning then it hooked and went. Grabbed OD and I was on my way for a few miles until I slowed down. Downshifted to 2nd gear and the rear tires locked up, went down to 1st and same thing. Back to 3rd and the truck moved again, didn't have much of a choice but to make it to the shop. Lockup and OD still worked fine, found out reverse and neutral were fine when I got there. After a little thought I came to the conclusion that the tires stopped spinning in 3rd and I welded the direct drum. Came apart a few weeks later to confirm. The trans had been in for over 2 years at this point and was originally built with much lower goals in mind, I'd say it exceeded expectations. Dropped it back off to HTS for some love and it was as good as new.
fried directs.jpg

The lease was ending soon and I knew I wanted another truck. Did some testing with the F-150 3.5 EB 10 speed at work and loved the way those drove so I started the search. Found this one over Thanksgiving and it had everything I was looking for and was rated to tow the 2nd gen comfortably.
f150.jpg

Knew I wanted to build a new engine for a while so I had kept an eye out, got word of a guy selling a 6.7 block for a good price so I jumped on it. Will be a while before anything happens with that but it'll get there.
6.7 block.jpg

Came across one of these too, already have an ECU to control it if I can get this thing flashed. That's a story for another day.
h1000.jpg

Found a killer deal on a BD fat input shaft and turbine hub, pretty sure it's actually an old Opie fat shaft. I already had one of Matts bolt together converters in the truck for testing so swapping in the correct hub was easy. We threw my stator on the mill and bored it out .050" larger than the input shaft and put everything back. Put a weeks worth of beatings through it so far and all is well. Stall speed needs to be bumped up but we're still learning.
fat shaft.jpg
bolt together converter.jpg

This is where the truck is at as of today. Just found out the hill climb got cancelled due to the coronavirus so I'm going to give the steering some attention and hopefully make the trip down to Rudys next month.