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A dream...the journey begins (build thread, FINALLY!)

158K views 735 replies 89 participants last post by  Broaner 
#1 · (Edited)
Well, it's finally come to that time, I can OFFICIALLY start my build thread, the one I've dreamt of for....well pretty much since I bought the truck but that got a kink tossed in a couple years ago that derailed the original plans.

Anyway, I finally have the KEY piece to my build, so without further ado, I present to you...

Project Blue Balls (as so affectionately named by our fearless leader, THE STIG:hehe:):

I guess I'll start with a little bit of background...I don't know why, just seems semi-relevent I guess? Pretty much I'm just drunk with giddiness but don't want to start with the meat and potatoes just yet.

The truck is an '07 5.9. Purchased Nov. 18th, 2006 with 24 miles on the odometer. The sole purpose of the truck was to turn up, I had plans of big turbos and big fuel and the goal the day I signed papers was 1000hp+ and to run a 10 second quarter, I had planned on it being my race truck (hence the automatic) and buying a MegaCab dually manual to tow it around with. Something about a bun in the oven and a baby 9 months later derailed that plan.

Anyway, I guess the build kind of got started in the summer of 2010, when I popped two pistons and had to rebuild the engine. Nothing special, just .020 over coated pistons, it does have a Hamilton 181/210 cam, Hamilton springs and pushrods, headstuds...that's about it.

Here's the original engine rebuild thread, no point in hammering through it again:
http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/wyoming/306997-my-turn-tear-stuff-up.html

The suspension stuff has been pieced together this year, I guess I'll start there in a bit.

Stay tuned.:thumbup:
 
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#3 ·
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#10 ·
So earlier this year, I had the good old death wobble hit severely; it's always done it 50/50 north of 100, but gradually it started to show its ugly head at highway speeds between 75-80, so anytime I passed someone and got on it a bit it would wobble and I'm sure make some folks pucker in the vehicle I just passed:hehe:

Took it into the shop and had Carli balljoints added, along with a new axle u-joint and new unit bearings, and the upgraded '08.5 steering linkage.

Of course new tires were needed, and I had to get some fancy new wheels so I went with 35x12.50x20 Toyo MT's on 20x9 BMF R.E.P.R.s in Death Metal







And of course the rear driveline joints were bad, so went with an aluminum 1-piece shaft with 1480 series joints from Texas Driveline





And of course, Photobucket is having issues right now....:banghead:
 
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#11 ·
Before...



...and after.



How much they stick out





Needless to say, I'm extremely happy with the rolling stock, looks killer IMO.

Problem was....stock height she did NOT like turning with those 35's, rubbing was REAL bad. Luckily I had some 2.5" spacers I had bought in about 2007 that I never installed, so I tossed those one. Turning was MUCH improved, but she still rubbed, especially turning to the left as the axle was pulled over to the right side with the spacers.

Here's the truck with the spacers, everything else is stock suspension-wise



Well, I didn't enjoy the rub, so clearly the only option to be had was to lift it proper. So I hit up CJC Offroad's website (I got all my suspension goodies from CJC, quick shipping and all orders were correct. Can't argue with that) and initially went to piece together a Carli Backcountry lift, as I wanted to get the springs and track bar installed for the trip to Vegas but ultimately the wheels and tires weren't there so after about 5 or 6 different orders, I had the Carli 3" coils, Carli extended control arms, Carli 5160 shocks front and rear, Carli track bar, and then finally the Carli rear leaf packs.

Stock front with 2.5" spacer







And the new Carli-ized front suspension (note the reservoirs aren't mounted)







And the rear pack install









Note that I also opted to add some CalTracs. Well I was surprised to find out that the Carli packs do NOT have the same diameter front spring eyes as does stock, so the supplied aluminum bushings for a stock spring application would not fit into the Carli springs. Well it's a good thing I was doing the full springs, so I sent them off to the machine shop to be turned down (I don't recall how much, but it was quite a bit that had to come off). But, install went well after that, except those things are a pain in the butt to wrestle into place by yourself:shock::hehe:

 
#14 · (Edited)
Thank ya sir, it has indeed been a long time coming...:hehe:


So, got the boring suspension stuff out of the way, on to the performance stuff, yeah?

So, other than the stuff in my engine rebuild, the truck is stock other than one hell of a transmission via Goerend and one hell of an EFILive tune from Les at Silverbullet. This thing as is has just been so impressive for a mostly stock truck, I'll admit I'm not one to shy away from a little acceleration exhibition when someone rolls up on me, and I can honestly say it hasn't been beat by much. Of course in Wyoming, there really isn't much prowling the streets:rof She'll knock off Duramaxes with ease, other Cummins', 6.0 and 6.7 Fords aren't a match, and to my surprise, no joke, she held off two 6.4 trucks. No kidding, one was a neck and neck run both times, I pulled it a bit the first time and it pulled me a tad the second run, and the second 6.4 wasn't that close. To be fair, no clue what tuning they were running but from all the internet chatter, I was pleasantly surprised.

So, here's my last dyno run, back in July 2012 I believe it was. HOT day, had to be darn close to 100.



And vid of the run (clicky clicky)



Note in the dyno sheet, the first two runs were 502 and 503hp, but the third was 442hp. Did I change the tune? Nope. The difference? Believe it or not, the fan kicked on! Yep, dyno proof that the fan sucks power, in this case an even 60hp:shock:

So, I have my air sitting in my apartment, the piping is crammed in the pantry closet deal and half of the turbos are sitting on my dryer :)hehe:)...I plan to put the turbos on this weekend hopefully, and for shoots and giggles I'm going to dyno it as-is, same tune if I can, with the upgraded air. Just to see what she does...judging by all the smoke she has on the table, I'm pretty sure she'll do 550hp minimum, although I wouldn't be surprised to see in the 570-80 range. What say y'all?
 
#13 ·
For the amount of off roading I do (virtually none), I spent way too much on the suspension. But I did go out and hit some bumps and you can absolutely feel the front end soak up the bumps; stock it felt like it just hit and was stiff, now it hits and you can feel the axle move and the shocks seem to progressively soak the bump up, like it gives a bit and gets stiffer the more the axle moves back. If that makes sense...

Well, I've been caught with my pants down twice, away from home and a flat tire. One was 12 miles from the town I got the flat in to where the tire was, the other was over 120 miles, after 5, on a Saturday. Yeah, no way to get a tire at that time, so I had to call my dad to toss my stock wheels in his Toyota Avalon and drive them to me so I could change all four wheels/tires in the parking lot of a gas station at 11pm. Fun times...

So, I told myself I would have a spare, so I ordered up a 5th 35" Toyo MT on a 5th BMF wheel. Problem was, where to mount it? It wouldn't fit in the stock location, as it rubbed on both the exhaust and the rear axle, and I didn't want to have an almost $800 wheel/tire combo sitting loose in the bed of my truck. So I hit up TireGate's website and found what I was looking for.











Perfect. Figured I'd put this right over the rear axle, and it locks so no one is likely to walk off with my wheel and tire. Yes, I could have fabled up something easy enough, but the time frame and my paranoia of someone taking it, I just ordered it up.

Install was easy enough, 5 holes and bolt the plates in









And the final install







I do intend to brace the bottom plate more, maybe some strap running across the bed to the rails, because it does pull up the bed a bit when it's tightened down. I'd prefer to put that stress on the rail and not the floor of the bed.

So...guess that's to where I'm at now. I clay barred and waxed the truck about a week ago, and neglected to take any pics of it all cleaned up, now it's all dirty again.
 
#22 ·
I sure did!

Cleaned them up today, and shot some high temp paint on the hot side stuff. Just took a wire brush and screwdriver and knocked off what rust and scale I could. Didn't feel like waiting to have things blasted and powdercoated.

The before:







And after:







I painted my stock exhaust manifold and turbo (turbine side) with this high temp paint when I rebuilt my engine about 3 years ago and it's held up well. Last I looked it was still black, not rusty looking.

Still need to clean up the compressor side, probably won't paint them though, they look pretty good. Plus I like the dull natural finish as compared to paint.

I'm not going for a perfect show finish, just get them cleaned up to hopefully keep them from rusting further, some places had a good bit of scale.
 
#28 ·
Trust me, the temptation to go tear into it at night when no one is awake is VERY tempting:hehe:

Thanks again man, I have to keep looking in the closet and walking out to the truck to make sure everything is still there and that they're actually mine:shock::rof

Still can't hardly believe it. When you want something so bad for so long, then it actually happens...
 
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