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Episode Transcript
(Marc)>> You're watching Powernation!
(Eric)>> Today on Music City Trucks we go to see a man about some horsepower and get a baseline for our new Ram 1500 project.
(Pat)>> Everything is in one piece!
(Eric)>> Plus we make some cosmetic upgrades to transform this truck from a daily driver to a rough and ready workhorse. [ Music ]
(Marc)>> This has got to be the most iconic design. [ Music ]
(Marc)>> Hey everybody, welcome to Music City Trucks. I'm Marc Christ.
(Eric)>> I'm Eric Smart, and today we're not in our own shop as you can see.
(Marc)>> We're down here at Engine Power and a special thanks to Pat and Frankie for letting us come down here and crash their chassis dyno.
(Frankie)>> We love it when you guys bring stuff down. It's always fun to see what you end up with and see what you guys do with it in the end.
(Marc)>> We've got ourselves a new truck. New to us.
(Eric)>> New-ish, it's a 2013 Ram 1500 Big Horn with all the fancy stuff on it.
(Pat)>> Five-seven truck?
(Eric)>> Yep, five-seven Hemi, and we're not entirely sure what we're doing with it yet, but we know we're gonna try and squeeze a little bit more power out of that thing.
(Frankie)>> How many miles?
(Eric)>> 167.
(Frankie)>> Kinda getting up there, but bone stock right?
(Pat)>> This is some sort of factory light weight option or whatever.
(Marc)>> We have the fender but it's kinda dangerous to drive it around the building.
(Pat)>> Doesn't need that to chassis dyno.
(Frankie)>> What do you guys think this is gonna make cause I don't know what these things make factory?
(Eric)>> At least 50, but that's why we're here.
(Pat)>> Who's running the pedals?
(Marc)>> Eric's doing it.
(Frankie)>> Have you ever chassis dyno'ed anything?
(Eric)>> No!
(Pat)>> We'll stand in the zone over here, safety zone.
(Eric)>> Is the brake off back there?
(Pat)>> You've got that in your hand.
(Frankie)>> The red button turns on the brake.
(Pat)>> I'm already scared.
(Eric)>> There we go, okay! I got it now. [ engine revving ]
(Frankie)>> There you go! [ engine winding down ]
(Frankie)>> That was your first successful dyno pull!
(Marc)>> That sounded good!
(Frankie)>> 256, 245 for torque. It probably might need a little bit of oil temp in it. We might be able to get some more out of it.
(Pat)>> If you roll into the throttle too light it'll skew your number. If you actually have it downshift it'll screw your number. Make another pull!
(Eric)>> Let's do it again. Here we go! [ engine revving ] [ engine winding down ]
(Pat)>> There you go!
(Frankie)>> 268 horse and 275-pound feet.
(Eric)>> That's not bad!
(Marc)>> That's not good!
(Frankie)>> Not spectacular for a truck this big.
(Eric)>> And it still has oil pressure. I'm gonna call that a win.
(Frankie)>> It's a good start.
(Eric)>> We've got room to improve. I think that's the important thing.
(Pat)>> I think that it will be no problem improving that the next time it's hooked to this.
(Marc)>> I think rather than saying we have room to improve you have room improve because I'm going on vacation. I will be back. Promise I'll be back, but not until this is done, at least. I was reminded that I haven't been on vacation in a couple of years. I've got to go.
(Eric)>> Well we'll see you when you get back.
(Marc)>> Good luck!
(Frankie)>> If you need any help.
(Pat)>> If you do need help I know somebody who could probably help you out with this.
(Frankie)>> We're more than willing to help you out.
(Pat)>> An extra set of eyes, hands, some technical consulting, all that stuff, but I think you've got it handled.
(Frankie)>> Should be clear the rest of the way out man.
(Eric)>> We saw what it can do on the dyno. Now we've got to go road test this thing.
(Frankie)>> Are you going right now?
(Eric)>> Yeah, you want to come on?
(Frankie)>> Do I get to drive?
(Eric)>> Maybe.
(Frankie)>> Alright, let's go! [ Music ]
(Eric)>> I'm kinda surprised that this thing handled those dyno pulls as well as it did for having this many miles.
(Frankie)>> The outside gave me a bad impression, but the inside is not bad. But it ran good on the dyno, made pretty good power. Pretty much what we expected. This thing is relatively solid it seems.
(Eric)>> I think coupling some well thought out mild performance upgrades with some regular maintenance just to make sure it's all caught up. I think you'll get a better driving experience out of it at the end of the day.
(Frankie)>> Maybe do a little tweaking, maybe a tune, exhaust. Squeak a little bit more out of this thing and just help it live a little bit better life.
(Eric)>> I've got to say I am pretty impressed with how this thing drives. I'm used to things that are a little bit older and bumpier. This is pretty smooth.
(Frankie)>> It's a pretty solid truck. There is that noise, which we should at some point should probably check and make sure it is something minor and not something we need a ton of parts for. Let's pull over here and check it out.
(Eric)>> We'll cut off right here and see what she's doing.
(Frankie)>> Give her a look. [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Well we're gonna make sure that there's nothing crazy going on with this thing. So, it's no worse for wear just yet, but we did have a little bit of a noise coming from the front. It's probably this inner fender right there. You're not really supposed to drive around without a fender on it. It's not illegal.
(Frankie)>> It's good to know it's not major. That's all we want to know. It's nothing major and that's easy to fix. I'm not worried about that.
(Eric)>> Let's get this thing back to the shop and we'll dig into it.
(Frankie)>> Hey, I'm driving back. Scoot over! [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Coming up next...
(Frankie)>> Crank it over, see where the gauge stops.
(Eric)>> ...we dig into our Ram project and run some tests to make sure it's in good shape.
(Eric)>> Well we got this thing back here in the shop and it made it in one piece. So, we're looking pretty good so far. It ran great on the dyno, and it did pretty good on the road too. But I want to make sure before we start putting parts on this that we're gonna be able to squeeze another 100,000 miles out of this thing. The best way to do that is gonna be doing some deeper checks on this.
(Frankie)>> The engine felt strong. It drove great. There's a few things we can look at just to make sure it's in good, sound condition. We can do a crank compression test, and we can do a leak down test. They're pretty simple to do, and it'll give us a good idea of what the inside of the cylinder looks like. Whether this thing has some abnormal wear or if it still has some seal-age in it.
(Eric)>> I got some tools here, and it looks like you brought some goodies of your own.
(Frankie)>> I grabbed a compression tester and a leak down tester. I figure we'll start with the compression test cause it's pretty easy to do and it'll give us a good idea if the cylinder can actually build pressure.
(Eric)>> While you get started on that I've got one more thing I've got to do before I dig into this with you. I'll be right back. [ Music ] How's it going in here. I want to make sure you feel at home while you're over here helping us out.
(Frankie)>> I like how you've gone with the dual pockets. Is that a bolt? What are you doing?
(Eric)>> You never know when you might need a bolt.
(Frankie)>> I can't contest with that. I like the stache. You remind me of someone I know. Who is that?
(Eric)>> I can't quite put my finger on it.
(Frankie)>> I don't know, looks good though.
(Eric)>> How's this going?
(Frankie)>> Just gonna pop this coil out here, and then we'll pull one of the spark plugs, disconnect the rest of the coils, and then we can crank the engine over. [ Music ] Take that out. [ Music ] Obviously has some miles on it. It's been in there for while. All in all, not too bad, which is what you expect from a late model vehicle.
(Eric)>> You just about ready?
(Frankie)>> Yep, got'em all unhooked. So, hop in there and we'll crank it over, see where the gauge stops, and see what we get.
(Eric)>> Before we do that I've got to take this off. It's a little bit itchy.
(Frankie)>> Oh my gosh, it's Eric! I thought that was Pat.
(Eric)>> I don't know how Pat wears one of those all day.
(Frankie)>> Go for it! [ engine cranking ]
(Frankie)>> That's good! That's actually pretty good. This is a 2013. So, these have a variable cam timing, which will be advanced. So that will make it be a little bit higher than what you would normally expect. I'd call that 205, which is still really good for an engine with this many miles. So, I think we move on. Got our cylinder set at t-d-c on compression stroke, and then we'll hook these up together. We'll set it back to 100 p-s-i on the pressure side, and then this other gauge tells us how much we're leaking out. So, we're two percent under 100. So, it has two percent leak down, which is really good, especially for an engine with this many miles.
(Eric)>> Frankie assured me that everything was good with the truck. So, I went ahead and ordered some parts. Of course, we went to RockAuto because where else are you gonna go when you've got something that's got a little bit of age to it and you need a whole lot of parts. Now they really do have everything that your car will ever need. All the way from something as simple as a drain plug, up to full size body panels and accessories. So, we bought a whole bunch of stuff just to catch this thing up on all the maintenance points. That way we can make sure that it's gonna stay in good shape under the hood. Of courses to replace that fender that is mysteriously missing, a couple of new bumpers, some running boards, and new grille, tailgate, and all new lighting, door handles, and mirrors. Why would we do all of this? Because these newer model trucks, I'm a huge fan of chrome don't get me wrong, but I don't think it really fits in as well on these as it does on something a little bit older. So, we're gonna be getting rid of every bit of chrome on that truck and we're gonna be using RockAuto parts to do it. We got our parts and we're gonna start with some of the easier stuff. We're gonna get these mirrors and exterior door handles put on. [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> There's one off. I need a shave. [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> Now with all of that out of the way it's a lot easier to get in here and get these bolts out so we can get the door handle off. Now it's time to transfer this rod over to the new handle, and then we'll get them switched out. I think that that's looking better already. We'll move on, get the other three doors and mirror done. Maybe take these badges off, and then move on to the bigger, better, and more fun stuff. Next up, we toss out the old and step up the look and feel of this truck. It's never fun trying to put a bumper on by yourself.
(Eric)>> Well we're back with our 2013 Ram refresh that's getting going pretty well so far with the mirrors and the door handles that we've already replaced. We went ahead and removed the door badging while we were at it. Now it's time to move on to what we're doing to the rest of the exterior of this truck, including bumpers, grille, lighting, among a few other things. Now with that we've got this fender that actually came on the truck, and this is why you haven't seen it. Because it was way too far gone to actually drive the truck with it installed. And now that can go away so that we can move on working from front to back getting the rest of this chrome taken off and getting a way better look out of this truck. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> With our disassembly finished here in the front we're ready to move along with getting the new stuff put on, and that includes our not so shiny bumper, the brand new headlights, and a second fender so that it'll be a complete truck again. [ Music ] We've got two fenders again. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> This grille put on here! It's never fun trying to put a bumper on by yourself. That bumper might have been a little bit of a pain but doing these running boards should be quite a bit easier. [ Music ] There we go! [ Music ] [ drill humming ] [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Seems pretty solid to me. Well, we got the front and the sides of the truck done. Which means all that's left is taking care of the back end here with our new toolbox, bumper to match the front, fancy new lights, and a replacement tailgate to get rid of that dent. Now there's definitely a problem here cause it shouldn't do that. So, we're gonna get started getting this tailgate out of the way. I'm gonna start getting this toolbox put on. Then we'll come back and vacuum this out later. [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> Unplug these separately. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> There we go. My best advice to you if you plan on installing bumpers on your truck. Get a friend who's not gonna be on vacation while you're doing it. [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> Well we have both our old and our new tailgate here, and we ordered just a shell for the new tailgate, which means all of the components off of this one including the latches, the backup camera, and the handle all have to get transferred to the new one right here. So that's what we're gonna be doing now. It's pretty simple. Just a few basic tools, couple of Torx bits, and some sockets, and you'll be on your way. [ drill humming ] [ metal clanging ]
(Eric)>> Now that we've got the old tailgate torn apart and got everything ready to go into this new one we're gonna get this out of the way. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> Let's see how she does. That was easy. Well now that our cosmetics are done it's time for us to get back under the hood. Coming up... Not my floor! ...we perform some basic maintenance and make a few upgrades under the hood.
(Eric)>> Well we're back with this 2013 Ram 1500, and we just got done with all of our body modifications, which means it's time to get under the hood and move on with all of our regular maintenance. So, we got Frankie back in here, and he's gonna be helping us out with this. Where we starting at here?
(Frankie)>> I know we're doing the coolant flush and fluid change, that kind of stuff. I was just getting everything disconnected, but I think we'll start with draining the coolant. That always takes a while, and then we'll go from there.
(Eric)>> Ah, not my floor!
(Frankie)>> That's why I don't work on cars.
(Eric)>> Engine guys come in here making a mess.
(Frankie)>> I'm gonna smell like anti-freeze for the rest of the day.
(Eric)>> To start out we'll remove the air filter and housing, as well as the serpentine belt. Then we can top this back off. Once we get done underneath we'll just fill everything at once. Up we go! After that mess that Frankie made with the coolant I'm not taking any chances getting this oil out myself. So, we're just gonna be safe. That's how you stay clean Frankie. That really does smell pretty good. Impressive for the mileage here.
(Frankie)>> I've definitely smelt worse.
(Eric)>> With the transmission pan removed we can take the old filters out and replace them with new ones. [ Music ] The pan itself isn't too bad, but the magnet's got a little bit of fuzz on there, which is pretty normal. Clean that out... [ Music ] ...and drop our new magnet in. We're gonna spray this out and put it back on. After we install the new filters... [ Music ] ...Frankie added a new gasket onto the pan. Let's get this pan back on here. Then we can bolt it back together alternating corners for even torque. You've got to remember this is trucks. We're not all crazy precise over here like you are next door.
(Frankie)>> I mean, you don't have to be super precise to do it right. You've just got to do it right. [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Now that the actual work is done we can add our fluids. [ Music ] Get this bad boy filled up.
(Frankie)>> If I can do this without spilling it everywhere.
(Eric)>> It said seven, it gets seven! Well, we're almost done here with our underhood maintenance, and there's just a couple more things we need to do, and that includes replacing the spark plugs and putting a new air filter in it. And instead of just going with some OE components we went to Holley to get an upgrade in both of those areas. We picked up a Flowmaster Delta Force cold air intake as well as MSD iridium spark plugs. And since the truck is high miles a set of MSD Blaster coils that are gonna last the rest of the life of this truck. After we get our new plugs put in we can throw in the new MSD coils. [ Music ] [ drill humming ] [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Frankie, while you were in here getting those plugs and coils done I went ahead and got the cold air box assembled. We can get this dropped in and I think we should be almost done under here.
(Frankie)>> I've got one of the bolts here, and the other one's right there. So, give her a go.
(Eric)>> You come prepared, huh?
(Frankie)>> Oh yeah, it's a lot easier that way. [ Music ]
(Eric)>> You were right about that dust cover. That does look a lot better.
(Frankie)>> And we're not gonna be driving this thing through the desert or anything, but it's still gonna help extend the lift of that filter keeping bugs and that kind of stuff out of it. So, function and form.
(Eric)>> And we've got new plugs and coils, fresh service on everything. I'm pretty sure that we're gonna get another 160 out of this thing.
(Frankie)>> This truck's now gonna have an even longer hard abused life, and especially with the upgraded plugs and coils and stuff this thing's gonna run great.
(Eric)>> Well that's our time for the day. We know this thing's gonna stay reliable and it looks a heck of lot better than it did when it showed up here. So, the next time you see it we're gonna go ahead and take it up a notch.
(Frankie)>> Maybe even two!
Show Full Transcript
(Eric)>> Today on Music City Trucks we go to see a man about some horsepower and get a baseline for our new Ram 1500 project.
(Pat)>> Everything is in one piece!
(Eric)>> Plus we make some cosmetic upgrades to transform this truck from a daily driver to a rough and ready workhorse. [ Music ]
(Marc)>> This has got to be the most iconic design. [ Music ]
(Marc)>> Hey everybody, welcome to Music City Trucks. I'm Marc Christ.
(Eric)>> I'm Eric Smart, and today we're not in our own shop as you can see.
(Marc)>> We're down here at Engine Power and a special thanks to Pat and Frankie for letting us come down here and crash their chassis dyno.
(Frankie)>> We love it when you guys bring stuff down. It's always fun to see what you end up with and see what you guys do with it in the end.
(Marc)>> We've got ourselves a new truck. New to us.
(Eric)>> New-ish, it's a 2013 Ram 1500 Big Horn with all the fancy stuff on it.
(Pat)>> Five-seven truck?
(Eric)>> Yep, five-seven Hemi, and we're not entirely sure what we're doing with it yet, but we know we're gonna try and squeeze a little bit more power out of that thing.
(Frankie)>> How many miles?
(Eric)>> 167.
(Frankie)>> Kinda getting up there, but bone stock right?
(Pat)>> This is some sort of factory light weight option or whatever.
(Marc)>> We have the fender but it's kinda dangerous to drive it around the building.
(Pat)>> Doesn't need that to chassis dyno.
(Frankie)>> What do you guys think this is gonna make cause I don't know what these things make factory?
(Eric)>> At least 50, but that's why we're here.
(Pat)>> Who's running the pedals?
(Marc)>> Eric's doing it.
(Frankie)>> Have you ever chassis dyno'ed anything?
(Eric)>> No!
(Pat)>> We'll stand in the zone over here, safety zone.
(Eric)>> Is the brake off back there?
(Pat)>> You've got that in your hand.
(Frankie)>> The red button turns on the brake.
(Pat)>> I'm already scared.
(Eric)>> There we go, okay! I got it now. [ engine revving ]
(Frankie)>> There you go! [ engine winding down ]
(Frankie)>> That was your first successful dyno pull!
(Marc)>> That sounded good!
(Frankie)>> 256, 245 for torque. It probably might need a little bit of oil temp in it. We might be able to get some more out of it.
(Pat)>> If you roll into the throttle too light it'll skew your number. If you actually have it downshift it'll screw your number. Make another pull!
(Eric)>> Let's do it again. Here we go! [ engine revving ] [ engine winding down ]
(Pat)>> There you go!
(Frankie)>> 268 horse and 275-pound feet.
(Eric)>> That's not bad!
(Marc)>> That's not good!
(Frankie)>> Not spectacular for a truck this big.
(Eric)>> And it still has oil pressure. I'm gonna call that a win.
(Frankie)>> It's a good start.
(Eric)>> We've got room to improve. I think that's the important thing.
(Pat)>> I think that it will be no problem improving that the next time it's hooked to this.
(Marc)>> I think rather than saying we have room to improve you have room improve because I'm going on vacation. I will be back. Promise I'll be back, but not until this is done, at least. I was reminded that I haven't been on vacation in a couple of years. I've got to go.
(Eric)>> Well we'll see you when you get back.
(Marc)>> Good luck!
(Frankie)>> If you need any help.
(Pat)>> If you do need help I know somebody who could probably help you out with this.
(Frankie)>> We're more than willing to help you out.
(Pat)>> An extra set of eyes, hands, some technical consulting, all that stuff, but I think you've got it handled.
(Frankie)>> Should be clear the rest of the way out man.
(Eric)>> We saw what it can do on the dyno. Now we've got to go road test this thing.
(Frankie)>> Are you going right now?
(Eric)>> Yeah, you want to come on?
(Frankie)>> Do I get to drive?
(Eric)>> Maybe.
(Frankie)>> Alright, let's go! [ Music ]
(Eric)>> I'm kinda surprised that this thing handled those dyno pulls as well as it did for having this many miles.
(Frankie)>> The outside gave me a bad impression, but the inside is not bad. But it ran good on the dyno, made pretty good power. Pretty much what we expected. This thing is relatively solid it seems.
(Eric)>> I think coupling some well thought out mild performance upgrades with some regular maintenance just to make sure it's all caught up. I think you'll get a better driving experience out of it at the end of the day.
(Frankie)>> Maybe do a little tweaking, maybe a tune, exhaust. Squeak a little bit more out of this thing and just help it live a little bit better life.
(Eric)>> I've got to say I am pretty impressed with how this thing drives. I'm used to things that are a little bit older and bumpier. This is pretty smooth.
(Frankie)>> It's a pretty solid truck. There is that noise, which we should at some point should probably check and make sure it is something minor and not something we need a ton of parts for. Let's pull over here and check it out.
(Eric)>> We'll cut off right here and see what she's doing.
(Frankie)>> Give her a look. [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Well we're gonna make sure that there's nothing crazy going on with this thing. So, it's no worse for wear just yet, but we did have a little bit of a noise coming from the front. It's probably this inner fender right there. You're not really supposed to drive around without a fender on it. It's not illegal.
(Frankie)>> It's good to know it's not major. That's all we want to know. It's nothing major and that's easy to fix. I'm not worried about that.
(Eric)>> Let's get this thing back to the shop and we'll dig into it.
(Frankie)>> Hey, I'm driving back. Scoot over! [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Coming up next...
(Frankie)>> Crank it over, see where the gauge stops.
(Eric)>> ...we dig into our Ram project and run some tests to make sure it's in good shape.
(Eric)>> Well we got this thing back here in the shop and it made it in one piece. So, we're looking pretty good so far. It ran great on the dyno, and it did pretty good on the road too. But I want to make sure before we start putting parts on this that we're gonna be able to squeeze another 100,000 miles out of this thing. The best way to do that is gonna be doing some deeper checks on this.
(Frankie)>> The engine felt strong. It drove great. There's a few things we can look at just to make sure it's in good, sound condition. We can do a crank compression test, and we can do a leak down test. They're pretty simple to do, and it'll give us a good idea of what the inside of the cylinder looks like. Whether this thing has some abnormal wear or if it still has some seal-age in it.
(Eric)>> I got some tools here, and it looks like you brought some goodies of your own.
(Frankie)>> I grabbed a compression tester and a leak down tester. I figure we'll start with the compression test cause it's pretty easy to do and it'll give us a good idea if the cylinder can actually build pressure.
(Eric)>> While you get started on that I've got one more thing I've got to do before I dig into this with you. I'll be right back. [ Music ] How's it going in here. I want to make sure you feel at home while you're over here helping us out.
(Frankie)>> I like how you've gone with the dual pockets. Is that a bolt? What are you doing?
(Eric)>> You never know when you might need a bolt.
(Frankie)>> I can't contest with that. I like the stache. You remind me of someone I know. Who is that?
(Eric)>> I can't quite put my finger on it.
(Frankie)>> I don't know, looks good though.
(Eric)>> How's this going?
(Frankie)>> Just gonna pop this coil out here, and then we'll pull one of the spark plugs, disconnect the rest of the coils, and then we can crank the engine over. [ Music ] Take that out. [ Music ] Obviously has some miles on it. It's been in there for while. All in all, not too bad, which is what you expect from a late model vehicle.
(Eric)>> You just about ready?
(Frankie)>> Yep, got'em all unhooked. So, hop in there and we'll crank it over, see where the gauge stops, and see what we get.
(Eric)>> Before we do that I've got to take this off. It's a little bit itchy.
(Frankie)>> Oh my gosh, it's Eric! I thought that was Pat.
(Eric)>> I don't know how Pat wears one of those all day.
(Frankie)>> Go for it! [ engine cranking ]
(Frankie)>> That's good! That's actually pretty good. This is a 2013. So, these have a variable cam timing, which will be advanced. So that will make it be a little bit higher than what you would normally expect. I'd call that 205, which is still really good for an engine with this many miles. So, I think we move on. Got our cylinder set at t-d-c on compression stroke, and then we'll hook these up together. We'll set it back to 100 p-s-i on the pressure side, and then this other gauge tells us how much we're leaking out. So, we're two percent under 100. So, it has two percent leak down, which is really good, especially for an engine with this many miles.
(Eric)>> Frankie assured me that everything was good with the truck. So, I went ahead and ordered some parts. Of course, we went to RockAuto because where else are you gonna go when you've got something that's got a little bit of age to it and you need a whole lot of parts. Now they really do have everything that your car will ever need. All the way from something as simple as a drain plug, up to full size body panels and accessories. So, we bought a whole bunch of stuff just to catch this thing up on all the maintenance points. That way we can make sure that it's gonna stay in good shape under the hood. Of courses to replace that fender that is mysteriously missing, a couple of new bumpers, some running boards, and new grille, tailgate, and all new lighting, door handles, and mirrors. Why would we do all of this? Because these newer model trucks, I'm a huge fan of chrome don't get me wrong, but I don't think it really fits in as well on these as it does on something a little bit older. So, we're gonna be getting rid of every bit of chrome on that truck and we're gonna be using RockAuto parts to do it. We got our parts and we're gonna start with some of the easier stuff. We're gonna get these mirrors and exterior door handles put on. [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> There's one off. I need a shave. [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> Now with all of that out of the way it's a lot easier to get in here and get these bolts out so we can get the door handle off. Now it's time to transfer this rod over to the new handle, and then we'll get them switched out. I think that that's looking better already. We'll move on, get the other three doors and mirror done. Maybe take these badges off, and then move on to the bigger, better, and more fun stuff. Next up, we toss out the old and step up the look and feel of this truck. It's never fun trying to put a bumper on by yourself.
(Eric)>> Well we're back with our 2013 Ram refresh that's getting going pretty well so far with the mirrors and the door handles that we've already replaced. We went ahead and removed the door badging while we were at it. Now it's time to move on to what we're doing to the rest of the exterior of this truck, including bumpers, grille, lighting, among a few other things. Now with that we've got this fender that actually came on the truck, and this is why you haven't seen it. Because it was way too far gone to actually drive the truck with it installed. And now that can go away so that we can move on working from front to back getting the rest of this chrome taken off and getting a way better look out of this truck. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> With our disassembly finished here in the front we're ready to move along with getting the new stuff put on, and that includes our not so shiny bumper, the brand new headlights, and a second fender so that it'll be a complete truck again. [ Music ] We've got two fenders again. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> This grille put on here! It's never fun trying to put a bumper on by yourself. That bumper might have been a little bit of a pain but doing these running boards should be quite a bit easier. [ Music ] There we go! [ Music ] [ drill humming ] [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Seems pretty solid to me. Well, we got the front and the sides of the truck done. Which means all that's left is taking care of the back end here with our new toolbox, bumper to match the front, fancy new lights, and a replacement tailgate to get rid of that dent. Now there's definitely a problem here cause it shouldn't do that. So, we're gonna get started getting this tailgate out of the way. I'm gonna start getting this toolbox put on. Then we'll come back and vacuum this out later. [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> Unplug these separately. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> There we go. My best advice to you if you plan on installing bumpers on your truck. Get a friend who's not gonna be on vacation while you're doing it. [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> Well we have both our old and our new tailgate here, and we ordered just a shell for the new tailgate, which means all of the components off of this one including the latches, the backup camera, and the handle all have to get transferred to the new one right here. So that's what we're gonna be doing now. It's pretty simple. Just a few basic tools, couple of Torx bits, and some sockets, and you'll be on your way. [ drill humming ] [ metal clanging ]
(Eric)>> Now that we've got the old tailgate torn apart and got everything ready to go into this new one we're gonna get this out of the way. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]
(Eric)>> Let's see how she does. That was easy. Well now that our cosmetics are done it's time for us to get back under the hood. Coming up... Not my floor! ...we perform some basic maintenance and make a few upgrades under the hood.
(Eric)>> Well we're back with this 2013 Ram 1500, and we just got done with all of our body modifications, which means it's time to get under the hood and move on with all of our regular maintenance. So, we got Frankie back in here, and he's gonna be helping us out with this. Where we starting at here?
(Frankie)>> I know we're doing the coolant flush and fluid change, that kind of stuff. I was just getting everything disconnected, but I think we'll start with draining the coolant. That always takes a while, and then we'll go from there.
(Eric)>> Ah, not my floor!
(Frankie)>> That's why I don't work on cars.
(Eric)>> Engine guys come in here making a mess.
(Frankie)>> I'm gonna smell like anti-freeze for the rest of the day.
(Eric)>> To start out we'll remove the air filter and housing, as well as the serpentine belt. Then we can top this back off. Once we get done underneath we'll just fill everything at once. Up we go! After that mess that Frankie made with the coolant I'm not taking any chances getting this oil out myself. So, we're just gonna be safe. That's how you stay clean Frankie. That really does smell pretty good. Impressive for the mileage here.
(Frankie)>> I've definitely smelt worse.
(Eric)>> With the transmission pan removed we can take the old filters out and replace them with new ones. [ Music ] The pan itself isn't too bad, but the magnet's got a little bit of fuzz on there, which is pretty normal. Clean that out... [ Music ] ...and drop our new magnet in. We're gonna spray this out and put it back on. After we install the new filters... [ Music ] ...Frankie added a new gasket onto the pan. Let's get this pan back on here. Then we can bolt it back together alternating corners for even torque. You've got to remember this is trucks. We're not all crazy precise over here like you are next door.
(Frankie)>> I mean, you don't have to be super precise to do it right. You've just got to do it right. [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Now that the actual work is done we can add our fluids. [ Music ] Get this bad boy filled up.
(Frankie)>> If I can do this without spilling it everywhere.
(Eric)>> It said seven, it gets seven! Well, we're almost done here with our underhood maintenance, and there's just a couple more things we need to do, and that includes replacing the spark plugs and putting a new air filter in it. And instead of just going with some OE components we went to Holley to get an upgrade in both of those areas. We picked up a Flowmaster Delta Force cold air intake as well as MSD iridium spark plugs. And since the truck is high miles a set of MSD Blaster coils that are gonna last the rest of the life of this truck. After we get our new plugs put in we can throw in the new MSD coils. [ Music ] [ drill humming ] [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Frankie, while you were in here getting those plugs and coils done I went ahead and got the cold air box assembled. We can get this dropped in and I think we should be almost done under here.
(Frankie)>> I've got one of the bolts here, and the other one's right there. So, give her a go.
(Eric)>> You come prepared, huh?
(Frankie)>> Oh yeah, it's a lot easier that way. [ Music ]
(Eric)>> You were right about that dust cover. That does look a lot better.
(Frankie)>> And we're not gonna be driving this thing through the desert or anything, but it's still gonna help extend the lift of that filter keeping bugs and that kind of stuff out of it. So, function and form.
(Eric)>> And we've got new plugs and coils, fresh service on everything. I'm pretty sure that we're gonna get another 160 out of this thing.
(Frankie)>> This truck's now gonna have an even longer hard abused life, and especially with the upgraded plugs and coils and stuff this thing's gonna run great.
(Eric)>> Well that's our time for the day. We know this thing's gonna stay reliable and it looks a heck of lot better than it did when it showed up here. So, the next time you see it we're gonna go ahead and take it up a notch.
(Frankie)>> Maybe even two!
