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08 Ram Diesel Dry lakes racer build

10K views 47 replies 13 participants last post by  bigtim44 
#1 · (Edited)
I thought it's probably about time to do a build thread on our 08 Ram 2500 land speed effort.I'll post up what we've done so far along with any pictures I have.If ya have any questions about the build let me know.
Just over a year ago I decided to build a diesel land speed racing vehicle,aiming to go fast and hopefully get a record in the class maybe even go 200mph.
First job was to find a good donor vehicle after searching around we found the 2008 Ram 2500 at a salvage auction,with a wee bit of damage caused by the truck hitting a sizeable elk.

As soon as the truck was delivered from Arizona to Colorado ,I removed all of the damaged sheetmetal radiator intercooler and condensor.


I hunted down most of the parts to fix the truck on craigslist and local ads,finally getting the truck back in one piece except for the bed.

A used bed was found,I then sent all the miss matched parts to my buddies bodyshop for a lick of white paint,here's the truck after getting the bed,bumper and fender painted.
 
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#2 ·
Next on the list was to gut the interior in preparation for the Roll cage.Nothing quite like pulling the interior out of a perfctly good truck!!


S&W race cars had a basic 10 point cage on cad file for the truck,so I ordered up the cage as it would be a good base to start with.Here's a picture with the fist of it welded in.

More on the cage later!
 
#3 ·
To go really fast,the truck had to come down in height,the only problem is, nobody makes dropped spindles and such for the 3/4 ton 2wd dodge.So this was acheived by modifying a set of mcgaughys 1/2 ton dropped spindles by reaming out the bottom ball joint hole to accept the bigger 3/4 ton ball joint.The top ball joint is the same between the 1/2 ton and the 3/4 ton.test fit a new 3/4 ton ball joint into the modified deropped spindle.

Then fitted the spindle to the truck.

another angle

heres how the truck looked with just the front dropped
 
#4 · (Edited)
The stock AAM 8 lug rearend was removed from the the truck and a winters xtremeliner quickchange was put back in its place.This rearend comes with a 2.0:1 ring and pinion,then by changing the spur gears ratios from 1.2:1 up to 3.33:1 can be achieved,with a 21 total possible ratios.
If ya buy all 11 sets of spur gears :i_rolleyes:
Here's the xtremeliner quickchange when it arrived.

When the quick change was put in we set it on top of the springs using a set of new spring perches 'axle flip' style I guess.We call it a spring under setup.
Here's the axle in its new home


Here's the truck after the axle flip, it lowers the truck a bunch!! Its sitting on a set of 20 inch steel 1/2 ton rims and tires.

I cut also cut a full coil off each front spring to further lower the front end.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Time to start working on the driveline,I didn't want to tear into a good low mileage engine,so another 6.7 cummins engine core was found for cheap,it was seized up from oil starvation/lack of maintenance.The good stock engine will be sold later to recoup funds.
I tore down the seized 6.7 and found 2 rod bearings were seized onto the crank.I managed to get the stuck rods off the crank.I used muriatic acid to desolve the bearing material off the crank.
To our amazment the crank wasn't damaged and only needed a polish to make all the bearing surfaces good again.After washing the block in the parts washer,the bores were checked and looked pretty good and finish honed at standard.
The motor was put back together with some different stuff to stock.The head was ported and polished with bigger valves fitted,O ring lands were cut in the head and the block.The stock intake plenum was cut off with the bridgeport and a Hellmann performance sidedraft intake fitted.Rods, pistons, bearings, valve springs, oil pump were all cryo treated.
Here's some pictures of the the motor going together.
Milling off the intake

The finished head

Short block complete

longblock with hellman intake fitted.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Nice choice on the Hellmann part....make sure you spell his name right in any press stuff you do, he gets pissy. LOL

Joe is a very good friend of mine and heavily sponsored my last truck, in fact the Cummins conversion in my F250 was done in house at his shop. He's gonna be doing some work on my Ram R/T too. I know Zach Hamilton well also, and probably anyone else in the diesel industry you may need parts from.
I don't know how deep your contacts are in the diesel world but if I can help in any way just let me know.
I also know a few people who have done diesel land speed projects...I can get you in touch with them if you aren't already. Never hurts to have as much info as you can get.

I'll assume you're tuning it with EFI Live? How fast are you gonna turn the motor? Gonna run a Gear Vendors unit? And most important....did you put a real set of rods in that 6.7? Lord knows they don't like any power put to them. lol
Also...are you on CompD?
 
#8 ·
I'm kinda new to the diesel world,Joe was very helpful with the intake.Thanks for the heads up on the spelling ,I'm terrible for that.
The motor has polished shotpeened and cryo'd 12v rods in it,the cracked cap rods make good paperweights!, also has fat pushrods and 110lb valve springs(cryo'd) and a hamilton cam.
The quickchange rearend has a 2.0 ring and pinion in it, that with the 6 speed should get me the legs I need.I was estimating turning the motor to about 3800 to 4000.I'm using the H&S mini maxx with the full tuning capability,very similar to efi setup.I'll have to get over to comp D,although I thought those guys are pulling sleds.
Cheers
Tim


Nice choice on the Hellmann part....make sure you spell his name right in any press stuff you do, he gets pissy. LOL

Joe is a very good friend of mine and heavily sponsored my last truck, in fact the Cummins conversion in my F250 was done in house at his shop. He's gonna be doing some work on my Ram R/T too. I know Zach Hamilton well also, and probably anyone else in the diesel industry you may need parts from.
I don't know how deep your contacts are in the diesel world but if I can help in any way just let me know.
I also know a few people who have done diesel land speed projects...I can get you in touch with them if you aren't already. Never hurts to have as much info as you can get.

I'll assume you're tuning it with EFI Live? How fast are you gonna turn the motor? Gonna run a Gear Vendors unit? And most important....did you put a real set of rods in that 6.7? Lord knows they don't like any power put to them. lol
Also...are you on CompD?
 
#9 ·
We have a section for sled pullers...but we started it for everything. We're big into drag racing and have sections for land speed and alternative diesel motorsports. The biggest names in diesel are regular posters there.
I'm one of the owners...we started it back in 06.
Swing by....I use the same name there.
Your build would be a hit for sure.
 
#10 ·
Thanks again,I posted up some pics and info in the alternative section.
 
#11 ·
Finally put the truck back on the ground and took it out for its maiden voyage,just running around the doors for a couple of miles to get it up to temp then back to the house for the first 'HOT' head retorque.
First run out was fun ,I retorqued the head then ran all the valve clearances again then buttoned it back up.
Took it for a second run and it all seems good,rolled into it a bit with part throttle acceleration and I'm very impressed with it.
A couple more pictures.

 
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#13 ·
This is a great thread and am looking forward to seeing through completion. Def subscribed and got reps for the fantastic photos and naration. Looking forward to some vids if you are able to post some.
 
#15 ·
Well here is the overdue update,the full house motor had to come back out due to oiling issues,I still have to tear it down and investigate the full problem.This happened 10 days before we were due to go to world finals at Bonneville salt flats.
Sooo...I pulled the race motor out on Friday and had the stock motor back in and the truck driving again by saturday late afternoon.
Monday Oct 1st,I loaded the truck up and left my place at 7pm and pulled into wendover at 3am tuesday.Teched on tuesday,wednesday was spent finishing up loose ends on the truck.
Thursday we managed a few runs with a 163mph on the first run,with a best out of all the runs of 166mph,this is with the stock cummins motor/stock injectors and stock turbo with an H&S mini maxx,afe cold air intake and a 5 inch turbo back straight pipe.
All in all the truck performed great, it handled great,flew straight as an arrow and the stock motor exceeded axpectations and was only 3mph from setting a new record in the class.
Here's some pics of it on the salt:


 
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#16 ·
BIGTIME44
I am going to be watching this continuing thread, it is very interesting

One thing that i want to bring up, save the 2nd picture in your post #15 for the RAM Calendar that is made each year
unfortunately the 2013 calender submissions have just been closed for this years edition
 
#19 ·
BIGTIME44
I am going to be watching this continuing thread, it is very interesting

One thing that i want to bring up, save the 2nd picture in your post #15 for the RAM Calendar that is made each year
unfortunately the 2013 calender submissions have just been closed for this years edition
Great minds think alike. I was thinking the very same thing.
 
#20 ·
Thanks!:smileup:
I'll get that picture submitted for next years calender for sure,maybe even get it on August to coincide with speedweek :smiley_thumbs_up:
 
#21 ·
New asphalt boots

I picked up a set of rims and tires for the Bonneville truck,these are for pavement use,they look ok too.
Black SRT10 replica rims with nitto proxes,the rims are 22X10 on the back and 22X9 on the front.



 
#23 ·
wow. truck looks great! i love the srt8 rims on a lowered truck
 
#25 ·
Here's the latest on the land speed racing truck
The fresh race motor is together with a fresh commercial block,fresh crank,polydyn coated pistons,gold coat ceramic on the top and teflon on the skirts.
I also splashed out for some billet rods,the top end is the same MHP ported big valve head which we lopped the stock intake off to fit the Hellmann intake.
Here's a few pictures of the rods,pistons and the complete motor with the compound turbos bolted on for display! bottom turbo is a silver 66,top turbo is an S480 both from industrial injection.
Waiting for the snow and mud to clear out,then it'll be full steam ahead swapping out the stock 6.7 for the modded 6.7.
Here's some pictures.
Billet rods


Polydyn coated pistons

The race motor back in one piece

Turbos!

 
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#26 ·
just read through this whole thread. this thing is awesome! good work!
 
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