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Thread: my project-87 ram 50

  1. #1

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    my project-87 ram 50

    i figured that id start me a build thread for my truck. just from how i got it to now. plus all my future endeavors. ps sorry in advance for the long post.

    this pic is the one that the guy i bought it from used. the truck cost me a whopping $500 and had 87k original miles.
    5Nc5F45H13Kb3Mc3Idc6lcd5db95432631813.jpg

    on this pic my little boy thought i needed to get one to send to my friends, keep in mind the height of the truck.
    d50.jpg

    this was me showing it off at a local weekly cruise in. even though its rough looking i sure am proud of it.
    cruise in.jpg

    just a couple shots of the motor. only thing done to it is a new valve lash adjuster and painted valve cover.
    motor.jpg DSCN2284.jpg

    once i finally had time, i decided to start making things look a little better. my first objective was to make the original grill look black again as opposed to 3 different colors. this was the finished product.
    0706122347.jpg

    upon finishing up my grill, i swapped out the seat. i wanted to go with buckets but a buddy of mine gave me a seat out of a 89 hardbody. i took the old seat out and put the brackets on the hardbody seat. the back bolt hole lined up and as for the front, well lets just say i ended up having to weld it. most of these pics are just showing about the changing of the seats....
    003.jpg 005.jpg

    006.jpg 007.jpg

    008.jpg

    at this point in time my biggest thing with the truck is that someone went through and attempted to paint it with spray paint. hence the green. the truck use to be an old army truck. so i guess they wanted to attempt to make it look like one again. this thing was tan originally. then painted blue, most likely from the army. then the previous owners painted it green. ive spent idk how many hours on the bed working to take off all the paint so that i can get body work done. so i invested in a d/a sander and some 80, 220, and 320 grit sandpaper to help me get this done. here is the start of my sanding. youll notice in a couple of pictures later on what all i have done to date.
    DSCN2287.jpg bedwork.jpg

    something else i always wanted to do is shave my door handles. mostly because ive never done it, plus eventually im gonna make it my show truck so i figured id take a stab at it now. all of this work is just the passenger side. i havent got around to working on the driver side yet.
    filler tape.jpg fillertac.jpg

    fillertac2.jpg handlefilled.jpg

    fillerprimered.jpg

    i decided that since i was really the only person that is ever in the truck that id go ahead and shave the key hole too.
    keyholeremoved.jpg handleandkeyfilledmud2.jpg

    handleandkeyfilledmudandprimed.jpg

    my future plans are to bag it and hopefully have it done by either showfest or slamboree next year. as of right now i lowered the back of it 5in. and im planning on one day this week lowering the front. also on friday i got a set of escalade wheels for it so now i have to find some tires for it and then make sure that either i bore them out or i get the hub and tabs on the truck grinded down. oh and i also took off my black plastic pieces and took them to a friend of mine who is making me fillers to put in their place.
    DSCN2366.jpg DSCN2368.jpg

    DSCN2367.jpg

  2. #2

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    Nice, can not wait to see the finished product. Shaved door handles is a nice touch, always wanted to do that myself.

  3. #3

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    thanks man.... just to kinda to update things. i got the front lowered now. lowered it 3in in the front. also i got a buddy of mine to make me a set of filler for the black plastic pieces that go behind the door. ill try and get pics up soon

  4. #4

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    did a little body work over the weekend. the bumper was pushed up into the bed and i had to pull it out some and fill it. surprisingly it started forming a lil better then i thought.
    DSCN2372.jpg DSCN2375.jpg

    as for pics of it being lowered here they are...

    DSCN2370.jpg DSCN2371.jpg

  5. #5

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    well i guess my luck of it not having any major issues is up. truck started over heating and the oil started getting milky so i went ahead and changed my head gasket. got it fixed, changed the oil, and refilled up the coolant. things were good for a couple of days. checked it one day cause i noticed it was getting warmer then normal. oil was milky again. yup i checked it again and this time it wasnt the head gasket. go a cracked head. hopefully it can be fixed.

  6. #6



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    Yup the 2.6 are known to crack the heads when they overheat, happened to me when I got this macro cab, thats why I said screw it and threw my 4g63 in it since it was just sitting in my garage.

  7. #7

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    I had 3 heads .....all cracked in between the valves on #2 or #3 cylinder. Its those jet valve heads that dont have enough material. I swapped mine out with a caravan head with no jet valves. There are some newer castings available for the 2.6........ I think Alabama cylider head sells them.

  8. #8


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    Nice build so far. I had carb problems with mine and did the same as droppedmitsu.

  9. #9

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    so its been a little bit since i updated this. i got my driver side door handle shaved on monday. been doing body work on it to smooth it out. then last night i finally got my escalade wheels on the truck... wow its amazing how much a set of wheels changes the look of a truck. i dont have pics at the moment, due to being at work, but i will upload some as soon as i can..

  10. #10

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    just to update things. got the truck about 85% primed over the weekend. had the hood, passenger side fender, and the roof to finish. i ran out of reducer towards the end. theres a car/truck show in a couple of weeks and im hoping to get it done by then. ill post pics of the wheels and the primer job as soon as i can. internet at home has been a little screwy here lately...

  11. #11

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    Nice. I've got a similar build ahead of me. Though I'm going to be replacing a lot. I think you got a better deal then me. I paid $400 for mine.

  12. #12

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    got rid of those god awful door mounted mirrors yesterday. i was originally gonna run some off a mazda pickup, went and bout them and they didnt fit. kinda agravating bc i did a little research and from what i saw is that they fit. welp not the ones i picked up. thankfully enough there was a mighty max out there that had two good mirrors in it so i just swapped them out and put them on.

  13. #13



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    The mazda mirrors do fit, but nyou have to take them off the mazda door mounts and and put them on the mitsu mounts

  14. #14


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    Quote Originally Posted by DroppedMitsu View Post
    The mazda mirrors do fit, but nyou have to take them off the mazda door mounts and and put them on the mitsu mounts
    yep...i had a set on my mighty max before i tore it apart.

    looking good so far. good progress. keep us posted.

  15. #15

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    ya as far as the mirrors go i found out that after i posted that yesterday. oh well. im just glad i dont have the door mounted mirrors on there any more. those things were horrible. they shook so much it was practically pointless to use them.

  16. #16

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    ok so as promised here are the pics of the truck so far.
    DSCN2397.jpg
    so this is just to show you that the wheels are on. This same day was when i got about 85% primed.

    DSCN2406.jpg
    so here is the first coat of primer that i put on it. i had some black and grey primer mixed with a gm emerald green. didnt turn out to bad minus the fact that i ran out of green and reducer.

    DSCN2410.jpg DSCN2413.jpg
    so i decided that i should resand the truck and make sure i got everything this time. well atleast the outside of it.

    DSCN2415.jpg DSCN2419.jpg
    so here is my finished product for now. it is midnight blue and grey primer mix. personally i like it. its a big change from what i started with.

    next on my agenda is to get my air horn, and start working on getting it bagged.

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