2007 Ram 1500. Making an SLT look like an SRT 10

[Kern Dog]

Hello everyone,
I've been a member for awhile but haven't posted much. I'm mostly into the classics. I do have a 1975 Power Wagon and a 2007 Ram 1500 but my classics take up most of my "car time". I have a couple of 1970 Chargers, a couple Darts and Dusters too. I love the classic Mopar styling.
In 2002, I got tired of patching and "band-aiding" my '84 Chevy. I was in the process of trying to "restore" my red '70 Charger and I was spending too much time on repairs and maintenance of the Chevy just to keep it running for my job.
In April 2002, I bought my FIRST new vehicle ever....

2002 Ram 1500 in the then new 3rd gen body style. 4.7, automatic with A/C and not much else. Rubber floors, crank windows and a single CD player. Within a few thousand miles, I lowered it.....

I ran that truck for just over 4 years and sold it with 163,000 miles on it. I had an itch for a 4wd so I bought this:

Great truck....the 5.7, SPORT equipment, power everything and comfortable. I was hit in the LF corner at 33,000 miles and knocked into a barrier...

It was totaled, so I was looking again. By 2007, the regular cab trucks were becoming scarce but they are what I like. I almost flew to Arizona to get one until I found this at a dealership 22 miles from home:

It had 3000 miles on it and was being used as an in house driver for the General Manager of the dealership. It was just as loaded as the blue truck but 2wd. They put those 22" wheels and super low profile tires on it along with a carpeted bed, silly exhaust tip and some weird chrome grille cover.
I have LOVED this truck from the start. I've owned it since the day before Thanksgiving 2007.
In 2013, I swapped on these SRT 10 replica wheels...

 

[Kern Dog]

Backing up a moment....
Before buying this 2007 truck, I did see a 2006 SRT 10 at a dealership not far from me. I was driving 140 miles a day for work so the 9-10 mpg rating of the V10 truck just seemed way out of place for a commute/work truck. Oddly, that 2006 was the same color as mine.
Here I am 16 years later looking to make my 2007 appear a lot like that SRT 10.
Here is the plan:
I'm almost closing in on 397,000 miles on the 5.7 engine. I have a replacement in the shop out back but this engine still keeps on running....The head gaskets leak a bit resulting in some steam from the exhaust upon restart. The MIL/Check Engine light often stays on but the oil pressure is great, it does not smoke but does use some oil. It idles like new, the mileage hasn't dropped off much, it makes adequate power and does not overheat, though it does use a bit of water. I am in the midst of fixing the house so the wife and I can move out of this poorly governed state of California so it isn't like I'm really able to stop for weeks to swap the entire engine.
I am tempted to swap on the heads from the replacement engine...they have been gone through, resurfaced, the intake seats have been staked in place and new oil seals installed. New head gaskets, fresh heads and bolts, I had the spare fuel injectors cleaned so the truck should run clean afterwards for about 1 1/2 to 2 days work. This should give me the confidence to trust the truck to make the multiple trips I will have to make during the big move...cars, parts and all of my car related stuff!
In the meantime.....
I have always liked the look of the SRT 10 trucks.

They were THE first production pickup to top 150 mph in stock form. The 2004 SRT 10 with the Viper sourced V 10 and 6 speed manual trans was the lightest and fastest production truck up to then.

 

[Kern Dog]

Now, Mine is an SLT.
These were sort of fancy with a little bit of chrome for garnish. Originally, my front bumper looked like this:

Chrome grille shell with the body colored panel attached to the top side of the bumper, chrome bumper exposed below with a black plastic air dam below that.

I liked the look of the SPORT models with the fully covered bumper like my 2006 truck....

To mimic the look, I just found a municipal truck black front bumper and painted it body color.

Most Dodge guys and certainly Ford and Chevy guys wouldn't think that it wasn't stock. I liked the look but the painted steel does have drawbacks...

The hard steel is very UNforgiving to rock chips. The SPORT bumper cover is a plastic/urethane type unit that is softer and flexible. They don't show the damage the same way that painted steel does because the tiny rocks and other road debris are met against a softer surface.
My days of LONG work commutes are over but I do intend to still drive this truck as my daily. I figure that to spice things up a bit, I want to make it look like an SRT 10 model.

 

[Kern Dog]

Top picture is my truck:

The body and paint are still pretty decent for almost 400,000 miles! I have not waxed or buffed it in years but that is coming....
Below is an SRT 10 in the same "Inferno Red" color.

There are several differences between these models. The SRT 10 has a different front bumper cover with a deep air dam. The bed has a small spoiler on it. The wheels are different and the chassis sits lower than the regular trucks. Finally, for aero, they added body cladding to the sides to make it more favorable at high speeds.
A few weeks back, I found a wrecking yard that had TWO of these trucks in the yard. There were about 10,000 of these trucks built over three model years so they are not very common compared to the 1500 series.
For $1500, I bought the 10 pieces of body cladding that attach to the sides. They consist of the one behind the front wheel opening on the fender, the one on the door, behind the door, on the bed forward of the wheel opening and behind the wheel opening.
The rearmost panels wrap around the bumper like so:

The SRT 10 rear bumper was another $1500 but I didn't like the design. It has a single oval shaped cutout for the twin exhaust pipe those models used. I have dual pipes on mine....

The cladding pieces I got are nearly perfect except ONE. The left side was ripped and needing repair. I test fitted it to the truck to make an assessment of what to do.

I have never tried repairing any bumper covers before but armed with some YouTube videos and some confidence from my bodywork supply salesman, I took a chance on it.

I first pulled the panel all to the correct shape, then put strips of duct tape on the face side to hold it into place. the back side was cleaned with lacquer thinner.
I first thought of using the 2 part epoxy with metal type screens attached to the back side to hold it all from spreading but then had the idea to make a metal cage to perform 2 functions; ONE to serve as an anchor to hold it all together and TWO to provide support for the panel should some idiot try to step on it to get into the truck.

I drilled a series of holes in it to allow the epoxy/adhesive to better imbed itself into the cage.
The epoxy is supposed to have a 45 second work time....Yeah, 45 seconds from when you squirt it onto the panel to when the stuff hardens. Holeeeee crap that was frustrating! It was maybe 15 seconds or so before I thought I was screwed. I used the double cartridge applicator gun and pressed out the epoxy, then grabbed the metal cage to set it into place. I almost didn't make it. I wanted to smooth out the globs but it all hardened up too damn fast.
Not exactly the work of Pablo Picasso.....

The stuff set up quick and within 15 minutes, was as solid as anything I've ever seen. I pulled the duct tape off the face side, wiped it down, sanded it to make a good surface, wiped it down again then applied more of the epoxy....

 

[Kern Dog]

The outside....

Just to be safe, I waited a day to sand on it.

It needed more work but was as solid as can be. I wasn't confident to use regular body filler under the thought that any flex in the panel would crack the filler.
My auto body supplier thought that with as stiff as this is now with that metal cage glued to the back side, this dude wasn't going to flex so I went ahead and applied some RAGE Gold filler in three steps.

It is looking like it is going to work out.
Regarding the front bumper.....

 

[Kern Dog]

The SRT 10 bumper cover is not reproduced by a reputable supplier. There are aftermarket copies that don't fit or look as clean and I don't want to go that route. Since I have always liked the SPORT style like below....

I ordered a NEW one from the Dodge dealer, due in next week. I'll prime and paint it to match the Inferno Red color.

I like the body color grille, my truck has this chrome one:

....so I bought an unpainted one from the wrecking yard....

It has unchromed and unpainted black slats in it....I am unsure if I'll use these in black or reuse the semi chrome ones from my chrome grille.

 

[Kern Dog]

That is all for the moment. I'll keep updating as progress is made. Thanks for looking.

 

[kiwigtx]

Nice project....keep us updated when you can.

 

[moparwacko]

Double posting huh?
Yeah, I'm a member here too, but this site doesn't get as much traffic as FBB0. It's still a great site full of info.
I have a thing for trucks too.

 

[Kern Dog]

On some sound advice, I'm running concurrent threads in the hopes that it may interest members of both forums.

Here is a video with one the same color as mine:

 

[kiwigtx]

Slightly different audience here - no harm in sharing the love between the sites.

 

[Kern Dog]

Lucky for me.....The dealer called today and said that the bumper cover is in. I expected it a few days ago but the man said it was delayed until NEXT week.
Man, this thing is clean looking!

I was advised to clean and use some type of adhesion promoter to get the primer and paint to stick properly. That was welcome advice because I am new to dealing with these plastic panels. I've done body and paint on regular steel body cars but never fiberglass, aluminum or plastic.

 

[Kern Dog]

The following is a bit off topic but it does pertain to this truck.
For a few months, I've been dealing with the MIL coming on and staying on.
In Mopar terms, the MIL stands for Malfunction Indicator Light/Lamp. This is the same as what is often called the "Check Engine" light but the CE started with Chevrolet and GM.
I don't own any GM products so I'll refer to the proper terms that Ma Mopar used for their cars and trucks.
Anyway.... I have a parts store code reader that can read and clear codes. What I've been getting is cylinder 6 misfire, random misfire, bank running too rich, bank running too lean. Each condition had a different code number.
In short, the engine has at least one head gasket leaking small amounts of coolant into the cylinders upon shutdown. At a cold start, it will blow a little steam, run slightly rough but clear up in less than a minute and idle like new.
Up until a little while ago, the MIL could be cleared and stay off until another cold start. Lately, I clear the code and it pops back on in a few minutes.
Today I pulled the # 6 coil pack, then the # 6 spark plugs. The plugs looked fine, the coil pack did too.
I put in a different coil pack from my spare 5.7 I have in the shop out back. It started fine, idled fine, no MIL either. A restart a few minutes later gave the same results.
I did not do anything except replace the coil pack. The old one was original. Can you believe it was going bad after only 397,000 miles ???

 

[65 sporty]

It should have lasted at least to 400,000

 

[Kern Dog]

Tonight is the first time I've seen this TV ad.....

 

[Kern Dog]

It has been about a year since I reported anything on this project. I've posted about it on the FBBO site, a forum that I'm on the most.

Back to it.
I'm in a place that I never thought I'd be.
I never thought I'd be in a spot where my daily driver is old enough to see in the self serve junkyards.
I have decided that I want a spare rear bumper to paint and swap along with another hood scoop. I was also interested in taillight lenses and other trinkets that may be in better condition than what I have.
I was at 6 different junkyards awhile back....the self serve yards that cater to cars and trucks that are 10 or more years old.
I saw maybe 22-25 2002-2008 trucks and not a single one had a decent rear bumper. How can that be? Several were missing from the trucks, maybe those were nice enough that someone already beat me to it.
I can't believe how beat up and abused some of these trucks were. My truck could use a good deep cleaning but it is complete. Most of these trucks looked like they were stolen and thrashed, maybe even owned by scummy people with no pride...
The last yard I went to closed at 5:00 and wouldn't let me even walk the yard...it was 4:30 and they don't allow people in within 30 minutes of closing.
I drove almost 90 minutes to get there and got nothing.
I went back there this morning.
They have an online inventory that isn't always 100% accurate. One thing that helps is that they list the date the vehicle is set in the yard. The closer the date is to today, the better chance that it is still in the yard.

This was on the list:

I wanted the hood scoop. My truck has one but I wanted a spare to paint and swap when I do the rest of the SRT stuff.

I walked up on this:

They had another black truck, but...

The trucks there had trashed bumpers and wrong year taillights.
Ah well, on to the NEXT yard...

 

[Kern Dog]

Yard #2 was smaller and off the beaten path but had ONE truck that had some great parts left.
I got this bumper...

Only one tiny ding in a place that will get hidden by the corner of the right rear SRT cladding piece.

This bumper is otherwise straight. I'll sand blast and prime the chrome. It will get painted and cleared to match the body.
I also got this tailgate...

There is the two sided tape residue from the SLT emblem. I'll clean that off. I'm not sure if I'll add my own SRT emblem.

The back side was coated with that spray in bedliner stuff.

It is still in great shape. I'll prime and paint this and swap it in and save the original for a spare. The original has a few dings...

 

[Kern Dog]

I have 16 pieces to prep, prime, paint and clear. 10 of them are the side cladding from a genuine SRT 10 truck.
Along with that, I have the hood scoop, two grilles, the front bumper cover, rear bumper and tail gate. I am trying to think this out to make sure I don't create obstacles for myself later. The rear pieces behind the wheel openings lay over the corners of the rear bumper:

I have the chrome bumper that will need to be painted so I'll need to paint and reinstall that bumper before the rear corner cladding goes on.
With all these pieces, I'm tempted to paint them on the truck. It sure would be easier compared to trying to paint that many pieces either laying on tables or hanging from wires. Metallic can be tricky too...you often need to paint them in the position they will be mounted to get the metallic flakes to land right. We have all seen cars with metallic paint where the door looks a different shade than the fender until you look at it from another angle. Often times, that is because of how the particles landed and dried. You can't paint the doors while laying flat and then hang the hood to paint it. At least I can't. Maybe someone with more skill can do it and have it turn out right.
Given my skill level, I may prep and prime the cladding and then install it for final finishing.

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[Kern Dog]

In total, there are 16 pieces that need to be prepped, primed, painted and clear coated. I sprayed the panels with some high build primer reduced a bit with acetone.

Most of the panels here are clean enough, they will just need a scuff and wipe and be ready for paint.

I have two grilles to paint. I wanted to have a spare but I'm also looking to try three different styles. One will be ALL Inferno Red, slats and all. The other will be Inferno Red on the outer shell with black slats. I'm then saving the satin chrome slats from the stock grille:

I did buy a spare tailgate. It is straighter than the one I have.

Mine has a bent flap on the lower right and a couple of scrapes.

 

[Kern Dog]

Not sure if I mentioned the repair on the left rear corner piece.
The rear corner cladding on each side needed some work, the left side was the worst as you may recall...

I made a cage out of 18 gauge sheet metal to hold it together while the panel bond/bumper repair epoxy set up. It will also provide rigidity in an area where it might be needed.

This stuff set up FAST.

It looks sloppy, I admit but the dang thing is stiff and strong.

I spread some of the epoxy on the face side too. Within a short time, it was ready to sand.

Of course, nothing is perfect so out came the filler.

High build primer. This will block sand down to a smooth surface.

This was my first time repairing a bumper/urethane panel. It was easier than expected.