Behind the Scenes: Stock to Not

Our project truck is alive and kicking

She lives! Stock to Not has honestly been a great reintroduction to doing a driveway-built project. It wasn’t a total crap-shoot from the beginning and the 12 valve has always been a great truck to work on. With everything we need to do pretty much right there in the engine bay, she’s ready to be worked on without hassle.

Lucky for me and the talented mechanics I’ve had working on this project since we’ve had it, the engine bay of this truck was pretty well taken care of, so going through we were surprised to see that everything wasn’t absolutely covered in oil (every Dodge guys knows, if it isn’t leaking leaking oil, something’s is wrong with it). Either way, we took the time to blast as much of the old engine grime and crud that’s been there for a long time off, so we had an even cleaner workplace than we did before.

Once we got the head back from Express Engines (Deland, FL  (386) 734-9302) we didn’t waste any time getting the top end back together so we were ready to film our DDP fueling product install. We used ARP 425 12MM head studs, XOTIC performance pre machined pedestals so we didn’t have to get the stock ones modified for the studs Diesel auto power 145# valve springs and diesel auto power heavy duty  chromoly 7/16 pushrods so this engine can handle the higher RPM range we need to get this truck to safely and consistently put down power. Doesn’t it look pretty?!

Soon we’ll have this truck back on the road and ripping so don’t forget to subscribe to continue seeing “Stock to Not” evolve from a good Facebook marketplace find to a high horsepower daily driver!

We’ve also had the opportunity to upgrade our intercooler to the Smeding Diesel replacement! This intercooler reduces air intake temps 25% and will get our EGT’s a little lower on the gauges, therefore keeping our engine cooler in hot situations.

Our first “stage” of turbochargers on this build is this Smeding Diesel stock replacement S362/65/14.

This turbo is a drop in turbo from the boys at Smeding, and will give us a good place to start power wise (around 550WHP) and let us get all the kinks out of the first go at this build.