My Duramax Build

[Pat_the_mechanic]

Hey everyone, new to the forum and i figured i would post about the lb7 i picked up last year. It has come along way since i first picked it up. It had typical lb7 cracked injector bodies so i got the truck for a really good deal because it was beat up pretty much all the way around.

It got new carpet, injectors, rims and tires i bought the truck for my dad and i ended up buying it back from him after i sold my dodge and needed a truck.

I haven't had the truck for that long and i installed the mirrors, trac bars, installed the dsp 5 and put a light bar on it. i just want to see what people think of it and i am in need of more opinions on what to do to the truck next. Should have started this thread a long time ago so everyone could see the extremely slow progress its made. Anyways here are the first set of pics.

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

I will be posting more pictures of the truck soon. The site wouldn't let me upload the next batch. Right now i have the truck in the shop with everything removed in prep for the paint job. I took the bed off too, I don't want to use the old bed it was just too damaged in places.

 

[DAVe3283]

Cool, looks like you have a nice shop there too!

I think there might be a requirement to have a certain number of posts before you can upload a lot of pictures? Or maybe it was just a glitch.

I'd say just go slow on the mods. This site can drain your wallet really quick!

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

Cool, looks like you have a nice shop there too!

I think there might be a requirement to have a certain number of posts before you can upload a lot of pictures? Or maybe it was just a glitch.

I'd say just go slow on the mods. This site can drain your wallet really quick!

Thank you Dave! I am gonna try and post them again in a few minutes. Its addicting doing all these mods to trucks!

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

Ok i finally got it to work. I had to resize the pictures. this is how the truck has looked for the last couple months. I decided to change things up a bit with how it looked so i will try and get some pictures of its progress. I am going to be doing smoked headlights turn and brake lights as well as the 3rd light on top of the cab.

 

[Troysalm71]

Mines still faster haha she's come along way since we picked her up. Atleast ya dumped the cummins life.

 

[Troysalm71]

I just membered the graphics it had. Just clicked into the pics I had to save the one with the dodge I didn't think you had any. I helped lol the rims an autocal.

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

Mines still faster haha she's come along way since we picked her up. Atleast ya dumped the cummins life.

Yes she has! Wait till I post the pics if it's current state lol its gone a long ways in the opposite direction

 

[Troysalm71]

Yes she has! Wait till I post the pics if it's current state lol its gone a long ways in the opposite direction

I'll just txt ya an have you send them. I'll let ya take mine for awhile if ya need.

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

On Monday I pulled the truck into the shop and started the tear down on it. I decided for sure that I am not going to use the bed that came with the truck, It was too damaged. I pulled all the trim off and need to work on getting the adhesive off of the side. I will not be putting trim or stainless back on the truck.

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

Its been a long week and haven't been able to work on the truck too much. I got the chance to go to the salvage yard today and they just happened to have a blue short box bed that was dent free! I haggled the guy down and added a front right fender to the bill and it only cost $750 for both! I just have to play catch up on the bed now and get all the trim and adhesive off. If you guys have any suggestions I am all ears.

 

[serioustones]

Your truck's looking great!

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

Well i found out that they were bringing a chassis dyno into town yesterday and even though my truck was beyond tore apart I decided I just couldn't miss out on it. I put my mirrors and headlights back in and zip tied my license plate to the hitch and drove the 6 miles into town. Man did i get a lot of weird looks. Anyways i was pretty disappointed with the numbers and so was everybody else that ran. 419 HP and 796 lbs of torque. I will post a link soon so you guys can watch the pulls.

 

[Troysalm71]

Weak skill. Jk buddy

 

[TheBac]

Stock LB7 is 240-250 hp/mid 500s tq at the wheels. I'd be careful running +170hp/250tq on a stock trans.

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

Stock LB7 is 240-250 hp/mid 500s tq at the wheels. I'd be careful running +170hp/250tq on a stock trans.

Thank you for the heads up but my stock trans is already toast haha. I cant even run it in fifth gear because it limps out at 1/4 throttle. I am desperately in need of some affordable transmission options.

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

Well this weekend should be fun. I had some more parts show up for the build yesterday. This will be the more difficult part of the build for me to complete. I finally made the decision on who is going to build my trans and i went with a local shop close to me that has good reviews from a couple of friends of mine. suncoast converter, billet input and suncoast clutches. im not sure what else they are going to do to it yet but they said it would handle 800 hp when its done. I probably wont ever make that much power so it should be a pretty reliable trans. I got my battery tray welded up and painted so it can be put on the frame as well. should be lots more pics coming in the next couple weeks. Turbo is an s475 cast wheel nothing super fancy.

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

Well it was a pretty long saturday and didn't get much time to work on the truck. I started to try and pull the factory down pipe off last night and it wasn't happening so I pulled the trans out and will be attempting to remove it again tomorrow. I made my mount from the block up to the turbo and finally got it right. I am going to make another bracket that bolts to the top of the turbo at the oil feed and run it to the 2 studs that locate the fuel test port on the top of the engine. I shorted myself a couple of vband assemblies and flange adapters so that will hold me up for a little bit since i have to wait till payday to order more parts haha. I still have no idea what converter to put in this truck! Later on down the road i might put a bigger valley charger in it. was thinking about getting a dt stealth 64.4 because it would be a drop in replacement and maybe some slightly bigger injectors too. I would like to have a converter that is ready for that so I don't have to worry about it later. Here are some pics of my turbo in its mounting spot I just haven't welded my drain fitting into it yet, im still mocking things up.

 

[Pat_the_mechanic]

Well I didn't get as much time as I wanted to work on the truck over the holiday weekend but this is what I got done. Finished pulling trans out. Removed down pipe and cut the flange off for reuse, made the new pipe with old flange and put a vband on it. Then I ran the pipe all the way over and hooked it to the turbo inlet. I still have to header wrap this pipe. I don't think the welds turned out to bad for a beginner tig welder. I made the list of remaining parts I need and will be ordering them tomorrow. Transmission gets dropped of at the trans shop this weekend too! While I am waiting on parts I am going to try and catch up on all the painting that I haven't been working on.

 

[yellowchevy]

Looks good so far but I'm sure you're wallet is getting empty..
I'm assuming you're around the Dickinson area being that was on the dyno trailer?

Nice to see another fellow ND guy!!! :thumb:

Yellowchevy