Sunday the con begins

Well that Sunday began fairly normal. With me telling a little white lie to get the Marine out of the house. I decided that he needed to help me buy new shoes at Bass Pro Shops. Now that sounds kinda weird, but it worked and off we drove. After making the all important purchase. I think we bought something. We headed back west toward the shop and a call was made to Chuck to make sure he was going to be at the shop to insure that Brian could get his truck back. After all it was supposed to be done last Thursday. He said that he was running late. So I promply let him have it. Names and words that can't be displayed in such a public forum were used to describe Chuck and his shop.
Arriving at the shop was uneventful and Brian headed in to pay his bill and get his beloved truck back. Once inside Chuck laid the big sales job on him and went through the entire catalog and decsribed each of the parts at length. In detail chuck explained how each upgrade would make his truck run that much better. At the end of it all Chuck lead Brian out to the front of the shop to return his "stock" truck to him. About half way out Chuck turned to Brian and said" Several companies in the area decided to thank you for your service to our country and provided enough support to put each of the parts that we just talked about on your truck, Thank you" . Just as he finished, the overhead door was raised and Project Brian was revealed to a speechless young Marine. While Brian was overwhelmed with the truck, 70-80 of his friends and family snuck up behind him and started clapping hands. To say that we was floored is to say that an aligator is a lizard. The truck was fired up and once again Chuck took out all of his frustrations on the rear tires of Project Brian. Now Brian had never been able to actualy spin the tires on dry pavement before the transformation was completed. It was everything he could do to stay on his feet. Infact he had to use the building to help him stay upright. Chuck slid out of the truck, beaming like a proud pappa as the smoke cleared and the tires returned to a normal tempurature.
Chipoltle Burritos were passed around and photos of most were taken to record the day.
As the afternoon drew to a close we all realized what it really means to be an American and the sacrafices that are made to keep this country free. God Bless everyone that helped make this return home as memorable as it could possibly be.

Reveal day minus 3 comes to a close and the trashing got intense.

Well the day started organized and calm enough. Then Chuck showed up and the party started. By noon the tranny was pulled. And with Jeremy's quick reflexes and willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice it stayed on the tranny stand while Norm performed his voodoo with the ATS Five Star torque converter. Next, the tranny was drained, and some how they kept all of the fluid in one container. Unlike my experience with this process where there is usually more on me and the floor than there is in the bucket. Next Norm donned his latex gloves; relax guys and went to work on the new ATS valve body. With the new brains of this tranny transplanted, the ATS deep pan transmission pan was bolted in place.
While L&H Auto Body was putting the finishing touched on the new cowl induction hood, UPS delivered the EDGE CTS with the juice with attitude. By four, Jeremy had the new programmer ready to go and with that Project Brian was almost ready to make it's debut on Sunday.
Meanwhile in the dark corners of the shop, Brianna was creating a master piece with her artistic talents and the newly powder coated valve cover. Mere words cannot describe the magic that she performed on the previously dingy grey valve cover.
So here is what Friday morning will bring. The team will set the hood and make sure it all lines up. The new Cummins decals for the hood will go on and If all goes well, some one other than Chuck will role it out for it's maiden voyage. See, not that Chuck is a bad guy. He just has a habit of turning perfectly normal tires into a raging cloud of smoke that tends to stop traffic . And new tires were not on the build sheet when we started this project last winter. I hope that you enjoy this post and check back for more photos soon.

The overhaul goes in to High Gear

Yesterday was an incredible day. EDGE Products shipped the Edge CTS with attitude and it should be in Denver later today. L&H Autobody applied a fresh coat of white paint to the new cowl induction hood and they should be installing the new hood later today. Look for Pictures later this week.
Chipotles has aggreed to feed the whole crew on Sunday during the reveal and some how seven cases of fresh Coors products showed up to wash the viddles down. Rumor has it that the local NBC news station has taken a serious interest and may be at the reveal to catch the whole thing.
Jeremy stayed late and installed the new ATS Pulse Flow three piece exhaust manifold and the valve cover was powder coated black. A custom paint job is being applied to the valve cover. Keep close and I will have a picture later today. I am being told that it will be a very personalised touch to the engine compartment.

The banner miraclulously hung itself witout anybody falling from the custom scafold provided by Chuck at Truck Transmission and Turbo.

ATS Diesel On-Board With Aurora Turbo & ArcFlow Intake

We contacted ATS Diesel and informed them of Brian's truck. ATS agreed to take part in the project and donated an Aurora 3000 Turbo Kit and ArcFlow Intake Manifold. We couldn't pass up the chance to make this truck really move. Brian has mentioned wanting to increase power on the truck and the turbo kit and intake manifold will help a lot with increased air flow to complement any fuel delivery upgrades that may find their way onto the truck.
Jeremy starts removing the stock charger and downpipe as the truck is prepped for the Aurora 3000 to be installed. The old stock downpipe is pretty rusty and nasty. If it had a few barnacles attached here-and-there it would be fitting!

The factory intake manifold is removed and the ArcFlow is lowered-in. The rear portion of the ArcFlow Manifold has pretapped ports where the boost gauge will hook up for pressure reading. We're not sure if Brian is going to recognize this engine compartment when he finally checks it out.

Rims Arrive!

Brian has mentioned a laundry list of things that he wanted to do with his truck. While most of the work being done is focused on the overall performance of his truck, we also wanted to send him down the road in style! These new Pro Comp Xtremes just came in and should fit the bill. Watching Chuck @ Truck Transmission & Turbo open the boxes is a bit reminiscent of a kid opening Christmas presents. The flat finish and neutral color tone of the rims is subtle and should give the Ram a sharp new look (and will be a lot easier to keep looking nice than chrome).

The rims head off to Discount Tire to have tires mounted and then onto the truck they go. Thanks to the guys at Discount for helping with the project!

Parts show up and parts come off

Monday all of the parts showed up and the original hood was removed and taken the L&H Autobody for color matching. The new hood should arrive today and be ready for installation later this week. Look for the banner at Truck Transmission and Turbo.

Friday update

The contributions are all in. Parts will be ordered on Monday and installation will start on Tuesday or Wednesday. This is gonna be sooooo cool. Look for pictures early next week.