Truck Tech Builds

Parts Used In This Episode

Matco Tools
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The Industrial Depot
Tools, Hardware, Shop Supplies

Episode Transcript

(Jeremy)>> You're watching Powernation!

(Austin)>> Question for you brother. How on Earth can you underestimate a pair of twin turbos?

(LT)>> Well it probably has something to do with the fact that they're attached to a teeny tiny V-6 that's under the hood of a Ford.

(Austin)>> Get ready to be saddened my friend. [ Music ] [ engine revving ]

(LT)>> Yeah baby!

(Austin)>> Woo hoo! [ Music ]

(Austin)>> Here we are, the end of the road of the Muscle Trux build off. I've got to say it's been a long journey and we had a good time doing it but that's not gonna stop today. We've still got to put these trucks through the paces and see who comes out on top.

(LT)>> The premise of the shootout is quite simple. We were each given the same exact budget to go out and purchase whatever kind of truck that we wanted, and then we were given another budget to modify them in whichever way we saw fit to make them both faster and to look better. I couldn't be happier with how my entry into the Muscle Trux shootout has turned out, and this is a bucket list truck for me. I've wanted to build one of these basically since they came out. It's an '05 Ram SRT-10. 505 cubic inch V-10 under the hood and I've accentuated some of the muscle truck vibes that this truck came with from the factory. Powder coated the wheels dark gray and just kinda dressed up the front end and got rid of all that flashy chrome by adding blacked out headlights and a blacked out grille. Like I said, I'm super excited with how this turned out and I can't wait to get it out on the road and onto the dyno and see how she performs.

(Austin)>> I've said it from the very beginning. It's all about the transformation, and I think I achieved that. This is the 2015 Ford F-150 Platinum sporting the 3.5 liter V-6 EcoBoost. Started by slamming it down, getting it a nice wide aggressive stance, putting some good tires and wheels, kick it out with a wide body kit. Then we addressed the performance, adding some bigger turbos, throwing some more air and fuel in there. Finally dress it up with appearance. Raptor style front grille, two tone ram intake hood, and then did some gloss black accents such as flares, and emblems, and you know just dress it up and clean it up a bit, and let's hit the road. [ Music ] I'm gonna go ahead and tell you. I am so happy to be out on the road in this truck and out of the shop, and enjoying it for what it actually is, driving! Driving this dude, that's what it's about. I can tell you right off the bat it handles way better. You know it's lower to the ground so you've got that center of gravity nice and low. We added that rear sway bar. It's tight, it feels good, it handles well, and it's still comfortable, which is important.

(LT)>> The best way I can describe how the SRT drives is it's just pure, it's raw, it's unfiltered. There's nothing in between your right foot and the acceleration. It's a big displacement naturally aspirated engine. So it's right there. You put your foot down and it pulls. There's no waiting for the turbos to spool up. There's no electronic throttle pedal that's gonna filter your foot where it's like maybe you don't really need that much throttle right now, no. On the SRT there's a cable between your foot and the engine. So however fast you want to go you put your foot there and the truck is simply gonna do it. [ engine revving ]

(LT)>> The one thing you need to be careful of though is that right we're talking about because this will get you in trouble being behind the wheel of this bright red SRT.

(Austin)>> As far as the performance goes well that's a no brainer. These turbos spool up super quick. We're pushing 18 p-s-i on the boost. I mean we've got more power I can feel it. I know it's there. I don't know how much. That's what the dyno's gonna tell us and I'm interested to see really what it's gonna put down. I mean I'm not thinking it's gonna do 500, 600 horse, which I would love to get out of it but that's just not realistic for the mods I did and the budget I had to throw at this. So anything over 350 will actually be a win in my book. I'd be satisfied.

(LT)>> So the one thing you might say is missing from my build is the exterior appearance upgrades. Yeah I know Austin did a whole lot to his truck. Different hood, flares, he honestly transformed how it looks, and this truck I didn't really want to change much because in my opinion it already looks better than any F-150 can. Where I just blacked out a few emblems and powder coated the wheels but in my opinion, my humble opinion I might add, the SRT Ram is probably one of the best looking pickups ever to roll off the assembly line. So I didn't want to change anything. I think it already looks perfect. [ engine revving ]

(Austin)>> Feel that, 18 p-s-i on the boost. The thing's rolling. All in all I'm extremely happy with how this build came out and I want to see how competitive it's gonna be up to that little cute red truck. I think it might be fairly competitive in some areas. You don't need to win them all to win. You just need to win enough, and we'll find out next when the two go head to head on the dyno.

(LT)>> This is probably one of the coolest sounding trucks that I've ever got to work on but sound doesn't really get you anywhere down the dragstrip. So we started 430 horse at the tire and about 480 pounds of torque, and it's a pretty simple setup.

(Pat)>> That's nothing to sneeze at. That's good for a truck but with headers, cam, and all the stuff you've done, you've done the work. Let's see what it does.

(LT)>> Well I'm excited.

(Pat)>> You're right, sound doesn't do anything, and I'm not one to look at stuff on the internet to see what it actually should make. Let's see what it makes. [ engine revving ]

(Pat)>> 460, 535!

(LT)>> Not awful.

(Pat)>> That's just burning some stuff off your headers probably right?

(LT)>> Yeah something puffed up there pretty good. [ engine idling ]

(LT)>> Yeah there's oil everywhere. It smells like power steering fluid and yeah, just as I suspected that weird two piece fitting decided it wanted not to be together.

(Pat)>> If that's the worst that happens you're in good shape because the truck ran fine but holy smokes. That's a mess.

(LT)>> With the mess cleaned up, a new hose installed, and the power steering fluid topped off I'll make another pull. [ engine revving ]

(Pat)>> Made 464 and 511.99 pound feet.

(LT)>> 511 sounds like a good number.

(Pat)>> Well 511.99. I'm calling that 512.

(LT)>> I agree, 512 it is. I have another tune with a little bit more ignition timing in it. So I'll get it loaded up in the computer to make another pull.

(Pat)>> Give it another bang there and see what happens.

(LT)>> Alright. [ engine revving ]

(LT)>> Sounds so good.

(Pat)>> Well look at that, 473, 521 pound feet. Now that's a tune up. I ain't gonna lie, that's a tune up.

(LT)>> What is that, just about 40 more peak to peak, and I bet if we look there might be a better gain in the mid-range.

(Pat)>> There is. Dude that's 38 horse peak but again that doesn't tell the whole story.

(LT)>> Well it's 2020 and they say that's what hind sight is right? I probably should have gone with a custom ground cam. I did just pick the biggest one they had available in the catalog but also like you said. This is 505 cubic inches and it's a relatively small cam, but I'm happy with 473 and the true story will be told out on the track. So I've got to get this thing unstrapped and hit the road.

(Pat)>> I like it!

(Austin)>> Now we've done a lot of mods to help out with the air flow in this little 3-5 EcoBoost but this truck's got well over 100,000 miles on it. So we might as well address that fuel system as well as well. We're using Seafoam High Mileage Motor Treatment. It works to minimize long term wear. But not only does it clean and lubricate the fuel system, you can also add it directly into the engine oil and that'll help prevent those harmful residues from building up in the crank case that can restrict oil flow. One ounce of Seafoam High Mileage per gallon of gas or quarter of oil should do the trick. Now off to the dyno. [ Music ] Well Pat it's ready to go. Strapped down and locked in.

(Pat)>> Now I like the red truck when it was on here but I like the gray maybe a little better.

(Austin)>> Definitely better right? Well all the hard parts are in. The build is complete my friend. I'm excited to see what this is gonna do.

(Pat)>> Now with those hard parts you're gonna need a little bit of tuning to make sure those parts do what you want.

(Austin)>> Exactly, and to do that we are gonna use SCT's X-4 programmer. This device is available for almost any vehicle out there, and if you're running a stock vehicle or even mild performance upgrades such as an intake or exhaust it comes with pre-loaded tunes, and these tunes are dialed in. These guys spend thousands of hours of r&d figuring them out, trying to make these engines run as safely, reliably, and efficiently as possible while still maximizing all your power. Now the best thing about the device it is Wi-Fi capable. You don't have to bring it inside. You can do all your live updates in your driveway via Wi-Fi. Then if your truck throws a check engine light, which they do from time to time, you can read all those d-t-c codes, figure out what the issue is and how to resolve it and go from there. It also has other user end options such as if you're gonna throw bigger tires that speedo's gonna be way off. You can calibrate that correctly, make sure you're reading the right miles per hour, and then adjust other things such as speed limiter, and shift points, and so forth. If your build requires a little more in depth performance parts such as ours did it has the capacity to upload custom tunes form an authorized dealer. That's exactly the route we went.

(Pat)>> Alright we're all setup. Make a hit!

(Austin)>> Alright! [ engine revving ]

(Pat)>> Wow!

(Austin)>> What we at?

(Pat)>> I am impressed. 410, 430 for torque.

(Austin)>> 410, so stock I think we're at 350?

(Pat)>> 350, so that's 60 horse right there.

(Austin)>> 60 at the rear wheel.

(Pat)>> That's pretty nice actually. I think we're gonna have to make another hit just to see what it does. [ engine revving ]

(Pat)>> That is 415, 438 pound feet of torque.

(Austin)>> 415, broke 400.

(Pat)>> Not bad.

(Austin)>> I'll take that.

(LT)>> So I heard what sounds like a pair of cats fighting in an old school record player with a big cone on the end. So that must mean your dyno run is over. So how'd the pepper grinder do?

(Pat)>> So 415 horse and 438 pound feet of torque. That's pretty mean.

(LT)>> So there's a lot of different ways we can compare these two results. So how's this stack up Pat?

(Pat)>> If you just do straight horsepower per cube. So yours which made 474. So you go 474 divided by 505 inches. That is .09386 per cube.

(LT)>> Which is really good considering there's no artificial atmosphere with a pair of turbos.

(Pat)>> That is true.

(Austin)>> But he's got 10 cylinders.

(Pat)>> But what's really impressive you've got an engine that makes 415 and you divide by 213 cubic inches. That is literally a staggering 1.948 per cube. That is absolutely impressive, especially on pump gas in something that you can actually drive.

(LT)>> I still made more horsepower. I still have a cooler truck, and I think there's a bottle of nitrous around here somewhere. So I'm gonna get back to work.

(Austin)>> I see you sweating.

(Pat)>> He's sweatin' now.

(LT)>> Stay tuned in the coming weeks for when our trucks go head to head to determine a winner. Speed, agility, styling, and of course brute force. Who will come out on top?

(Austin)>> But up next we'll rescue a classic Bronco that's hot under the collar.

(Austin)>> It's always a good feeling to give back to our viewers, and over the last three seasons our Driveway Rescue program in conjunction with Rock Auto dot com has become hugely popular.

(LT)>> Every year we go through thousands of applicants who for one reason or another get stuck on their project, and we know how it goes. It could be from lack of funding or maybe you just started a project and got in over your head, but either way we're happy to help. We've rescued a Ford F-150 that had a 5.4 three valve under the hood, and one of the most common problems they have is the spark plugs breaking off in the head. So we helped the owner throw in a new set.

(Austin)>> This '94 Bronco had such a nasty interior the owners wife wouldn't even go for a ride in it. When we were done she loved it. ( )>> I think the truck turned out amazing. It's beautiful! I love the front, interior's fantastic. I can actually see over the hood now to drive it. So I can't wait to drive it.

(Bill)>> Hi, my name is Bill Shelton and this is my 2006 Chevy Silverado.

(Austin)>> We dressed it up so he and his dog could enjoy his beloved pickup for years to come.

(LT)>> And the common theme amongst all these viewers, well the parts we need to make their truck look and perform great again we picked up from Rock Auto dot com. This is Cody's '79 Bronco he purchased online about a year and a half ago. He's done some minor mechanical repair but the 40 inch tall tires and 10 inch lift were done by someone else. He gave us his wish list and we went on to Rock Auto dot com and loaded up the shopping cart with stuff like a new a/c compressor and a new radiator. It's easy to pick out parts that fit any size budget, and detailed imagines make the ordering process super simple.

(Cody)>> Pretty much want a cool cruising vehicle. Take the top off. Something a little bigger, and beefier, and better than a Jeep and just go cruising.

(Austin)>>> Definitely been a minute since I cruised around in an old Bronco but growing up we had two or three of them all the time.

(Cody)>> I found the love with these after I bought this one.

(Austin)>> What made you even think about trying to find it?

(Cody)>> I was primarily looking just for an old Ford truck cause just a Ford guy, and I came across this one and I sent my wife a picture of it. A couple weeks later sent another picture, and a week later sent another picture.

(Austin)>> You just kept looking at it.

(Cody)>> It just kept always right there, and so she finally was like just make him an offer and quit sending me photos of it.

(Austin)>> That sounds like a green light to me.

(Cody)>> Exactly.

(Austin)>> I know we talked a little bit on the phone and stuff and you said you had some cooling problems with it overheating. Obviously it's lifted on big tires. So it's not gonna steer the best. You know it's a big lifted four wheel drive.

(Cody)>> Most definitely, going down a road you can definitely feel even now. Just feels like it's all over the place.

(Austin)>> It's something you definitely have to drive. You've got to pay attention to keep it between the lines.

(Cody)>> There's no just laid back cruising.

(Austin)>> Them ole ground hogs, they pretty noisy huh?

(Cody)>> Oh yeah!

(Austin)>> You're not doing a long road trip in this guy.

(Cody)>> Especially not with the fuel economy.

(Austin)>> You thinking about 10 miles on a half a tank? Well if there was ever any proof that Cody's Bronco needed a rescue we had to pull over and wait out an overheating issue. Overheating, not the first time I've been in this predicament, on the side of the road in a Ford. Well we'll let it chill for a while and at least we know you weren't lying about the problem.

(Cody)>> Yeah that's for sure.

(Austin)>> It don't take too much huh? Did you have the fans on at all?

(Cody)>> I did, I had the fans running.

(Austin)>> Old radiator hoses, I mean you can tell. Look how soft that is. That all deteriorates and stuff. Probably clogged up and not flowing and cooling as effectively as it could.

(Rob)>> Does this happen often?

(Cody)>> It does. I've worked on it off and on trying to get this overheating issue to be taken care and it seems to be a constant little problem. Hence y'all guys are here to help.

(Austin)>> Quick little fix, hopefully we'll be in business.

(Cody)>> Awesome!

(LT)>> Next we'll tear into this Bronco.

[ Music ]

(LT)>> Well I've got to say I think the dentside is my favorite generation of Bronco, and the tire, the old school groundhogs, this is what does it for me.

(Austin)>> Yeah they're awesome. This is truly classic and as traditional as it gets. You can't even find these tires anymore.

(LT)>> Well we're about to get wet. So I think we need to hurry up and get to work. Let's get the tools.

(Austin)>> Might as well.

(Cody)>> My dad was a Ford guy and I am a Ford guy. Pretty much the only other truck I've ever owned is a Toyota, and I wouldn't ever go back. I love Fords. Well as soon as the cooling and the steering issues are and everything's great on it I'm gonna take the top off and go cruising around town.

(Austin)>> So as we noticed the ole Bronco definitely has some cooling issues but also just going down the road riding shotgun I could tell that it's all over the road, and that's partially due to the lift and the big tires, but some new steering stabilizers honestly wouldn't hurt things. That'll help that dampening and rebound and just keep that steering kinda nice and centered between the lines. So we'll start there. [ drill humming ]

(Austin)>> Steering stabilizer can mount in one of a few different locations. One being the frame to your drag link. Another location would be your axle to your tie rod. Now this Bronco has a dual kit, meaning it mounts in both places, and that just gives us extra help when dealing with these big ole tires. One thing to keep in mind during installation is the limit of the stabilizer on full turn left and full turn right. As long as you've got a buffer you're good to go. So as I am wrapping up the steering this happens.

(LT)>> Look in the game of life sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, other times you're stuck in the rain. But hey it's not that big of a pain. I won't complain. At least my shirt doesn't have a stain. Now Cody's Bronco suffers from a problem that a lot of classic vehicles do, overheating, and there are a lot of parts to the cooling system that can contribute to this. Whether it's an old clogged up radiator that's not allowing sufficient air flow across its core to cool the temperature down. A stuck thermostat, which would be block coolant from flowing through the engine. A cooling fan that's not drawing enough air across, or a number of other reasons. Now whatever the case may be Rock Auto has parts that will fix your cooling problems of any vehicle, especially the '79 Bronco. So we're gonna get started by draining the system so we can swap out the radiator. [ Music ]

(Austin)>> Always reclaim your used fluids properly.

(LT)>> Ready, one finger! Oh yeah, that's heavy! Here you go.

(Austin)>> Two hands, oh yeah, spilled it again.

(LT)>> Well they say bigger is better right?

(Austin)>> Well it's definitely gonna cool, and we did a quick test fit. We know it's gonna bolt up. All we've got to do is swap these fans.

(LT)>> Let's get out of here before this rain comes back. [ Music ]

(Austin)>> Well it wasn't ideal weather for this rescue but with the cooling and steering problems fix Cody and his family should be able to enjoy this Bronco without any more issues. [ Music ]

(Cody)>> Woo hoo, that's right. Temperature gauge is staying good, staying nice and cool. ( )>> Awesome.

(Cody)>> Steering is a lot better. I get to look forward to taking the top off and going cruising now. ( )>> We can?

(Cody)>> We can! ( )>> Yay!

(Cody)>> Thank you to the guys at Truck Tech.
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