That's right, as I just posted in my welcome post:
I'm not necessarily new to this thread, I've been lurking around for the past four or five months. I bought a 2001 Dodge 2500 back in March with a 360 V8 in it, and two days later bought a 12 Valve Cummins to drop into it. Currently I have the Cummins torn down and awaiting a gasket kit so we can rebuild it. I've got some pretty cool little ideas for the truck, and I'm really hoping that it turns out great! Also, If it's allowed on this section, I might post a full build of the truck on this thread. Otherwise I'll just start a new thread for it all.

So here's that new thread. I'll post some pictures with build progress in a bit, but I've got a couple questions first. I'm wanting to put a 5 inch exhaust on the truck, but I'm not entirely sure how I should go about it. I have an HX35W, and I want the exhaust to come out the bottom of the right side of the bed in front of the tire (photo below). I found a 5 inch exhaust on ebay from a reputable dealer, but it's a full exhaust and I don't think I should try to modify a full exhaust, so what do y'all suggest?

 

if it were me i would buy a complete system. pull a peice or 2 out of such as the hump that goes over the rear end. then trim or do what you gotta do to get the look your after. use the part that turns out by behind the tire to work where you want it. also there is alot of very reputable vendors on here that can get great prices as well. (such as mighty diesel) who i order and recomend my friends also welcome to bombers ready to see your build

 

You could probably save some money by piecing something together yourself. You would need much more than several feet of straight pipe and some elbows. I think the hard part would be getting around the frame rail to get the exhaust where you want it.

 

Does this mean that the kits don't come put together, you assemble them underneath your truck and then weld them together?
I'm checking out Mighty Diesel right now, hopefully I'll find some good deals

 

yes come in sections they come with clamps to hold them together.. or you could weld them if you desired. like davo said you will have more probs getting around your frame where you want it. are you sure you want to cut a hole in the side of your bed? if it were me and thats where i wanted the exhaust i would go below the bed

 

Yeah I'm positive. To be honest, the bed isn't in the best of shape, so if It got dirty or anything I wouldn't really care. And I want it in the lower portion because I see a lot of people putting it under their bed, but to me that doesn't look too good. We are going to make it look like it's a gas cap flap, but that's when we do the finishing touches. Can I just buy pipe anywhere, and what kind of pipe should I be looking for?

 

I'm going to go ahead and post some build pics (in order of happening)

Moving the motor to its new home


Sat her down for a bit


She's pretty darn dirty


Ready to be cleaned


Plenty of pressurized H2O and degreaser


My truck pre-swap


We made a custom mounting plate (found out later we didn't really need it )


How do we get it up there?


Turbo and Manifold are gone


Funny story, we thought the walls were sleeved... Turns out, the gasket is just so tight that it doesn't let in dust or dirt (makes sense, right?) and what looked like sleeves was just super clean block


P-pump is gone, doin some brake-cleanin


And this is the current state



So now it's just a wait for gaskets and we will start puttin it all back together.. Also, it helps to have my Dad back from his trip
Hope y'all like the progress, I sure do. Gonna have some more soon!

 

Got some parts in for the rebuild today. Getting the gasket kit this week, gonna hopefully have it all put back together by Sunday!

 

Just bought our gasket kit from Young and Sons, going to start putting the motor back together probably tomorrow.
Also, just got some new tires for the truck:


I've got a question though, those tires are REALLY wide (15.5 inches) and so they rub on one of the bars. I think it's the traction bar. Because of this rubbing I can barely turn the tires, what's the best solution for this?

[EDIT]
The tires aren't rubbing on the bars, they are actually rubbing on the back of the fender well. I don't have a leveling kit on it, and a leveling kit will definitely be in the works soon no matter what, but I don't really have the money for it right now. Is there another way I can mod the fender well to make it work? Or is it going to be a lift only solution?

 

i just ordered 4k gov springs and 60#valve springs for my 12v i just bought. im ready to get home and work on mine.

it looks like you have a shop. grab some pipe and make your own spacers. if you have pipe or have access to some pipe its a free mod. besides your time and welding a there are actualy pretty simple to build. i know a guy who built 3'' spacers for his 04 looked just like the ones you buy except he painted his red