5 years ago I purchased a 2012 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi Lonestar Quad Cab with 60k miles on it. At the time it was the only real good deal out there on a 4 door anything. It was 24k. I had it roughly 1 month and we had a random winter hail storm that came out of no where. The truck was parked under the carport, but it didn't matter. It destroyed the hood and got the top a little. I didn't immediately file a claim as work picked up and I was unable to really let it go down for a week or so. Flash forward to the spring of 17. I finally claim on it. They paid me pretty good and even for a few PDR dents in the door and bed. So by then I was really regretting not getting at least a 13, but then again there was nothing in my price range. So here I am. I hate chrome and this truck had a lot of it. I had already painted the wheels and running boards. Debadged it. I did VHT on the lights and converted the truck to a fully LED conversion. Pretty much every light was converted. Now back to truck. It originally had the cowl hood on it. As much as I like the cowl hood, that sport/R/T hood really looked good. So did the whole sport look in general. Man I was really wishing that I had gotten a sport. At the time sport hoods were impossible to find. They still are hard to locate. So I went with an aftermarket fiberglass hood. I ended up with this hood. https://www.carid.com/amerihood/clg-...iABEgIXFPD_BwE It has been a great hood. Worked with the factory latch etc. Plus I was able to do more to the truck. I am lucky to have a family member who paints. He has done it for 30+ years. He happened to be slow at work, so he took care of it. They painted the hood, painted the chrome bumpers, grill, and door handles. It all came out perfect. He even painted the lights and man when he sent me the picture it was one dang good looking truck. I then ditched the stock Goodyear tires for a set of 285/55/20 Nitto Terra Grapplers. It wasn't long after that I moved to my current home. I was doing a lot of commuting and the truck was starting gain the miles. We paid it off and decided to part ways with it. I sold it to my dad who took fairly good care of it. Mechanically it was always sound. Still is. He just hated the blacked out look, so in typical older person fashion over that last 3 years added all the chrome and stock lights back to it. So where did that leave me? I bought it back, and had to do so much cleaning on it. It was bad. I still have more to do cleaning wise. I need to get another short ram CAI, I deleted the mufflers, but I am now thinking heavily about a carven exhaust. Over all plans are black it back out, add off road tires again. Toyo or General are my top two with nitto not being far behind. It needs about 3/4 of the LED lights back in it. I already added the shorty antenna back, I have the stereo back to where I can play music via iTunes, Amazon music, and I think I can use XM through my phone. I need to do a tune up, transmission fluid change, and a coolant change. I want to add a tuner through this one, because dodge didn't lock down the PCM until 16.

The day I bought it.

After it was all said and done.

How it looks today.

 

When is the 392 swap going in it?

I've got a Pro cable that you can use, if you want to do the tune yourself - or if you can download one from a company, like what ZZP does.

 

It already has 3.92s in it The Charger needs more 392 engine swap. I love the gears in it. It is actually a fairly quick truck for being a full sized crew cab. I may borrow that off of you once I get the maintenance done on it.

 

I have debated it and it’s coming down to the stock white sport grill again or an aftermarket one I like the newer still look with white led lights. I am still unsure on the wheels, stockers or moto metal. Same with the lights stockers painted or aftermarket.

What was on it 3 years ago. I still have them. It just takes 100.00 to fix them as they as they are wheel covers lol.

I like the newer 14-18 wheels

Then there is moto metal.

To retint stockers or go with these.

Taillights are a no brainer 5th gen>4th gen.

 

Time for some more updates. As my hunt for a white grill continues, I took the chrome one off and plasti dipped it and the ram emblems. I also yanked the chrome clad covers off. What a mess that turned out to be. After 2 days or work, I got those painted as well. Waiting on my center caps. They come Saturday. Hopefully that will allow me enough time to get them on. The end is near for the chrome. Headlights are up next and so is a slew of maintenance. Transmission fluid change, coolant change, seafoam the engine again, then I will be changing out all of the power steering fluid. Brakes are due in the next 10k miles. Speaking of tires, I need to get a TPMS sensor for the driver rear. I still need to jack with fixing the seat too.

 

R/T emblem is back on.

 

Did you clear coat these as well? I'm debating if I should just throw away my last can of SprayMax 2K (from the issues I had) to get Eastwood.

 

Yes I actually did Rustoleum peel and coat gloss white and then glossifer. I am getting a really good deal on Toyo R/T Open Country tires, so those are going on the black rims today.

 

Got my center caps installed!

 

And then my depo lights came. Finally! I’m still waiting on my third brake light..... I have to update my LED headlights again. I jizzed in my pants with the results❤️



T

Sissy steps gone.

 

Those definitely look really good. I know my Cobalt will need new HL sooner or later. I'm still on OEM housings and I can see the start of some clear coat peeling.

 

They are super nice lights, especially with the LED conversion. I really like the way those tail lights look. I have wanted them for some time now. Like a few years

 

As she sits right now. I need to get over to Keller town square and take some. Then maybe Southlake town square. I have like 4 days to get my shots before TOTM voting.

 

looks really clean. I like all the chrome removed and the red caps in front of the calipers.

 

Thanks Man! She turns heads for sure. I just compiled my list of Things I have done to it. Yikes I don't even want to know the total on it. I paid 24k for it to start. Then the list starts...
2012 Dodge Ram 1500 Lonestar Edition.



Engine:



5.7 Hemi



6 speed Transmission



3.92 Gears



Blistein Shocks



Resonator Deletes



Short Ram Intake “ Waiting on my AFE CAI” I May End Up Doing The Vararam intake, As I Really Like The Look.



Exterior Mods:



Amerihood Functional Ram Air Sport Hood From CARiD



Black Hemi Emblems On The Hood



White Sport Grill



Painted To Match Body Color Door Handles



Body Matched White Front and Rear Bumpers



Front Licenses Plate Delete



Blacked Out Ram Emblems



Depo Black Front Quad Headlights LED Error Free Bulbs Throughout



Professionally Smoked Factory Fog Lights With LED Conversion Error Free Bulbs



LED Tail lights Smoked From American Trucks I Added Error Free Reverse Lights



LED Third Brake Light From American Trucks



LED Licenses Plate Lights



Mopar Trailer Hitch Insert



DeeZee Tail Gate Assist



Tube Running Boards Deleted



Debadged



Red Rock Shorty Antenna



Smart Hitch Back Up Camera



Factory Chrome Clad 20” Wheels. I Removed The Clad, I Cleaned Them Up And Then Painted Black.



Red Painted Calipers



Aftermarket Mopar Center Cap



33x12.5x20 Toyo Open Country R/T Tires





Interior:



Stock Interior Just Maintained



Ram Floor Mats



Center Bezel Painted Black



A/C Vents Painted Black



Back Seat Mod



Kicker Speakers



Stock Radio For Now “ I Will Be Upgrading To A Alpine ilx-w650 This Summer”

 

That's how I am with the Cobalt - don't add it up and don't think about it. Especially with the GMPP cat-back, GMPP extruded honed manifold, and GM Stage 2 w/ dealer install that I bought when they first hit the market. Looking back now, they were honestly priced superbly low, but I was making like $8/hr back then and $1000 was a LOOOOOOOT of money.

 

Oh yeah it was. I have spent so much money on my cars over the years. I would estimate 100-200k. Its all in the name of performance tho.

 

It's a nice list, and the truck looks good. I think by the end of summer, I might be dropping $4000 into the Cobalt so I'm (kind of) in the same boat

 

Luckily the parts and maintenance arent that expensive. Minus the Hemi tick which knock on wood it has never been plagued with. I found a few more pictures from yesterday.