Would you believe the gleaming Viper Red paint was a $700 job applied at a local auto body shop?
We all want our trucks to suit our every need. For most of us that means a machine we can drive every day, use to tow any trailer, punish unsuspecting sports cars with, and keep around for hundreds of thousands of miles. But that's just if you're a normal Diesel Power reader.
Kent Kroeker's Viper Red '03 Dodge Ram 2500 began life a lot like most diesel trucks do, but it's ended up the beast you see before you. Kent bought the Dodge new in Oregon so he could get the high-output 305hp Cummins common-rail engine when it debuted. He used the truck as his daily driver for years just like most of us would do, the only thing was--Kent's daily driving routine is radically different than most of ours.
The four LED off-road lights paired with a set of Feugo HIDs from Baja Designs ensures the competition will see the truck coming day or night.
As owner of KORE Off-Road Engineering, he's one of the guys who pioneered using -ton diesel pickups as off-road race vehicles. In fact, Kent's Dodge was the first Cummins-powered vehicle to ever complete the famous Baja 1000 off-road race. Along the way, he and his team have developed the hardware needed to keep 8,000-pound diesel trucks alive at race speeds, in the middle of nowhere, and on roads that are more like obstacle courses and mine fields than the boulevards and avenues most of us drive on.
Over the past two years, Kent has converted this race truck for duty in the Dakar Rally, where it would go head-to-head with six-wheel-drive diesel trucks from Europe's biggest teams. That's not to say this once-black Dodge has given up its days on the street--far from it. The red Ram still cruises comfortably down the highway and even tows a fellow race truck from time to time. Keep an eye out for it at the next Best In the Desert off-road race, down in Baja, or whatever continent you may find yourself on. DP
Under the hood sits a 470hp and 800lb-ft dyno-tuned 5.9L common-rail engine that was built at Gale Banks Engineering. The engine internals were modified for endurance racing, the cylinder head was extensively ported, and the intake manifold was machined off and replaced with a Big Hoss intake for maximum airflow.
The truck's landing gear comes in the form of 3-inch-diameter Fox coilover shocks that are paired with position-sensitive 4.3-inch-diameter Fox bypass shocks and hydraulic bumpstops.
In order to support the weight of the Cummins when the truck gets airborne, the AAM 9-inch front axle was fitted with 4.10 gears and reinforced with a TIG-welded chromoly axle truss. The Ram also benefits from a Lee ram-assist power steering system and a sector-shaft support brace.
1923 T-Bucket "Mean and Clean"
Fukken Clean T-Bucket
1923 Ford T-Bucket - Ray's Ride
Ray Liffrig's '23 T
If you didn't know it already, T-bucket owners are some of the hardiest people on the face of the earth. Sure, sometimes they're ridiculed for the type of car they drive but, as many of them will tell you, at least they drive their hot rods!
At events like the National T-Bucket Alliance Nationals (this year to be held in June in Lenoir, North Carolina) you'll find hundreds of Bucketheads who will gather for a few days of devotion to the Model T Ford. But, unlike some participants who only take their rides out one day a year to a local car show, here you'll see many folks who have driven hundreds of miles in their little hot rod just to get to the event. Ray and Pat Liffrig know this fact intimately, as they drive to and display their copper-n-flamed roadster at many events, too.
As a kid Ray had always liked T-buckets and, 40 years and several cars later, he was finally able to slide behind the wheel of his own T roadster. Living above the 44th parallel north in Lake City, Minnesota (not amongst the warmest climates for T ownership), Ray found the T 100 miles away at a business--Hooked on Classics--that deals in old hot rods and restored vehicles. One of the great things Ray believes about owning a T is it allows the owner to express himself as an individual, as no two T-buckets ever seem to look the same!
Ray's dream began with him going through his recent purchase from the ground up. The chassis is from Total Performance and set up on a 96-inch wheelbase. Out back a Ford 8-inch rear (3.50:1) was used along with a Panhard bar and QA1 coilover shocks (rated at 150 pounds), while the front uses a chrome straight axle and friction shocks from Total. With drum brakes mounted in the rear, the fronts are 11-inch GM discs. Monocoque aluminum wheels, 15x4 and 15x14, are wrapped in big 31x18.00-15LT Mickey Thompsons out back, little 165R-15 Kelly rubber in the front. Steering is aided by a Corvair box and a chrome 24-inch ididit steering column.
Performance is the name of the game with most T-buckets, but Ray also wanted reliability, too. A Chevy 350 engine, bored .030 over by Jeremy Swanson in Bellchester, Minnesota, and then assembled using a stock crank and rods, was also upgraded with valvetrain components that include a Comp Cams camshaft and roller rockers.
Under all the chrome and polished aluminum is an '85 350 Chevy that's connected to a TH350 transmission. Jamey Swanson did the machine work (boring the block .030) and assembly on the V-8 using Speed Pro pistons and a stock crankshaft and rods. Edelbrock RPM polished aluminum heads are fed by a single Holley Street Avenger carb, which is bolted to an Edelbrock Performer manifold. Sprint Roadster headers from Speedway Motors help extract the exhaust out and down the side of the car.
Up top a single Holley Street Avenger 670 carburetor feeds the mix into a polished aluminum Edelbrock Performer manifold and a pair of aluminum Edelbrock RPM heads. A Tuff Stuff water pump, 17-inch Flex-A-Lite fan, and an AFCO aluminum radiator help keep the V-8 cool while a Tuff Stuff 60-amp alternator and stock ignition with Moroso 8mm wires take care of the electronics. The motor gets its supply of go-juice from a 10-gallon tank mounted in the bed, and spent gases are extracted through a set of Sprint Roadster headers from Speedway Motors that exit alongside the body. The drivetrain was completed with the addition of a TH350 transmission equipped with a B&M torque converter and a Lokar 23-inch shifter.
About the only modification done to the `glass body was the removal of the Total logo on the shortened "tailgate." Rick Rodewald, from Red Wing, Minnesota, did the required body and prep work before spraying the PPG paint (specifically a candy orange glow pearl with Harlequin magenta gold flames). After the gray-tint windshield from Lake City Glass Shop was added and the '40s-era Chevy taillights added, about the only thing left was to get the interior done.
Ray used a piece of cherrywood as a dash, then filled it with Stewart Warner gauges (plus an Auto Meter tach) wired up with a Painless Wiring kit. A mahogany Grant steering wheel complements the dash, and the satin black Spradling material (a vinyl-covered automotive fabric) installed by Dennis Hatleli of Hatleli Upholstery in Lake City looks great stretched over the custom bench seat.
Ray and Pat finished up the interior when they equipped the T with a Sony stereo/CD head unit coupled to four 12-inch Sony speakers. The Liffrigs like to drive their bucket whenever they can but, like when the couple hit a deer with their ride one memorable trip, that's the chance you take when you drive your hot rod. You never know what's around the corner, and that's just the way Ray and Pat Liffrig like it!
A cherry wood dash is filled with Stewart Warner gauges (plus an Auto Meter tach) and the ididit steering column supports a Grant mahogany steering wheel. The 23-inch-tall shifter (topped with an 8 ball) came from Lokar while the black and charcoal Spradling (a vinyl-coated fabric) material on the custom bench seat was covered by Dennis Hatleli (Lake City, MN).
1 super clean Cadi...
1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass - Hypnotiq
A Style Of Its Own
Cadi Anyone?
When Art Arroyo from Riverside, California, thought about naming his '85 Oldsmobile Cutlass, he knew the name had to be something smooth to go along with the vision he had for his fantasy ride. He tossed around many ideas, but it wasn't until he saw the texture and color of the interior in the Cutlass that he decided to name it after the smooth, frosted blue drink. "I love the color of Hypnotiq," Art says. "When I saw the finished product of the interior, to me the style along with the candy paint had a way of its own. I felt that the name would be perfect for my car because that drink definitely has a style of its own."
Fukken Wax and my Car
Fukken Wax and my car!
Just a quick heads up.
I have been waxing and cleaning cars since 1984. Never have I ever ran across a product that cleans and waxes this great. It is by far the easiest cleaner/wax I have ever used. I have began to use it on everything.
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