Next was the locating of a painter for it and one was located in Bracebridge, Ontario (he did a lot of work on SEMA cars) and the body components were delivered there to be worked on.
Pre-marking the new shifter location on the 6” longer transmission. You can see the original shifter, plus the long oval hole being the 4wd shifter.
During the time that it was at the painter, the chassis work continued. Once the frame was blasted clean and warmer weather came, support plates for strength were welded into the frame.
Also smaller parts like cross members and leaf springs were tackled.
Next up on the list was the suspension. One of the things I hate is when the back end of a truck squats excessively due to a heavy load. To remedy that one could put in heavy springs. Downside to that approach is the fact that you then have a rough ride due to lack of spring flex. That was great for a daily driver but not the right idea for what was turning into a long haul highway truck. After some more research, I came to the conclusion that a semi truck style air bag rear end was what was needed! So after some further research, I found that Kelderman Manufacturing had not only a system to meet my needs, but could do a custom one off, full four link style air bag suspension for rear, and a custom system for the front. So a few weeks later the system arrived at my door and I could test fit and drill all the holes in the frame.
The front will use a few remaining leafs as the axle retainer, but the weight will be supported with the airbags. (Take note the front leafs have already been sandblasted and powdered)
After, it was delivered to a local powder coating facility where all 22 feet of frame would be powdered. The powder coating process is something that would be continued with all components that would be rebuilt or fabricated for the truck.
So with the driveline here, suspension here, and many smaller components located, the reassembly of the truck began. For the next year and a bit, the frame would slowly get assembled with all the air ride components, engine, trans, cleaned up t case, diffs, as well as electrical (both factory and Robert custom), brake lines, air lines, air tanks, custom 95 GPH FASS fuel pump and lines, and many smaller items. Another item that was added was a Gear Vendors system to further help split the gears for heavy towing. With the base 6 speed, GV splitter, and the transfer case being converted to a full 2 stage high and low, the truck was essentially set up as a 24 speed.
NP205 before and after (the one shot with the original tranny attached…yes the one that started this all!):
Next was clean up and paint for the engine and trans:
For ease of install, it was deemed easier to bolt the engine and tranny together first, then drop it into the frame. Little did I know I would need a tractor, 2 engine cranes, and a few people to guide the close to 1700 LBS combo into the frame. The engine would stay pretty much stock at the factory 180 HP level. Even stock exhaust manifold would remain although a few goodies did start to sneak in like the banks twin ram intake and ATS exhaust manifold.
The custom mount used for mounting a 2004 tranny to a 1993 cross member.
Next up was T case and Gear Vendors install:
Fuel tanks were also cleaned and painted. Also a secondary tank was added as I wanted to run long trips towing without having to stop every few hours for fuel. I looked into a Ramcharger SUV fuel tank as I did not want to lose bed space due to a tank; and the reason that is should be an easier install due to the fact that they were the same frame structure as a Ram and the tank mounted where the spare tire would normally mount. A 1988 tank was located in Arizona and shipped up to Ontario. Also added was the fuel pump and frame wiring.
As the tank was never designed to go in this truck, I had to make a few new cross members as well as new straps. I then used a new pump, installed it, and determined I would activate the pump by a switch in the cab that would allow me to pump the rear tank to the front. Although this would require two live gauges to monitor the levels of both to prevent overflowing of the primary tank, it still seemed the right way to go. (Although I do not have pictures of it, I did explore the possibility of running both tanks live. Issue is the amount of reticulating fuel through the FASS system would require two six way Polack valves to run in parallel as they had a 5/16 line size. To allow the amount of fuel CFM the FASS system pumps to work with each tank without creating a backlog into the pump would therefore require two valves or a min 3/8 fuel line of done singularly.)
And some of the air tanks, lines and wiring:
And the test fit of the cab for the shifter hole (and a second shot already shown to show what was being done….):
By this point, the paint shop was finally ready to give my body back. After multiple trips and over a year, the paint job was finally done (or so I thought…..).
The frame with components were taken up to Bracebridge and the body and box, could be put on. It would then take a trip to MBRP performance exhaust in Huntsville for an inspection and measurement session for how the exhaust would fit.
