Hey guys I’m new on here been lurking on the forums for years to help me with my truck and decided I’ll make my first post so kinda a long story but my dad passed away In 2016 and I inherited his truck well I’ve been through a trans rebuild few junk yard rear ends multiple water pumps and fuel pumps through the years and I now it’s at 240k miles and it still has minor issues that most gen 2s do since it was my dads I wanna keep it in the family and continue to drive the truck but she’s starting to have some wear and tear interior also so that being said I’m in the Houston are and I’ve been curious what your guys suggestions may be I have a 5.9 in it and I’ve been considering just getting the block rebuilt new heads a cam headers new harness basically the whole 9 yards tax season is coming up and I dunno if any of you guys are in the Houston area but if you have ANY suggestions on a good shop I can get everything done at that y’all trust any recommendations would be a big help I’ve done all the work to her myself but this is a bit out of my element I wanna restore her new bed new seats new rear end whole 9 yards and in advance thank you guys for taking the time to read all of this

 

Paying someone else to do a rebuild is gonna be big money. Adding aftermarket performance parts into the mix is going to make it even more expensive. (tuning required) How much more depends on just how happy you get with the 'performance' aspect. You are going to be looking at thousands of dollars, just in labor costs..... Might be cheaper to just buy an entire engine, already built, have it dropped in, and then tuned..... (IS there a shop that can do tuning nearby???? It's Houston, so, I would like to think so, but, ya just never know.)

 

I would suggest you use periods.
A period is a small dot-shaped punctuation mark that is used at the end of any sentence that is intended to make a statement.

 

Thanks for the insight basically after talking to my wife we have decided to do a rebuild and restore on the truck instead of buying a new ram which should be cheaper than a new truck. I have looked up shops I just don’t know if any are good or if people on here may have some experience with some of them before I make a big commitment because I want paint/bodywork done also. I also have thought about buying a crate motor but I honestly would love to keep my 5.9. I haven't had any motor issues with the truck at all since I've had her minus some sensors and basic stuff nothing internal. The truck does burn oil but that is a common thing I've read.

 

You should compare prices between buying a crate motor with the parts you want, vs buying the parts, and having the existing motor rebuilt. You will probably find that going with a crate motor will save you a significant pile of cash.... Of course, wanting to keep things 'original' is understandable as well. You will end up investing more in the truck than it will ever be worth, however, it will STILL be cheaper than a new truck. And you won't have payments either. (which is a MAJOR plus) Given you are in Texas, body work shouldn't be real bad, you don't have the same problems us folks up here in the rust belt do.

 

It sounds like you want to have several operations performed on your truck. Is the truck 2WD or 4WD?

Personally, I would try to find a place that does all of the mechanical work you need performed. Any parts that you can source yourself (ie: rust-free bed), you will find that you can save money instead of farming that out to someone else. I would use an upholstery shop to perform the interior work you're looking to have done. Lastly, I would look for a body and paint shop to perform the body and paint work you want done. As for the upholstery work, I recently wanted leather seats installed in my '96 Ram. I used a place called Katzkin to source the custom leather seat covers in the color I desired and they sent me to a local upholstery installer to install the covers in my truck on the existing seats. While they aren't cheap, the seat upgrades came out better than I expected and the local shop they recommended was easy to work with.

 

It’s a 2WD extended cab. I will definitely need all of that done she’s starting to fall apart the seats will probably need replacing front two glove box dash new gauge cluster ect .

 

2WD isn't as costly as a 4WD rebuild, so that's a good thing. The local upholstery shop here rebuilt my existing seats by adding the necessary foam when they installed the new leather Katzkin seat covers. I'm sure they can build seats for a '99 Ram, as my seats in the '96 are different than yours. If interested, just give them a call and they can advise you regarding the process.

 

I will do! My seats are breaking the plastic bits on the side and levers. I was thinking maybe get some from a junk yard in better condition have those worked on then install them as a option.

 

Yeah, I'm looking at 2K and change to have my front end work done, and that doesn't include ANYTHING inside the axle.... Ouch.