Project Ball Buster - Phase III - Reassembly!!!

[Harley#356]

Well FINALLY got my motor and trans and all those goodies on newyears eve thanks to the "Harley Express"! HUGE thanks to everybody who pitched in, especially those who were a leg in the relay race to get my motor from Atlanta GA to Swedesboro NJ! the NHTOC never ceases to amaze me with all the help!


And i also just gotta say, HOLY CRAP outnumbered's truck is the CLEANEST friggin harley truck i've ever seen makes my truck look like nothing in comparison when its clean!



and he said he hit rain too on his drive up to burlington NC to meet me and tattoostuff...that chrome was bling blingin!

ready to unload the goods from truck to truck





Now for the reassembly part

Spanky99L was out from Arizona for 2 weeks visiting family in MD, so he drove up newyears day to help me assemble my motor before flying back to AZ on tuesday

freshy fresh machined block...dipped, decked, line honed, cross hatched and honed, crank double keyed polished & knife edged, bearing clearances set, etc. excuse the ugly parts on the outside of the block, didnt have time to paint it since we got it up here the night before spanky came and i was sick as a dog, so once its finished i'll paint it then before dropping it in the truck...

ARP main studs installed...



polished & knife edged crank in...



double keyed



New Forged H-Beam Rods w/ ARP 2000 bolts next to stock POS rods







stock rings, only 2,900 miles on them so was fine to reuse them



Bank 1 done!



the second to LAST fukin ring snapped at the very edge when claming it down in the compressor tool to push the piston down into the cylinder. caught the edge of the tool funny somehow and broke. was newyears day, no places open to buy new rings, so....only option...my old motor is now a V7 popped the harmonic balancer off, water pump pulley, valve cover, head, oil pan, pulled the #3 piston and took the #2 ring to replace the #2 ring that broke. looked nearly brand new test fitting it into the new block, so hopefully i dont run into any problems! lol

now i got TWO friggin motors to put back together
anybody got a stock #2 piston ring btw? just so i can put my stock 5.4 back together



stock N/A piston and rod...sorry for the crappy pic...blurry and everything dripping with oil




ladies and gentlemen...we have a shortblock!



ARP head studs installed (dont look at that rust on the top of the block! lol it'll be gone soon!)



new head gaskets...



stock heads and cams....ran outta money for anything other



its lookin like a long block!



and this is how its sitting right now....




i'm missing 2 freezeout plugs. machine shop must have removed them. dealer said they are 13.8mm quite an odd size! lol

missing this one in the front of the block below the water pump



and this one in the rear above the rear main seal



anybody have any pointers for putting in freeze plugs? never did one before. madferrari has a set coming to me though from a dealer so i should get them tomorrow hopefully. i'm at a standstill til then. once they are in i can put the timing chain cover on, valve covers, rear main seal and cover, paint the block, and drop the motor in!!!

[Black 2003]

Sooo looking forward to not owing on taxes this year, huh???


I gotta say when you start a project... Clean truck HA! not this time of year, I'll start cleaning mine again when the weather gets nice. Right now it's the touchless car wash and some rim cleaner.

Later...
Bruce

[2003 HD #808]

It's coming along nice Josh ... man, those rods look like David next to Goliath.

Tug of war about to start between Tattoostuff and Outnumbered in that one pic.

[HeyUvaVT]

lookin good bro....your getting there...i cant wait for the first time you crank her over and stomp it....CRAZY power comapared to what you had!!

[harley2199]

lookin good josh...hopefully all down hill from here

[SCBQQSTN]

good luck josh!!! be sure to keep pics updated!!

btw did tattostuff n outnumbered race

[HD DUDE]

Originally posted by HeyUvaVT
lookin good bro....your getting there...i cant wait for the first time you crank her over and stomp it....CRAZY power comapared to what you had!!

Ditto............. You will be grinnin big time Josh. I'd like to be there for the first test drive. Even better when she is run in & you get some WOT time done.

[Harley#356]

definately gonna be taking it easssyyyy for the first few months. especially with being involved with practically EVERY step along the way, i'm not gonna push my luck after all the friggin money and time and hard work i spent

gonna be using RobW's custom milled 0# lower pulley til i get a few miles on the motor, then put a 6# on and get it dynotuned at JL's and see how it runs at the track this fall on stock rims & my toyos. Then over the winter i'll hit up the 2nd stage of mods, billet idlers, slicks and skinnies, DS loop, traction bars, and when spring 07 hits i'll step up to an 8 or 10, and push it for all i've got!

may seem like a far stretch, but with how few miles the truck gets now (has 41,000 on the clock, but only got 800 miles in the past year) it'll take me a while just to break the new motor in itself, so not driving it every day will at least extend the amount of time before i gotta go back for more power out of it LoL!


posting some new pics now in my new parts thread...

[Black 2003]

I say you get 3000 miles on the truck when you do an oil change and decide to take it for a leisurly ride and while on said ride some punk in an over priced Neon pulls up next to you with the blow off valve spitting trash your way that you then.....

Guess it's up to you from here. lol


Later...
Bruce

[tpr103]

wow im jealous !! WHERES MY CD!!!! LOL

[outnumbered]

Originally posted by SCBQQSTN
good luck josh!!! be sure to keep pics updated!!

btw did tattostuff n outnumbered race

No, I'm giving him time to get more mods!

[SCBQQSTN]

lol

[outnumbered]

Originally posted by outnumbered
No, I'm giving him time to get more mods!

Steve does have one BEAUTIFUL truck. The black makes it extremely aggresive looking, and then there's the motor. Dodge got this one right, when you pop the hood, you don't see any smog control plumbing, or wiring harnesses...heck I don't even remember seeing the power steering or brake units. All you see is motor, and what a motor it is. He actually had me gravitating towards the Dark Side--a quad cab SRT 10, but after going to a local dealership and looking at the QC, I found the interior to be very drab compared to our's, and the truck is just so friggin BIG. I got caught up in the "new" truck syndrom really quick, but after many conversations with other members of the site, I quickly came to realize AGAIN that my truck, the history, available information, and friends that I have made along the way just mean to much to just trade off for the next new thing. Ok, I've had my turmoil for the next 6 months, I'm good.

Signed,
At ease.

[cpharley]

Outnumbered, I have shared the same dilemma. I would have bought a Quad cab by now if they were about 10k less and little better fuel economy. The only thing that has kept me from buying a new vehicle is that I want to hold out for the Shelby GT500.

[Harley#356]

fuel economy on the SRT10 was actually quite good, at least in the regular cab, i'm sure it isnt too much worse in the crew. On the way down to NC we got 15.4 mpg and averaged 80 mph the entire way. On the way back it dropped down to 14.9 because we hit a couple hours of traffic around washington DC, and were averaging 90-100 most of the way through NC and southern VA, and had the bed loaded with engine parts

probably would have gotten 16-18 mpg highway doing 65, I was really suprised how well it was on gas.

but chit, i probably shouldnt post that, i dont want to cause anybody else to sell their HD and get a SRT10! LoL!