New harley owner, have a few questions.

shawn266

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Jul 22, 2007
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odessa, tx
So I ended up with this truck dirt cheap, took it as a down payment for some property. Maybe I suck at searching but I just really didn't find the answers I was looking for. This truck has been bagged and its done nicely. I believe the truck was well taken care of until about 6 months ago... This new guy put long tube headers on it and claims the CEL came on afterwards.. Does this sound normal? The engine has a tick in it at idle. I've had a 5.4 with it before and never really thought about it as far as I can tell its pretty normal... Are there any weak points with these trucks? If a guy had to build a motor... tranny ect.. what kind of cost are we talking? Ive seen L motors go for 2500... I've always wanted one glad to "join the club" so to speak.
 

oki

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Put Long Tube headers on and the CEL came on. Check to see if the 02 extenders are connected and if they did not change the tune if they are not using all the 02 extenders that will cause the CEL to come on. Also, if the headers have burnt throught he 02 sensor this could do it.

Weak point of the Harley Davisdon F150 & Lightning motors are the rods. They are not forged and are known to break under WOT runs, 2 gear kickdowns, and letting the truck shift into OD at WOT or heavy acceleration

(02-03 HD & 99-04 L motors are pretty much the same, except for intercooler core, spark plug threads, and upper pulley depending upon what year HD & L you have)

So...give me some more info...what year Harley Truck do you have?

As for going built, it all depends on what you want to do. Putting a L motor in your HD unless you HD is N/A is a waiste of money...unless your current motor is supercharged and its blown & you just want to remain stock.

Shortblock build --- $5000 - $15,000 depending upon parts and labor costs
Longblock build --- $10,000 - $30,000 depending upon parts and labor costs

Its a wide range of costs...so a better question for you is what are your plans with the truck? DD, DD with track time, Track Truck, etc...
 

shawn266

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Joined
Jul 22, 2007
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Location
odessa, tx
Well, Ive decided to keep the truck as a DD and sell my current one. Soooo I am about half way into De-bagging it. The truck seemed to be pretty "doggy" to me. Ill have it back on the road this weekend and will start trying to tune it up. Transmission seemed to shift great and you can hear the blower whine. Its just not what I expected. Id say my buddys 06 5.4 f150 would smoke it. Dont get me wrong I wont be racing it but i'd like to think it had more in it somewhere
 

oki

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Is your intercooler pump working? Have the truck running and open up your IC tank to see if its bubbling or not...if not, your loosing power has the computer is pulling timing to compensate due to heat, as your charge temps are probably sky high.

Does the truck have an oil seperator installed? If not, when was the last time the blower was pulled off to clean the intercooler? If its nasty in there, you will be loosing power also. Use the Green CRC brake clean can to clean it and while you are there, you might has well change the spark plugs.
 
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