My new "hobby" LONG post and 56k NO NO

[strmvt]

Since I've sold "Shelley" I was able to get my "rare" 2001 Dodge Intrepid R/T Motorsports Edition which is 1 of 383 made in 2001. They were made to commemorate Dodge's return to NASCAR in 2001. I paid a measly $500.00 for her b/c the motor was blown. So here are some pictures of her.

These pics were taken the morning after I brought her home.

Wheels


Still on tow dolly


Why it's a "rare" Intrepid R/T




Since I knew the motor was bad here are some pics of it coming out

before any work


ready to pull


3hrs later she's out


Motor is out


Here's some pics of why the motor was bad. The #4 main bearing had spun





and when it spun the bearings ate the block so it was toast "as shown in yellow circle"


Now I just happened to have a 3.5 motor sitting in my garage so I swapped it in. Car ran fine for a cpl weeks then... she started to rattle upon start up like some engines do when you change the oil, but it would stop like 2 seconds later I figured it was b/c I used a cheap oil filer that would drain over night. Well a few days after she started to rattle I was leaving work and it stumbled hard almost stalled but didn't but had a hard knock in the lower end I was like WTF!!!

Here's what was wrong with the second motor.

Spun the #6 connecting rod bearing.






So I said screw it and she sat since Sept. of last year. While I decided what to do with her. Well some things came up that I needed to take care of and "Shelley" was sold and I took care of what I needed and decided to do a complete rebuild of the motor for the R/T. I took the heads and block to a machine shop where they did the heads milled them valve seats the works. Hot tanked the block and I had them put in the rotating assembly, essentially making it a short block as I didn't want to tackle filing the ring gaps and oil clearances. So shortly after I sold "Shelley" this is what I I've done.

Here is the rear main seal retainer


seal retainer getting aligned


oil pan and oil pump installed


Heads installed


timing belt/water pump housing installed and painted


cams and water pump installed


timing belt in


valve covers in Chrysler Industrial red


timing belt housing covers




In my haste to assemble or was it after a 6 pack of Killian's red beer the lower intake manifold and fuel rail BEFORE the engine harness was installed which needs to be done before the LIM and fuel rail lol


LIM and fuel rail AFTER engine harness




Assembled ready to get installed.




Now since I plan to show this car while the motor was out it stands to reason now would be the time do clean the engine compartment. here are the pics of that.

The before










The after






Boot for steering column out of the firewall was black with grime and grease


trans cooler lines and hoses cleaned up


under drivers headlight


under passenger headlight




After that was done it was time to drop in the rebuilt motor.

ready to drop in


almost there


passenger cat hooked up


drivers cat hooked up


belts on


she's in ready for hoses and electrical connections


Ok so after everything was hooked up all the fluids were added here she is on the first start up rattling like hell b/c the lifters in the rockers were frozen.

http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...-19-58_416.mp4

So after another 5hrs of swapping the rocker assy's here she is purring like a kitten.

http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...-53-25_564.mp4

After the motor was finally done I had a few cooalnt leaks b/c of re-used spring type clamps that were replaced. Also had a minor oil leak from the oil pressure sensor which was fixed by putting plumber tape on it and making sure it was tight.

After the motor was done no leaks my buddy came over and hooked up the paint by buffing it out. I bought some 3m compound and he used a buffer to buff out the oxidized paint and scratches then went over it with some polishing compound then waxed it. I didn't take pics of that process but here are the after shots. She looks like glass now.
















I have since added a K&N CAI. It was a used kit which is why the filter is damaged not sure how it happened but I ave a new one coming.

I went from




to this

[crxtasy169]

Nice job man, looks sweet.

[wolfo68]

[ronmetzler]

Awesome thread!!!

I am the new owner of Shelley

I bought her for my LiL bro and he is paying me back in payments

[ronmetzler]

Night wy wife and I picked her up:


After the new belt was installed:


All cleaned up and freshly tuned:


When we got her the belt had snapped, so it took a few days to get that in.

Then I ordered ECM Spy and loaded a race map to her ECM, runs much better now. She had a few flat spots before.

Reset the TPS and set the idle to specs, and we logged about 50 miles on her Saturday. Runnin like a champ.

Bike is a 2007 XB12R with 25k miles. Paul took real good care of her and she rides smooth.

[strmvt]

making me cry Ron, man I miss Shelley

[LightningMike]

Nice job on the car! I wish I had the time\knowledge\resources to take on a project like that.

Now you just need to black out the windows.

[strmvt]

that's on the list to do but I've got alot pf prep work IE: cleaning to do for the Chrysler Nationals in Carlisle, Pa next month which is 2wks away so it'll be after then

[Burton]

Nice looking ride, great work!

That bike is so sexy. Something about her.

[GAXB9R]

Nice work. I'm in the process of redoing a caravan 3.0 motor and just picked the heads up today. That motor is sexy!