Better Than Factory: Freedom’s Street Series Cummins Long Blocks
With Freedom Racing Engine’s long blocks, you get an upgraded, more reliable engine solution—but also one that gets you back on the road ASAP.
In the diesel industry, engine failure often means you’re without your truck for an indefinite amount of time. Now it doesn’t have to. After recognizing the industry’s vast shortage of complete, running, and reliable replacement Cummins engine options, Fleece Performance Engineering leaned on its engine building wing, Freedom Racing Engines, to develop a readily available solution for ’03-’18 Ram owners. In response, Freedom came up with the Street series and Street HD series long-block program. From oil pan to valve cover, you get a fully blueprinted, reconditioned 5.9L or 6.7L Cummins that’s ready to power your workhorse for the long-haul.
But Freedom didn’t stop there. With either long block option (Street or Street HD), common Cummins weak points are addressed, with notable upgrades such as screw-in style freeze plugs and ARP Custom Age 625+ head studs being offered as standard equipment. The HD series takes things a step further by offering aftermarket rods, an aftermarket camshaft, a Fluidampr, and select other improvements geared toward optimized performance and durability. With either long block, you not only get a reliable engine solution, but one that’s drop-in ready to get you back on the road.
Competition-Inspired, Longevity-Driven Replacement Long Blocks
Sourcing a new long block from Ram is expensive and rules out zero of the Cummins platform’s inherent weaknesses. Having your local, small-town shop rebuild your engine will be extremely time consuming. And finally, second-hand (“running when pulled”) take-out engines are risky to say the least. Freedom Racing Engines takes all the guesswork out of it by offering brand-new long blocks, from oil pan to valve cover. Each reconditioned block is decked, bored, torque plate honed, align honed, pressure tested, torque tested, compression tested, and run-in tested, followed by being treated to a fresh coat of black paint.
Street Series Internals & Critical Area Upgrades
Every Street series 5.9L or 6.7L Cummins Freedom builds comes with brand-new OEM Cummins connecting rods, pistons and rings, main bolts and hardened main dowels, a reconditioned factory crankshaft and camshaft, new P-series main and rod bearings, fresh tappets, a new oil pump, oil cooler, oil pressure relief valve and regulator spring, and even a new oil pan. All freeze plugs are replaced within the block, along with new front and rear main seals (with wear sleeve), new lower gasket kits, an upper engine gasket kit, a new head gasket, ARP Custom Age 625+ head studs, and one of Freedom’s Street series cylinder heads.
Screw-In Freeze Plugs, Standard
The internal freeze plugs located within 5.9L and 6.7L Cummins cylinder heads are notorious for blowing out. When they fail, coolant loss is rampant, contaminates the engine oil, and it can even be misdiagnosed as a cracked block. To ensure its customers never face this predicament, the head that comes fastened to each Freedom long block (Street or Street HD) features 11 new, screw-in style freeze plugs. Each series of cylinder head is also treated to hardened, oversized, press-in valve seats to keep the seats from ever falling out (and we’ll also note that they’re pressed deeper into the head than factory).
Street “HD”: The Street-Plus Option
Select upgrades come standard with Freedom’s Street HD series long block—and they’re the kind of handpicked components that allow this premium engine option to support both heavy towing and as much as 700 hp. The bells and whistles include a Fluidampr and 5/16-inch dowel installed in the crankshaft snout, H-series main and rod bearings, upgraded 12mm main studs, aftermarket rods, and a 178/208 camshaft from Hamilton Cams. As with the Street series, the HD series also utilizes high tensile strength ARP Custom Age 625+ head studs to clamp the head to the block.
Select Street HD Series Upgrades
Predictably, Freedom’s Street HD series long block boasts the company’s Street HD cylinder head. Prepped to handle severe working conditions and added power, they’re fitted with heavy-duty, 105-lb valve springs to better hold up to higher rpm and elevated boost and drive pressure levels (vs. roughly 80-lb springs for the factory springs). You’ll also find tool steel retainers in the Street HD head, as well as the same machining processes that are employed on the Street series unit. On both ends of the head, Freedom installs a coolant temperature indicator. If in the future the head ever makes its way back to Freedom, or is resold elsewhere in the market, these temp indicators can clue the recipient in as to whether the head has been exposed to excessive heat.
Hand-Crafted In The Hoosier State
Each long block is hand-crafted at Fleece and Freedom Racing Engine’s 225,000-square foot Pittsboro, Indiana facility. But not only does a signature plate let you know your long block is American made, it tells you which Fleece employee assembled it. Employees with experience building engines capable of making more than 3,000 hp, access to state-of-the-art machining and testing capabilities, outsourcing only the most proven aftermarket parts, and offering its product(s) through an extensive network of authorized dealers make Freedom’s Street and Street HD series long blocks what they are: a sound, readily available and affordable solution for what is often a Ram owner’s biggest nightmare.
Delivery & Break-In
The last piece of the comprehensive Freedom long block puzzle lies in getting it to you and you properly breaking it in. For that, Freedom includes highly detailed engine break-in procedure instructions and, thanks to its recent partnership with Amsoil, Freedom series SAE 30 break-in engine oil. A Fleetguard oil filter also makes the trip. In the crate, ready to go, Fleece offers a flat rate $500 shipping option for all long block core returns shipped from a commercial address in the continental U.S. As for the $3,000 up front core charge, it’s fully refundable if the customer’s core long block is received within 30 days of receipt of the Freedom long block.
Written by Mike McGlothlin
