Shell Rotella Trucks of the Month: DOUBLE FEATURE

A 600hp, P-Pump 24V Shortbed Dodge Ram Conversion

Travis knew he wanted a hot-rodded diesel long before he actually had one. How sure was he? He actually had the engine built before the truck! The story began with the acquisition of a 5.9L Cummins 12v engine, which was a rebuildable core. It didn’t need to be overbored, so Travis honed the cylinders to clean them up, before installing Marine-spec bowl pistons and a full rebuild kit with bearings, gaskets, and seals. The engine was also treated to a host of performance parts, like a 188/220-degree duration Hamilton Cam, and ARP head and main studs. Popular leak areas like the front cover and tappet cover were sealed up with plates from Savage Fabrication.

Travis has arguably one of the best mechanical engine combinations around–a P-pumped 24 valve. Rather than put a P-pump on a 24-valve engine, Travis completely rebuilt a 12-valve Cummins and then swapped a head onto it. The hybrid powerplant puts out an estimated 600rwhp at 58psi of boost.

The turbo system on the ‘94 was built by Savage Fabrication, and had a 67mm compressor along with a custom-made header that integrates a 42mm? external wastegate. The unit provides quick spooling, reduced back pressure, and–let’s face it–looks cool.

With the engine out being rebuilt, Travis took the step to build what was in his eyes the ultimate mechanical engine–a P-pumped 24V. He sourced a 24V head to go on the 12-valve block, and had it ported, polished, and o-ringed. The engine was also upgraded with Manton pushrods, and Hamilton Cams valvesprings for a higher rpm ceiling. Savage Fabrication built a custom header for the truck, and fitted a custom quick-spooling 67/67 turbo onto the engine. Fueling was also upgraded, with a Power Driven Diesel lift pump, Crazy Carl’s dual feed, full cut delivery valves, 23 degrees of timing, and 7×12 injectors from Power Driven Diesel.

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Travis optimized airflow wherever he could throughout the engine. A D&J Performance intercooler replaces the factory unit, and feeds a Pusher intake which goes into the engine.

On the fly adjustments to the pump are made through this valet-style setup made by Savage Fabrication, which controls the amount of fuel provided at a certain amount of boost.

At the same time he was diving into the engine, Travis also found a unique truck that checked all the boxes. The engine was blown up and so was the transmission, but he didn’t care as he already had an engine in the works, along with a 47RH trans built by Jefferson State Diesel. What was interesting was that the ‘94 Dodge had been converted to a shortbed, which would be just perfect for an around-town cruiser. Since it was originally a manual, the truck also had a 4.10 geared Dana 80, which would never break, and give the ride a muscle-truck vibe.

A B&M shifter was modified by Muldoon Racing to control a manual valvebody in the automatic transmission. Switches for lockup and overdrive are conveniently mounted–right there on the shifter.

Bucket seats go in line with the short bed muscle-truck vibe, and give the interior some added flair.

Soon two transmissions, a blown-up motor, and a rolling chassis turned into what you see on these pages. Travis was quick to give a nod to Chris Allton and Dakota Sargent, as well as his company Black Smoke Mafia which all helped immensely with the build. Finally after a ton of hard work Travis had the street truck he’d always wanted; one of the best mechanical combinations, in a unique shortbed wrapper.

The Dodge rolls on 20×9-inch powder coated Raceline wheels, along with 305/50R20 Nitto 420S tires.

DRAGSTRIP DESTORYER

100psi and 1,200 Horsepower in a Regular Cab Dodge

Taylor Swanson had a nice, normal, daily-driven diesel that made a few horsepower than stock. Then things got out of hand. What you see now is the result of years’ worth of effort, and countless paychecks. But then again, not everybody has a show-quality, 1,200-horsepower diesel!

The 5.9L Cummins in Taylor’s ride is all show–and all go. The engine has been completely rebuilt with top-of-the-line components, and is estimated to make nearly 1,200 horsepower.

Much like Taylor’s buddy Travis, he was also a fan of the mechanical-powered Cummins. Like any true hot-rodder, he knew he needed to ditch a lot of the engine’s 160-hp hardware to go fast, so he teamed up with Daktoa Sargent of Full Hook Performance to build an all-out 5.9L Cummins. They started by beefing everything up in the engine, including the bottom end. The Cummins short-block was rebuilt with an Industrial Injection Gorilla Girdle, and 14mm ARP main and 625 head studs. The rotating assembly was boosted to the moon with a set of Wagler Street Fighter connecting rods and 15:1 Mahle pistons. The final piece was a Colt Cams Stage 5 camshaft which bumps a set of Manton pushrods.

Starting with the exhaust side, the turbo system features and ultra-tough wastegated T4 manifold from Steed Speed.

The smaller of the two turbos in the Evil Fab compound setup as a 72mm BorgWarner-based unit, which is fed by an even larger 88mm turbo. Both turbochargers combine to produce more than 100psi of boost and tons and tons of airflow.

With a solid foundation, it was time to make sure the airflow and upper end was up to the task of supporting some serious horsepower. The factory head was ditched completely, and was upgraded with a Stage 2 cylinder head from Hamilton Cams, as well as Hamilton’s valvesprings. Sealing the engine was handled with a 1-piece billet valvecover and tappet cover from Keating Machine. For turbos, Taylor went with big and bigger, in the form of an Evil Fab 72mm S400 and a giant 88m S400. After that. the squished air goes through a Mishimoto intercooler, a pusher intake, and into the engine. Fueling was the final modification in Taylor’s triangle of horsepower, and for pumps, he went with one of the best in the business–Seth Farrell—and ordered a 650cc max-effort 12mm pump. After the pump, the end of the line is a set of large by huge Dynomite Diesel Products Super Mental injectors.

Plenty of air is needed on 12 valves to make power, but plenty of fuel is needed too. For the diesel side of things Taylor opted for a full-tilt 12mm injection pump from Farrell Diesel Service. The pump feeds a set of Dynomite Diesel Performance Super Mental Injectors to make power.

The interior in Taylor’s pickup is as clean as the rest of the truck. A few tasteful modifications were performed, like the triple gauges on the A-pillar, as well as the Muldoon’s-modified ratchet shifter to control the manual valvebody.

It’s no secret that Taylor spent a ton of time and money on an engine that produced some crazy power, but it was still a long way from the ground. Dodge transmissions were fine in stock form at 160hp and 400 lb-ft, but started to have trouble when the power was turned up by even just a few hundred horsepower. With an estimated 1,200 horsepower on tap, Taylor would need a heck of a transmission! He started with the factory 47RH transmission, but it was completely gone through and strengthened by General Transmission of Reno, Nevada. First, a triple-disc converter from DPC Converters was selected to handle the power. This converter works in conjunction with a special 37-spline solid input shaft from Santjer Performance Development and TCS intermediate and output shafts to send power through the transmission, while a Muldoon’s manual valvebody controls it. Other goodies include upgraded planetary gears, drums from Sun Coast Diesel, and a rebuild kit from Goerend Transmissions.

The front part of the bed has been completely filled up with race trucks stuff, including the twin fuel pumps, Derale transmission coolers, the battery, and a little extra nitrous insurance.

After he got done rattling everything off that makes a four-digit diesel run (and survive) at that power level, Taylor, almost as an afterthought, mentioned how nice the truck was. “You could eat off the frame, and everything has been cleaned up, wire-tucked, and designed to be smooth and clean as an all-around theme,” says Taylor. After all that internal effort the truck received a makeover on the outside too, with a GM frost white paintjob by Nevada Auto Corrections, and 20×10-inch American Force wheels. At the time of our writing, Taylor unfortunately doesn’t have dyno our dragstrip numbers of his current setup, and trust us, it’s bugging him just as much. “The truck went mid-11s and made 785rwhp with a single 69mm turbo and a whiff of nitrous–and it feels a LOT faster now,” says Taylor. As soon as he can figure out how to keep intercooler boots on (it keeps shredding ‘em) look for Taylor’s white rocket to dip deep into the 10-second zone–and to look great doing it.