EDITOR’S NOTE
DIESEL PROJECTS ON OUR MIND
If you’ve been reading my columns for a while you know I have had a ton of project ideas over the last few years, most of which never happened (well, not yet). I had considered throwing a 4BT in a Prius, back-halfing it, slapping slicks and a cage on it and going racing. Imagine the looks I’d get from people as this Prius pulls up to the line, burps a little smoke before the turbo lights and then lifts the front end off the ground while running an 8-second quarter at 150 mph. This project I really did my homework on and researched it all the way down to which motor mounts I’d use.
The idea would be to get a Prius with bad batteries, easy to pick up for a few thousand dollars. Batteries would go to a recycling yard, and the engine sold on ebay. Part of the engine sales money would go to the 4BT sourced from an old bread truck. Engine would go out for machining and forged rods and pistons immediately. Head would also go out for some work. While the engine was being built, the new firewall, engine support structure, transmission tunnel and rear structure for the 4-link could be started. This really would be the big chore for the whole build, putting enough strength into a hacked-up, originally front-wheel-drive car to make it become rear-wheel-drive and equipped with nearly 8 times the power it came with from Toyota. Once the drivetrain was installed and running, the next area to tackle would be the cage and interior. I’m not completely sure if I’d want to gut the car and go as light as possible, or try and fit as much of the original interior back in it so it looks as close to a stock Prius as it possibly could. Something about a stock-appearing, Cummins-powered Prius just makes me grin ear to ear. Knowing me, it’d be stock appearing at first, and then after getting used to how it drives I’d rip it apart again to see just how fast it could go. The scary thing was the price tag: for an 8-second diesel Prius, I estimated a cost of well over $35K—and that’s if I do all or most of the labor and get hooked up with a bunch of cheap parts. So, with that price for what is essentially a toy, I moved on. It’s still in my mind though. Hopefully one day it’ll happen.
My next project idea was with a vehicle I already owned, and it started off with a very feasible goal, 500 rwhp from my 7.3L Ford. When I was getting ready to start the project I called Dave Armstrong from Swamp’s Diesel for help. Originally I wanted a set of injectors, 238/80s, that would get me to 500 horsepower and no further. I was worried about smoke control so the smaller the better for better atomization of fuel was what I was thinking. Dave read me well I guess because right off the bat he asked if I’d ever want more power. Of course I would, so he recommended going with a set of 300/200s capable of fueling the 7.3 to 800 horse. He promised me that with today’s tuning technology the large injectors would still be smoke-free at the much-lower 500hp mark. And he was right. The truck lopes a little at idle when cold but is virtually smoke-free. If you remember from the articles we did on the build the truck got a whole slew of parts, fire-ringed and ported heads, valve springs capable of holding 100psi of boost, titanium pushrods, Adrenaline HPOP (to be doubled soon), Irate Diesel fuel system, Nitrous Express Stacker system, BD Diesel Turbo, Dieselsite billet trans, and so, so much more. After a month of off-and-on building and tuning, I headed to our first year UCC event in Salt Lake. The truck put down 526 hp on Industrial Injection’s dyno, fuel only. The 500 goal was met. A few months after UCC I was up in Sacramento for a drag race and put the truck on the UCC dyno there: 502 fuel only, 596 with the bottle. That dyno is a heartbreaker and often records low numbers with lower-powered trucks. Given that I was 24 hp down from the prior dyno run, I’d assume the 7.3L is well over the 600hp mark.
IMAGINE THE LOOKS I’D GET FROM PEOPLE AS THIS PRIUS PULLS UP TO THE LINE, BURPS A LITTLE SMOKE BEFORE THE TURBO LIGHTS AND THEN LIFTS THE FRONT END OFF THE GROUND WHILE RUNNING AN 8-SECOND QUARTER AT 150 MPH.
My next project idea was a 6.7L Power Stroke. I want something newer, and really want air conditioned seats, and the idea is to make it a 700 rear-wheel horsepower sleeper. Clean and simple build, throw some modest wheels at it, level it, color match everything and the rest would be all engine. But that one is not going to happen for a while. I’m still having fun with the 7.3L, and I want to go for 800 hp now. So pretty soon here you’ll see a full 7.3L bottom end build in the mag. I’m thinking I’ll keep the smaller turbo for good street manners and throw a ton of nitrous at it for the 800 hp. Best of both worlds, at the push of a button. 2018 is gonna be a fun year.