ORANGE CRUSH

Mitch Meinhart is a diesel guy, there’s no doubt about it. While he doesn’t own his own diesel shop, he still decided to do a little sled pulling. Then he started to do a lot. Eventually, Mitch knew he needed a purpose-built truck in order to compete, so he retired his 80,000-mile Ram and bought a high-mileage ‘07 Ram 3500.

CUMMINS POWER

Horsepower is on a puller’s short list, and here Mitch started with a fresh 5.9L Cummins in order to make sure there were no surprises that would leave him stranded. After having the block machined and cam bushings installed, Mitch did the assembly himself, adding Carrillo connecting rods, flycut and coated cast pistons, and a 14mm main girdle from Industrial Injection with ARP studs. A steel 207/220 camshaft from Hamilton Cams was added (for high-rpm safety and airflow) along with Maxspool pushrods, springs, and retainers. A set of 12mm head studs from Extreme Studs ties everything together.

Where Mitch really got serious, was in the airflow and fuel departments on the upper end. The head was fully ported and polished by Harry’s Heads in Sioux City, Iowa, and fitted with inconel exhaust and intake valves for heat protection. The big oxygen generator on the truck is a S400-based 2.6 turbo, from JEB Modern Machine. Mitch and buddy Dan Bergman performed most of the fabrication work themselves, including designing piping to twin Frozenboost intercoolers, and building a custom intake. The fuel system on Mitch’s Ram is equally serious and starts off in a unique way with an Aviaid oil pump that’s used to push fuel. The high pressure system consists of a stock Cp3 with an Arson kit, and T&C Diesel 11.2 CP3 mounted up top. The final step to an estimated 1,200 horsepower is a

 Mitch Meinhart took great pains to ensure that his 5.9L would perform extremely well, and also look the part. Although it’s never been on a dyno, Mitch estimates horsepower at about 1,200 hp.  One area where Mitch departed from the norm was the lift pump. Instead of running a traditional electric pump, Mitch runs a belt driven Aviaid pump that he uses as a lift pump. The system is set up at 17 psi, and has worked flawlessly so far.