Enthusiasts who undertake diesel upgrades to build more power are a special breed. They can invest the value of two new Toyota* Tacoma* trucks into a single truck capable of 1,200 hp and 2,100 lb-ft torque.
To say they’re passionate is an understatement.
This commitment is even more impressive considering these folks work hard for a living and that building massive power takes time. Modifications like tuners, turbo upgrades, injectors and nitrous oxide (NOx) are often added as time and money are available.
Most enthusiasts understand that modifications can increase strain on cylinder liners, pistons, bearings and rods. But properly sequencing modifications and upgrading affected engine components can be tricky, particularly when there are a lot of demands on your cash.
Video transcript: We’re Into Diesel Motorsports
I’m Ben Shatty. I’m from Diesel Motorsports. Dunrite Diesel Performance is a light duty repair shop and performance shop located in Osgood, Indiana. We’ve been in business since 2008.
A typical customer here is an enthusiast looking for more output or a more reliable aftermarket product for their diesel pickup truck. I would consider us a premium shop. We always try to push the premium option even when we are replacing even OEM parts. We’ve also been buying low-mile, late-model rec diesel trucks and we are offering these parts to our customers at a fraction of the cost.
That’s new to us. We hope to really be rolling in the next year or so with it. We do have a lot of competition vehicles and customers in other states that do sled pull, drag race, that we still keep on top of the game, so to speak, with new parts and new technology. We’re in the dyno bay at the shop here.
We’re getting ready to dyno a race truck, a customer’s race truck from Tennessee. This is a dyno jet, 224 XLC. It is a load cell dyno. Whether you’re simulating your towing or going up a hill, what we do is be in compound turbos.
We put enough load on the truck and then we drive back through it to get a proper sample of the power and torque that it’s making. We ran the truck two times and after the first time I noticed that it dropped a little bit of fuel pressure, so I went back into the calibration and made a couple changes. You can see with the dyno graph we picked up about 45 horsepower and 90 foot pounds of torque. I think the big attraction to diesel was just the torque.
In stock form they don’t make a ton of horsepower, but you can feel just that low end grunt. I think that’s what reigned me in. It’s motorsports in general, but diesel does have my heart. When I started my shop I was always tinkering with diesels anyway of just my own.
And then I purchased a race truck that had started to be built and it wasn’t complete and then I finished it. We had a lot of fun with that and that’s kind of what got the performance side started. I do consider myself very competitive and drag racing is where my passion’s at. We run a diesel pro mod in the ODSS series, which is the Outlaw Diesel Super Series.
Last year we won the points. This year we actually just finished it up and we ended up third in this year. So we were still pretty pleased with that, but we’re running four second eighth mile times at almost 170 miles an hour in the eighth mile. First of all with the truck you can see it’s got a custom intercooler.
It’s a one off piece. The engine is a Cummins* 7.1 liter. It’s a solid block, single turbo, a lot of nitrous, two injection pumps. It’s got a mechanical fuel pump that supplies roughly idling its 32 pounds of fuel pressure.
Going down the track these injection pumps take it from 32 pounds of pressure to 26,000 pounds of pressure to the injector. Moving around to the cab of the truck, the whole data logger system itself is mounted on the inside of the firewall. The buttons on the steering wheel, nitrous purged, trans brake. The bottom button on the right is for the parachute.
We’ve utilized carbon fiber wheel tubs to try to lighten it up a little bit. At the rear of the truck we went to wheelie bars this year. We haven’t ever ran wheelie bars until this year. Ignition killed, so if an official sees something dripping or they see something out of line, anybody at any time can come up and shut the power off of the truck and it kills it.
This truck weighs 3,600 pounds with me in it and you’re running 170. That’s a pretty good thrive. Teamwork to me is huge. Everybody’s part matters.
Not only at the racetrack but in just everyday business. We take punishment as a team and we take pride as a team. So it’s a big deal to me and it’s huge. If not for my guys, there’s no way that any of this would be possible.
That’s at the business order on the racetrack.
Don’t forget this diesel upgrade
So, what’s a diesel enthusiast to do? Increase his truck’s power and torque and cross his fingers that all that added power won’t destroy anything?
Hardly. Instead, don’t forget to upgrade your engine oil. It’s inexpensive compared to a new intake, high-flow exhaust or tuner. And it’s effective.
Turn down the heat
Modified diesel engines crank up the heat and pressure, both of which strain the oil. Consider that your pistons and bearings ride on a film of oil thinner than a sheet of paper. If your oil can’t withstand the shearing forces all that power creates, it’ll lose viscosity and become thinner. It can also oxidize under extreme heat and break down, increasing wear.
Purpose-built for modified diesels, AMSOIL synthetic diesel engine oil is blended with top-tier synthetic base oils and boosted with additives to withstand the heat and pressure of modified diesels.
How good is it?
AMSOIL Signature Series Max-Duty Synthetic Diesel Oil delivers the protection your diesel needs.
- 6X more wear protection¹
- 60% better turbo cleanliness²
In independent testing compared to a leading brand, AMSOIL provided long-lasting wear protection, keeping cylinder liners looking like new.
So, if you’re planning your next diesel modifications, don’t forget to add “Switch to AMSOIL” to your list of diesel upgrades. If you have a competition engine, find out which AMSOIL synthetic diesel oil is right for you here.
¹Based on independent testing in the Detroit Diesel* DD13 Scuffing Test for specification DFS 93K222 using 5W-30 as worst-case representation. ²Based on specification standards of CAT C13 2ND Ring Top Land Carbon testing.
This article is part of our Diesel Oil and Maintenance guide. See every article in the guide.
Recommended AMSOIL products
Start with AMSOIL synthetic diesel oil and find the exact AMSOIL products for all your vehicles with the AMSOIL Product Guide.