Pursue of The 3,000-plus Horsepower Cummins

Chris Patterson’s Dyno-Slaying, Drag Racing, And Dirt-Dominating 3,000HP Cummins

If you’ve ever felt like all the world’s eyes were upon you, you know the feeling Unrivaled Diesel’s Chris Patterson has experienced over the past year. At the 2021 All Truck Challenge, his ’07 Dodge dually spun the dyno to the tune of 3,089 hp—becoming the first diesel truck to make 3,000 hp on a chassis dyno. In doing so, he set the diesel industry ablaze with both supporters and naysayers, all of which came out of the woodwork to offer their two cents on the feat.

If you’re going to pursue 3,000-plus horsepower, your engine better have a hell of a foundation. For that, Chris Patterson turned to Hamilton Cams for one of the company’s hi-test alloy 6.7L blocks. D&J Precision Machine X-beam rods, stock compression pistons, and a proprietary grind No Limit Manufacturing cam reside in the short block. A Stage 3 D&J cylinder head—complete with 1.500-inch super alloy intake valves, 1.450-inch super alloy exhaust valves, high-rev valve springs, and 5-axis CNC porting—anchors to the high-strength block via 14mm ARP Custom Age 625+ head studs.

But instead of zeroing in on the negative, Chris kept his head down and continued to improve the truck. He broke into the 5.40s in the eighth mile (at 6,400 pounds, no less) and made the adjustments he knew would be necessary to make it a more formidable contender at the truck pulls. When Ultimate Callout Challenge 2022 rolled around, Chris crushed it, finishing fourth overall out of 15 built-to-the-hilt trucks. It was here where we caught up with Chris for the full scoop on his 3,000hp, jack-of-all-trades third-gen.

High Caliber Cummins

The 6.7L Cummins that powers Chris’s green monster is neither sleeved nor sporting a deck-plate, but is based on a hi-test alloy block from Hamilton Cams. The crankcase, which boasts more than double the tensile strength of a factory Cummins block, has had its water jackets filled and been machined to accept both 14mm main studs and head studs, along with fire rings for optimal combustion sealing. A factory 6.7L crank spins six X-beam connecting rods from D&J Precision Machine, which are attached to stock compression pistons. Bottom-end strength is further maximized thanks to a gridlock girdle from Bean Machine that links all main caps together. The valvetrain takes its cues from a No Limit Manufacturing camshaft, designed with a proprietary grind Chris came up with.

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Stage 3 Head

Imagine a Cummins that produces 110-psi of boost despite having a cylinder head that flows 330 Cfm… That helps sum up just how serious Chris’s fire-breathing engine setup is. The Stage 3 D&J head has been CNC ported to flow twice as much as a factory 24-valve head (on the intake side), but it’s also been machined to accept fire-rings, is fitted with 1.500-inch super alloy intake valves, 1.450-inch super alloy exhaust valves, and hardened seats. High-rev valve springs rule out valve float and creep at high rpm and excessive boost, and inch diameter Manton pushrods complete the race-ready valvetrain. ARP Custom Age 625+ head studs measuring 14mm in diameter fasten the head to the hi-test block.

Hamilton Cam’s hi-test alloy block (also known as its Comp Block) was cast with a deck and cylinder base that’s 1-inch thicker than a factory 6.7L Cummins block, and it also features much more main webbing material. Its tensile strength is also 390 MPA (vs. 160 MPA stock). Inside the deep-skirt crankcase, an OEM 6.7L Cummins crankshaft is anchored in place via 14mm ARP main studs, and a gridlock girdle from Bean Machine ties all of the main caps together. The block was also machined (along with the head) to accept fire rings, and its water jackets have been filled with concrete.

Chris made his record-setting 3,089hp with a set of compounds from VS Racing under the hood of his Dodge. The dual ball bearing S483/96/1.15 on the 3-piece T6 BD exhaust manifold helped bring its big brother to life, a triple ball bearing 106mm snail with a 113mm turbine wheel and a 1.45 A/R exhaust housing. Here, you’re looking at the triple-turbo arrangement Chris switched to for the dyno portion of U.C.C 2022. It still makes use of the VS Racing S483 on the manifold (which is externally wastegate), but a pair of S476 TDI units with 87mm turbine wheels effectively combine to serve as a one-atmosphere unit.

A pair of 14mm CP3s from Exergy Performance handle the job of pressurizing fuel and provide proper support for a set of competition hybrid injectors from Flux Diesel Injection. The hybrids, which feature solid bodies to eliminate cracking, entail extensive internal work and 450 percent over nozzles. The high-flow, high-pressure common-rail injection system is fine-tuned courtesy of Starlight Diesel’s Dominic Ferrante via a factory CM849 ECM, the commonly used Bosch unit from ’06-’07 5.9L’s.

Flux Fueling

In the world of 3,000hp common rails, it takes a set of high-flow, fast-firing injectors to get the job done. The solid body, competition hybrid units in Chris’s engine come from Flux Diesel Injection, and they’re topped off with 450 percent over nozzles. Fine-tuning of the injection system, by way of a Cummins CM849 ECM, comes courtesy of Dominic Ferrante from Starlight Diesel. A pair of 14mm stroker CP3s from Exergy Performance support the big injectors while dual 290-gph FASS systems ensure plenty of low-pressure fuel supply is always headed their way. The FASS pumps pull fuel from a 16-gallon cell mounted between the rear frame rails.

Dual FASS Titanium Signature series low-pressure fuel supply systems feed the 14mm CP3s. Each system is rated to flow a whopping 290-gph and provides the engine 18-psi worth of pressure at idle. The fuel cell in the middle holds up to 16 gallons of VP Racing Torq DX race fuel, which Chris tells us is enough capacity for the truck to drive 180 miles. Feel free to ask Chris how he knows that…It entails middle-of-the-night, middle-of-nowhere racing where trailered-in vehicles aren’t allowed to compete.

Of course, Chris uses a spool stage of nitrous to help get his massive turbos turning, but there’s much more than that. In total, he can call on four kits to help him get the job done, be it on the drag strip, the dyno, or even the pulling track. On the dyno, roughly 3 pounds of N2O are consumed per run.

Compounds And Triples

For the most part, Chris has competed using a two-turbo compound arrangement. However, for U.C.C. 2022 he changed over to a triple-turbo compound system (also two stages) for the dyno and sled pull events. The conversion takes roughly an hour to complete and leaves the VS Racing S483 on the BD Diesel T6 manifold while a pair of S476 TDI chargers replace a massive VS Racing 106mm unit. The primary charger benefits from a single, 46mm external wastegate helping to bleed off excess drive pressure, but it is quickly overwhelmed in an all-out race effort, where nitrous is introduced and 110-psi of peak boost is produced. While the verdict is still technically out on the triples, Chris believes the two-turbo compound system—the VS Racing S483 combined with the 106mm—makes more power.

Both the AAM 1150 out back and the AAM 925 up front have been treated to a host of upgrades from Yukon Gear & Axle. Chromoly axle shafts, a Grizzly locker, and 4.10 ring and pinion sets have been added. In conjunction with select yet extensive frame reinforcement measures, the stronger axle components have aided Chris’s sled pulling efforts tremendously. In fact, dragging the sled through the dirt is now his favorite thing to do.

A 48RE That’s Built For Abuse

If you thought a 3500 series dual rear wheel Ram applying more than 2,000hp to the track would be hard on a transmission, you’re right. Luckily Chris knows the 48RE four-speed like the back of his hand and also has plenty of breakage experience under his belt—which is to say he knows how to keep one alive at this power level. His recipe begins with a BD 12-bolt flex plate and a 2,600-rpm stall DPC triple-disc converter sitting on a 37-spline solid input shaft from Santjer Performance Development. Other hard-to-kill parts include a Sonnax extreme duty 300M intermediate shaft, a 29-spline output shaft, and a billet drum from TCS. Chris handles all shifting himself via a full manual valve body from Muldoon’s Performance Transmissions.

A transmission builder by trade, Chris knows the ins and outs of the 48RE—and at this point, he even knows how to avoid cracking the case—something that’s fairly common at power levels beyond 2,000 hp. His parts recipe for surviving the nearly 4,000 lb-ft of torque that’s been shoved through it is a triple-disc, billet stator DPC converter, a 37-spline Santjer input shaft, Sonnax extreme duty 300M intermediate shaft, a 29-spline output shaft, a TCS billet drum, GPZ frictions, and Kolene steels. A 6.0L transmission cooler from Mishimoto keeps ATF temp in check.

A Do-Everything, 3,000hp Truck?

Believe it or not, the original plans for the third-gen were to make it a 1,000hp all-purpose truck that could handle just about any job Chris threw at it: towing, racing, pulling, and of (course) daily driving. Oddly enough, the truck still does most of those things. It’s fuel-efficient enough to travel 180 miles with the fuel cell topped off, can run low 5’s in the eighth mile, rock any set of rollers it’s strapped to, put in a strong effort in the dirt with a sled attached, and, as you read this, it will be toting a small trailer behind it for this year’s Rocky Mountain Raceweek 2.0. While Chris plans to return to U.C.C. in 2023, above all else he plans to make his infamous green dually more streetable in the months ahead, along with continuing to showcase how versatile the build is.

To keep the rear AAM 1150 from wrapping, a four-link suspension with QA1 double-adjustable coil-over shocks is present, and it does a fine job ensuring the truck remains settled while continuing to dig forward. Up front, a four-link system with coil-overs is onboard as well, along with a track bar and a rack and pinion conversion.

A stripped interior helped get the big dually down to a trim 5,540 pounds for U.C.C., but something tells us Chris won’t leave things this bare for long—especially with events like Rocky Mountain Raceweek on his radar. And don’t let the Precision Performance Products air shifter fool you, Chris handles all of the shifting himself thanks to a full manual valve body from Muldoon’s Performance Transmissions.

Although some primarily think of Chris and his green dually as dyno contenders, it’s worth noting that the truck has been 5.40s in the eighth mile on several occasions. Its quickest E.T. to date is a 5.46 and its fastest trap speed of 136.95 mph came during its 5.48-second trip through the ‘660 at U.C.C. Factor in a low 1.3-second 60-foot and you can imagine how fun it is to pilot this 3-ton rocket. Future quarter-mile plans include securing the quickest E.T. record for a dually yet also showcasing how versatile and streetable the truck can be.

For a truck and owner that seemingly came out of nowhere in 2021, virtually every diesel fan knows Chris Patterson’s name now. His barrier-breaking 3,089hp dyno effort last fall instantly made him a heavyweight in the diesel industry, and his subsequent (and repeatable) 2,600-plus horsepower performances at U.C.C. 2022 earned him respect from some of the biggest names in the business. What’s more is that his 3,000hp, 5-second sled-pulling creation was born in a small shop just outside of Dallas, with loads of support from local, Texas-based companies. Keep your eyes peeled for Chris’s homegrown monster to challenge, reset and shatter other records in the months and years to come.

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Author

Mike McGlothlin

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