Mega Cab, Mega Power: A Street-Legal 6.7L Cummins Done Right

An Emissions-Compliant, Twin-Turbo 6.7L Cummins

Nature or nurture? That’s the eternal argu- ment over whether or not automotive enthu- siasts are born or raised that way. For most of us—including Johnny Ramirez of Payette, Idaho— being an automotive enthusiast is a learned behav- ior. It usually starts with toy cars as a child, and progresses to more expensive toys as we get older.

“Growing up, the walls of my room were covered with Dallas Cowboys football players and pages of cool cars and trucks from the magazines,” com- mented Johnny. “I grew up helping my dad on his truck, and I’ve always loved nice cars and trucks.”

Johnny’s passion for performance cars and trucks led into him building some way-cool rides over the years, including a ’70 Mach I Mustang and ’07 Shelby Mus- tang, along with some pickups. His creative passion for trucks blossomed into a company, Fusion Bumpers, which creates high-end, heavy-duty custom bumpers that are popular with diesel enthusiasts. And with that company, Johnny and his crew have cranked out some way-cool SEMA diesel trucks over the years, including one that landed on the cover of Diesel World magazine.

This year’s SEMA project had a bit of a twist to it. Sure, the Ram 3500 had a lift kit, cool tires and wheels, and, of course, a full complement of Fusion bumpers, but the goal was to build an emissions-legal compound-turbo 6.7L Cummins while keeping all the emissions equipment on the truck. Plus, the truck had to be special since it was the first year Fusion had a booth at the annual SEMA show and wanted to make a good first impression.

“Johnny started out with a fresh 2013 Ram 3500 Mega Cab that was given the long-bed stretch treatment by Precision Body Line of Salt Lake City, Utah.”

“With some help from our friends in the industry, we built a very unique truck,” Johnny said. “It features many new prod- ucts and is the only 2013 Ram with a com- pound-turbo setup that uses twin CP3s and retains all the emissions equipment. Plus, it was the perfect project to display our new stainless steel Fusion bumpers.”

Johnny started out with a fresh 2013 Ram 3500 Mega Cab that was given the long-bed stretch treatment by Precision Body Line of Salt Lake City, Utah. The long bed for the stretch was supplied by Long Bed Conversions (longbedmytruck.com). BDS Suspension reportedly used the truck to prototype an 8-inch, long-arm suspen- sion system for the 2013 Rams, complete with dual Fox 2.0 remote-reservoir shocks and 8-inch Pro-Ride coils up front. At the rear are BDS Glide-Ride leaf springs with another set of Fox 2.0 shocks. Covering the 3.42 gears in the rear diff is a Street to Sand cover. The lift provides plenty of room for 38-inch 15.50×20 Toyo M/Ts mounted on wide 20×12 BMF Wheels forged and polished AWOL wheels.

While you wouldn’t know it at first glance, since all the factory plastic cover- ing the 6.7L Cummins is still in place, the real magic is found in the ATS Aurora 7500 compound-turbo kit mounted to the left. According to ATS, the company has been working on developing emissions- legal setup and Johnny’s 2013 Ram is the first truck to get the Aurora 7500 compound-turbo kit. Supporting the system is an ATS Dual Fueler setup, an- other first for a 2013 truck, Johnny says.

According to ATS, the Aurora Plus 7500 compound-turbo kit and Dual Fueler combo are designed to work with all the factory emissions system components, including the DPF, and keeps all the emis- sions systems operating as designed. The Aurora Plus 7500 system also utilizes its own air intake. The system was installed on Johnny’s Ram so it could undergo real- world CARB certification.

For insurance, since the turbos can make upwards of 60 pounds of boost, a set of ATS head studs was installed. Feed- ing the Dual Fuelers with clean #2 is a FASS 150-gph system. Custom tuning was provided by H&S Performance for all- around performance and towing capabil- ity. The combo makes more than 650 horsepower and 1,200 lb/ft of torque.

To handle the additional torque and horsepower, the original Aisin transmission was replaced with an ATS Stage 4 trans, complete with an ATS 5 Star converter and ATS Towing Edition valve body. Other mods include a billet flex plate and billet input shaft.

In order to make another first-class SEMA truck with all the right stuff, Johnny enlisted the aid of his friends at Street to Sand Off-Road in Reno, Nevada, for all the body mods. First up, match painting the factory mirrors and door handles, and smoking the headlights. Fusion Bumpers’ new stainless steel bumpers were added front and rear, and were fitted with Rigid Industries’ Q-Series LED lights up front and 4-inch E-Series LED lights out back. A Status grille sets off the front end nicely.

The bed is covered by a Retrax-Pro tonneau cover, which hides a Cargo Glide CG 2000XL pullout that’s mounted over a Bed Rug. Amp Research Power Boards and a Bed Step help with entry and exit, and bed access. A set of match-painted EGR fender flares helps cover the 38-inch rubber. The finishing touches were custom graphics by Transguard in Boise, Idaho, and a set of train horns mounted under the truck, which are fed by a Viair air tank and compressor system.

On the inside, the truck is just as custom as the outside, featuring match- painted trim pieces, panels and door trim from Elite Customs in Reno. A billet switch panel is mounted in the center console while Husky Liners front and rear protect the floor. For atmosphere, the stock head unit was retained so it can function with the original steering wheel controls, thanks to their Clean Sweep interface. Powering the system is a pair of JL Audio HD 1000 amps. In terms of speakers, all stockers were replaced with JL Audio 2 Series speaker. A pair of 10-inch TW3 units are mounted in a custom enclosure on the back wall of the Mega Cab while two more are fitted under the rear seat to round out the musical capabilities of the custom Mega Cab.

Needless to say, the truck is essentially a one-off custom, which is exactly what a true enthusiast would want. DW