Triple-Turbo VP44 Dodge Makes 1,080 Horsepower

A 1,080 HP VP44 Dodge

At Diesel World, we often look for trucks that have been built in a unique or special way. While Johnny Gilbert’s 2001 Dodge Ram caught our eye as it made lap after lap down the dragstrip, it wasn’t until it clicked off a 6.60-second elapsed time in the eighth (with very little smoke) that we decided to take a closer look. When we found out that he was also still running a VP44 pump, and that the truck had put down 1,080 rwhp on its last chassis dyno session, we thought, “Yeah, we have to check this one out.”

“IT WENT 12.80, WHICH WAS FAST BACK THEN, AND NOBODY COULD BELIEVE A MOSTLY STOCK TRUCK COULD BE THAT FAST.”

The 7.0L engine that powers Johnny Gilbert’s race truck certainly looks like no other. With triple turbos, twin air filters, top-feed injectors, and miles of stainless and chrome, it certainly looks the part of the awesome 1,080 hp and 2,150 lb-ft. it produces.

Although it’s hard to see, the exhaust manifold is also Stainless, and has an enormous T6 foot. Johnny reports that even in racing applications, he’s never had a single manifold failure due to warping or cracking.

HOW IT STARTED

Building such a radical ride didn’t just happen overnight. Johnny has been in the game with the same Dodge Ram for quite a long time. Around 10 years ago, Johnny was at a local points race at the strip with his bracket-class Chevelle. The Chevelle broke, so he decided to unhook his Dodge from his racecar trailer and run that in- stead. Johnny was already into diesel per- formance and had a set of 200-hp injectors, a lift pump, and an upgraded turbo on his Ram. “Running the truck was so much fun,” Johnny recalls. “It went 12.80 (in the quarter mile] which was fast back then, and nobody could believe a mostly stock truck could be that fast.” In addition to being quite a sensation at the local track, Johnny went three rounds in the truck, earning valuable points in the process. It was then that the truck started its transformation into a serious race effort.

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Johnny built the stainless piping that connects the two atmospheric turbos to their air filters. After a lot of page turning through the S&B Filters catalog, he found some that would fit.

The crowning jewel of the engine bay is the triple-turbo setup, which Johnny spec’d and built himself after a lot of trial and error. The top two turbos are 66mm versions, while the high-pressure turbo is a 75mm S400 charger.

GETTING A BIT SERIOUS

By 2006, the truck had been ﬁtted with even larger 6×16 injectors, and a compound turbo setup that featured 62mm and 80mm turbochargers. With the same Edge Juice with Attitude that he’d been running, the truck now clicked off high 11-second passes, and made 686 rwhp to the tires. “Then we hit a stumbling block,” Johnny says. “We tried larger injec- tors, different turbos setups, every box we knew of, and even built triple turbos for it. It was then we knew that the pump had to be what was holding us back, but unfortu- nately there wasn’t much else available.”

“JOHNNY WAS STUCK IN THE MID 800-HP RANGE.”

A lighter and stronger Hogan intercooler was fitted into the second-generation Dodge’s core support, and handles the 110 psi of boost with ease. It also keeps exhaust gas temperatures down to a manageable 1,550 degrees at the end of the track.

The stock intake horn was chromed and polished, and fitted with a TurboSmart blow-off valve. The BOV is activated when the throttle is released, to keep the boost pressure from spiking.

That all changed however, when Johnny got connected with Mike J. of MJ Tool and Fabrication in Pioneer, Ohio. With Mike’s help, a plan was concocted to build a special VP44 for the truck, which would be called a “Monster Pump.” With Mike’s new whiz-bang Stage 2 Mon- ster pump, the truck responded immedi- ately, with a Jump to 820 rear-wheel horsepower, with the same set of triple 66mm Bullseye Power turbochargers. A switch to a larger 74mm turbine wheel on the manifold turbo picked up another 30 hp, but again, Johnny was stuck in the mid 800-hp range.

Although it may look like a normal VP44 pump, it’s actually a Stage 3 Monster Pump built by M&J Tool and Fabrication, and flows more than 550cc of fuel. It also produces the insane-sounding idle that Mon- ster Pump-equipped trucks are known for.

GOING ALL OUT

Fast forward a few years, and Mike and Johnny had become good friends, and both decided to make an all-out assault on building a serious competition engine for his 2001. Based upon a 6.7L block and cylinder head, the bottom end of Johnny’s new engine would have more tricks than most people have in their entire engine. For starters, the 6.7L wasn’t left alone; it received a stroker crank, bringing the total displacement to 426 cid, or almost an even 7.0L. MJ Tool and Fabrication also stiffened the block with a stud girdle and 14mm main studs. “Monster Pump Mike,” as he now was known, sprinkled additional tricks on the bottom end, including his own connecting rods, modiﬁed pistons with revised bowls, special rocker arms, and oversize pushrods. Also, the stock camshaft was retained due to the rpm- limited nature of the VP44 injection pump.

“JOHNNY ENDED UP WITH A SETUP THAT MAKES 110 PSI, RELIABLY, AND WITHOUT THE NEED FOR A SINGLE WASTEGATE.”

Instead of a normal valve cover, a host of injector lines resides on the top of the 7.0L stroker motor. The lines go to a set of custom dual-feed, top-fed 6×18 injectors that were built by “Monster Pump Mike.”

Transmission temperatures can quickly shoot into the red zone without proper cooling, so twin stacked transmission coolers were employed to keep the Dodge transmission from overheating while staging.

The top end of the engine received the mad scientist treatment, with Mike providing an experimental Stage 3 Monster pump, top- feed 6×18 injectors, and a host of other tricks. In that time, Johnny had created his own company, Stainless Diesel, so the turbo kit was the latest and greatest he could proudce. The truck’s current turbo setup is also quite impressive. The start is a Stainless Diesel T6 mani- fold, which feeds into a S400- frame BorgWarner turbo- charger with a 75mm inducer and a 96mm turbine wheel.

The two top turbos are 66mm chargers with race covers and custom ﬁve-blade wheels, and tight 0.70 A/R exhaust hous- ings. Johnny spent a lot of time on the dyno with the truck dial- ing in the combination, and ended up with a setup that makes 110 psi, without the need for a single wastegate.

After trying numerous other boxes, nothing made more on the dyno than the original and ancient Edge Juice that was first on the truck, so that’s what Johnny still runs. In the 12.0-second class, Johnny runs the “stock” setting, and lets the larger turbos and injectors do all the work, and for faster runs, turns up the Juice for maximum power.

cell from Summit Racing. The fuel cell also made it easier to equip the truck with oversize feed and return lines.

TRANSMISSION MAGIC

Since Monster Pump Mike had the tooling to build just about anything, the team worked on designing a torque converter that could live behind the truck’s 2,150 lb-ft. of torque. What Mike came up with was quite interesting—a huge sin- gle-disc torque converter, de- signed for a large input shaft with an immense amount of lockup area. The converter was also designed to bolt together, meaning that worn converter clutches could now be changed with ease.

In addition to the special converter, Mike supplied the input and output shafts of the Dodge transmission, while Redline Diesel built the valve body, which allows for ﬁrst gear lockup of the torque con- verter. Other power-handling parts have been modiﬁed as well. The transfer case had low-range eliminated (which saved 12 lbs. of rotating weight,) and since the truck has so many runs on it, Johnny has built the 3.54 geared Dana 70 rear end three times, the latest time with Yukon Gear clutches that have held up quite well.

To help support the rear of the truck and to control the launch, Alston QA-1 coilover shocks were installed, and can control both dampening and rebound for optimum traction.

Since the truck mainly just sees dragstrip action, trac- tion is provided by 305/40R17 M&H Racemaster drag radials on all four corners of the truck.

The interior of Johnny’s Dodge is all business, with twin racing seats, a full roll cage, and no interior to speak of other than the dash, seats and gauges. Not much is needed when being in the truck just 10 sec- onds at a time.

MONEY WELL SPENT

Johnny figures that over the years he’s made more than 1,000 passes down the dragstrip in his Dodge, which would ex- plain why it now looks so effortless. Al- though Johnny mainly competes in the 6.60/10.50 index classes common at diesel races, switching off the box and locking the converter later means he can also run in 7.70/12.0-second classes as well. Johnny’s even been known to compete in run-what-ya-brung outlaw events, where his quick reaction times and consistent launches have outpaced quicker and faster competitors. While we don’t know what the future holds for him, you can bet that the future will lead to even greater accomplishments for the world’s quickest, fastest and most powerful VP44 truck. DW

“2,150 LB-FT. OF TORQUE.”