Diesel Racing Returns to Indiana for Round 2 of the Diesel World Drags
Flashback in honor of Mike Skinner. Here’s highlights from our event at Wagler Motorsports Park which Mike attended and competed. With much of the racing world still struggling through some sort of regional, legal or logistical paralysis following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, we kept things simple. We returned to Wagler Motorsports Park for Round 2 of the Diesel World Drags.
Flashback in honor of Mike Lovrich. Here’s an old feature, and Mike built it’s transmission. Some people plan and build their trucks over a period of years; other people just come out of the gate storming. John Esteves is of the latter group, and his truck, Smokin’ Max, has been a visible part of Northern California sled pulling for the last 10 years.
Connecting Rods: How Much Can Your Duramax Handle?
So how much boost can a stock Duramax handle? In our experience, you can get away with doubling the power output of each generation of the Duramax, but venturing beyond that has a tendency to bring out the breakage gremlins at an accelerated rate. Here’s why:
With its factory compound turbo system, the debut of common-rail injection on the Power Stroke platform, quick-firing piezo injectors, and 350 hp from the factory, the 6.4L definitely had a lot of promise when it debuted in early ’07. Initial impressions were favorable, but as time has worn on and the miles have racked up, the 6.4L has become notorious for a long list of failures.
The owner of this ’01 quad cab ¾-ton, Thales (TJ) Stewart, decided he’d had enough of the VP44 woes. But instead of trading the truck in on a newer common rail, he elected to ditch the electronic rotary unit in favor of a P7100 (aka P-pump). Scheid Diesel was the one to call, so we did.
A quick Web search (try “DEF in fuel”) will turn up numerous (and, to some, humorous) tales of folks putting DEF into the fuel tanks of their non-DEF trucks and cars. We’ve heard stories of vehicle owners who think that if DEF is so good for new diesel trucks, it should be good for their older diesel as well. Long story short, that’s not how it works…either way, here’s how to fix it.
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