How Big Time Kustomz Built a 1,500-HP Power Stroke

Mark’s 6.4L, 48re swapped monster

When I first started Big Time Kustomz, I instantly became obsessed with horsepower and the Power Stroke motors,” says Mark Vanadia. “We spent years trying to make my pride-and-joy red truck that was lifted 10 inches and on 24-inch wheels and 38-inch tires go fast with more power. I learned after capping 1,000 hp that the task takes a toll on a truck that big. I always spent more time fixing it than enjoying it. I found a rolling chassis that had a roll bar in it and instantly fell in love with the idea of building a dedicated, fast, power-driven truck. I believe the words from my wife were, ‘Buy the truck so you can stop complaining about breaking your red truck.’ So I did.”

“Instantly, I reached out to Craig Briggs at Maryland Performance Diesel (at the time) and discussed the goals of making 1,000-1,100 hp on fuel and spraying ability to 1,300,” Mark continues. “The goal was to build a low 10-second truck that we could steadily make faster. In 2015, that was a high-bar goal. We talked about setups and options, but my biggest concern was a transmission that had not only a trans break, but would also hold the power and get me where I wanted to go. Back then the 4R would have achieved most of my requests, but not all of them, so Craig pushed the 48 swap, and off we went. The goals were simple—so I thought.”

“After about a 7-month timeframe of building the motor, which has every built part you could get for a 6.4L, our local machine shop O-ringed, ported, and polished my heads, Carrillo rods, RCD cam, etc., and we were off,” Mark adds. “Craig finished the trans swap, and we were able to play around with the truck a little bit for the first time at Diesel Nationals in September of 2015. This was about the time Anthony Reams reached out to me and gave me a piece of advice I share with anyone who asks. He told me these things are expensive, and it’s easy to drive it like it’s expensive, but you can’t. Drive it hard like money doesn’t matter, and when it breaks, and it will, you park it if you can’t fix it, and when you can fix it, you do it all over again. That was probably the most real advice anyone has ever given me, and I drive the truck true to those words to this day.”

“It has been a learning experience,” Mark admits. “We did learn that we had issues. We got the truck into the high 10s before the snow fell but also killed a motor. Winter came, we built a new motor, ironed out some issues, and off we went. We slowly got the motor going quicker and started getting steady 10.50 passes. Our highlight came when we got the opportunity to run under the lights at the last Diesel Nationals, where the truck ran a 10.2 with some issues at the back half of the track. We followed that up the following day with a 1,250 hp dyno pull at XDP’s famous open house, where we took High Ford Horsepower. Once we hit that, we tried for 9s the rest of the season and ultimately blew the motor again. Starting to see a pattern, we spent the next 2 years fighting clearance issues that we pinpointed to the transmission swap. Once we got that sorted, things progressed heavily and quickly.”

“Thanks to Craig Briggs and his staff at Maryland Performance Diesel. We made leaps and bounds progress to what our current setup is,” Mark says. “Running a forward remote mount turbo setup with a single S485, RPS Fab air-to-water system, MPP billet intake manifold (this gets attention any time I pop the hood), and now a fully gutted and caged truck with an Energetic Motorsports wiring harness, a Punch-Out Performance front cover, and a list of you-name-it-we-have-it parts, we have started to see some progress. The current highs we have put out with the truck are 9.8 and 9.7 at 150 mph while still weighing almost 5,500 pounds, and we have dyno runs of almost 1,500 hp. We have recently started to work with Mathew Hussey at MSH Machine Works in Texas to get a newly built motor in place to push the truck even further.”

“Family time and consistency have made for some hurdles to continue to push the truck, but we don’t give up,” Mark reports. “With the family support and killer team at our shop (Big Time Kustomz), we know the truck can continue to push ahead and exceed our goals. Our biggest holdback right now, aside from budget, is suspension. That has been something we have not worked much on, but it certainly will become our goal over the 2025-2026 winter timeframe.”

“I’d like to send a major thanks to all the companies, including MPP, RPS Fab, Energetic, Freeway Tire Pros, Tully’s Speed Shop, Vanco Construction, Madsen Restoration, Elite Polish Works, and Black Diamond Tint. Thank you also to my friends, family, and most of all my wife, who continue to love to see this truck go down the track or lay down numbers on the dyno. It would not be possible without any of them. And to answer my favorite question—NO! As long as my name is on the title, there will never be a Cummins motor in this truck.”