The Diesel Podcast dives into how a common-rail diesel program achieved an engine-dyno 3000+ hp on fuel only, not nitrous or water tricks. Lenny and guests discuss the philosophy of building trucks that can do multiple paths (street, towing, drag, pulling) without getting stuck on “delete or nothing.” They break down the hardware choices—pumps, ECU tuning, injectors, head/block strategy, and timing/EGT targets—plus why engine-dyno stress and torque management differ from chassis dynos. The conversation also shifts to L5P ownership, injector/nozzle plans, and how power advances push transmissions and the whole aftermarket forward.
Dynomite Diesel just set a new benchmark for diesel performance. Owner Lenny Reed tells us about building the first diesel engine to hit 3000HP on fuel only, who helped with the build, and how anyone can replicate it!
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The segment includes a sponsor mention for RedBull.com, which is a non-automotive brand. While not directly related to diesel tech, sponsorships like this are common in enthusiast podcasts and can affect how the episode is structured.
"you've got like, you know, glorified drag slicks on it, compounds,"
Drag slicks are specialized tires with a softer compound and minimal tread designed for maximum traction on straight-line launches. They’re typically used for drag racing rather than everyday driving because they wear quickly and can be less predictable in rain/cold. The host contrasts a show-style setup with a race-focused setup.
"you might throw some airbags under it and jack them up to 100 pounds and maybe some traction bars."
Airbags in trucks usually means an air suspension system that can raise/lower the vehicle and adjust ride height. In performance contexts, people may use air suspension to help with traction and stance during launches. The host mentions adding airbags as part of making the truck work for multiple events.
"you might throw some airbags under it and jack them up to 100 pounds and maybe some traction bars."
Traction bars are suspension components designed to reduce axle wrap and wheel hop during hard launches. They help keep the drivetrain from twisting under torque, improving straight-line traction. The host lists them as part of a drag-focused setup for a truck that still does other events.
"There was several years where the trucks that were made pre DPFs and you can still hot rod and race all those things without removing or deleting."
A DPF is a filter that catches soot from diesel exhaust. Some people remove it to chase power, but it’s an emissions system. The episode is saying older trucks made before these systems were common could still be built and raced without deleting.
DPF stands for Diesel Particulate Filter, an emissions device that traps soot from diesel exhaust. Performance communities often discuss DPF delete because it can reduce exhaust backpressure and simplify tuning, but it also removes an emissions control system. The host’s point is that you can still hot rod and race pre-DPF trucks without deleting anything.
"They realize like connecting rods and stuff aren't going to hold all that kind of power."
Connecting rods are internal engine components that transmit piston force to the crankshaft. When power levels rise dramatically, stock rods can fail, so builders upgrade to stronger rods to prevent catastrophic engine damage.
"And then I saw last week that you have an engine that did 3000 horsepower on fuel only."
“3000 horsepower on fuel only” highlights an extreme diesel performance milestone where the power is achieved without additional fuel additives or other external power sources. It emphasizes how far diesel tuning and hardware upgrades can go when airflow, fueling, and engine strength are all engineered together.
"And I think you had mentioned like that's the only common rail you know of on the planet that's done 3000 horsepower on an engine dyno on fuel only."
A common-rail diesel uses a pressurized “fuel rail” that feeds the injectors. That lets the engine inject fuel more precisely, which is why it’s popular for making big diesel power.
“Common rail” refers to a diesel fuel-injection system where fuel is pressurized in a shared rail and delivered to injectors electronically. It’s known for precise control of injection timing and pressure, which helps support high power levels in modern diesels.
"So you can run as many turbos you want, but the more turbos you add, the more intake air temperature you mess up."
Turbos are devices that cram more air into the engine. More air can mean more power, but it can also make the air hotter, which needs to be managed.
“Turbos” are turbochargers that force more air into the engine, enabling higher fuel delivery and power. The transcript notes a tradeoff: adding more turbo(s) can raise intake air temperature, which then requires additional cooling strategies.
"...it's a ductile iron head because big cylinder pressure, big bang and you know, lots of force trying to tear things apart."
Cylinder pressure is how hard the combustion “pushes” inside the engine. When you make more power, that pressure goes up, and the engine parts have to be stronger to handle it.
Big cylinder pressure is the internal combustion pressure inside the cylinder. Higher pressure increases stress on the head, valvetrain, and bottom end, which is why the speaker pairs it with stronger materials and premium valvetrain components.
"It's basically, you know, left up to the turbocharger guys. So if you got three people... building turbos in that three inch..."
A turbocharger forces extra air into the engine using exhaust energy. More air helps the engine burn more fuel and make more power, but it has to be managed carefully.
A turbocharger uses exhaust energy to spin a compressor that forces more air into the engine. In high-power diesel builds, turbocharger efficiency and boost control often determine how much fuel can be burned safely while keeping EGTs under control.
"...and then pop the injector. So where it really lands compared to the motor..."
An injector sprays fuel into the combustion chamber (or intake tract) at a precisely controlled time and quantity. In diesel tuning, injector timing and delivery rate are central to controlling cylinder pressure, EGTs, and power.
"Like you can see Josh McCormick has made over 4000 horsepower, you know, corrected on the chassis dyno. But if you listen to any of the chassis dyno hits compared to an engine dyno hit..."
A chassis dyno measures power at the wheels. An engine dyno measures power at the engine, so the numbers can look different because the drivetrain takes some power too.
A chassis dyno measures power at the wheels while the vehicle is loaded, so drivetrain losses are included. Engine dynos measure at the engine, so they typically show higher numbers and are easier to compare for pure engine output.
"Rex Gully, one of our fabricators here at my house, he's actually in Texas installing and he's a TIG welder. He can fabricate pretty well. So he's actually building all the plumbing and piping for the motor to sit in the truck."
A TIG welder is a tool for making very clean, strong metal welds. It’s commonly used when you want high-quality fabrication, like custom piping.
TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding uses a tungsten electrode and inert gas to create precise, high-quality welds. For plumbing and piping on a high-power build, TIG welding is often chosen for strength and clean fabrication.
"But he's like, dude, if that thing develops any hairline cracks, it starts to weep oil out any of the fancy paint."
Hairline cracks are very small splits in metal. Even tiny cracks can turn into big problems when the engine is under extreme stress.
Hairline cracks are tiny fractures that can start in high-stress engine components under extreme cylinder pressures and thermal cycling. The speaker is concerned about early cracking because it can lead to oil leaks and catastrophic failure if not caught.
"Like he wants to diagnose within the block if it's metallurgically an error or if it's like maybe somehow how we mounted like our girdle and maybe somehow, you know, there's a lot of machine work that goes into that to get a deck plate and a girdle tied to it."
A deck plate and girdle are reinforcement pieces that help the engine stay rigid when it’s making huge power. They’re added to reduce bending and help the engine stay sealed and strong.
A deck plate and girdle are structural reinforcement parts used to improve engine block rigidity and support the crankcase under extreme loads. They help reduce flex and can improve head/block sealing stability when pushing very high power.
"Like that is, it's a feat. I mean, to 13, excuse me, 314 millimeter pumps with nitrous."
Nitrous is a chemical boost that helps the engine make more power by improving combustion. It’s like giving the engine extra help for a bigger power output.
Nitrous oxide (nitrous) is an additive that increases oxygen availability in the combustion process, allowing more fuel to burn and producing a power boost. In high-horsepower diesel builds, nitrous is often used as a controlled “extra” to reach specific targets.
"Now, anybody can say, well, you can erase all that bullshit letting by just putting a big ass intercooler in it."
An intercooler cools compressed intake air before it enters the engine. Cooler air is denser and helps reduce intake temperatures, which can improve power and reduce thermal stress.
"So it doesn't matter if it comes from China, Mongolia, Cummins, you know, it doesn't matter."
Cummins is a major diesel engine manufacturer, and its name is often used as shorthand for diesel performance and parts ecosystems. The speaker is contrasting turbo sourcing while emphasizing that airflow/oxygen delivery is what matters.
Term
Superstock 5.250 inducer
"That was like an old Superstock 5.250 inducer. And I got that thing to make 2750. And that was it."
This is a reference to a turbo category and a turbo size. The inducer size is basically the turbo’s “intake” size, which affects how much air it can push.
“Superstock 5.250 inducer” describes a turbo class and a specific compressor inducer size (5.250 inches). Inducer size is tied to how much air the compressor can move and how the turbo behaves under load.
Term
variable vending turbo
"The heart's 4.8 is going to drive damn near like a variable vending turbo on a stock pickup truck. It'll spool up really easy and it gains horsepower."
They’re comparing the turbo behavior to a modern turbo that can change how it works. The goal is usually quicker boost when you need it, not just at high RPM.
“Variable vending turbo” appears to be a mis-transcription of a variable-geometry or variable-spool turbo concept. Variable-geometry turbos use adjustable vanes or control strategies to improve boost response across RPM ranges.
"The heart's 4.8 is going to drive damn near like a variable vending turbo on a stock pickup truck. It'll spool up really easy and it gains horsepower."
Spool up means how quickly the turbo starts making boost after you press the pedal. Faster spool usually feels more responsive.
“Spool up” is how quickly a turbo reaches target speed/boost after the driver demands power. Faster spool improves throttle response, while slower spool can create lag—especially noticeable in street driving.
"[1890.7s] So you're going to be able to sweep that from, say, like, high threes to, you know, if you swept it to 48 or 4900 RPM,
[1899.3s] you would see that it's already falling on its face,"
“Falls on its face” is a tuning/engine-performance phrase meaning the engine loses power rapidly instead of continuing to pull. In forced-induction contexts, it often happens when airflow limits are reached (turbo/compressor surge or insufficient flow), so the engine can’t maintain the same horsepower level at higher RPM.
"You got piston people that make nothing but pistons and they're doing it from Porsches to Bugatti's to whatever."
Pistons are key internal engine components that transfer combustion pressure to the crankshaft. For extreme diesel applications, piston design (material, strength, and cooling features) is crucial to prevent failures under high cylinder pressures and heat.
"Hey Diesel fans, it's that time of year where cold temperatures can cause diesel fuel to gel or fuel filters to clog. Power Service diesel fuel supplement plus C-Tain Boost is designed to prevent fuel gelling,"
When it gets really cold, diesel can start to thicken and turn into a gel. That can block fuel from flowing, so your truck may be hard to start or may stall.
Diesel fuel “gelling” happens when cold temperatures cause waxy components in diesel to thicken and form a gel-like consistency. This can restrict fuel flow and lead to hard starts or stalling, especially in very cold weather.
"If you don't know the type of engine that you're looking for, if you go to dfcdiesel.com, there's a ton of info there."
dfcdiesel.com is the company website referenced for information and contact. The speaker directs listeners there to learn which engine series is available and to reach out with questions.
"...they're going to watch it back out of the trailer and they're going to get it drug over to the sled. They're going to start it up."
In pulling events, a sled is the heavy device the truck drags. The sled’s resistance is what makes the pull hard and tests the truck’s power.
A “sled” is the track equipment used in pulling events that the vehicle drags; it typically includes adjustable resistance (weight) and a sliding base. The sled is central to diesel pulling because it determines the load the engine must overcome.
"... making more power and the injection pump and just different things."
The injection pump controls how fuel is sent into the engine. If you change it, you can often make more power because the engine gets the right amount of fuel at the right time.
The injection pump is responsible for pressurizing and delivering fuel into the engine’s combustion system. On modern diesels, changing or upgrading injection hardware is a major lever for increasing power because it directly affects fueling quantity and timing.
"We've got a friend partnership that is going to sell me like a Mazak horizontal tooling center here in April. I'm very excited about that..."
Mazak makes industrial machines used to cut and shape metal. Getting one means the shop can make parts in-house instead of outsourcing.
Mazak is a well-known machine tool manufacturer. A Mazak horizontal tooling center suggests the shop is investing in in-house machining capability for making parts like nozzle components or bodies.
"And then at eight, when the parts house opens, you run to the parts house because you just ran out of silicone or gaskets or whatever."
A gasket is a thin seal that helps keep fluids from leaking. If it’s worn out or installed wrong, you can get leaks around the engine.
Gaskets are sealing components that sit between engine parts to prevent oil, coolant, or exhaust leaks. Diesel builds often require correct gasket selection and proper surface prep to avoid recurring seepage.
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Welcome to the Diesel Podcast presented by DFC Diesel.
How's it going, Lenny?
It's going very well. How are you, sir?
Pretty good.
It feels like time has flown by since we chatted like kind of right after the first of the year.
Right right right around the holiday time we chatted.
Now we're like in the springtime, race season starting up.
People are getting their trucks fixed to do some summer camping and hauling and stuff.
So it's going by fast.
Yeah. Yeah, it feels.
I mean, just a change of administration, even though there's not any new rules, everybody feels like there's new rules.
So people are like, I mean, that guy just was at NHRDA in Arizona last weekend.
And man, oh man, I swear to you, like the park is smaller than the UCC park.
But the crowd was so thick and there was so many, many, many, many people there.
I was like, holy smokes, like it felt like the biggest event that I'd ever been to.
It's pretty rad.
Yeah, there's so much enthusiasm out there.
And I think like it gets back to the cornerstone of what diesel performance is.
Like if you've like gotten a time machine and you went back to, let's call it like 2006 or so.
All right, you can go get yourself a brand new LBZ, get yourself a 5.9 common rail.
And you'd go to events or it could be at the track or Dino Day or something.
And you'd see one guy with really nice wheels and tires, maybe a Smarty on his 5.9, super clean truck look awesome.
Then you'd see another guy roll up and you've got like, you know, glorified drag slicks on it, compounds,
you know, a stat coming out of the bed and it's going to go lay down 900,000 horsepower.
And so you can have these two trucks, you know, same year and you could take them to wildly different paths, right?
And it feels like for a really long time, it was like, well, buy an old one and do that.
Or you get a new one, do the wheels, tires, make it look cool.
And that's like your daily, you know, that's like the truck you tow with.
And I think the cornerstone of performance is really being able to take your build, your truck down either path you want.
I mean, the backyard builds, you know, the stuff where dudes are building stuff for like a good time,
you can kind of use that truck to tow your boat or your wife's horses or go drag racing,
maybe run like a, you know, a mid 11 or a high, you know, like low 12 or whatever.
I mean, fast as even a 13 really, but, and then if you wanted to go to the county pool and hook up,
you might throw some airbags under it and jack them up to 100 pounds and maybe some traction bars.
And the same truck kind of does all those events.
And now for the longest time, I feel like that was kind of lost because like so many people got so hung up on
if you can't delete it, then you can't make performance.
And that isn't really, it's not real at all.
There was several years where the trucks that were made pre DPFs and you can still hot rod and race all those things
without removing or deleting.
So there's still a, and if you're crazy enough, and there are guys that are crazy, like for those of you that is crazy,
like my hats off to you, but you're crazy.
You're going by a 75 or 80,000 or pickup truck, maybe a $90,000 truck brand new.
And then you take the six speed or the eight speed or the 10 speed training out of it.
And you put like a four speed back in it and you put a standalone in it because it's more durable and it's going to hold more power.
So you got a brand new truck.
Let's call it a hundred and you spend 20 grand on doing 48 with a standalone in it.
And then you build a big set of compounds.
They realize like connecting rods and stuff aren't going to hold all that kind of power.
So then you're 30 grand deep in a motor and that's all.
So you can have really bad ass seats and basically none of the stuff in the dash works directly.
Like that's crazy.
And it's still way too heavy.
Like it's still, you know, it's not, but you can still purchase a 05, 06, 02 Ford Chevy Dodge and, you know, do whatever you want for 50 grand.
And that thing's going to fly and you can jump in your brand new truck and you can set cruise control with your 10 speed or eight speed and you can drive home and you be in comfort.
Like, and that thing's got fancy wheels on it too.
So you're still cool.
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Yeah.
Well, and the bar has changed.
Like, I remember magazines having somebody on the cover that made 1100, 1200, 1300 horsepower and it was like earth shattering news.
And then I saw last week that you have an engine that did 3000 horsepower on fuel only.
Yeah.
And we're talking a bit before the podcast.
And I think you had mentioned like that's the only common rail you know of on the planet that's done 3000 horsepower on an engine dyno on fuel only.
Yeah.
So like, I've always said, like if people are making 3000 horsepower, why don't they dyno it and post it on YouTube or whatever and just sell the heck out of like, this is my combination.
Here's what it makes.
You can call today and buy one of these if you want one.
But those, you know, the super stock guys in pro pulling, they are in pickup truckland.
They are the, they're the baddest of the baddest, you know, like it's, they make no matter what they make, whether it's 2800 or 3500, no matter what they make.
Those things have so much power that, you know, you've got, you got guys like nickels tire and all these other dudes that are buying, you know, bar tires and then they're cutting them specifically for front or rear.
And specifically so it doesn't like pile up too much dirt in front of the sled without giving up a much traction.
And the science behind even just the bar tires is like pretty wild.
Like you can spend 10 grand on a set of bar tires with wheels right now.
And that's going to put you right in the game with the latest grace technology.
But even with that much traction on the ground, you know, and these things are 20 inch wide wheels.
You still like those guys are making enough power that like when they brap the throttle, that thing, all four tires just, you know, they just come undone.
So, you know, it really, that is a driver's class.
They make so much power.
I don't care.
I don't care what you think they make, whether you think it's 2500 or 5000, they have so much horsepower that they have less traction than they do power.
And, you know, like what's cool about that is is, you know, it's super stock.
So you can run as many turbos you want, but the more turbos you add, the more intake air temperature you mess up.
So then it's, you got to keep spraying with more and more water.
And I've never built a super stock mechanical motor, but I think they're pretty low in compression.
And I think that they, they say like that they gain horsepower by spraying water.
And so far now we've found myself and another camp who I really trust has lost power with common rail on water.
So, which makes sense to me because you're quenching the flame out.
And, you know, the other theory is this way you sport water and it makes steam and steam drives the turbos harder.
But in our experiment so far, we've not gained power, we've lost water, power with water.
But the unfortunate part is when you got like, you know, the turbo chargers at that level, we just use that Hertz 4.8.
So let's call it a $9,000 turbo and you don't really want to blow it up.
So the same turbo could be used on the big tractors with like big cubic inch motors.
And of course they're going to eat that amount of air and less RPM.
But still, when you spin them that hard, those things will make 100, 110, 120 pounds of boost in a single stage,
which means the compressor wheel and pump cover are going to get super hot.
So like Brandon Hart, who's a buddy of mine and the guy that, you know, basically owns the company, him and his brother,
they own that company and he said, you need to spray water this thing or else you will blow it up.
So, since we don't want to just spend $9,000 trying to prove him wrong,
we heated the warning and put water in front of it to keep it alive and, you know, measuring compressor discharge temperature, it's hot.
So even with water going in it, it's still hot.
And then we sprayed water at the intake ports on a different hit and that's where we lost power.
So we, our goal with that was like me and my like, you know, I've got the mind where like I knew that Camarille could do it
and I knew that we had the quantity to do it.
And, you know, I watched what Skyler and the guys in the calibration room been doing for like the past couple of years.
And I wanted to show the planet that we had the quantity out of an injector with a fast enough rate that we not only could be competitive,
but we can actually do extremely well in that realm.
So I, you know, I sold my super stock chassis to a buddy of mine and I was like, all right, you know, like, we'll build a common loader now, you'll put it in, then we'll go running.
And of course, nobody wants to be the first guy to do something that's never been done successfully.
So I kind of got tired of begging, you know, friends and customers to let me show them it was possible.
And I just decided like it was time to build one.
So, you know, I called up Zach Hamilton and said, Hey, Zach, you've got some badass block, right?
Oh, yeah.
Well, here's the game that I want to do.
And he's like, I'm in like, where's it go?
And I said, well, send it to Chad Perkins.
So he sent it to Perkins diesel in Missouri.
It showed up.
It looks really nice when you get it.
Like it's a really super sweet product.
Chad and him talked about the camshaft.
And there again, like we didn't go really big on the camshaft shockingly, like I know that people are not going to believe it.
So I'm not going to say it.
But basically, we kind of went with the same stuff that works in the three inch guys, even down to the same injector set.
And we just stretched the legs out on the injectors bigger that way.
We already knew that we were dealing with a proven platform.
We just had to stand on the injectors even harder and put more air to it and see if it worked.
If there was a problem, at least we would know where to start troubleshooting because it would have been simple as just put a three inch charger on it and then diagnose it as per normal.
So bolder ECU Chad runs those.
He tunes those all the time.
It's got a waggler head with Jessel and it's a ductile iron head because big cylinder pressure, big bang and you know, lots of force trying to tear things apart.
It's got Jessel's eight millimeter stuff in it in the rocker arms and all that.
So it's a rocker roller cam, Jessel upstairs cylinder head was really expensive, like kind of 20 grandish.
And then the crankshaft, it's a billet crankshaft.
It's the same stroke as anybody else's six, seven on the planet.
Again, we were trying to prove that what we've been running was going to work in this game.
And you know, like my brain, I was like, I don't need as much torque as they have.
I would rather de stroke it and let it eat another 500 RPM upstairs and get rid of some of the torque.
So when we're playing, you know, say 3000 horsepower playing at 2000 foot pounds.
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And I'm glad that we voted to go the way we went because we proved that just a basic six, seven with a one inch deck plate,
solid fill CGI Hamilton block.
It works. It works just fine.
Like it carries 3000 and just a little bit like it's, it's not quite 3100.
But it carries within 30 horsepower of that from 5000 RPM up to 5500 RPM.
So it's pretty much a horse like it's a Clydesdale.
And, you know, so Chad and Andrew and Scott and basically the whole team at Perkins,
they've got a lot of hours into dynoing and troubleshooting.
We ran out of pump with two 14 millimeter.
We had two alpha pumps on there.
We ran out of pump.
We had to go to a triple front cover, which Ryan Bean made me years ago.
And we got two SNS reverse rotation pumps.
And we've got the one 14 millimeter.
So we got 314s flowing diesel into that thing now.
It's got a, an oil pump that's belt driven on it.
So we've got enough volume to make sure it's not a dry sump motor, but it is belt belt belt driven oil pump.
Cranche shaft had pistons or diamond, same stuff that we had run in like the three inch program,
but we actually use a little bit of a different bowl because we were trying to make something.
Again, you know, we've never really, never really made this kind of power.
So when you're spraying something a nitrous, you want to use a small bowl,
which gives your piston bowl a bunch of meat on the shoulder.
So the nitrous doesn't torch through the rings near as fast like they take nitrous beatings a lot better.
And we were like, well, is it the nitrous or is it the extra RPM or is it the fact that they're making that much power?
And we just tried to build something super reliable.
So we chose to go a little bit more conservative on the piston as well.
But it's still just a diamond piston, you know, it's nothing, it wasn't a one off set or anything.
It was something that, you know, somebody could buy right now if they knew the specs or whatever.
But it's a bolder ECU, Chad Perkins tuned, you know, and then I mean, ultimately, like I've got the funny part is,
it's like the in my, in my friends group, you know, I got, I got Chase fleece, I got Patrick O'Brien,
both those guys are like top shelf engine builders.
And they've always been in the background going, do it, dude, just go for it, you know, like try it and see what happens.
And whenever, you know, they've both, all three of those guys play in different realms.
Patrick has the most experience out of all of us because he does a lot of big tractor stuff and he does a lot of like, you know,
PPL super stock mechanical stuff.
And, you know, again, he's got customers, he has to service.
So he wasn't willing to take a chance to be first.
But now that it's been done, I feel like it's probably going to be, it'll be something that, I mean, it's easy.
You just get it after it's tuned and calibrated, you just, you plug in an AFR that you're after.
We ended up 250 MPA were the pressure at about 1500 microseconds of injector on time.
And that gave us about 980 mm cubed EGTs south of 1600 degrees and timing is less than 30 degrees.
So you legit like, you plug in an AFR ratio in this case, like 11.7.
And once you plug in the AFR, like no matter where you go, the truck's always going to try and achieve that AFR.
So it'll reprogram itself going down the track to maintain proper air fuel ratio, which, you know, in essence gives you proper exhaust gas temperature as well.
So, you know, we've learned a lot over the last few years.
And I just think that the guys that build three inch stuff, they're so, they're so competitive and they're so, they're making so much power on those things that everybody's kind of squeezed every last little thing.
There will be no in three inch, there's never going to be like, oh, look, I found 50 horse.
Like those guys are scratching for seven, eight, nine, 10 every year now.
It's basically, you know, left up to the turbocharger guys.
So if you got three people, you know, whether it's hearts or apex or limers or whoever that's building turbos in that three inch, like those guys kind of have the keys to the next group of horsepower because we've already proven that whether it's three inch, three six or super stock, like we already have the quantity available and the rate trace is amazing.
So that we can, where the other super stock guys, you know, they have to start them on ether.
So it's like, you know, a few cans of John Deere ether to get it to light.
And you're just going to push a button on ours and it's going to start and it's going to run.
And then timing, you know, like those guys have to reach chamber, a big diameter line.
So they're at like 50 degrees advanced, 55 degrees advanced because they're having to blow what's on top of the plunger into the line, reach him in line and then pop the injector.
So where it really lands compared to the motor, it's probably not 50 degrees, but we're getting away at like 28, 29 sub 30.
So our cylinder pressures are now lower as well.
Parasitic driving on the motor because when you start, when you start injecting fluid 50 degrees before top dead center, you're you're the flame is starting to build pressure, pressure, pressure.
And pretty soon you get to a point where there's so much pressure that it's slowing the motor down to make that's not making more it's making less power.
So we played with that a lot as well to try and figure out what timing needed to be there.
Um, man, all in all this, it's been my friends group is pretty tight and I, you know, it was my idea and I was pushing for it.
Like we spent a lot of money to build it, but I feel like we just changed common rail diesel in general.
Like you can see Josh McCormick has made over 4000 horsepower, you know, corrected on the chassis dyno.
But if you listen to any of the chassis dyno hits compared to an engine dyno hit, an engine dyno properly set up is going to allow 200 engine RPM increase per one second.
So you just plug in your numbers. If you want to grab from five grand to 5500, it's going to allow you 200 engine RPM per one second and that's all it's going to give you.
So if there was no such thing as traction slip and 100% load, which the chassis dyno's can't give that kind of load, you just blow the tires off of them, which Josh has done now twice.
Um, it's, it's the biggest truth booth on the planet. You know, it's the most, it makes me extremely proud to have cooked up the idea and kind of pushed.
You know, everybody in my company has had a part in this because like they're having to work so we can buy parts and, you know, pay Chad's a great guy, but he still has a company to run and it's not his dream.
It's mine. So, you know, between dyno time and machining time and all that, like, it wasn't a cheap process, but it was, it was proof possible that we can do it.
And now, as soon as we did it, Skyler was like, well, if we're 15 or US, we need to get another 100 mm cube to drop it down to here.
And I'm like, yeah, that, that, this was the reason, like I wanted to start a new idea, not do what we've always done and be happy.
So it just makes me, I'm really proud of all the people that had a hand in this thing.
And right now Rex Gully, one of our fabricators here at my house, he's actually in Texas installing and he's a TIG welder.
He can fabricate pretty well. So he's actually building all the plumbing and piping for the motor to sit in the truck.
So it's going to be in a white Ford called Prime and that some of my Preston columns. So it'll be in Florida in seven days.
Even with all these like awesome companies and these people that you know really well, when it was going on the dyno, did you still kind of think in the back of your mind?
What if this thing like supernova is itself like on the dyno?
And do you think of like the cost of the different parts and everything else? Like, does that run through your mind at all that first time?
Absolutely. I mean, when you're at that level, it's going to go through my mind every single time that it, that we light it, you know, because that's just a shit ton of power.
And like Zach Hamilton, he's like, the block's beautiful and there's a lot of meat where there needs to be a lot of meat and it's CGI.
So it's a super cool part. But he's like, dude, if that thing develops any hairline cracks, it starts to weep oil out any of the fancy paint.
Like, let me know immediately and I'll get you another block because like we need to look.
Like he wants to diagnose within the block if it's metallurgically an error or if it's like maybe somehow how we mounted like our girdle and maybe somehow, you know, there's a lot of machine work that goes into that to get a deck plate and a girdle tied to it.
But if we start cracking it before we blow the thing into 10,000 pieces and potentially hurt somebody, he would rather get it back so he can look at it and figure out like, OK, this is a new level.
Like this is not, not everybody can be like, yeah, I'm making 3000 horsepower fuel only.
Like that is, it's a feat. I mean, to 13, excuse me, 314 millimeter pumps with nitrous.
I mean, that's like close to 5500 horsepower of the fuel, probably.
But since fuel would just boost in water, we're, we're never going to be that efficient. We don't have control over in our environment like that.
So, dude, it is, it's a task. Like it is a task. And now we have a recipe. This is first base. Like as far as I'm concerned, 2026 was the year we were going to do this.
And in my world, we're at first base. And secondly, we're going to bring it home. Skyler's got, you know, an idea for a set of injectors he wants to put in it.
And I know what I want to do with turbo chargers now. So the turbos, like I do want to build a set of triples for it.
And they're not going to be huge. Like they're not going to be like super stock kind of stuff. Like it's two of the turbos are not even, not even fancy.
But the thing is, is the lower you keep your boost pressure, the lower you keep your intake air temperature and the higher you keep the oxygen density.
Now, anybody can say, well, you can erase all that bullshit letting by just putting a big ass intercooler in it. And that's totally true.
But why do you need to add all the extra pressure and have a really expensive intercooler and melt 100 pounds of ice in 14 seconds?
If you don't need to, like, why do you need to do that if it's not needed?
So my brain is like, well, we'll just build a really cute set of triples that aren't that expensive, actually.
And because, you know, a CFM is a CFM and an oxygen quality is oxygen quality and, you know, like a pound per minute, a pound per minute.
So it doesn't matter if it comes from China, Mongolia, Cummins, you know, it doesn't matter.
Like it's, and I'm not negating any of the big turbo companies, because I know they do a lot of R&D.
And when you're class specific, you have to use a heart. You have to use an apex.
You have to use a Weimar or you're not going to be at the top of that class.
It's different. This is like, you know, kind of a runway brung. And, you know, as long as it's enough, it's enough.
Hell, I tried. My first feat at this was a Columbus diesel turbocharger, circa 2005-ish.
That was like an old Superstock 5.250 inducer. And I got that thing to make 2750. And that was it.
But that was a five and a quarter, like, you know, like.
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Tractor turbo from, like, 0506. And it's still damn near 3K.
Like, it's a big turbo, though.
The heart's 4.8 is going to drive damn near like a variable vending turbo on a stock pickup truck.
It'll spool up really easy and it gains horsepower.
Like, even though it's a smaller inducer, blade technology and turbine technology,
the way that those guys move and, you know, every year they're updating,
they're constantly evolving and getting better, better, better, better, better.
And a smaller turbo makes more power than something from 15 years ago that's way bigger.
Something you had mentioned before the podcast I thought would be really interesting to talk about
is you were telling me the difference with how you run an engine on an engine dyno
and the stress of it and how you can incrementally add more RPM or as you're revving it up.
Like, the kind of demand that it places on an engine is different than when we see them,
like, in a truck on a dyno, you know, going in a quick burst.
Can you talk more about when it's on an engine dyno, the kind of stress that it's going to put on a setup like that?
Yeah, so torque is what you feel put you in the seat, right?
And then as torque, like, if you look at any dyno graph, you'll see the torque falls off pretty early
and then horsepower continues to carry out.
So if you take, say, my engine that we just built at 3000 horsepower,
we started the sweep at 5000 RPM and then we ended the sweep at 5500 RPM.
If we did that from, say, 4000 RPM to 4500, the torque would be so,
it'd be a monster number bigger than it is a 5000 and it probably would cut the block in half.
So when you're on a chassis dyno, you've got guys to understand it.
So, a Joshua Cormac, for example, he knows that in order to make a bunch of horsepower, you have to leave torque in the rearview mirror.
So he starts his hit at, like, 5000 RPM and lets it eat.
And I think, well, you've talked to him about that.
Didn't that thing end at, like, 62 or something?
Something like that, I think.
So in basically one and a half seconds, that thing eats, like, seven, eight, nine, ten pounds of nitrous.
And it makes a truckload of horsepower and a truckload of mile an hour.
Like, it just accelerates the wheels, right?
But it's doing that from 5000 to, like, 6200 RPM.
So his torque number is not going to be that high because he's so much greater than 5250.
But if you're sub 5250, you know, when you're, if you've got an old 12-valve that made 215 horsepower stock
and you put a set of 3000 RPM governor springs in it and give it 400 horsepower,
it makes, like, eight or 900 foot-pounds.
Well, if the math kept mapping that same direction, then my 3000 would be, like, 75 or 8000 foot-pounds of torque,
which no B-series block on the planet is ever going to take that kind of, like, load.
So you have to increase horsepower and you have to increase RPM.
Another example would be, like, somebody's, like, say, I had a Z06 Corvette and it, you know, it's a C8 Z06.
So the thing revs up to, like, you know, tons of RPM.
But horsepower and torque cross over at 5250.
So at, like, 8000 RPM, even though it's making a ton of horsepower, it's not making any torque.
So it makes it to where, like, Chevrolet could put a warranty on the thing,
because the horsepower is not really what's killing parts, it's the torque.
Engine RPM is, like, you're not really measuring horsepower, you're measuring torque.
The horsepower is just a math calculation, like, does that make any sense at all?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
So if you're, okay, another example would be, like, in a 3-inch, you're going to sweep that,
because going down the track a 3-inch inducer is going to run out of air long before 5000 RPM.
But it's going to make more, or excuse me, it's going to make a lot less power.
So you're going to be able to sweep that from, say, like, high threes to, you know, if you swept it to 48 or 4900 RPM,
you would see that it's already falling on its face, because compressor inducer,
the motor is eating up all the air, and it can't keep making that same horsepower level out, so it just falls on its face.
But you have to harness that thing lower, because it's just not going to make near as much power.
So, yeah, like, engine dinos are super cool tools, you just can't sweep them all the exact same.
And a lot of those guys, they'll sweep them from, say, 5000-500 RPM, and they let the dyno pull it back down,
which will make a better number, because you generated so much heat, and the turbines are so much warmer,
because you've got 5500 RPM going through them, and then the dyno drags it down to 5000 RPM,
and when it gets to 5, software tells it to cut out, and then the operator lifts off on the gas pedal, and that's that.
So had I done that same sweep with this motor, I don't know, maybe it would pick up 100,
maybe it would pick up 200, maybe it would pick up 300.
But my brain says, like, a dyno is supposed to be an accelerometer measurement tool,
meaning 0 to like 100, not 100 down to 0.
So we've always just swept from bottom up.
Just how we collect our data.
Yeah, I mean, the science behind it is so interesting.
It could probably be like a series.
There's so many parts of this, like the metallurgy of the block, talking about turbos and the technology with the inducer and compressor wheels,
talking about the injectors and how they're fueling it, and then you get into the science of how do you transfer that power,
and what else is it going through once it goes to the back of that flex plate, and what's it hooked to,
and then it's going into the driveline and the suspension and the tires, and how do you bring all of this on?
It's not just like this brute force, crank as much power as I can and then go perform to the expectation that you want.
There's a lot of science behind it.
You know, like, I remember Gail Banks, like, weighed 20-some years ago, right?
And he was always talking about, like, vehicle weight mile per hour.
And of course, I was really young, really ignorant, didn't actually kind of understand what he was talking about.
But he would always bring enough power to the party to do what the goal was, whether it was a mile an hour or an ET,
he would bring that much power to the party.
But he didn't bring, like, the rest of us diesel guys, we brought everything, and we're constantly breaking stuff, right?
So his way was, I'm here to win races, so if it takes 900 horsepower to win this race and go from A to B in this much time,
that's what I'm going to bring, to where, like, the rest of us were like, man, we're just bringing everything we've got,
and then we're going to cross our fingers and hope it all stays together.
Well, you know, 20 years ago, like, if you were at a racetrack, if you saw 30 passes going one night,
you probably saw at least a half dozen of them blow up.
And then it was track cleanup, and it's just a mass of pain.
So, yeah, I mean, God bless people for, like, getting smarter and then in niche markets, right?
Like, now you've got, you got, you got fleece, who's building a block.
Like, there's, you know, I was at their property, just their shop, which is amazing.
200 dozzles per feet, and they've got block after block after block after block, billet, fleece blocks sitting there,
and they're all going through the same processes, and they've got this massive, like, you know, huge mill,
and it's, you know, you just put in 800 pounds worth of aluminum, you pull out, like, 200 pounds.
And the rest of it's just big pile of chips in the machine, you know?
So they've got, they've got this maize act, just making chips and making super cool parts.
But that block is like the brainchild of, we need to make sure that customers that want to go this fast,
like a Michael Cordova, that motor has to be safe.
It can't be like, ooh, the Cummins block held on, we got lucky again.
You can't, at this level, like, people will get hurt.
So the engineering that goes into that block is like, it was never liquid cooled, it's not designed to be liquid cooled.
It's built to take a beating and provide light weight.
So when you're going fast or when you're truck pulling or whatever, you can put the ballast where you want the ballast.
But that's one niche.
You got turbo guys, you got guys like hearts in them that are like doing nothing but turbos and super chargers now.
You got piston people that make nothing but pistons and they're doing it from Porsches to Bugatti's to whatever.
And they happen to make really bad ass like truck pistons.
And then you got machine shops that are just like really starting to get fortated into doing what it is we need them to do.
So I love, I kind of love the direction that I stayed.
Like I stayed in the injector wheelhouse and that the more that we grow, the more that I realized we need to grow even more.
Because there's not enough people like us that are building just injectors.
So you got dudes that are like injectors and steering and transmissions and torque converters and all their stuff's like, man, it's okay.
But nobody's really begging for any of it.
You know, it's just like they've got a full catalog.
And the way that I see the industry going now is like, you've got these hardcore specialty shops that are just building wicked parts for whatever it is they do.
Like people ask me all the time, like, what would you my like six liter or seven threes?
I'm like, no, like we still have Huey stuff anymore.
But I make nozzles because we're an EDM shop, like we can make the nozzle and we've got customers to buy nozzles from us.
We're really good at nozzle work.
Let's just go with that.
Let's stay there.
But I'm not going to take my common rail dudes and make them become Huey guys again.
Like that just makes no sense.
So there's plenty of good Huey guys out there.
And we probably provide nozzles to, you know, a decent amount of them right now.
So you're still going to get a really good nozzle.
You're just not going to get it assembled and calibrated by us because we just were out of manpower and we're out of building.
And, you know, I think that this entire industry is kind of, it's getting bigger and it's getting busier,
which is the opposite of what people three or four or five years ago thought was going to happen.
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Common question we get from you guys a lot is, hey, I need a diesel engine.
I either, you know, I can't wait this long to get one or normal place I get stuff from it.
It just takes too long or I don't, they don't have the parts in it that I need.
Maybe my truck's not stock or I tow heavy with it.
I don't want to go back with just a stock engine.
DFC diesel is a sponsor of the podcast.
We worked with them, you know, hand in hand on doing episodes, answering technical questions.
They have a complete lineup of Cummins Duramax and Powerstroke remanufactured engines
that are set to a standard of ISO 9001 2015 standards, which is a huge deal in the aftermarket.
And there's certain levels of quality testing validation that are required for that.
So, you know, when you get one of those engines, the type of quality that's built behind it
with an industry leading warranty that's really comprehensive.
And, you know, the other thing with that is, you know, sometimes the options that are out there,
it's just, it's a basic OEM engine.
You want a little bit more.
You don't want to have the same failure again.
So there's a bunch of different series of engines that they have from core, street, tow haul,
and also the speed of air series, which we've covered on the podcast before.
There's a lot of really cool benefits to it.
And if you have questions about that, reach out to them.
If you don't know the type of engine that you're looking for, if you go to dfcdiesel.com,
there's a ton of info there.
You can send an email or you can reach out to them.
Also, they're working with speed of air pistons, which it's the only piston that pays for itself.
And there's a lot of really cool technology behind it.
So you can add that into your build and be able to get better fuel economy, you know,
increased power, increased torque and better engine life out of it.
You know, some of the most common engine applications or series of engines that they have with that lead time,
a lot of them are in stock or they have really short lead times.
So you can check your favorite retailer or go to dfcdiesel.com, check them out to see what's in stock,
see what you can get.
If you have questions, maybe you want to do, you know, something that's outside of the normal series of engines.
They have tons of choices for rods, cranks, pistons, valve train upgrades, tons of different things.
So if you're in the market, definitely make sure and hit on over and check them out.
It's a really interesting perspective because I think, I think when I step back and I look at the industry or companies,
and when I see them offer everything, it's like you mentioned, it's like it's okay.
But how much time can you really dedicate to that? How much manpower?
I know we've talked about on podcasts before finding people is really hard.
So how are you going to find, you know, people to bring onto your team to build all these things and just be in all these different areas?
It's super hard, you know, to do.
And I think when you really narrow it down to some of those companies that focus in on like one particular part,
whether it's fueling or turbos or maybe they just do transmissions or, you know, something like that.
It's just like as a consumer, I think, okay, I know where I'm getting my transmission from.
I know where I'm getting my turbo from.
I know where I'm getting my tuning.
It's just like, I don't know, it makes me feel better when I know that they specialize just in that verse, 180 different products and four different engines and all that kind of stuff.
You know, it's funny that you even mentioned transmissions because last weekend I was at the NHRDA and I went to the booth where Randy Reyes was at, Randy's transmission.
And him and I have been buddies for quite some time and we're still, we get along really well.
So I hung out with him in that booth for like two or three hours and the amount of traffic that just automatic transmission dudes were lining up to talk about their specific, you know, year make model and what they were trying to do.
And how, you know, like talking to Randy, him and I have kind of, we're basically both younger business owners, right, in a really immature market.
So listening to how his customers, you know, he talks about like series of quality, like you get to a point where you're like, you're all hands on and you're building the best of the best of the best and you know that you're turning out the best product.
Then you hire some guys and some of them guys really get it and they love it and they're passionate and they build amazing stuff.
And then you go on that's not near as passionate. And that guy caused you a bunch of warranties.
Pretty soon the company gets to a point where you're having to design a printout for everybody in the company to fall.
Like this is our standard operating procedure. This is how you build our injectors. This is why you build it this way.
We don't care how much time it takes you right now. You'll get faster.
But don't try and rethink what we've already thought of. Like we've got too many people in one that have figured out this is the best way to do this for us.
So just follow what we do. And he's gone through the same thing with the transmission side too. It's kind of fun because, you know, like when you're, when you're at a, you know, say a SEMA.
I remember one year Premiere Performance products brought myself and fleece and BD and ATS and all of us and we all shared the Premiere booth.
So you had like a table and I was sitting at Dynamite's table and there was all these different vendors that Premiere sold and we were all sitting there at PRI.
And that booth was busy because somebody was all, but you almost had one guy that will walk every table and he's like, I sell through Premiere so I buy all this stuff kind of a thing.
And then he got the one guy that walks up to you and he just wants to talk to you about injectors, but he's not interested in trainings or whatever.
And then vice versa. You got, it's just wild how me that it makes me really wonder with us just making 3000 horsepower on a common rail, how, and I don't want to say it was easy because it wasn't easy.
But how easy it's going to make the super stock sport now, like instead of all of the, all of the things that super stock guys have to go through right now to get one up and running down the track.
We just took a bunch of that out, like starting it, getting it warmed up, wet stacking, you know, all those things are now a thing of the past.
They won't need that anymore. It's not going to happen anymore.
I'm excited. Like the next six months, it's, it's so busy building three inch stuff and drag race stuff that I hate to even throw more on the guys.
But the super stock guys are going to be like, hold on, wait a minute, you just did what?
And all you got to do is push that button over there and it starts. Yep.
It, it's going to light better. It's going to light easier. It's going to drive from the starting line.
We can make timing six degrees before top dead center. We can make it six degrees after top dead center with just a laptop.
You know, with the best pumps, like with heart's pump, you've got, I want to say it's 10 or 20 degrees advanced built into the plunger.
So if they set the static timing at 30, I think those things will swing 20 degrees. Don't, don't quote me on that, but I think it's 20.
So they end up at 50 degrees before top dead center at wide open throttle, as long as you use all the rack travel.
We can alter that with just a few keystrokes and get it exactly dialed in.
So driving big turbochargers for us, we've got more compression.
We've got, you know, my motor is south of 17 to one, but north of 15 to one.
So it's a pretty much damn stock like compression ratio and it's going to start and just drive away from a stock light pretty easy.
So now we can, we can manipulate heat in the turbine just by programming it with a laptop so we can put all the heat in the turbine.
And once boost and or throttle position comes on, then we can start giving it advance.
So we could potentially started it five degrees after top dead center.
And then as you rev it up, we can give it, you know, like 30 degrees before top dead center based off keyboard.
Like whoever your programmer is, however he's, however he finds that motor runs right.
And it's not just the dyno number at wide open throttle.
You've got 99% of the rest of the throttle that you can tune in with the, with the laptop.
And that is a big deal in drivability and start ability and, you know, trying, I don't know, can we drive a single five inch turbo with ease?
I don't know.
I don't know that we even need to right now, but I'd be willing to bet based off the torque curve that the four eight is probably going to drive really, really, really easy.
So I'm so excited about it.
It's just, it's every little day is like a new milestone.
And this was a huge one for me.
Like personally, I've always loved and respected the, you know, the, the cubes with Cummins killers, the hazelies, the shides, like, you know, one of the coolest cats on the planet standing shy.
And he's been doing, you know, like truck pulling since forever ago.
Like that dude, him and, you know, like David Mitchell and those guys were doing this in the early 2000s and pushing things to the point where you just can't take anything away from him.
But I couldn't talk anybody into letting me build them a common rail fuel system.
So I'm like, screw it all, let's do my own.
Like, I get it.
What you're doing is working.
But what if it could be improved on?
Is this engine setup?
Is this what is going to be going into your UCC truck?
No, it's probably, I think this thing's going to stay super stock this year.
I believe that there's more marketing with 30 super stock weekends than there is with one weekend at UCC.
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I believe that.
Yeah.
I think the more people see, the more people see something out there, it sticks with them more than just once.
You know, so I think being out there at a bunch of different races and events, different parts of the country, different things that you're doing gets more exposure.
Oh, huge.
But it's just, you know, it's like chopping a tree down.
You don't do it all on whack.
You just do it, you know, whack after whack after whack.
You go to, you know, 30 different super stock pulls this year and 30 different groups of people, they're going to watch that thing start cold in the trailer and be like, what just happened?
And then they're going to watch it back out of the trailer and they're going to get it drug over to the sled.
They're going to start it up.
It's going to be warm and, you know, depending on the ambient outside, it might be warm at 15 to 45 seconds.
They're going to rev it up.
It's going to drive away.
It's not going to stumble and stuff itself out.
It's going to, it's going to create all sorts of chaos this year.
It's cool.
And it, it feeds into something else and it's going to kind of transition the next to the next question I ask you.
But when you mentioned being in Phoenix and you're there with Randy's transmissions and you got to hear different kinds of people that come up and ask questions.
And I thought back to when I was younger and more immature, but it was probably the most, I think the probably the most important thing I ever saw was like around 2012, 13, 14 somewhere in there.
And it was when H&S performance did, I think breaking point.
Yep.
And they live streamed it.
So they had a six, seven Cummins, a Duramax and a six, four power stroke.
And, you know, for me, I bought a new, it was in the market for a diesel truck a little bit before then.
And I went with a six, seven Cummins because it's Cummins, right?
It's the greatest thing ever.
And I remember watching the dyno and it like puked the 68 RFE out and then the Duramax like puked the Allison out.
And then the six, four made a ton of power and just kept going and going and going.
Yeah.
But what it did is it was, it played a role in pushing companies like Randy's transmissions and other ones out there to say, we need to build a better 68 RFE.
Like what can we build so it doesn't just puke all over itself at this power and burn up the clutches and, you know, what do we do with the Allison?
And like before the podcast, you talked to me about an L5P you just picked up and we were talking a bit about making more power and the injection pump and just different things.
And immediately in my head, because I love transmissions, I don't know why I just, I just love them and talking about them learning.
As I think, okay, well, Lenny, what are you going to do about that 10 speed and that thing?
Like, you know, that's, that's going to, whatever you do with that, that truck, it's going to push these transmission companies to say, all right, we need to figure out how to make it.
We have a whole more power and do these different things.
I love the relationship between more power and not just the transmission, but the rest of the truck.
And then ultimately, like what you're doing with 3000 horsepower fuel only on an engine dyno is going to lead to that guy that's making 550, 600, 650 horsepower on something that he toes with throughout the whole industry.
So I wanted to kind of transition in that L5P stuff because I think that relates what you're doing and what you're learning to a truck, somebody listening to this.
I know a lot of them have L5Ps and they get out of warranty and they think, all right, well, I want a little bit more power or I'm having this problem with the truck and the aftermarket solves it.
You know, how does this all fit together?
So I wanted to ask you about your L5P, why you got it and then what your plans are for it.
So I got it because the Duramax guys have not really intentionally been ignored by dynamite, but we just got busy early in the day with the coming stuff, right?
And as long as your market is good.
Okay, there we go. Sorry about that.
Sorry.
So my dog had a surgery this morning and I had to let her out and let her back in. Sorry.
It's okay.
Okay, so Duramax guys, we didn't intentionally leave them out, but we've just been so busy with coming stuff that it's always been really easy to stay busy on coming stuff.
And at work, the guys are like, dude, we're doing all of our own in-house, you know, like remands on coming stuff and the Duramax stuff is the same.
We should do that too.
And I'm like, okay.
So they're now doing it.
I've owned an 01 LB7 for quite some time and I like it.
I like driving it. It sounds cool.
You know, it's like pre-variable veins.
So it sounds like just a big block Chevy with a turbo and it's kind of fun to drive.
So recently, one of my buddies here in town bought some injectors from us and they started horribly like on cold startup and I went over to his shop and I'm like, yep, sure enough, starts bad.
So I looked at the flow sheets and I was like, okay, I know what we need to do to try and make this better.
And then I was like, okay, this is ridiculous.
Like I am so comfortable with our coming stuff.
I would sell that to an ambulance guy in Dubai, like no problem.
I'm very, very comfortable knowing you're going to love this.
I don't have the same confidence level and all the rest of it.
So now we got LB7.
We've already put like a big set of injectors in it.
We took it to the NHRDA and we're around that blue collar class.
We didn't win the race, but it was mile per hour of the fastest truck on the track that day.
So unfortunately, when we tuned it, it was on the way down.
Like this was the guys were like, hey man, can we run the average Joe's class at NHRDA and I'm like, we ain't got it.
And they're like, well, we got the LB7.
Like what if we just, you know, took that and I'm like, it's stock and it's a California mission truck.
So we bought head studs, turbo tuning through a 12 mil pump in it and an exhaust kit and air box.
And Wednesday at noon-ish, we were in the trailer unproven driving it to Phoenix, Arizona,
which is a 20, 21, 22 hour drive.
And three hours away from the event, I got ahold of Chris at truck service diesel and said, hey dude, did you get a chance to send me a tune?
And he's like, no man, I've been busy.
And I'm like, well, you're at the track.
I guarantee you have been busy.
And he sent me a tune and it ripped.
Like it worked pretty damn good.
Now that we're home, well, then I made the mistake of letting the guys,
I let them race my L5 and P truck.
I let them race the LB7 truck.
And I was like, well, if you want to do the burnout contest, go for it.
So hell of a burnout.
Like the footage is wicked.
And I was back at the trailer when it happened, but the truck ended up bouncing off the barriers there.
So it not only knocked, it was a brand new set of tires, like they had no miles on them.
It smoked through one of the tires, made it go flat, ate up the wheel, a soda wheel that I loved.
It was a soda rip saw.
And now I need two new wheels because that side of the truck, the rear wheel got destroyed because it was like aluminum on asphalt doing a burnout in the end.
And then when it finally banged off the guardrail, it ruined the other wheel.
That's the last time we're doing a burnout contest.
Was this your L5P or the LB7?
That was the LB7.
The L5P is basically a one-year-old truck that I had like 15,000 miles on it when I bought it.
And it's the Z2 or R2 or ZR2 or whatever.
So it's got bigger tires and, you know, a little bit taller lift kit on it.
I like to truck a lot.
So I drove it down there and I towed my boat down to Havasu, dropped it off.
That thing worked so good.
I'm pretty shocked.
And it's not, I've been driving Ram trucks for a long time, so a lot of stuff that some people would be annoyed by.
I was just used to it.
But like the Ram truck, like entertainment system is really, really glitchy with like Apple.
Like they don't really mix that well together.
And, you know, over the years I've been frustrated with it, but I was like, well, you know, probably everybody does that.
And now that I get into a show, I'm like, whoops, not everybody does that.
Like actually the L5P entertainment system sounds good, works good, and it's not Apple glitchy at all.
So I drove it, Phoenix drove it back.
Kind of like the truck a lot.
Really do.
Like if anything irritates me, and it's all three of them, the TPMS sensors, like when you finally get the air pressure and the tires to where the truck can actually drive correctly.
The stupid TPMS sensors are flashing red, which that irritates me because no truck goes down the road empty with 50 or 60 psi correctly.
They all need about 36 to 40, but then the sensors are red the dash and that irritates me.
But, you know, like I say, it's all three of them.
So whatever.
Outside of that, we've also got that conversion pump coming out.
So it's a pure power technologies, DCR pump, and we brought them in.
They're still like hotcakes.
So I'm fixing to throw that pump in my truck and then just start doing longevity testing because also we've got L5P blank nozzles and that will, the L5P motor is really awesome.
I think everybody understands the motor is pretty badass.
But an eight hole nozzle with a really tiny sack is very, very confined as to what its output potential is.
So like 150% is pretty much all you can safely get out of that nozzle.
But we have blanks coming and I'm guessing that we're going to be able to put like a safe 300% in there, which means that the L5P is going to be a beast pretty soon.
So, and I just, I fully went like, let's go full Chevy instead of part Chevy.
And now my daily's an L5P and I'll start monkeying around with that and I'll start, you know, driving my own nozzles here pretty quick because well, why not?
We've got a friend partnership that is going to sell me like a Mazak horizontal tooling center here in April.
I'm very excited about that because that's not only going to give us the ability to start making things like bodies or nozzles in house, but we'd also, there's just a whole lot to come with that.
So, yeah, like I kind of fell off the make my own nozzle bandwagon for a minute because interest rates are so bloody much.
But right now I'm back on that bandwagon, which is why the boat's going to get consigned.
And I'm buying another building and we're planning on buying that tooling center and and I'm going to like, honestly, like the employees in my company are so they're doing such a good job right now.
Like I want to I want to keep feeding that and, you know, keep them growing and keep them interested and wanting to be better because every time we buy some new machine, it gives another employee like a new opportunity to make a damn good wage.
So as long as they're willing and interested in growing, then I'm just going to keep feeding them.
I think it's really cool how like you want to be hands on with the trucks like I imagine in some scenarios, you know, in a parallel universe, there's another dynamite diesel, you can sit back and say to an engineer, okay, make me some
L5P nozzles or injectors and, you know, give me a part number and let's put them on the site. But it feels like you like you want to be you want to drive it, you want to know how cold starts, you want to toe with it, you want to do all that stuff first.
So when it does go out.
It's something you've spent, you know, years with and kind of like with Ram, I used to have been driving them for so long, you knew all the quirks and even think of them as quirks anymore until you go to a different brand.
You're like, oh, this stuff works seamless. So I think that's a really cool.
It's a really cool aspect to it that, you know, if I'm looking for injectors and watch this podcast or subscribe to your YouTube channel or follow you guys, that'd make a big difference for me.
It's, you know, like, I do in my life, like I went from like a kid that wanted to work a lot to buy toys to a guy that had three kids that had a company that had to work a lot to raise three kids and do a half of that.
So it's a really fast job going to drag races and dino events because like back when you have three mechanics and you're, you know, your own extrude home machine, you don't have enough money to pull the mechanics and make them help you with the race truck to go campaign for the weekend.
You just don't like it's not there. So I was the one, you know, up at two, three o'clock.
I remember driving to California, leaving at two in the morning and thinking, God damn, this is going to be a regular situation because I've never really liked being up late at night, but I'd like going to work early because you get a lot of stuff done.
And then at eight, when the parts house opens, you run to the parts house because you just ran out of silicone or gaskets or whatever.
And then you can get the stuff at eight o'clock in the morning. You can kind of keep working throughout the day.
And I just remember how mad I used to get because like we wanted, I wanted to go show the planet what my company was capable of, but it wasn't even the company. It was me.
It was like whatever I could do. And I've always had mechanics that were better mechanics than I was, but I couldn't afford to take them off their jobs and pay them the same that they were getting on their jobs to work on race trucks.
And if you don't have an employee that understands that you're trying to fly a flag for him as well because they're just too selfish to see it, then man, it's a frustrating life.
And now that I don't really have that kind of people in my life, I just want to keep pushing and growing for them because a bunch of these people are a lot younger than me.
And the more solid we can make the company, the more stable we can make the company, it not only helps my employees, but it also helps my customers because if I was to pass away or whatever, this dynamite diesel die, I would certainly hope not.
I hope the legacy lives on longer than that. But if you've got a bunch of selfish people in the house, then yeah, they're going to destroy the company. And that's just what's going to happen.
So trying to set things up, not only, I don't know, like yesterday, you know who Teague, like they're a marine company, they build like engines for boats and what have you.
No.
But if I got to make it twice, then we make a damn part number out of it because somebody else is going to want that someday.
And then it's just up to you to educate people on the widget you just made and how easy it could make their fitment or whatever.
So I kind of want to be like, when I'm all gone, I'd like people to look back and be like, hey, that dude was honest. He was hardworking. He could be a jackass.
But he really did enjoy what he did for a living for a long time and, you know, hats off to him because man, I really have. I've enjoyed this industry quite a bit.
It's been a lot of fun and I don't do what I do out of being forced. Now I'm doing it because I actually just enjoy it.
And that probably makes me the happiest about this entire conversation.
It's knowing that you're actually seeing that I'm passionate about it and I'm not just some dude that's trying to sling parts.
It's cool to notice or to know that you've actually noticed that. That makes me feel good.
Yeah, well, it comes across and it's something like doing a podcast with you for over an hour now.
Like I can see it. I mean, I've always seen it, but like you have like this fan group with the podcast when they call you like Professor Lenny when you come on because over an hour, they get to hear you talk about all these different aspects to it.
And that's a whole reason like this is a 10 year anniversary of the diesel podcast.
The whole reason it started was because like I remember talking to you at diesel events like way before I ever started this or I would just see you.
And like once the show kind of died down and it was just like the industry insiders that were around.
I'd hear jokes and hear like trash talking about my truck's going to make more.
I'm going to be at this thing and it was like this really human cool aspect to diesel that we didn't necessarily see at a website or seen a magazine or see like, you know, the truck with the huge trailer and the branding on it.
Like the people that were in the crowd didn't really get to know that.
And I thought like, man, it would really be cool to reach out to some of these people.
I know hit record, talk to them for 30 to 60 minutes now an hour and be able to hear this stuff because when they see dynamite diesel products, it's like, oh, I've heard Lenny talk about that.
Like he just got an L5P and he's a Ram guy and he's really excited about doing this or he's did 3000 horsepower on fuel only.
And he was talking about, you know, all these different cool things and there's seven or eight hundred episodes with that stuff.
It's why I love doing it is to hear kind of the background information and what you're working on because it humanizes the brand for me and I can connect with you or any of the guests that I have on so much better that way.
Dude, you remember like at Clint's events, like the gauntlet challenge was something that I thought of and the outside sales person for Clint was like, that's a good idea.
And then he told Clint and then Clinton did the gauntlet challenge, which I'm completely cool that we went there and had a good time.
But we would be out drinking and throwing down like, like young livers can only do right.
And then like one year I was like, I was training like wild.
Like I was always in the gym.
And so Clint knew that.
All right, so we were at this bar and it was like getting close to close time and some people that were not even my friends, but they were diesel people were getting into like a fight.
And I ran over and just started shoving people around and throwing people out and like I was having a good time.
Well, that was like two o'clock in the morning and Clint heard about that.
Well, he was supposed to come pick me up and take me to arm burst that big pro club gym there.
And he was like, well, if that dude is out at two o'clock in the morning, there ain't no way he's coming to the gym.
So I wake up and I'm, you know, I'm definitely a little fuzzy.
But I was like, God damn, he must have got about me.
Well, then I get to the gym, which was about a two mile jog and it was dark and it was chilly.
And I get there and him and one of the other guys, Sean, was in there working out and they're looking at me like, how'd you get here?
And I go, my job.
And they're like, weren't you just drinking like three hours ago?
I'm like, yeah, but I wanted to come work at this club.
Like it sounded badass.
And I remember thinking like, dude, there's like 180 pound dumbbells in this place.
Like who's the ginormous meat sucker that like, you know, lifts that shit up.
And then, you know, like I felt horrible.
So I had to do my cardio routine, which back then was like, I would grab 45 pound plates, throw them on my back, and then I would walk up the stair mill for like three minutes, jump down, do 30 push ups.
And then I would drop a plate and then I would walk for three minutes, one plate.
I do that for 30 minutes, like just every three minutes, drop a plate, pick up a plate, drop plate, pick up plate.
Cause it was the best way to sweat ever.
And now I'm like, I look back at those days like, dude, you should have never gave up on that stuff.
Like you'd be a beast right now if you could still do all that.
But the industry, man, like the friendships and the industry, it's always been a good time.
And, you know, I can't say that it's the most profitable in, you know, of things that I could have chosen because it's not.
But it's definitely been something that, you know, come the end of my years, I'll be like, I'll look back and I'll be, I'll never be regretful that I spent my time doing it.
Cause, you know, for the most part I have my kids involved with a lot of it.
I've made a lot of really good friends and I've made a lot of really good customers that I still, you know, hope to have their respect in the end.
And now like some of those early customers, like there's a guy named Rebecca Potter who just passed away and she bought two of my pickups over the course of the years and turned them into like her own like horse holders and stuff.
And I just found out last week that she passed away and I'm thinking, damn it, like there's so many really good people I know just from pickup trucks.
And, you know, had I not been the pickup truck mechanic, I would have never gotten to meet her, right?
So man, this whole, it's just been a lot of fun for me that like, you know, this is 26 years for me now.
And in June, that'll be 26 years for me.
Wow.
And I've learned a lot and I seriously, I think that I could run a bunch of companies now a bunch of different stuff.
Because the operations of any company kind of needs to be the same, like it's step, step, step, step, step.
But I would probably choose this one again.
Like if I had to do it over and people would think I'm crazy because, you know, a lot of people think that diesel's dying and what have you.
They're full of shit.
You can't move bread, grain, potatoes, gasoline on batteries.
You can't do it very efficiently on gasoline.
I mean, if you want to challenge me, like I will take my brand new L5P and you can run down to the Ford Chevy Toyota Nissan dealer and get any, you know, half ton, three quarter ton pickup you want that uses spark plugs and petrol.
And like you and me can go for 100 miles tow.
And when I'm there drinking coffee and hanging out, we will total up the amount of gasoline you burnt compared to diesel and I will have crushed you.
Now, if you're going to go for like a full day drive, like, you know, if I leave here and I'm driving to have a suit, that's a 19 hour drive.
Like the amount of time that you don't have to stop on the side of the highway to get gas every 300 miles or every 150 miles is going to save you half a day.
So diesel is here to stay and we're literally just getting into it.
Like we're starting to do C 15, ISX 15, Cummins QSK.
So like I feel like my company has gotten so good at it that we can afford to jump into big rig stuff and big generator stuff or fracking pump stuff because the liability of those things going down is pretty immense and your customers have no patients.
But I'm feeling so content.
You know, we've got two new rate tray stands that are supposed to be in Seattle on the 17th and possibly in Hayden on the 19th.
Electricians already on the line like we're ready to go.
So we will be the only country that I'm or the only will be the only shop in America that I'm aware of that has three benches to measure rate shape on.
And I could be wrong, but I just don't think there's that many.
You don't need rate shape for everything, but it's damn nice to have on some really critical stuff.
So again, I'm like, we're, as long as my employees are wanting to grow and wanting to do a better job, I'm just going to continue feeding them and letting them show me and the rest of the world that they're capable of doing it all.
This is really, this is a really cool conversation to hear about.
I mean, not just the 3000 horsepower on fuel, but the L5P that you're jumping into and laying the groundwork for the vision you have for, you know, those injectors and some really cool stuff this year.
So it was cool to connect with you. Time goes by so fast in between when I talked to you and so much happens, you know, and changes.
But I encourage everybody that's listening or watching this to make sure they follow down in my diesel on social media.
You guys post a lot of really cool stuff and like it hits there first.
And then I love deep diving with you, you know, after after it and and having the conversation.
So it was really cool chat with you today, Lenny.
And I'll be looking forward to seeing not just that engine, but you used to see trucks, other things you guys had planned this year.
So it'll be cool.
Yeah, things are changing always, but I will keep you abreast.
And it, no, man, I really appreciate the opportunity to be on the podcast every single time.
So thank you.
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Also want to give a shout out to some of our Patreon supporters, Robert, John, TSW, diesel, all of our other Patreon supporters, all of you who follow us on social media.
We appreciate all your support here in your 10 of the diesel podcast and look forward to bringing you more of the content that you want to hear in 2026.
Until next time, keep the shiny side up.
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Yay to Bruce, the streaming king.
With Quantum Fiber in the net, he's gonna binge.
He wants more, he's got to have more.
More bedtime to write.
More podcasts in the shower.
Quantum Fiber, Wi-Fi has the power.
More, more, more fast internet speeds.
He's got the geeks to go big, bring him the games.
Right now.
And his royal wings.
More sports, dumb stuff.
His quantum fire is on top.
Yay to Bruce.
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