Up top, an individual runner intake is used to promote even airflow among the cylinders, while a set of Garrett TR30R turbos mounted in parallel (not compound) are used. A custom set of headers were TIG-welded for this application, and use Banks wastegates. For fueling, a single stock CP3 injection pump is used, while a Magnafuel lift pump and boost-referenced Aeromotive regulator provide plenty of fuel to the hungry CP3. The fueling is handled by Bosch, and a set of custom Bosch injectors and prototype ECU are used to keep the engine happy. So what does all this technology add up to? A dyno-tested 775 flywheel horsepower with no smoke on diesel fuel only.
Banks wasn't quite done, however, and found that it could add more power with nitrous even though the engine was producing no visible smoke. A few runs later, the dyno got a rest after the engine made a whopping 1,045 horsepower with the progressive NX nitrous system activated. The nitrous system is used to help staging, and when the pedal is floored, the computer has to ramp up the fuel and nitrous at the same time that the cam and turbos come in, resulting in some very delicate tuning. Too much nitrous and the engine will sputter and stall; too little and the vehicle could smoke when trying to "quick stage." So far, the team has gotten the vehicle to go from a fast idle to full RPM launch in under two seconds, which is incredibly quick for a diesel. Since the truck has no intercooler, nitrous is used down the track for added horsepower and cooling.
After the launch, the truck has covered the first 60 feet of track in just 1.17 seconds, which is also a record for a diesel truck. Boost is maintained at about 38psi the whole way down, while the nitrous keeps EGTs down to 1,500 degrees F through the traps. The truck leaves at over 4,000 rpm and shifts at 4,850 rpm. A 2.91 gear is used in the fabricated rearend in order to keep the engine in its power band. In addition to the record 8.21-second run, the truck has made many passes in the 8.40s, indicating that it is not only fast, but consistent.
When we talked to Gale about his truck, he was honest about the fact that new technology was a big help in making a smokeless truck. Everything from the small twin turbos to the high-swirl cylinder heads were engineered not to smoke. The entire engine had to not only make power, but it had to be as efficient as possible in order to run smoke free. This mantra led to hundreds of hours of testing on the dyno to get the cam, turbos, heads, and fueling to work together. Greater power and efficiency through technology is what the team was shooting for, and it looks like they succeeded. They picked the right truck as a platform, put a drivetrain in that could handle the power, and spent countless hours tuning the engine (the instruction manual for the Bosch ECU is 1,200 pages) in order to get the tuning right. In the end, their goal of smoke-free power was a slam-dunk of a success, and they just happened to build the world's quickest diesel pickup in the process.