Part of the allure of diesels is that you can own one vehicle that performs many different functions. It can be your play toy, your tow vehicle, and something you use to take the kids to school. For Tom Hansen of Stansbury Park, Utah, the progression from bone-stock diesel to all-around performance vehicle was pretty rapid. The first thing Tom did when he bought his '05 Dodge Ram 2500, was put a 6-inch Tough Country lift and 37x13.50R22 Toyo Mud Terrains on the truck. The extra wheel and tire weight made the truck feel slower, so of course an aftermarket programmer was next. Since Tom hauls sand toys to the dunes on weekends, he still needed the truck to be a reliable tow rig. With local help from his friends at Industrial Injection, Tom hatched a plan that would keep his truck reliable, yet give it enough power to be a real stormer.
The truck as you see it now is a platform to discover just how much power a single-CP3, single-turbo, common-rail Cummins can make, and still be a reliable driver. Oh yeah, all this is done on a stock long-block. No head studs or other engine work has been performed-it's all just bolt-on parts. It takes a well-thought-out parts combination to make 651 rear-wheel horsepower, and that's just what Tom has. The turbocharger is from Industrial Injection and features a 64mm-inducer compressor, a 74mm turbine (exhaust) wheel, and a 14cm2 exhaust housing. A larger-than-normal turbine wheel is used to keep the turbo from surging while towing. An Industrial Injection Stage 2 CP3 pump and 29 liter-per-minute injectors complement the 56 psi of boost that this turbo creates. Tuning is handled by a Bully Dog PMT with its Crazy Larry tune, and a Predator pressure box. A FASS 150 and dual feed line kit from Industrial Injection are used to keep the CP3 pump's pressure up.
Tom also chose to work with local shops for a transmission that could handle 600-plus horsepower. J&G Transmissions out of Salt Lake City, Utah, built a full racing transmission with billet shafts, while Howard's Converters (also out of Salt Lake) supplied him with a torque converter that could handle the torque. The icing on the cake for Tom was a set of 4.56 gears to compensate for the larger tires, which he reported dropped his EGTs by almost 200 degrees while towing uphill and lowered his elapsed times by three-tenths of a second at the dragstrip.
 The truck also sees track...  The truck also sees track time, where it has pulled 60-foot times in the 1.7-second range on its way to low, 13-second elapsed times. |  Tom Hansen's truck is no slouch...  Tom Hansen's truck is no slouch on the dyno, as it routinely hits 630 to 650 hp, along with 1,300 lb-ft of torque. Look for the horsepower number to jump up to 700-plus after Tom adds a 7mm turbo and some larger injectors. |  Minor bolt-ons such as this...  Minor bolt-ons such as this three-piece exhaust manifold and AFE intake complement the factory long-block. |