There's a well-known saying about what brides are supposed to wear for good luck at their wedding ceremony: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. But what's the groom supposed to do? Well, start with an older, blue Ford, borrow some help from family and friends, and bolt on a new set of twin turbos. Is that a match made in heaven, or what?
At least that's how it worked out for Shawn Ellerton, who wanted to prove that his diesel F-350 could run with both Cummins- and Duramax-powered pickups. Being a Blue Oval loyalist, an engine swap was out of the question, so he opted for a serious reworking of the forced-induction system.
"I knew I had two weeks off to get married, and I thought that was the best time to get the truck done," he recalls. (After all, Shawn probably didn't have much else on his mind, right?)
Fortunately, it looks like he married well. "I told my soon-to-be wife, and she said go for it." But with that came a stern warning. "She also said I'd be late for my own wedding working on my truck, and I almost was. I showed up with two minutes to spare." Hey, he made it on time, so what's the big deal?
Well, the big deal is that this is one of two 6.0L diesels we know of with dual puffers instead of the stock variable-geometry unit. (If there are other Power Strokes out there with a similar setup, we'd like to hear from you.)
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SCT software was used to tune the powerful Power Stroke engine. Quite a bit of work was needed to keep the truck's computer from going into limp mode. |
Before shoving them into the cramped engine bay, though, he started by pulling the engine and ripping off all the emission-control stuff, without quite knowing what effect this would have. What Ellerton did know is that the boost pressures were going to be a whole lot different, so he took off the heads and installed Hypermax gaskets with fire rings and ARP studs.
In addition, Hypermax sent him a custom set of 150hp injectors that required lots of custom work on the intake manifold. He removed the EGR cooler (which entailed building a bypass hose for the coolant) and installed EGR blocker plates. He also cut the solenoid off the EGR valve and welded the valve shut to seal the intake.
Carl Ellerton, Shawn's father, is pretty adept at fabricating stuff (in addition to indulging the whims of his son, which Shawn really appreciates), so dad built an adapter plate between the intake manifold and the Banks High-Ram. Working together, they also reversed the flow through the intercooler.
Meanwhile, Shawn's uncle Jim also got into the act. He dropped the fuel tank, installed a 3/4-inch pickup tube in it, and tore out the rest of the factory fuel system as well. He even cut off the fuel filter attached to the oil-filter housing, and installed a 1,000 gph Aeromotive fuel pump. The Ellertons then scavenged a fuel-filter housing off a Komatsu loader with dual fuel/water separator filters. (Shawn works as a diesel mechanic in the bountiful tar sands in Alberta, Canada, so he has access to some really heavy-duty earthmovers.) The rest of the fuel system was all custom-built.
Next came the really tough part (as if you thought any of this job was going too easy). "With no room under the hood of a Ford diesel, I had limited space for the two turbos I wanted to use," Shawn admits. OK, time to get out the Vaseline and Jaws of Life. Well, not exactly. First, he needed to figure out the proper staging of the two turbos because they are fixed units, not the variable-geometry type.
Industrial Injection supplied a pair of windmills along with technical support. The smaller of the two, suited for quicker spool-up on the low end of the powerband, is a Phat Shaft 62, but with a slightly different pinwheel configuration on the compressor side to get rid of surging. Shawn won't reveal the exact details on the sizing of the induction wheel. "I'll let somebody else figure that out for himself," Shawn says. "I'm not gonna just give that away."
The exhaust stack pipes measure 6 inches and were put on so Shawn doesn't smoke out the track officials when he's racing. | 
The nitrous is jetted to 150 hp, and Ellerton has yet to run it at the track. The propane is only used to help increase fuel mileage. He reports a 6 mpg gain when he runs propane through the engine. | 
There isn't much room in there, but somehow Shawn Ellerton, along with family and friends, crammed in a second turbocharger. The turbos are sequential, meaning the small turbo spins the larger to help reduce lag. |