Brandon Miller from Unionville Center, Ohio, thinks a little differently than most. Not many people will take a look at a '94 Chevy S-10 and think that installing a 1,000-pound diesel engine is a good idea. But Brandon did, and we congratulate him on his effort. It took a lot of work, but in the end, he has a quick, 4,000-pound truck that has already run 11s in the quarter-mile and should soon run down in the 9s with the addition of a secondary turbo and some nitrous.inline_mediumwraptextrightEngine Bay30936762/news/0911dp_5_9l_cummins_diesel_engine0911dp_01+5_9L_cummins_diesel_engine+engine_bay.jpgTrue

Everybody is used to diesels being reliable work trucks, but what about hot rods? To drive the point home that diesel trucks really are performance vehicles, we decided to compare an '09 Chevrolet 2500 HD with the 6.6L Duramax diesel and six-speed Allison transmission to Chevrolet's newest muscle car offering-the '10 Camaro equipped with a 426hp V-8 and a six-speed manual transmission. In stock form, the pickup's 365 hp is no match for the Camaro's lighter weight and higher power figure, so we made a single modification to the truck: an aftermarket programmer. For more power via electronic tuning, we contacted Pacific Performance Engineering and explained our comparison. The truck had to be completely stock except for programming, and the stock exhaust (including the DPF), intake, and transmission all had to be retained. We think you'll be surprised at the result.

Wondering how your truck would do in the Diesel Power Challenge? There is only one way to find out, so get this entry form back to us by January 1, 2010. Unlike other motorsports, which require millions of dollars and corporate sponsorships, Diesel Power Challenge is open to anyone willing to modify their already potent diesel. Just look at Matt Larson. He came, he competed, and he drove thousands of miles back home. Now that's diesel power. Remember this, the only thing better than reading about Diesel Power Challenge is actually competing in it.

There's no secret to the success of Diesel Power Challenge. The formula is simple really-it's all in who you invite. And we're extremely lucky, because the diesel community is full of exceptional people, manufacturers, and competitors that above everything else-love the power of diesel.

We caught a glimpse of this super turbocharged Duramax at the TS Performance event in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Ross Pierce, the owner of this ’08 LMM Duramax, had Empire Diesel install the F-1C centrifugal ProCharger to assist the stock Garrett variable geometry turbo. The F-1C has a maximum speed of 74,000 rpm, flows 1,750 cfm, and produces a maximum of 12 pounds of boost in this application. Together, the turbo and supercharger make a total of 50 to 60 pounds of boost. Empire Diesel is almost ready to offer these kits to the public. The claimed benefits of having both a supercharger and a turbocharger include more throttle response, increased power, 31?2-mpg increase, and a 300-degree drop in exhaust gas temperatures. Plus, you will have everyone within a quarter of a mile wondering what’s making that cool whine under your hood.inline_mediumwraptextrightOverhead View30723327/news/0908dp_super_turbocharged_duramax_diesel_engine0908dp_01+super_turbocharged_duramax_diesel_engine+overhead_view.jpgTrue

It looks like the consumer pickup truck is about to get another shot in the arm from the medium- and heavy-duty industry. The last booster was the diesel engine, so this next infusion will surely be beneficial as well. In March of 2009, Torotrak, a British-based engineering company, announced it was partnering with Allison to offer infinitely variable transmissions (IVT) to the commercial truck market. If it is good enough for the latest severe-duty tractors and heavy earth moving equipment, it ought to hold up to anything we can dish out.

Some of the largest diesel engines in existence never make it onto our highways. Instead, these massive workhorses either power off-highway equipment, industrial machinery, or watercraft and are expected to operate flawlessly-oftentimes, around the clock. The new C32 ACERT engine from Caterpillar is no exception.

While you may be used to seeing pulling trucks, or even tractors in Diesel Power, we thought we'd introduce you to the baddest of the bad-20,000-pound sled pulling semitrucks. Last summer at an OSTPA (Ohio State Tractor Pullers Association) event, we ran into Mike Laribee and "Super" Joe Metzger, who both pull in the Pro Stock Semi class. While the big rigs feature awesome tricks such as air suspensions, dual throttles, and rear-mounted radiators, the real story here is the engine.

It's not often that you see a diesel truck engine that is capable of more than 1,500 lb-ft of torque, and it's even less often that you see one turning 5,000 rpm. John Robinson's awesome P-pumped common-rail 5.9L Cummins can do both.

Ford guys are a loyal bunch. One of the more common questions we receive here at Diesel Power is: "I want my Ford to make 800-1,000 hp and I don't want to put a Cummins in it. How do I do that?" For an answer, we called upon Ryan Bean, owner of Bean's Diesel Performance out of Woodbury, Tennessee. The Caterpillar-yellow engine you see here made 712 horsepower at the rear wheels, which is about 900 hp and 1,500 lb-ft at the flywheel.

Our latest intelligence shows the Big Three's 1/2-ton diesel pickups are on the way. The problem is that none of the manufacturers seem to be in a rush to get them on dealer lots. As a reader of Diesel Power, you know that the GM and Ford 1/2-ton diesel engines were created in-house while Dodge went with Cummins to power its light-duty trucks. At this point, it looks like GM will be the first on the scene with a 1/2-ton diesel. (GM's last 1/2-ton diesel was a 6.5L in 1998.) Dodge is positioned next in line, although the condition of its overall business structure remains to be seen. Ford will introduce last, as a diesel F-150 would mean less profit from diesel Super Dutys and gasoline F-150's.

It's been a while since we've been over to see the crew at Gale Banks Engineering, so we decided to drop by and see what they were up to. They've been pretty silent since they ran the first-ever seven-second pass with their diesel-powered drag truck, so we figured they'd be up to something. And guess what? They were. Here is their second-generation drag racing engine, dubbed the DRE-2. It's pictured here on an engine dyno, which is used to measure horsepower and torque. Since the dyno can put the engine under load, it can also be used to fine-tune these racing engines, which is a very important factor in making efficient, smokeless, power. The original drag racing engine made about 1,250 horsepower and spun up to 5,500 rpm, but the Banks team has their sights set even higher for version two: a whopping 1,500 horsepower, and engine speeds of up to 7,000 rpm.

When we sat down to create the March '08 issue of Diesel Power one of the cover themes we bounced around was "vehicles that would be better with diesel engines". At the top of our list was a 6.7L Cummins-powered Dodge Viper. Basically we dreamed up a 1,000-plus-horsepower diesel sports car that could drive across the country, get 30 miles per gallon, and blast to more than 250 mph. Sort of an American-made Bugatti Veyron-killer. Our readers loved the idea, and you asked us to build one.

Today's relentless rising costs in oil prices have forced many people to seek out more efficient forms of transportation. The result has been an increase in both demand and production of hybrid-gasoline-powered cars for the average civilian's daily commute. But what about our local police cars that drive anywhere from 20 to 300 miles a day? Shouldn't they be fuel-efficient too? Carbon Motors Corporation has designed a police cruiser they claim will be faster, safer, and more fuel-efficient than current fleets. The cruiser, codenamed the E7 (nicknamed "The Machine"), will sit on an aluminum space-frame body structure, and the rear of the car is said to be capable of withstanding 75-mph impacts. It is said to be powered by a 3.0L diesel rated at 320 hp and 420 lb-ft-we speculate it may be a more potent version of the 3.0L CRD Mercedes diesel V6 offered in Jeep Cherokees. With a curb weight of only 4,000 pounds, Carbon Motors claims the E7 will run mid-14-second quarter-mile passes at 98 mph. Fuel economy is said to be around 28-30 mpg in combined city/highway conditions, which is more than double what many cruisers are averaging as we speak. With fuel economy like that, police officers will be better-equipped to do their jobs.

Dan Scheid And His Awesome Diesel Dragster Are racing toward another drag racing milestone: first diesel to run a 6-second 200-mph quarter-mile. At a test-n-tune session on Friday night for the recently rained-out OBX Outlaw Race, the Scheid dragster driven by Bo Layne ran an incredible 4.61 at 153 mph in the eighth-mile. Already the digger has run 7.31 seconds at 189 mph in the quarter-mile with a 4.70-second eighth-mile time, so the Scheid boys are getting mighty close. There are already numerous other six-second-capable dragsters in the works, so look for some stiff competition to emerge. But for now, this bad-in-black dragster is the ride to beat.

Diesel Piston Engines Could Be The Next big thing for performance-oriented vehicles, but what after that? The Tonight Show host Jay Leno and GM decided to skip to the year 2040 with their turbine-powered Eco-Jet. Turbine engines are extremely light and can produce a tremendous amount of power. They spin up to 70,000 rpm, but peak torque is available through 90 percent of the powerband, which eliminates the need for a transmission. Turbines can run on almost anything from gasoline to peanut oil. In this case, the Eco-Jet was built to run on B100 biodiesel. The car itself is based on an aluminum Corvette Z06 chassis, and has a carbon fiber body that is part Cadillac, part Formula One, and part fighter jet. The real oddity is the mid-mounted Honeywell LT-101 turbine engine, which weighs just a couple hundred pounds, but produces 650 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque. With a target vehicle weight of only 2,400 lbs, the Eco-Jet should be able to run the quarter-mile in the high 10-second range, have a top speed of over 200 mph, and be capable of over 1.0G on a skidpad. Oh, and did we mention it runs on diesel?

Emissions regulations are tightening, and even now, new diesel truck owners are feeling the pain of decreased fuel mileage and clogged diesel particulate filters. In order to stay on top of new emissions technology, we looked toward an engine that is very clean, yet still can be expected to last 1,000,000 miles-the Caterpillar C15. The C15 is a 15.2L engine that powers semis that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 80,000 pounds, so we know they're worked hard. The fact that the big rigs weigh so darn much means they also have to produce good power and torque numbers to keep the loads moving. So how does the new C15 with ACERT (Advanced Combustion Emissions Reduction Technology) manage to be clean and powerful?

Three years ago, the idea of a diesel race engine would have made most people laugh. Outside the world of sled pulling, the words diesel and race were never even seen together in motorsports.

Diesel lovers, your dreams are about to come true. Nearly every major automaker is planning to sell diesel models in the U.S. by 2010, and many of the oil-burning cars, trucks, and SUVs that will soon hit our roads were revealed at the 101st annual North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Some of the new diesels are concept models that may not make it to the open market, but most are glimpses of future production vehicles that will hit dealer lots as soon as the fall of this year. Official power and torque ratings are not yet available for all of the models unveiled, so where needed, we've included estimates based on preliminary information and overseas model specifications.

Chevy ColoradoDuramax 2.9L V-6The chevy colorado cruz concept pictured here was packing an LS2 gasoline v-8, but the civilian truck came out with wheezing four- and five-cylinder inline engines. Instead of the new 4.5L v8 Duramax, (that's being saved for the H3), it would be interesting to fill the fender wells with the fuel-efficient and very powerful 2.9L v-6 diesel designed by v.M. Motori that will be sold in the Cadillac CtS. the engine makes 250 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque (which is 8 hp and 164 lb-ft more than the Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon are currently allowed), and achieves full power at 800 rpm less than the inline gas engines. Add an adjustable programmer like the one imagined for the diesel viper, and the 2.9L diesel could use high horsepower on the highways and switch priorities to low-lugging torque for the dirt. throw in a second variable geometry turbo and an electric 3/4-ton transfer case for all-wheel-drive and you've got the next-generation GMC Syclone.

In case you weren't in Switzerland for the 77th Geneva International Motor Show, here's a look at the world's first horizontally opposed (boxer) turbodiesel engine. Subaru designed the compact 2.0L DOHC 4-cylinder with a variable geometry turbo, intake throttles, glow plugs, high-pressure common-rail fueling with up to five injections per cycle, and a diesel particulate filter that's attached directly to the turbo. The folks at parent company Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. have not released much more information other than the fact that the diesel will fit into the Symetrical All-Wheel-Drive platform that is used for the Subaru Impreza WRx. The hot rod STi version of that car uses a 2.5L turbo gas boxer to make 293 hp and 290 lb-ft of torque, so it's not hard to imagine a 2.0L oil burner that sips #2 diesel and gets about 35 mpg while making up to 200 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque.

By January 1970, the new platform weighed 1,400 pounds-roughly 340 pounds less than the Escort. Front-wheel-drive was in the mix, along with a transversely mounted Kent 1100 in-line four-cylinder engine. Although concept drawings show otherwise, it was agreed that the finished product would be straightforward with a basic slab-sided styling cue.

"The Finals"-it has a certain ring to it. Whatever happened during the season is in the past. It will all be decided here, and almost everybody is loaded for bear as the long winter approaches. In the drag-racing world, we heard rumblings of a 10-second Power Stroke that was looking to shake things up.

It's been almost 10 years since General Motors stopped selling the Chevy/GMC Suburban with an optional diesel engine. Since the demise of the 6.5L Subs, the only fullsize SUV you could buy with an oil-burner was the Ford Excursion, and that disappeared after 2005. that's all set to change thanks to the '07 SEMA introduction of the Chevy Suburban hD Z71 concept with a fuel-sipping 4.5L Duramax diesel V-8 under the hood.

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