Welcome to the Power Driven Podcast, where we dive deep into the thrilling world of horsepower. Join your hosts, Todd and Will, as they engage with employees, industry experts, and special guests to explore the pulse-pounding stories, cutting-edge tech, and the raw power behind everything that goes vroom. Whether you're a gearhead, a casual enthusiast, or just love the roar of an engine, this podcast is your pit stop for all things horsepower. Visit powerdrivendiesel.com to explore our latest products, special offers, and more.
This week Todd, Will, and Myer sit down to talk about something that gets asked about constantly but rarely gets explained right, camshafts. If you have ever wondered why your buddy's diesel sounds smooth while another one lopes like a muscle car, or whether a bigger cam is going to kill your fuel economy, this episode breaks down exactly what is going on inside your engine and why diesel camshafts do not follow the same rules as gas performance builds. The guys also announce something big for the diesel performance industry. Power Driven has acquired Colt Cams, the original name in diesel camshaft development founded by Jeff Colt, and it is now officially under the Power Driven umbrella shipping out of America. The crew talks about what owning that brand outright means for R&D moving forward, including in house cam design and testing on their own engine dyno. From there the conversation gets into real cam theory. Todd, Will, and Myer explain why diesel duration numbers look nothing like gas cam numbers, why a factory Cummins cam is built around torque and RPM range instead of high end horsepower, and why a bigger cam on a Cummins diesel tuning setup usually helps fuel economy instead of hurting it. They cover the difference between 12 valve and 24 valve Cummins camshaft design, how a single lobe activates two valves through the bridge setup, flat tappet versus roller lifter reliability, and why the intake valve closing point is considered the most important event in camshaft design. Whether you are running a 12 valve, a 24 valve, or a common rail Cummins, this episode gives you a real foundation on volumetric efficiency, cam terminology, and how to think about camshaft upgrades the right way instead of just chasing bigger duration numbers. This is part one of a deeper camshaft series, so if you want to understand what is actually happening inside your diesel engine, this is a good place to start. If you learned something from this one, subscribe on YouTube and follow the podcast wherever you listen so you do not miss the rest of the camshaft series. Colt Cams are now part of the Power Driven lineup, so if you are looking to upgrade your camshaft or just want to see what is available for your Cummins, head over to PowerDriven.com to check out the full selection. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
It's towing season and if your gauges are climbing on the way up the grade, you need to know what's actually normal and what's a real problem. Will and Myer break down coolant temps, transmission temps, and everything that can push a Dodge Cummins diesel truck out of range while towing. They start with what a healthy cooling system looks like going down the road. Thermostat opening temps on these trucks typically run 180 to 200 degrees depending on year and setup, and they explain why a hotter or cooler thermostat matters for winter heat versus summer towing, along with how boiling points, radiator cap pressure, and elevation all affect what your coolant temperature can handle. A big part of the episode covers fan clutches, since a bad cooling fan clutch is usually the first thing they check when a diesel truck runs hot. They explain how to tell if your mechanical fan clutch is engaging and why electric fans aren't actually an upgrade over the factory setup on these Cummins trucks. From there they walk through testing a thermostat the old school way with a pot of boiling water, the bypass port a lot of guys don't know exists in the block, and why a genuine Cummins thermostat is worth it over the cheap parts store version, especially on a second gen Dodge. Radiator condition gets its own conversation too. They cover why a clogged or dirty radiator causes most cooling problems, why a factory copper core radiator often beats a cheap aftermarket one, and how they've flushed old radiators back to life with everything from radiator flush products to straight vinegar. They also get into heater core plumbing and why oversized fittings from a repipe can hurt your cooling in the summer. The conversation wraps up on transmission cooling, the second gen's heat exchanger setup, why factory transmissions are designed to run around 185 degrees, and why colder fluid on a built performance transmission tends to live longer. Along the way Will and Myer share real diesel towing stories, from Willard's cooling performance on a run to Saint George to a second gen Dodge gauge that pegs out hard at 230 degrees, plus a few lessons learned the hard way about fan clutches and stuck thermostats. If you found this useful, subscribe to the Power Driven Podcast on YouTube and follow along on your favorite podcast platform. Will and Myer reference several parts from their own builds throughout the episode, including compound turbo setups, VGT turbochargers, and stage two and stage three injectors. Shop everything mentioned in this episode at PowerDriven.com links below. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
Myer just won the Ultimate Callout Challenge, and now that the documentary is out, the comments section has some strong opinions about it. Todd and Myer sit down together this week to work through the feedback and clear up a few misconceptions about what UCC actually is. Most of the response has been positive, and the guys are genuinely grateful for it. But this episode digs into the comments they disagree with, starting with the drag race side of things. The truck runs a 48RE, a Dodge automatic out of the 2003 to 2006 trucks, built around the largest input shaft currently available in a 35 spline. They actually brought two built transmissions to the event on purpose, and they explain why. On the dyno, a lot of people got upset about how fast the pulls looked and how much time the truck spent under load. They break down why that criticism misses the point. Competitors do not control the resistance on the dyno, the competition sets it, and every truck gets the same load. More power against a fixed resistance just means the run finishes quicker. They also cover why UCC moved away from scoring torque plus horsepower years ago, after competitors found ways to game that formula with gearing. From there the conversation covers the aftermarket ECU running the whole truck, from injectors to timing, the mag valve controlling the second turbo, and why the nitrous stayed conservative until high rpm to keep the engine alive through the pass. The sled pull gets its own breakdown too. Some commenters claimed the team ran three different trucks across the weekend. Todd and Myer clear that up. It is one drag chassis that also runs the dyno, then gets an axle and bracing swap for the sled. They also cover the sled weight box getting adjusted mid competition and why there is no out of bounds penalty in this class. The bigger theme running through the episode is what UCC is actually built for. It is an invitation only event with almost no restrictions outside a weight limit and hitch height, designed to see what the industry can build without limits, not a street truck competition. If this episode got you fired up, subscribe on YouTube and follow along on your favorite podcast platform. This build runs on parts that get proven under real pressure, not just talked about. If you want that same confidence in your own truck, PowerDriven.com is where to start. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
Kyle from Dark Iron Diesel flew his blown up 12 valve Cummins out to Power Driven Diesel so the crew could rebuild it from the ground up, and this episode follows the build while the guys dig into what actually separates a fast truck from a truck that just sounds fast. Kyle's 12 valve made 650 horsepower before a nitrous mishap put a freeze plug through the block and warped the head. Instead of a simple repair, Todd, Will, and Myer turn it into a full stroker build, taking the 5.9 out to a 6.1 liter on a 6.7 Cummins crank that Power Driven now manufactures in house. They cover custom Wagler rods, ceramic coated pistons, a reconditioned head, a Colt Stage 4 cam, and an Aggressor 60/65 over 98 compound turbo setup aimed at 1100 to 1200 horsepower. We filmed the full teardown, machine work, and stroker crank install start to finish, so keep an eye out for the build video covering every step of this engine in detail. The crew also compares Myer's 1300 horsepower race truck against Kyle's Lamborghini Huracan, which he had on hand from a cross country supercar rally, breaking down 0 to 150 times and why horsepower alone does not tell the story without weight and traction factored in. Kyle also talks about walking away from a potash mine job to do YouTube full time and his approach to dyno testing. Subscribe on YouTube and follow along on your favorite podcast platform. This episode covers a full engine build, parts, and machine work, all done in house at Power Driven Diesel. If you want to build something similar, the team can help you spec it out at PowerDriven.com. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
Todd, Will, and Myer dig into Fast 72, the new turbo limited diesel racing class that is already turning heads and stacking serious prize money. A single 72 millimeter turbo and a fuel only setup are producing six figure purses, and this episode breaks down why. They start with the actual rules of the class. No nitrous, no water injection, no methanol, just engine, turbo, and chassis. From there they get into why the trucks making the biggest peak horsepower numbers on the dyno are not always the ones winning at the track, and why second gen Cummins trucks keep running away with it the same way they have been dominating UCC. That leads into camshaft talk. Overlap, intake valve closing events, and how RPM range should dictate cam selection, and why a cam that makes huge peak numbers can actually bleed off boost and lose power down the track. The conversation then shifts to cylinder heads, covering valve sizing, port flow, and why a factory piston might outperform a forged piston at this power level. There is also a quick detour into transmission durability, since the top two finishers in this class are both running stock automatics, plus a reminder that this is not a high dollar class. Anybody with an engineering mindset can be competitive here. They close out talking about the next Fast 72 event in Texas this September, with a purse north of one hundred forty thousand dollars on the line for the season finale. If you are into diesel performance, Cummins builds, or smart engineering beating raw horsepower, hit subscribe on YouTube and follow the show on your favorite podcast platform. Everything the guys talked about when it comes to cams, cylinder heads, and turbo limited builds is the kind of work Power Driven Diesel lives in every day. Head over to PowerDriven.com to check out the full catalog and get your own build dialed in. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
Myer just made history at UCC 2026, becoming the first competitor to ever break the 3,000 point barrier with a total score of 3,393. This week Will sits down with Myer and guest Josh McCormack, a UCC 2025 competitor, to break down every run, every number, and every decision that went into the most dominant performance the event has ever seen. Across three days of competition, Myer opened on the drag strip with a 4.903, followed it up with 3,620 horsepower on the Super Flow dyno to bank more than 1,200 points in that session alone, and closed out the weekend with a 355 foot sled pull. The crew breaks down the tuning decisions, the overnight chassis conversion between dyno day and sled pull day, and what it actually takes to put up competitive numbers across all three disciplines in a single weekend. Having Josh in the room as a past UCC competitor adds real perspective to the debrief. The guys talk through what separated the top finishers from the rest of the field, why the West Coast teams dominated the leaderboard, and why pre-event testing at the drag strip and dyno is the difference between contending and just showing up. They also get into the sled pull setup, what happened on Myer's pull, and what the points game looks like when you are genuinely building toward something no one has ever done before. This is an honest debrief from the guys who built the truck, drove it, and rewrote the record books at one of the most demanding diesel performance competitions in the country. Subscribe on YouTube and follow the Power Driven Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Everything Power Driven Diesel builds and sells is at PowerDriven.com. If this episode got you fired up, go check out what the shop has to offer. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
Myer is one week out from the Ultimate Callout Challenge and the second gen Cummins build he has been hammering on since November is almost ready. In this episode Todd, Will, and Myer break down what the truck has become and what they are showing up to Indiana to do. They cover the full transformation from street truck to UCC competitor, including the chassis work, the new deck plate engine, the Bosch ECM swap, a custom Air Dog lift pump, and the wild sled pull sub chassis that rolls completely in and out from under the truck without touching the weight box. They also get into testing results from Arizona and Vegas, including a 4.99 eighth mile pass on a 848 with a stock computer. If you are thinking about making the trip to UCC this year, this episode is the reason to go. The field is stacked, the builds are insane, and Myer's truck is one of the most creative setups on the property. Subscribe on YouTube and follow on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you catch the full UCC recap when the crew gets back from Indiana. Everything you need for your diesel performance build is at PowerDriven.com. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com 0:00 Intro and UCC one week out 1:45 72 Fast class and the $70k purse 3:00 Papa Saurus origin and Commonwealth swap 6:30 Cage build and chassis work 9:45 Arizona debut and first passes 20:30 Vegas test and tune 25:15 Breaking the five second barrier 28:30 The sled pull sub chassis explained 42:00 New deck plate engine overview 54:00 Air Dog custom pump and Bosch ECM upgrade 1:08:30 UCC goals for drag, dyno, and sled pull 1:18:00 AI says Myer has no chance
If you run a modified diesel truck, a roadside breakdown is not a matter of if. It is a matter of when. Todd, Will, and Myer dig into their best and worst breakdown stories to help you prepare for the inevitable before summer hauling season gets here. The guys cover everything from blown intercooler boots and dead alternators to turbo failures, low oil pressure, and full engine carnage. Most of their stories happen while hauling a trailer, which is exactly when you do not want to find out your diesel performance build has a weak link. Some of these repairs got made on the side of the road with whatever was on hand. Others required a little creativity, a few phone calls, and people willing to help. Along the way they hand out practical tips that apply to any diesel truck build, whether you are running a built second gen Cummins, a 12 valve, a 24 valve, or a common rail. Good intercooler boots, tight clamps, a tire plug kit, spare fluids, and a basic tool kit can solve a surprising number of problems that would otherwise leave you waiting on a tow truck. The bigger takeaway is that preparation before a trip matters more than any roadside fix. Check your tires, top off your fluids, inspect your battery terminals, and make sure you have the right tools before you leave the driveway. Machines break. The guys who handle it best are the ones who saw it coming. If you haul, race, or travel long miles in a diesel truck, this one is worth your time. Subscribe to the Power Driven Podcast on YouTube and follow along on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Shop everything mentioned in this episode at PowerDriven.com, including intercooler boots and everything else you need to keep your diesel truck on the road when it matters. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com 0:00 Intro and episode overview 0:45 UCC context and Myer's trip to Indianapolis 2:00 The Mac: Ford Aero Max with 855 Cummins mechanical PT pump swap 4:15 Coming home from UCC with a blown turbo in the Midwest 5:30 Will Terry Fabrication: stovepipe turbo fix with Ace Hardware parts 7:55 Garrett 475 swap, T6 flange mismatch, and getting over the Rockies 9:45 Intercooler boots: when they blow and why it happens 12:00 Boot maintenance tips, clamp torque, and upgrading before you haul 13:15 Alternator trigger wire failure and diagnosing on the fly 21:00 Broken Smith Brothers pushrod strands the family truck 28:30 Alternator failures: 6.0 Power Stroke and the Las Vegas story 30:45 Montana breakdown: getting a store employee to deliver an alternator roadside 35:00 Low oil pressure on the 12 valve, loose turbo drain bolt, flagging down semi drivers 39:15 Cracked billet flex plate discovered on the way home 44:00 Carrying spare fluids, radiator hose stories, and what to keep in the bed 45:45 Transmission cooler bypass trick with a pair of pliers 46:45 Tire plug kit and 12-volt compressor: the tools that solve simple problems fast 48:00 Boonie kit concept and the pantyhose serpentine belt story 49:20 Always carry a flashlight 49:45 The value of a good friend network when you are stranded 51:55 Tyson borrows the truck and puts holes in the block 55:30 Pre-trip checklist: tires, spare, fluids, spline lug socket, battery terminals
Buying someone else's unfinished project truck sounds like a shortcut, but it can turn into one of the most expensive decisions you make. Todd, Will, and Myer break down exactly what to watch for when you're rolling up to a used diesel truck with a head full of optimism and a wallet that needs to survive the trip. The guys get real about why sellers abandon projects in the first place, and why that reason matters more than the deal itself. Money, time, boredom, a problem they couldn't solve, all of it changes what you're actually inheriting when you hand over the cash. Not every truck listed with cool parts is worth what the seller thinks it is, and not every deal is what it looks like on the surface. A big part of the conversation is the physical inspection. Pop the hood and you can tell a lot fast. Firewall insulation and hood insulation are some of the first things to check because they tell you how many times someone has been in there and whether they cared when they put it back together. Wiring is another one. If you see bare twisted wires and electrical tape where a proper loom should be, that truck is telling you something and you should listen. The guys also talk through the secondary market and the reality of flip sellers on classifieds who buy trucks cheap, patch a surface problem, and resell without any real knowledge of the vehicle history. Knowing the difference between a guy who built something and a guy who bought it to move it is one of the most useful skills you can develop when shopping for a project. They cover transmission talk specific to Dodge trucks, including what a shop-claimed "heavy duty" or "towing" transmission actually means versus a real built trans, and why you need to ask the right questions before you assume the drivetrain is sorted. For Cummins trucks from 2019 and up, there is also a conversation about the hydraulic roller lifter design and the failure concerns that make some buyers think twice about the newer platform when they are looking for something they can actually work on and source parts for. The episode closes with the bigger question every buyer has to answer honestly before they shop: are you someone with the tools and knowledge to take on whatever you find, or are you someone who needs to start with a cleaner slate and let a shop handle the build. Neither is wrong, but getting that answer wrong before you buy can cost you a lot more than you saved. If you are looking to pick up a diesel project truck, pull up a chair because this one is worth hearing before you write that check. Subscribe on YouTube and follow on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode.
Part two of the engine building series picks up right where things left off, covering everything from bearing installation all the way through first fire and ring break-in. If you are building a Cummins or planning to, this is the episode you do not skip. Todd, Will, and Myer break down the full Morley bearing lineup, covering P, H, and V bearings and which one belongs in which build. Coated bearings, bearing installation technique, and why cleanliness between the bearing and saddle matters more than most guys realize all get covered in detail. Plastic gauge gets a thorough breakdown too, including an honest story about what happens when you misread a dial bore gauge. Wrist pin clip orientation, rod direction by platform, crank galley cleaning, and which way rods go in a 12 valve versus a 24 valve versus a VP44 are all walked through in real shop language. So are crank gear welding, cam retainers, piston protrusion targets, firing head gasket installation, head stud torque sequence, and valve lash strategy. The break-in section is worth the entire runtime on its own. Proper cam break-in, why you do it without coolant in the block, how to track oil temp with an infrared gun, and why ring break-in requires load are all covered. The crew explains why babying a fresh built diesel causes glazing and oil consumption issues, and breaks down break-in oil, first oil change timing, and cutting open the filter to check for debris. If you are wrenching in the garage and want to build a Cummins that lasts, subscribe on YouTube and follow the Power Driven Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Everything the guys talked about in this episode, including Morley bearings, assembly lube, and Power Driven Diesel oil, is available at PowerDriven.com. Links below. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
If you have ever cracked open an engine block and wondered whether you are missing something the shop guys never talk about, this episode is for you. Todd, Will, and Myer break down the real hands-on engine building process, step by step, using their Myers UCC build as the backdrop for a conversation that covers everything from the stuff you check before you turn a wrench to the stuff that will bite you if you skip it. The episode kicks off with oil galley plug inspection, what the guys call the oil rail, oil rifle, or oil passage depending on who is talking, and why making sure every one of those plugs is seated before assembly is a non-negotiable. They get into cleaning procedures using an engine bore brush kit to pull out machining particles and metal flakes from the cylinder bores and oil passages before anything goes back together. Bearing clearances get a solid breakdown here. The guys walk through main bearings and rod bearings on a Cummins engine, explain why the oil holes in the bearings do not line up the way you might expect, and talk through what proper clearance looks like for street builds versus high RPM race applications. They also hit a detail that trips up a lot of first-time builders: rod caps are matched to their specific rod during the machining process, and swapping caps between rods will cost you roundness and likely an engine. Cylinder wall prep takes up a good chunk of the conversation too. The guys reference using the Total Seal ring break-in compound to verify cleanliness, where green means the wall is ready and brown means you are not done yet. From there the discussion moves into piston ring gap, how they set the second ring at or slightly larger than the top ring, ring orientation during installation, and their experience running Total Seal gapless second rings at higher horsepower levels where piston land strength starts to become a real concern. The back half of the episode covers assembly lube, specifically the Joe Gibbs Driven line and other black assembly greases the guys have had good results with, where to apply it and where not to, and the proper way to lube a camshaft, lifters, and cam lobes before the engine goes together. The cylinder head side of the build runs long and gets pushed to next week, so consider this Part 1 of a two-part deep look at what it actually takes to build a diesel engine the right way. Subscribe on YouTube to catch Part 2 the moment it drops, and if you are listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, follow the show so you never miss an episode. Everything the guys talked about in this episode, rings, bearings, assembly products, all of it is the kind of stuff you can find at PowerDriven.com. If you are building an engine, start there. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com 0:00 Intro and Mars UCC engine build overview 1:18 Oil galley plugs and why they cannot be overlooked 2:30 Cleaning oil passages and cylinder bores 4:13 Main bearing installation and oil hole alignment 5:03 Measuring journals and bearing clearances 7:07 Cylinder wall prep and final cleaning order 10:00 Total Seal break-in compound and cylinder wall verification 10:35 Measuring rod journals, main journals, and bearings 12:30 Bearing clearance specs for street vs race applications 13:24 Why race clearances and thick oil do not work on a street truck 18:33 Rod cap and rod matching on Cummins and aftermarket rods 29:52 Piston ring clearance and piston wall clearance 31:42 Ring gap setup and second ring sizing 33:34 Ring orientation during installation 40:37 Total Seal gapless second ring discussion and high HP concerns 42:06 Loctite, fasteners, and oil galley plug sealing 49:15 Assembly grease selection and application 52:25 Camshaft and lifter lubrication 53:45 Episode wrap and Part 2 preview
Pistons are one of those parts everybody installs but not everybody actually understands. Todd, Will, and Myer break down piston design from top to bottom, and if you have ever wondered why there are so many options or which one belongs in your build, this is the episode you need. They start with piston bowl design and why it matters more than most guys think. Narrow bowl versus wide bowl, reentrant versus non-reentrant, and how each design affects the way fuel and air mix inside a diesel cylinder. Because diesels fire fuel directly into that bowl at the very end of the compression stroke, bowl geometry has a direct impact on combustion quality, smoke, and power output in a way gasoline engines never have to deal with. Swirl numbers get covered too, and why that circular mixing motion plays a bigger role in emissions and haze than it does in outright peak power. The conversation moves through piston options platform by platform. Common rail, 24 valve, VP44, and 12 valve all get their own breakdown. The guys talk about why they almost always steer people toward a narrow bowl for over-the-road use, but also when a wide bowl makes sense, like sled pulling and nitrous-limited classes where you are chasing every last horsepower. Cast versus forged is a big chunk of this episode and the guys do not sugarcoat it. Forged pistons are stronger and handle RPM abuse better, but the increased wall clearance required, the wear characteristics, and the oil ring differences make them a poor choice for anything that sees regular street miles. They even mention their factory 6.7 cast pistons surviving a truck that averages 2200 horsepower down the track, and what that says about how capable a properly built cast piston really is. The 12 valve guys get their section too. Stock pistons, the early first gen wider bowl swap, and why the shop has largely moved away from recommending low compression pistons now that six seven blocks are the go-to platform for high-output Cummins builds. Piston coatings and cylinder honing round out the episode. The guys cover their coating experiments on Myer's race truck, what coatings can and cannot protect against, and why proper piston wall clearance is still the thing that determines whether any of it survives. Subscribe on YouTube and follow the Power Driven Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you do not miss episodes like this one. Everything from pistons to full build components for your diesel is available at PowerDriven.com. If anything from this episode sparks a build question, the team there can point you in the right direction. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
Myer's drag truck just ran a 4.99 in the eighth mile, and the engine making it happen is almost offensively simple. On this episode of the Power Driven Podcast, Todd, Will, and Myer break down what it took to get there and why the technology available to diesel builders right now is changing what is possible at every level of the sport. The guys dig into what that number actually means in context, where the money goes in a build like this, and why high level diesel performance is more attainable today than it has ever been. The conversation covers everything from drivetrain decisions to turbo costs to cylinder head development, all through the lens of what it took to put a tow truck in the fours. Pro Street diesel is growing fast and the boys make a strong case that now is the time to get in. Multiple trucks are running deep fives and dipping into the fours, the parts are better, and the price to compete has come way down compared to even a few years ago. Everything the guys talk about in this episode is available at PowerDriven.com. Links below. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
Every diesel guy has been there. The truck feels great empty, pulls hard, and you love it right up until you hook a trailer to it. Todd, Will, and Myer dig into exactly why that happens and what you can actually do about it. The conversation starts with a real story about building a 12 valve for power without thinking about what it would have to do. Big pump, big single turbo, five speed, and a trailer to tow. The result was exactly what you would expect from a setup built for the strip and not the highway. It towed, but it was miserable, and that experience sets up everything else in the episode. From there the guys get into tuning strategy for trucks that need to work. Pedal mapping and throttle input are a bigger deal than most people think, especially when your transmission is mechanically activated and does not know your engine is making twice the power it was designed around. If your transmission thinks you are at light throttle while your engine is at full pull, you are going to have a bad time. Getting the tune and the transmission working together is step one. Turbo selection comes up as one of the biggest places guys go wrong when building a tow truck. Oversized turbos that are great for making peak power numbers are often terrible for towing because they surge, they come on hard, and they kill drive manners under load. Compressor wheel clearances also factor into efficiency and reliability in ways most people do not think about. The right turbo for towing is not the biggest one you can bolt on. Fuel system choices matter too. Massive injectors and multi-pump setups introduce complexity and reliability concerns that become a real problem when you are stranded on the side of the road a long way from home. For a dedicated tow truck, simple and reliable beats flashy every time. Carrying spare parts because you know your setup is likely to break is not a strategy. Tires are another thing that can quietly kill your tow truck. Load ratings, tire size, and how they affect your effective gear ratio all play into how your truck behaves under a load. Going up in tire size without accounting for everything downstream can smoke a transmission and make towing miserable regardless of what else you have done to the truck. The core takeaway is something the guys come back to repeatedly. You have to decide what your truck actually is before you build it. A dedicated tow truck and a street truck that occasionally tows are two completely different builds. You can have a modified truck that tows great, but the parts and strategy have to match the application. If you are building a diesel and towing is part of the plan, this episode is worth your time. Subscribe on YouTube and follow the Power Driven Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Everything discussed in this episode is available at PowerDriven.com. If you are building a tow truck or a street truck that needs to work, the team can point you toward the right parts for your application. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
Todd poached a purse and the diesel community is not happy about it. He showed up to a Blue Collar class drag race in Phoenix with a high mileage Cummins truck, a nitrous setup thrown together the night before from used shop parts, and no real plan to win. Then he won. Now there are posts. Now there are opinions. And now Todd, Will, and Myer are here to talk about it. The truck was not purpose built for the class. It fit the rules close enough to enter and that was the whole strategy. A 62mm turbo, a 52 jet, and a flat foot launch that just happened to hook. No PDD resources, no race prep, no endless planning. The guys break down the full story, get into the spirit vs. letter of the rules debate that followed, walk through exactly what was on the truck, and dig into whether nitrous should be banned from the class or just opened up to everyone with a standardized jet.
Not all Cummins blocks are built the same, and if you are pushing serious power, the one under your hood matters more than most people think. Todd, Will, and Myer break down the full spectrum of Cummins engine blocks in this episode, from the various 12-valve generations to the 5.9 common rail and the 6.7, and explain exactly why the differences matter when the power numbers start climbing. The 6.7 gets a lot of attention here, and for good reason. The conversation covers what makes it structurally superior to earlier platforms: a thicker deck, a larger bore, longer wrist pins, and pistons that have held up to 3,000 horsepower in competition builds without giving up. The guys talk through how modern tuning lets builders get even more out of what is essentially a factory race motor sitting in everyday trucks, and why the 6.7 has earned its reputation as the current king of Cummins diesel performance. The 12-valve conversation goes deeper than most. There are meaningful differences between block variations that matter at high power levels, and the guys cover what to look for. Power Driven offers a 14-millimeter main stud upgrade across their block lineup, including as a standard feature on their 12-valve block, because the math on clamping force versus a stock bolt simply does not leave room for argument. One topic worth paying attention to is the roller lifter issue on newer 6.7 trucks. The guys call it out as a real problem already hitting a significant number of engines, potentially on the scale of what the VP44 pump failure was for the 24-valve crowd. If you own a 2019-and-up Ram with a 6.7, this part of the conversation is worth your time. There is also a breakdown of why dropping a 12-valve head onto a 6.7 block causes combustion problems. The 12-valve injector enters the cylinder at an angle, so the piston bowl is offset toward that injector. A centered bowl piston paired with an off-center injector creates combustion characteristics nobody wants. It is a simple geometry explanation that answers a question the comment section apparently asks regularly. The guys wrap up with some real-world context, including Todd running 10-second passes in his tow truck and a story about winning the fastest pass at an airport drag race against mustangs and a supercharged F-150 on a 6.90 slip. The point being that the power these engines support on the street right now is genuinely historic. If this episode has you thinking about your next block build, Power Driven has you covered with prepped and upgraded Cummins blocks and everything else mentioned in the episode at PowerDriven.com. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
The crew is back from Arizona and this one is worth every minute. Todd, Will, and Myer all showed up to the NHRDA Arizona event with trucks ready to race, and nothing went according to plan in the best possible way. If you have ever thought about getting into diesel motorsports, this episode is going to push you over the edge. The NHRDA Arizona event was a well run show under new ownership that delivered on the details, from clear signage to efficient staging lanes to bonus qualifying rounds when time allowed. The crowd was big, the energy was right, and even a PDD shop employee who had never raced before got talked into running Willard the tow truck and came back asking where he could buy one. That is what these events do to people. Todd lined up in the NHRDA Blue Collar class with Vin D against a stacked field of modern power and a $20,000 winner take all purse on the line. The 12 valve Cummins pump gun had something to say about how that ended. Will brought Uncle Rico to the 590 class, qualified strong, and had a legitimate shot at a trophy run before the motor had other ideas on Saturday morning. Myer's Scrat build finally made it to the track after months of fabrication and a last minute Thursday night dyno session that gave everyone just enough confidence to load up and go. The truck made an impression in a hurry. The episode closes with the burnout contest, the Junker, a neutral drop on compound boost, a wall, an exploding fan clutch, and a water methanol tank that had the track crew convinced there was a fuel spill on their hands. If you want to race and you have been sitting on the fence, get a truck ready and show up to an NHRDA event. You do not need an expensive build and nobody is going to give you a hard time for being new. More events are on the calendar including Indiana in June and Montana in August. Several of the parts and components discussed in this episode are available at PowerDriven.com. Whether you are building a race motor, putting together a transmission, or just keeping a working truck alive, the shop link is below. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
If you have ever second guessed whether you have the right turbo on your truck or just assumed bigger always means better, this episode is going to sort that out with real numbers from real trucks pulling real weight. Todd, Will, and Myer just got back from hauling to a race in Phoenix and brought the data to prove what properly sized turbochargers actually do out on the road. The guys recap the full tow to the NHRDA event, covering how Willard, their VP44 powered second gen, hauled over 22,000 pounds while running the 60-64 turbo with almost no smoke, no heat issues, and solid boost numbers from Cedar City all the way down to Phoenix. On the other side of that convoy, Myer was pulling 31,000 pounds in his 6.7 common rail tow truck running the Aggressor 480 in a compound setup, holding 30 pounds of boost against 27 pounds of drive pressure the entire way. That kind of boost-to-drive ratio does not happen by accident, and they break down exactly why it worked so well including how a ported cylinder head and cam combination keeps heat out of the air charge and off the radiator when you are working hard under a heavy load. From there the conversation moves into waste gate strategy for both single and compound setups, covering screamer gates, hot pipe gates, and what they learned while tuning the junker for burnout contest reliability at 130-plus pounds of boost. They also get into how nitrous changes the entire equation when it comes to getting exhaust volume out of the system fast enough to keep turbos alive. The guys cover the Aggressor 62-9 and 67-9 singles after running them in the Blue Collar class at the event, including back-to-back comparisons on fuel only and with nitrous. There is a real conversation here about spool characteristics, turbine sizing, and why the 62-9 spools noticeably quicker and what that means depending on what you are actually doing with the truck. They also get into how wide you can spread compound turbo sizes before things fall apart, and the honest answer based on their testing might surprise people who assumed there was a hard limit. The junker running a 62-9 paired with an Aggressor 98 as the atmosphere charger is the case study, and the dyno results on that setup are worth hearing. The episode wraps with a practical breakdown of which turbo makes the most sense depending on your platform and how you use your truck, covering the tow series lineup across the second gen, common rail, and Power Stroke applications. If you are trying to figure out what to put on your rig this is about as straight of an answer as you are going to get from guys who have actually tested all of it. Subscribe on YouTube and follow the Power Driven Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. It is also March which means the Power Driven sale is live sitewide and they are giving away five Aggressor turbos to customers this month. Every hundred dollars you spend earns you an entry. Here is what is on sale: 👉 10% off all Power Driven products including heads, transmissions, pushrods, air filters, and oil 👉 15% off all PDD fueling 👉 15% off all PDD turbos 👉 20% off Power Driven True 6.7L Crankshafts If you have been sitting on a parts order this is the month to pull the trigger. Everything talked about in this episode including the Aggressor turbo lineup and the full tow series is available at PowerDriven.com, and if you have been sitting on a turbo upgrade, March is the month to pull the trigger with the sale running and five turbos being given away to customers. Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
What does it actually cost to build a diesel that makes real power? More importantly, what does it cost when you buy the wrong parts? This week on the Power Driven Podcast, the guys are pulling back the curtain on one of the most debated topics in the diesel performance world: cylinder heads. Whether you're building a Cummins street truck or chasing records in a purpose built race rig, the head you choose can be the difference between a truck that dominates and one that leaves you stranded with a pile of parts you can't use. The crew breaks down the real cost of high performance cylinder heads, from shelf heads running factory valves all the way up to full custom builds pushing toward the $9,000 to $10,000 range. They talk about why a premium head is an absolute must once you start adding big turbos, stacking boost, and pushing into serious horsepower territory on a diesel engine build. A poor flowing head will cap you out fast, no matter how much fuel and air you throw at it. But it's not all about top shelf builds. One of the most important takeaways from this episode is knowing what your truck actually needs. The guys get real about matching parts to your goals, because throwing a race spec head onto a 500 horsepower street truck is just burning money. They dig into the middle ground too, including valves, springs, connecting rods, and pistons, and how the diesel aftermarket is maturing to give builders more competitive options at better price points than ever before. They also give a glimpse into what's being developed in the shop right now for the upcoming UCC build, which is shaping up to be one of the most serious Cummins engine builds the Power Driven team has ever put together. Meyer has been deep in the R&D on a head that could set a new standard for the platform, and the guys are genuinely fired up about where it's headed. Spring is coming. Race season is right around the corner. If you've got a build on the table, this is the episode to listen to before you start buying parts.
What happens when a truck you built for testing accidentally becomes the perfect race weapon? That's exactly what we're dealing with heading into the NHRDA Diesel Desert Nationals in Chandler, Arizona, and we are fired up about it. In this episode of the Power Driven Podcast, we're breaking down everything you need to know about the brand new Blue Collar Class, a street truck drag racing format that is turning heads in the diesel performance world. No boost launches. No prepped surfaces. No Christmas tree countdown. They line you up, flip on a flashlight, and when it goes green, you go. That's it. It's the closest thing to a real stoplight race you'll find at a sanctioned event, and we are here for every second of it. The class has strict turbo size limits based on your platform, a 7,000 pound minimum weight requirement, and a 400 tread wear tire rule so you can't just show up on a full race setup and blow the doors off everybody. They want real trucks driven by real guys, and with a $300 entry fee and a $20,000 payout purse on the line, the competition is going to be serious. Here's the wild part. Our 12 valve test rig Vin-D, the truck we've been running injector tests, tow tests, and dyno pulls on for months, just so happens to sit right around 740 horsepower with a 67.9mm turbo and a towing cam. We did not build this truck for the class. It just worked out that way. Now we're going to dial in the wastegate, throw on some fresh rubber, and see what this thing can do when the light goes green from a dead idle. We also talk about which platforms have the real advantage in a class like this, why common rails could be tough to tame off the line, and what it would take to actually build the perfect Blue Collar Class truck from scratch. If you've ever wanted to go racing without dropping a fortune on a purpose built drag truck, this episode is going to get your gears turning.
