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BUILDING A MONSTER

A FIRE-RED 5.9L THAT WENT FROM 400HP TO 1,100HP OVERNIGHT
When your plan to build an 800hp daily driver balloons into an all-out engine build, compound turbos and enough fuel for 1,100-rwhp, you end up with a third-gen menace on wheels like the one Marty Selvidge owns. Long a fan of Cummins-powered Dodges, Marty decided he wanted to amplify the power of his ’07 Quad Cab a couple years ago.

After teaming up with Dermody Diesel Performance, a shop that’s known for building highly competitive pulling trucks, Marty’s Dodge was soon transformed from mild to wild. As the outline for the build evolved, Marty didn’t have a hard time convincing the folks at Dermody why he needed more power than he originally thought. After all, everyone knows you can never have enough.

EVOLVING PLANS

With Marty’s power goal expanding virtually every time he spoke with Dermody, both parties decided to pull out all the stops and build a 5.9L that could handle anything thrown at it. As a welding inspector by trade (specifically the welds made on armor plating used in the U.S. military), it came natural for Marty to want the engine reinforced as much as possible. Seeing machining time at RCD Performance and Wagler Competition Products, both the block and head were cut for fire-rings, the bores were torque-plate honed, and the head was extensively ported. The factory 5.9L crank is secured by way of an Industrial Injection gorilla girdle and ARP main studs, the rods are HD beam, forgedsteel units from Wagler, and the standard bore, Monotherm pistons came from Mahle.

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HIGH-FLOW HEAD

Matching the hot street cam from Hamilton, the head was opened up considerably. CNC porting, oversize, hardened valve seats, threaded freeze plugs throughout, 103-lb valve springs, and Harland Sharp’s bronze bushed rockers all made the cut. The cast intake shelf was taken out of the equation in the mill, making way for a Big Hoss manifold from Banks. ARP Custom Age 625+ head studs keep the head glued to the block. With half-and-half protrusion for the fire-rings (50-percent in the block, 50-percent in the head), head gasket issues will be a non-issue even if triple-digit boost is regularly seen.

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Don’t be fooled by what you see here, this turbo’s got a friend. Mounted above an S466, the S480 shown employs a billet compressor and a 96mm turbine wheel in a T6 flanged, 1.32 A/R exhaust housing. The compound system was sourced from HSP Diesel, while the turbos were spec’d out by Dermody Diesel Performance. At full song, the S400’s join forces to make more than 80 psi of boost.

S466 OVER S480 Being that the fire-ringed and well-fortified 5.9L would be a great candidate for handling big boost, Marty had no reservations about running a compound turbo arrangement. Built by HSP Diesel, it’s based around the use of two S400’s, both of which conceal proprietary billet compressor wheels spec’d out by Dermody. An S480 with a 96mm turbine wheel and a 1.32 A/R T6 exhaust housing serves as the atmosphere turbo, while an S466 equipped with an 87mm turbine and .91 A/R exhaust housing hangs off a BD Diesel manifold. The twice-compressed intake air travels through a Mishimoto intercooler before being forced through the Big Hoss manifold, and ultimately into the head.

S&S FUELED

Substantial fuel was brought to the table by pairing a set of S&S Diesel Motorsport 200-percent over injectors with one of the company’s 14mm CP3’s. The stroker pump has no problem supplying the sizeable, late 5.9L injectors with 26,000-psi of rail and a 200-gph AirDog II-4G system has no issue maintaining adequate low-pressure fuel supply from the tank. With a tank-to-engine fueling combination this serious, topping the 1,000-rwhp mark shouldn’t be a problem for Marty’s Dodge.

GOLDEN NUGGET

Any time you spot a golden Chrysler automatic under a Dodge, you know the owner turned to Firepunk Diesel for a transmission built to handle big power. Opting for the biggest and baddest 48RE on the market, Marty pulled the trigger on Firepunk’s Competition Stage 3 version. The race-ready four-speed makes use of a billet stator, quad disc DPC torque converter, a Fat Shaft billet input shaft, Maraging 300 intermediate shaft, and a Fat Shaft billet output. Added clutches, steels, and machined pressure plates, a high-pressure valve body, PPE deep pan, and a Mishimoto transmission cooler highlight the rest of the 48RE’s mods.

A WHOLE NEW ANIMAL

Believe it or not, Marty originally bought his third-gen so he could have four fully independent doors (his ’01 Quad Cab was chugging along just fine, but of course wasn’t a crew cab). However, after realizing the common-rail 5.9L platform could be made to make four-digit power while remaining durable, he decided to pursue the big horsepower build he’d always wanted. Now, he’s a long way from the days of old, when the Dodge was bone-stock aside from a Bullydog Power Pup. When Marty picks up his truck after returning home from overseas, it’ll most likely be packing 700 more ponies than it did when he left it in the care of Dermody Diesel. He says he can’t wait to drive it. We don’t blame him one bit.

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The high-pressure turbo sports a billet compressor wheel with a 66mm inducer, BorgWarner’s 81/87mm turbine wheel, and a .91 A/R exhaust housing. It produces the lions share of boost in the compound setup, and mounts to a T4 exhaust manifold from BD Diesel
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Beneath the D&J Precision Machine billet-aluminum valve cover—which was engraved by RCD Performance for the engine builder, Dermody Diesel Performance—sits a race-ready 5.9L cylinder head. The 24-valve head was resurfaced, machined to accept fire-rings as well as thread-in style freeze plugs, and fitted with oversize, hardened valve seats at RCD Performance. The head has also been treated to Hamilton Cams’ 103-lb valve springs, extensive CNC porting at Wagler Competition Products, and is anchored down via ARP Custom Age 625+ head studs.
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Thanks to RCD Performance’s milling the factory intake shelf off of the head, a Big Hoss intake manifold from Banks Power could be installed. The high-flow intake guides unrestricted airflow into each cylinder, and complements the larger intake ports on the cylinder head perfectly.
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To get the most out of the 200-percent over S&S Diesel Motorsport injectors that reside downstream of it, an S&S 14mm CP3 sits in place of the factory pump. The 6.7L-based stroker pump provides 71-percent more displacement than a stock CP3 and can support north of 1,300 hp at the crank with the right amount of air
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Sending a steady, 13-to-15-psi worth of fresh fuel the CP3’s way via ½-inch feed hose is an AirDog II-4G lift pump system. To meet the fuel demand of the 14mm CP3, AirDog’s 200- gph system (the highest flow system the company offers) got the call.
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Marty leveled the truck with a pair of 2.5-inch coil spacers from Rough Country Suspension Systems, and at the same time installed the company’s dual steering stabilizer to help quell bump steer and front-end vibration. These additions provide ample clearance for the current 34.5-inch tread, and offer a tight steering feel in addition to better all-around drivability.
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Back at the tank, a sump from RCD Performance routes diesel toward the AirDog. RCD’s sump features both a feed and a return port, with a stand tube being part of the return port. This way fuel isn’t returned through the top of the tank, creating air pockets.
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If you’re going to pursue four-digit power you have to have a transmission that can hack it, and the Competition Stage 3 48RE from Firepunk Diesel in Marty’s Dodge is definitely up to the challenge. The top-ofthe- line automatic features a four-disc, billet stator DPC converter with a 2,100-rpm stall speed, and makes use of the toughest billet internals on the market. Among a long list of exotic hard-parts residing inside the case is a Fat Shaft billet input shaft, Maraging 300 intermediate shaft, and a Fat Shaft billet output shaft, the latter of which required a larger input installed on the NV271 transfer case.

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Using the expandable accessory functionality built into the Edge CTS2, Marty is able to keep tabs on combined boost and the boost created by the high-pressure turbo. On top of that, he can watch EGT and intake air temp.
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Despite their 12.5-inch wide foot print, the 315/70R17 BFGoodrich All-Terrains aboard Marty’s Dodge are going to have their work cut out for them when it comes time to find traction with more than 1,000hp on tap. But thanks to the 17×9-inch 203 Hunter wheels from Ultra Motorsports, the truck will always look good doing it.
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The truck’s interior is virtually spotless, thanks to both Marty and the previous owner’s care. Since picking up the ’07 in 2016, Marty has only racked up a little over 27,000 miles behind the wheel so far, but we have a feeling that that will soon change given the fact that he now has 700 more ponies to play with. which required a larger input installed on the NV271 transfer case.

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