2004 Dodge Ram Cummins Race Truck - War Paint

[JoeThaMan]

2004 Dodge Ram Cummins Race Truck - War Paint
Until recently, Mike Drever's '04 ram had a secret. For a long time, it looked like an everyday diesel truck, suitable for tooling around town with his wife, Charr, and young daughter, Karleigh. When Mike stomped the throttle, though, this Ram bared its horns, barreling down the dragstrip at a ferocious clip. Some might call it a sleeper; others a Q ship. The latter reference is particularly apt because Mike has dropped his work-truck disguise and now wears war paint.
In its previous life, this Dodge 4x4 had just a champagne color-coating, hiding the kick of tequila under its hood. Yet, when menacing diesel rigs surfaced on the dragstrip, Mike exposed his true intent, blasting off quarter-mile runs in the 11s. And that was just the beginning of his war campaign. Eventually, this battlewagon would demolish the 11-second barrier, making it the fastest common-rail diesel pickup in the country, he asserts.
Going Fast Means Breaking Lots Of Parts
Before digging into the latest high-caliber weapons in Mike's arsenal, though, we should back up a bit. When he bought the pickup in October of 2003, it was just a work truck for his job running an oilfield company based in Medicine Hat, Alberta. He initially stacked a couple of boxes, and the truck began making some healthy horsepower, especially when he decided to put on a 62mm turbo and 100hp injectors. But after toasting six transmissions, he began experimenting with aftermarket solutions.
Mike ran into even more setbacks, such blowing up the original engine with an improper application of propane. He forged ahead, though, using the time-honored trial-and-error method, which led to a number of other broken parts. Realizing he needed to take a more methodical approach, Mike sought some assistance from North American Diesel Performance, which agreed to supply several prototype parts.
11-Second Cummins Engine
Upgrades included a CP3 Stage 2 injection pump to keep up with the extra boost from the 66mm Silver bullet Turbo and Zex Nitrous. He also dropped in a banks inter-Cooler to keep things from boiling over. In addition, he threw on a pair of piggyback computers working in concert: a 130hp Predator box and a 210hp PPE Programmer. NADP's barry Voltner also did some special tuning for both the engine and transmission, along with some internal engine mods. For better venting of black exhaust, Mike bolted on a 30-inch Flow Pro muffler as well. Upon completion, the truck scampered down the strip in 11.70 seconds at 115.25 mph.
Even their careful pre, Mike ended up tearing the NV273 transfer case in half, ripping the center out of the flywheel, and snapping a billet transmission input shaft. This happened just after the 1/8-mile with the truck hitting 99 mph. Mike marveled at the power and speed, but was amazed by the damage caused in that short run.
Once repairs were complete, Mike went back at it with a vengeance on his home track in Medicine Hat, Alberta. He raced for several months, consistently running the mid 11s with no serious misfires.
Diesel Racing Is A Family Affair
Mike felt that he was now ready to take on some more serious dragstrip combatants at tracks all across the country. "We've been diesel racing for almost four years and had the opportunity to travel to many places in Canada and the U.S.," he says. "As a family, we love to travel, and diesel racing is an excellent excuse to hit the road. Diesel truck racing enthusiasts are a great group of people-and no matter where we go, there are always familiar faces."
Even their daughter gets into the act. "karleigh is with us at every event we attend and sometimes she's recognized as much as the race truck is!" Mike laughs. "My wife and I think she was born with the 'Speed Gene'-one of her first sentences was "Go faster!"
10-Second Package
What baby wants, baby gets. With all that traveling on the race circuit with his family, Mike decided to pull out all the stops. He and NADP dove back under the hood to add a pair of custom compound turbos from Industrial Injection and a new intake manifold designed by NADP, which combined to produce a whopping 85 psi of boost. A two-shot custom nitrous system is now good for another 200 hp, as well. To keep pace with the increases in forced induction, they also threw in dual CP3 injection pumps from ATS and Dynamite Diesel's custom injectors (four times bigger than stock, with 10 holes instead of six at the tips).
The result? "It's a torque monster!" Barry says with a big grin. "The tires broke free at 100 mph and put me sideways on the track."
Once Mike and Barry figured out how to hook up all that wheelspin, they broke through the 11-second barrier, nailing 10.48 at 131 mph- which likely means that this pickup is now the fastest common-rail diesel in North America.
With Mike's guns out in the open, he decided to have Joey's Place apply some hot licks to that cool champagne base coat. "Having recently repainted our race truck, we thought it was fitting to add the Drever Family Racing logo, as well," he adds. Now that Mike's Q-Ship is showing her true colors, his motto seems to be "Damn the torpedoes-full speed ahead!"

Photo Gallery: 2004 Dodge Ram Cummins - Race Trucks - Diesel Power Magazine



Read More | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us


More...