Power Driven Podcast

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.

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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.