Ford 2007 by Josh Wesley

This 2007 SuperDuty is affectionately nicknamed "Rags to Riches" as she rolled off the Kentucky Truck Plant assembly line with the formidable 6.0 Powerstroke engine. In the summer of 2015, I purchased the truck completely stock with 122,000 miles. What was to become a simple "delete and head stud" job turned into a myriad of performance and reliability upgrades that have transformed the six liter stigma into a fun project that's nearly finished. For an appetizer, I gathered up some genuine ARP head studs, Ford OEM head gaskets, and several other 6.0 goodies and dropped the truck into the lap of Cory Wigginton in Louisville. Cory is a 6.0 wizard, really and I honestly wouldn't trust any other diesel mechanic under the hood of my truck. Cory also slapped in a KCTurbos Stage 2 64MM VGT charger, Holder's Diesel 175/75 injectors, and a BD Diesel torque converter while she was under the knife. This combination was fun, but the 75% nozzles were a little dirtier and hotter on EGT than I was expecting. I spent a few months replacing and upgrading some other driveline/chassis components as well, such as heavy-duty universal joints, and spending some time with the buffer to bring that 8 year old paint back to "almost" showroom condition. In the early spring of 2018 I took a road trip up to David Ferguson's Red Diamond Diesel in Indiana to purchase and have a performance transmission installed. The stock Ford 5R110's limits were being pushed with the current setup, and with plans to step up an injector size, I knew the stock one wasn't going to be happy. David of RDD delivered and put in one of his Stage 2 transmissions that handles everything I've thrown at it so far without skipping a beat. Since then, a flurry of other "supporting" modifications have been completed. Including stepping up to 205/30 Holder's Diesel injectors, a ported intake manifold, a regulated fuel return and fuel bowl delete, FASS fuel delivery, 5" Flo-Pro exhaust, and many other bits that make up the creation. Of course, hard parts are only a part of the puzzle and in order to all come together, everything has to think together. Eric Eldreth and Alex Jennings of Innovative Diesel made everything play in harmony with their tuning abilities. With Eric's expertise, I have a truck that will tow my boat, is a pleasure to daily drive, and is flirting with mid 12's at the track, all with a button press. Project "rags to riches" seems lives up to the name, as beauty, brains, and brawn are all attributes this truck shares. Don't let it fool you, just because the 6.0 is known as a coolant thirsty problem child, doesn't mean this one won't run off and hide from you in the 1/4.