High performance diesels
Independent Contractor
5/5/2008
Hello Kevin Rutherford (XM Satellite Radio 171),
Since you did not stop by my booth at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville so we could talk about horsepower, I figured I would write this article to you. I'm sorry I could not get to your office while I was in Colorado to do the show with you, however I'll be back.
As you probably know, Pittsburgh Power has been building high performance diesel engines for 31 years. We still see fuel mileage improvements every time we do something to an engine that allows the truck to run freer and get over hills quicker. On your XM 171 Radio Show, you talk about “cutting back” the power. Maybe that works on company trucks; however, I would have to disagree on cutting back an owner-operator.
My feelings are that an owner-operator has his brain, wallet and right foot all connected. He knows that speed takes power and fuel. In my travels, I have found very few owner-operator semis passing me and I'm towing my trailers at 65 mph.
Speaking of towing trailers, in 1971 I purchased an open car trailer and towed it behind a 1968 Chevy Caprice, 396 cubic inch, turbo 400 automatic with 3:70 rear gears. This vehicle hauled my 1966 Corvette to the races and being from western Pennsylvania, we had serious hills to pull. My fellow racers tried to tow with small block Chevy engines, but regardless of what they did to these engines and gears, they just couldn’t keep up with the big blocks pulling the hills. So that was my first lesson on pulling trailers up a mountain.
In 1977 when I got into the high performance diesel engine business, there were a lot of Small Cam Cummins NH 250, NT 270 and 335's and the NTC 350. It was amazing how we would tune up the engines, add an additional 100 hp and several days later the owner-operator would call back to tell me that he was cruising over the hills and had gained one mile per gallon. “Interesting”...I thought, “more horsepower, less time spent pulling the mountains, more miles per gallon and less time to get to your destination.”
Then the Big Cam Cummins engines were here and again, we figured out how to increase the horsepower, torque, and fuel mileage with engine longevity improved. Interesting, give an owner-operator more power, his fuel mileage improves and his engine stays together longer than stock engines. Just goes to prove that the better the truck runs, the better care an owner-operator will give his truck. It's the King and Queen theory. You treat me good and I'll treat you good!
Horsepower is a man's best friend. Remember when a farmer used to walk behind the horse pulling one plow? Now the farmer pulls 12 plows and sits in an air-conditioned cab listening to his diesel engine purr. It's all about the horse power and how you use it.
By the way, your friends and mine, Al and Kym Hemmerson, used to get 5.0 to 5.2 mpg out of their DD5-EGR Detroit, 515-HP, 14-liter engine. Pittsburgh Power made some changes to their engine. They now get 6.5 to 7.2 mpg and have had as high as 8.2 with a load grossing 60,000 pounds. Now they have the power to pull the hills, however he is driving at 62 mph on the level terrain.
Bob Eubanks has seven trucks and uses many of our performance parts. Bob’s personal truck is a Kenworth and is powered by an NXS Acert Cat. When the truck was stock, his average was 5.3 mpg. After the engine modifications, it’s 6.5 to 7.2 mpg. Bob has a driver on a Bridge Cat that gets fair fuel mileage but when we un-bridged, he went from 5.3 to 6.2 mpg and the exhaust temperature dropped by 200 degrees. Now the driver loves the truck!
I could write a book about the past 31 years of my life building high performance diesel engines and how the owner-operators have loved owning and driving them.
Take Care Kevin and I'll give you a call. Please keep up the great job on the radio helping our friends.
The Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky was a great show this year and we had a record crowd in our booth. If you were there, you got to see Brad and his FASS Fuel Systems 2006 Dodge Cummins pickup. This is a race truck built for the Pony Express and the Silver States Classic type of open road racing. Brad and I will be racing in Texas from Fort Stockton traveling south on Route 285 for 56 miles to Sanderson at 140 mph. Then we turn around and travel north at 140 mph back to Fort Stockton. This 5.9 Cummins produces 1300 hp and is geared for 200 mph. The race is April 25th and 26th. Come and join us if you can.
We have a new addition to our staff at Pittsburgh Power, Jerry Ray Hairhoger, owner-operator of an A-model extended hood KW powered by a KTTA-HVT Cummins engine. This 1150 cubic inch, twin turbo, hydraulic timed engine produces 1200 hp and still gets 5.5 mpg. Jerry Ray also owns a W900-L DD-4 Detroit 500 that has one of our performance ECM's and turbo. The A-Model KW has been sold to our Pittsburgh Power Distributor in New Zealand and it will be used as a toy truck. The W900-L is parked at this time.
Jerry Ray is our special projects technician and is working with ECM's and turbochargers. You'll enjoy speaking with this fellow owner-operator that was born into the trucking industry. His father, Jerry, Sr., is well known for his 1600 horsepower 1973 KW that is a constant winner at the local truck pulls. Jerry Sr. has been a client of Pittsburgh Power for the past 31 years.
The newest product in our line of fuel saving items is the Pony Pack Generator. We chose the Pony Pack because it’s simple, lightweight, and uses the coolant from the truck engine to cool the two-cylinder Kubota Diesel Engine. The Pony Pack uses the factory heating and air conditioning ducts so there is no additional items under the bunk, on top of the bunk, or on the headache rack. This is the simplest unit on the market.
I have known Rex Greer, the owner and manufacturer of the Pony Pack, since 1990. Rex was an owner-operator and had a 359 Pete powered by a 3408 Cat.
Bruce C Mallinson
CEO
Pittsburgh Power/Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh
Saxonburg, Pa, 16056
(724) 360-4080
www.pittsburghpower.com
