Not sure if this is the right forum or not but this topic could get some good stuff going and looks like the mods are sitting on their haunches not doing anything, Get to work slackers!


Ford vs Dodge vs Chevy

Of the three brands, in the diesel engine catagory, which engine is the most mod friendly, meaning which is the easiest to mod.

Which engine has the ABILITY to produce the most SAFE horsepower

Which engine has the most ECONIMICAL meaning not budget breakers, mods available.

For what it is worth, and I don't drive one, the 6.4 from Ford seems to be taking very nicely to Spartan Diesels DashDaq and producing some very nice safe numbers at the rear wheel. I don't know anything about the other brands.

So what you got?

I don't have one but it seams Cummins is the easiest to mod and make big power out of. The SBC of the diesel world. jmho

From all I've read, the cummins is the engine of choice for all three...

My thinking:

You can get the most HP our of a Cummins- but will grenade the rest of the powertrain without serious upgrades.

The D-Max has 1,000 HP waiting to happen- but the tranny isn't rated for anything near that. The tranny mods will cost more than the engine mods to get you there.

Powerstroke. Can only comment on the 6.0's- maybe someone knows more about the 6.4's. That wasn't a mod-friendly motor. Meaning, the most likely thing to grenade with mods was the motor itself. I suspect the 6.0 was closest to it's peak reliable HP from the factory of the three.

Even Cummins has variations. Everybody I hear from favors the older 6BT (5.9) 12 valve with the mechanical pump vs. the newer 24v w/ electronic pump.

I have one of the older models and can only tell you I love it. It's just hard to beat an inline for torque and longevity.

The 6.0 was pretty much maxxed out from the factory. Any mods done, put it that much over the reliability threshold. The problems with the 6.0 were addressed with the 6.4. Going from 14 mm head bolts to 16 mm. The issue with sticking vanes was solved with the electronic actuator. Each time you turn on the key, the actuator cycles, insuring the vanes aren't stuck. The downside is that the computer controls are so complicated, that simple mods can cause other seemingly unrelated issues.

blacksnapon said:

The 6.0 was pretty much maxxed out from the factory. Any mods done, put it that much over the reliability threshold. The problems with the 6.0 were addressed with the 6.4. Going from 14 mm head bolts to 16 mm. The issue with sticking vanes was solved with the electronic actuator. Each time you turn on the key, the actuator cycles, insuring the vanes aren't stuck. The downside is that the computer controls are so complicated, that simple mods can cause other seemingly unrelated issues.

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My understanding from pretty good sources is that coming soon we'll see an Allison transmisson behind the 6.4 allowing Ford to bring it up to it's full power, right now there holding it back due to the weak Torqushift ..

d-kuzmen said:

My understanding from pretty good sources is that coming soon we'll see an Allison transmisson behind the 6.4 allowing Ford to bring it up to it's full power, right now there holding it back due to the weak Torqushift ..

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Isn't the 6.4 done in a year or two???


WAG is we'll NEVER see an Allison behind a 6.4.

5.7 or a 6.1L hemi.

Ive worked on many with cam, torque converter, and heads installs, even hooked up N20 on one of em.

The one we hooked N2O had parts that included, Camshaft, Big valve cylinder heads, Kooks longtube headers, Pacesetter Catless mids, Diablo and custom tuning, and nitrious. We went to the dyno the day after the installs and we gained 469 HP at the rear wheels without spray, and 573 with spray.

Stock lower end.

That is my pic of the best mod friendly motor. Amazing

DOHCmarauder said:

Isn't the 6.4 done in a year or two???


WAG is we'll NEVER see an Allison behind a 6.4.

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Never say never- GM doesn't own Allison anymore, and it's all about money. My question is- how many $$$'s will Ford commit to R&D on a new diesel in the face of a collapsing market?

polarbear said:

Never say never- GM doesn't own Allison anymore, and it's all about money. My question is- how many $$$'s will Ford commit to R&D on a new diesel in the face of a collapsing market?

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I wasn't neccessarily saying that Ford wouldn't use an Allison, especially in light of the fact Ford uses both Cummins AND Allison in their medium duty trucks.


I was just under the impression that Ford and Navistar were pretty much done and that the 6.4 was gone by 2010.

Cummins with the 12v motors really had the best setup, but as mentioned, most everything Dodge used behind it couldn't hold up too well. They are insanely easy to get more power out of, especially for a mechanical injection motor. The trouble of going to any medium duty trans for use in a light truck is the floorpan clearance. The SAE bells don't leave a lot of room to work, and tend to be a bit larger than the light duty trannies. It also affords a larger converter as a result, but with already limited space, it presents a problem of hacking the floorpans, or lifting the body.