Wagler DX 460 Engine - Engine Builder Magazine

Wagler DX 460 Engine

Most of this Wagler DX 460 engine from head to toe gets brought in on pallets of aluminum and is machined into a complete engine. With hours upon hours of engine design and development Jeremy Wagler has this DX 460 engine singing to the tune of 2,500 hp.

When Jeremy Wagler finished high school, he didn’t head off to college or take a year to backpack across Europe. Instead, he took his talents in the automotive industry and turned them into an immediate career.

At just 19 years old, Wagler opened an automotive repair shop, which he ran for 10 years before he started to buy up CNC equipment to begin developing engine parts. It wasn’t long before he developed the first aftermarket Duramax cylinder head, and Wagler Competition Products was born.

Opened in 2012, Wagler Competition Products (WCP) located in Odon, IN, is a full machine shop specializing in diesel work with a focus on the Duramax engine. WCP features seven Haas machines, two Doosans, a Centroid for 5-axis porting, a Sunnen engine and line hone with Rottler head equipment, and a CBN mill.

“It’s definitely a full house right now,” says Wagler. “We’re ready to expand and add on.”

WCP also does Cummins work and makes parts like billet cylinder heads, cams and roller rockers. Two years ago, Wagler also bought out R&R Connecting Rods in Illinois in order to start making his own connecting rods for diesel applications and aluminum rods for the DX engines. That company is now called Wagler Connecting Rods.

Part of the reason Wagler, which has 12 employees, is ready to expand is because the shop puts out some quality engine work and gets results. Jeremy was recently named the 2017 Diesel Engine Builder of the Year by Engine Builder magazine and Federal-Mogul Motorparts just ahead of the 2017 PRI Show on December 6.

Wagler even had a booth on the show floor where a gorgeous, billet aluminum Wagler DX 460 engine was on display. It’s their version of the Duramax.

“This is the DX 460, which was built for the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling circuit,” Wagler says. “By the rules of that circuit, 460 cid is as much as we can have. That’s their limit. This is our billet monobloc. Everything is the same as our DX 500, just a shorter stroke. Its a standard 3.900˝ stroke, 4.310˝ bore.”

What also separates Wagler from others is what his shop is capable of doing in-house, which is to say pretty much everything.

“Everything is done in-house from the block, cylinder heads and connecting rods, to the oil pan and the intercooler on top,” he says. “We build our own rocker assemblies for these too, so the rocker arms are designed and built in-house. Basically most of the engine from head to toe gets brought in on pallets of aluminum and machined into a complete engine.”

Wagler built the cylinder heads on this particular engine out of ductile iron for the high temperature. Like the aluminum, it starts as a solid chunk of ductile iron.

“We machine everything into it,” he says. “We put the valve seats and everything machined into it so there’s no valve seats to fall out or anything like that. The guides are built in the same way. The tall valve covers house the rocker arm assembly and all the injectors, so it has a feed rail coming out the front and a return and the connector on the back is for the electronics going to the Bosch ECU. Fluidampr also designed a neutral balance damper for us to go along with the higher RPM diesels.”

Wagler does use outside parts as well. The 460 DX features a COMP Cams camshaft with COMP roller cam lifters, a Winberg crankshaft, Ross Top Fuel pistons with a Wagler bowl design, S&S Diesel supplied the CP3s, injectors and the Bosch 15.1 ECU to support the fuel side of the engine. The 460 DX also has Victory valves, Pac springs, Cometic gaskets, Trend wrist pins and push rods, Manton roller bridges, and a Waterman CP3 delivery pump.

This engine is going to be used in the pulling truck circuit up in Canada and in the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling circuit. Like all of Wagler’s engines, this one took hours upon hours of design time, and roughly 200 hours of machine time.

“Basically we just took what we learned over the years on the Duramax factory blocks and turned it into a billet block/monobloc where we can repair as needed,” Wagler says. “It starts from ideas and failure points of stock, factory stuff and it leads into more heavy-duty, severe-duty engine development.”

That devotion to developing a better engine means the Wagler 460 DX, which is water to air-cooled, puts out 2,400 – 2,500 hp running a single charger in a truck pulling application or super truck application. The engine has a 13:1 compression ratio and delivers over 4,000 lb.-ft. of torque.

The Engine of the Week eNewsletter is sponsored by Cometic Gasket.

If you have an engine you would like to highlight in this series, please email Engine Builder magazine’s managing editor, Greg Jones at [email protected]

You May Also Like

1,700-HP Supercharged Suzuki-Based Top Fuel Motorcycle Engine

Making a 1/4-mile pass in 5.50 seconds at nearly 270 mph requires zero mistakes by both the racer and the crew. That ET is the current Top Fuel motorcycle world record belonging to Larry “Spider-Man” McBride. We got to speak with him and learn more about his 1,700-hp supercharged Suzuki-based Top Fuel motorcycle engine.

My son is a Marvel fanatic. And let’s be honest, most kids these days are obsessed with Marvel super-heroes. In my house, the Avengers are a constant topic and Spider-Man is on TV at least three days a week. Spider-Man has many talents, of course, but riding a 270-mph Top Fuel motorcycle isn’t in the comics, TV shows or movies. Maybe it should be!

Vortech Supercharged 572 cid Big Block Chevy Engine

When David Pearson of Little Evil Racing shows up at the track with his Pro 275 Foxbody Mustang, people fear him, and for good reason. David has set numerous 275 drag radial world records, and with a Vortech supercharged 572 cid big block Chevy in this Mustang, another record may fall!

422 cid Small Block Chevy Circle Track Engine

We were treated to a shop tour of Terry’s Machine Shop by owner Todd Gilliam. This old-school machine shop outside of St. Louis does a little bit of everything, and they had just wrapped up this badass 422 cubic inch small block Chevy engine for a circle track customer. Check it out!

Supercharged 500 cid Billet Hemi Engine

Doc Baker is a racer and builder who does things his own way. A perfect example of his work can be seen under the hood of his 1971 Dodge Demon – this supercharged 500 cubic inch billet Hemi engine. Check out what went into the build!

521 cid Blown Big Block Chevy Engine

According to owner Colin Jost, this 521 cubic inch blown big block Chevy engine doesn’t know it’s a Chevy since everything was built like a Hemi. Regardless, it’s 2,500 horsepower of awesomeness. Check it out!

Other Posts

Stefan Gustafsson’s Turbocharged Big Block Chevy Engine

We didn’t get the opportunity to speak with Stefan Gustafsson during the 2022 edition of Sick Week, and after he won the whole event that year, we knew we couldn’t attend the 2023 event and not talk to him this time. We got the chance to speak to Stefan about his C4 Corvette and its

Michael Westberg’s Twin-Turbo 400 cid LS Engine

Michael Westberg, who hails from Sweden, has been racing here in the U.S. recently and he’s been a force to be reckoned with at drag-and-drive events. His Chevy S10 pickup truck features a twin-turbo 400 cubic inch LS engine built by ACE Racing Engines, and the engine just propelled Michael to a Sick Week victory

1973 Toyota Celica with a Turbocharged 388 cid LS Engine

As day one of Sick Week 2023 came to a close at Orlando Speed World, we passed by the pit area of Steve Groenink. We did a double take of his 1973 Toyota Celica, which features a turbocharged 388 cubic inch LS engine. The 6-second capable build is our Engine of the Week! Related Articles

Schexnayder Racing’s Twin-Turbo 429 Ford Boss Engine

It’s always cool to see a Ford engine in a Ford car these days, so when we came across Earl Schexnayder of Schexnayder Racing and his 2000 Cobra Mustang with a twin-turbo 429 Ford Boss engine in it, we needed to know more about the combo. We got to chat with him during Sick Week