3,000-HP LLY Duramax Engine - Engine Builder Magazine

3,000-HP LLY Duramax Engine

Brett Deutsch's 1969 Chevy C10 currently holds the record for the fastest diesel-powered Pro Stock truck in the quarter mile. Under the hood is this single-turbo LLY Duramax engine. Check it out!

Diesel of the Week is presented by

It’s usually pretty easy to tell the difference between a truck built for racing and a truck build for shows, but every so often, we find one that can fit into both categories. While walking through the endless rows of trucks at UCC, we ran into Brett Deutsch and checked out his truck and perfectly blends power and classiness.

The 1969 Chevy C10 in question is a looker; it’s shiny black paint job and meticulously crafted body make it hard to believe that the truck is over 50 years old. Deutsch’s grandfather gave it to him when he was only 15, and at the time, the truck had a 3-53 Detroit Diesel engine in it. Although the trusty engine was a classic, Deutsch decided to upgrade after a full-body makeover.

The first thing to go in was a 383 stroker engine, but after a few years, he wanted to go bigger. At the age of two, Deutsch’s father started Deutsch’s Truck and Diesel Repair, the shop that would surround him for most of his life. Naturally, this engrained a love for diesel engines that would lead him to put a Duramax LLY under the hood of his Chevy and build it into a crazy fast race truck.

“In the eighth-mile we’ve done 4.61-seconds at 155 mph,” Deutsch said. “And in the quarter mile last year, I let out at the 1,000-ft mark because the truck was starting to go left, we ran 7.28-second at 175 mph.”

The build started with a stock LLY block, but Deutsch found that at 1,000 horsepower the engine was starting to have cylinder warpage issues. On the next attempt the block was half-filled with concrete, but that just led to cracking at the concrete line when the team began bumping up the power.

Eventually, Deutsch decided to completely fill the block with concrete and add solid aluminum Wagler heads to the cylinders, so that there’s no water in the heads or anywhere else in the truck. Everything is solid filled.

One of the biggest changes from the earlier build to what the engine is now is the turbo setup.

“The last build was a triple turbo, and we’ve saved close to 200 pounds going from that to the single turbo we have now. I was running about 150lbs. of boost before and now with the big single we’re getting around 90.”

Although the 102mm Precision Turbo ProMod delivers less boosts, Deutsch makes up for it with nitrous. With the four-stage Nitrous Outlet setup he added, Deutsch estimates he’s injecting about 850 horsepower during a run.

The engine also features a Callies billet crank with Wagler connecting rods and Ross forged pistons.

All in all, this Duramax engine makes close to 2,200 horsepower – and near 3,000 if you add in the nitrous. The 7.28-second quarter mile Deutsch hit last year cemented his name in the history books as having the fastest diesel-powered Pro Stock truck on the quarter mile.

Even more impressive, this record comes six years after he completed the same feat with a time of 8.47 seconds in 2015. The previous run ended with a fuel line fire destroying much of the truck, which prompted Deutsch to rebuild the engine and truck and smash his own record my more than a second in 2021.

Diesel of the Week is sponsored by AMSOIL. If you have an engine you’d like to highlight in this series, please email Engine Builder Editor Greg Jones at [email protected]

You May Also Like

Dual Compound-Turbo 6.6L LBZ Duramax Engine

Not only does this 1954 Chevrolet 3100 house a hefty 6.6L LBZ Duramax engine, it boasts a quad-turbo setup and enough piping to blow your mind! Check it out!

Resto-mods are some of the coolest builds out there, and there’s no shortage of guys who will completely deck out an old-model car or truck. Whether it be for pure nostalgia or aesthetic, they often turn out beautifully and transform the original into something unbelievable. Such is the case of David Pilgrim’s 1954 Chevrolet 3100 that we got to check out at PRI last year.

2,200 Horsepower Compound Turbo 6.7L Cummins

Josh McCormack is no stranger to high-horsepower Cummins builds – this engine was built in-house at his shop Wide Open Throttle Motorsports and makes nearly 2,200 horsepower on nitrous. Check it out!

Ryan Milliken’s 6.8L Cummins-Powered ’69 Nova

Ryan Milliken’s ’69 Nova currently holds the X275 1/8th mile record at 183 mph, which was set last December at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals. Under the hood is a beefy, Freedom Racing Engines-built 6.8L Cummins engine that makes around 3,100 horsepower. Check it out!

6.8L Cummins Engine

This Freedom Racing Engines-built 6.8L Cummins is sure to provide more than enough power for Jen Pushler when it’s under the hood of her pulling truck. Check it out!

Compound Turbo 5.9L VP44 Cummins Engine

Drew Carter is one of those guys who just won’t let the 5.9L VP44 die out! With this build, he’s another guy who has shown that it still has some staying power in the diesel racing world. Check it out!

Other Posts

EB Takeover – Choate Engineering Performance

We were recently in Bolivar, TN at Choate Engineering Performance to do some filming for a couple of our video series, so we took the opportunity to allow shop owner Cass Choate to grab our phone and give a tour of his 155,000 sq.-ft. diesel engine and machine shop. This takeover is brought to you

Ryan Milliken’s Turbocharged 6.8L Cummins Engine

At Lights Out 14, Ryan Milliken of Hardway Performance put on a show and demonstrated how far diesel performance has come in recent years. Making it to the semi-finals against some of the country’s fastest cars, Ryan’s ’69 Nova sports a turbocharged 6.8L Cummins engine built by Fleece Performance & Freedom Racing Engines. Capable of

David Pilgrim’s Dual Compound-Turbocharged 6.6L LBZ Duramax Engine

David Pilgrim and his wife Debbie began looking into drag racing after attending an NHRA event, which eventually led to the pair entering the Bonneville Salt Flats scene. Following a few turbocharged motorcycle builds and a C5 Corvette, David got the idea for a 1954 Chevrolet 3100 with a dual compound-turbocharged 6.6L LBZ Duramax. It’s

EB Takeover: New Performance Automotive

New Performance Automotive owner, Steve Burton, opened his diesel shop more than 20 years ago as a way to further his passion for truck and tractor pulling. Burton moved his diesel shop in 2004 to its current location in Rural Retreat, VA into a 6,000-sq.-ft. facility where his team does general maintenance and repair work,