6.0L Powerstroke Swapped F100 - Engine Builder Magazine

6.0L Powerstroke Swapped F100

While racing is an option, this F100, named “PigPen,” serves its owner more as a daily cruiser. It’s driven to and from work on the regular and looks good doing it. Under the hood is a 6.0L Powerstroke that makes 700 horsepower on fuel and nearly 1,000 on one shot of nitrous. Check it out!

Diesel of the Week is presented by

Here at Engine Builder, we’ve seen a lot of impressive engine swaps over the years. And we’ve found that some classic vehicles are given the resto-mod treatment more than others, whether that be to their iconic appeal or reliability. One of those vehicles is the Ford F100 — once known as the ultimate utility vehicle for transporting, hauling, towing, and delivering goods back in the 1950s, the F100 is today more-often-than-not restored for use in a performance setting.

The last F100 we looked at was the 1957 drag truck we saw at Sick Week. Dave Workman of Porky’s Diesel Performance stuffed a 5.9L Cummins under the hood and made nearly 1,300-horsepower on his build. Engine builders are proof that some proverbs simply aren’t true: you can teach an old dog new tricks… if that hypothetical dog is in reality, a classic pickup truck.

Recently, we’ve found a 1955 F100 build that took a different approach. A 6.0L Powerstroke sits under the hood instead of a Cummins, reinforcing the truck’s heritage as a Ford product.

The build was done by Clay Note of Riffraff Diesel. His Eagle Point, OR-based shop focusing entirely on the 6.0L and 7.3L Powerstroke platforms and has gained notoriety in the industry because of it. Years of Powerstroke experience both engineering custom-machined competition parts and problem-solving aftermarket products has led to Clay and the team understanding the platform like the back of their hand. And that’s not more apparent than in their recent build.

Riffraff used the factory block, crankshaft, and rods, paired with de-lipped and fly cut Mahle pistons and a Stage 2 Kill Devil camshaft. The cylinder heads are also factory but received some love from Steel Dust Machine in California, who added new parts and porting. Energy is transferred from the camshaft to the valves via Smith Brothers pushrods, which maintain performance under high boost pressure.

For fueling, Full Force Diesel 205cc 30% over injectors were installed along with a Terminator Engineering T500 high-pressure oil pump and Riffraff’s own lift pump.

For boost, the truck runs a 68mm VGT Stage 3 turbocharger from KC Turbos pulling through a hand-fabbed intake setup built by LYFE Motorsport. The intercooler tubes were also built by LYFE, providing cooling potential and maximum flow. The F100 is the first collaboration between Riffraff Diesel and LYFE Motorsport; after the successful project, Riffraff went on to provide another 6.0L powerplant for LYFE’s interesting diesel-powered R35 GT- R build.

O’Dawgs high flow cast intake manifold helps with distribution to the cylinders. For exhaust, a 4” downpipe that splits into 3” duals from Steed Speed were added which replace the factory manifolds.

The engine is paired with a 5-speed 5R100 transmission built by John Wood Automotive. A few internal upgrades were made to that, so the trans can handle the 700+ horsepower produced by the truck on fuel alone and around 950 horsepower on one shot of nitrous. With nitrous added, this runner is a powerhouse on the track.

While racing is an option, this F100 named “PigPen,” serves its owner more as a daily cruiser. It’s driven to and from work on the regular and looks good doing it. With a classic light-green patina’d exterior and matte gray Forgeline wheels, PigPen is quite the show piece.

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

Compound-Turbo 6.0L Powerstroke Engine

Steve Burton of New Performance Automotive and Chris Moore of Flatwoods Diesel Performance recently teamed up to build this compound-turbo 6.0L Powerstroke engine. Check it out!

Less than a year ago, we featured a pretty sick 5.9L Cummins engine built by Steve Burton at New Performance Automotive. The Rural Retreat, VA-based shop specializes in maintenance, in-house manufacturing of specialized parts, engine dyno services, and they also do some pretty sweet diesel engine builds for customers.

Compound Turbo VP44 5.9L Cummins Engine

Cole Sojka’s diesel truck journey began at the age of 16 when he bought a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 as a farm truck. Over the past eight years and 100,000 additional miles, he’s transformed the truck, including building up the 5.9L VP44 compound-turbo Cummins engine. Check out the build!

Cummins engine
Single-Turbo 5.9L Cummins Engine

Aaron West has done a few smaller scale builds to date, but he recently finished up a “Frankenstein” truck that is pretty impressive. The body is a 1990 Dodge D150, while the chassis is from a shortened 2003 Dodge 2500 4WD, and the engine is a turbocharged 5.9L Cummins. It’s our Diesel of the Week!

Dodge truck and 5.9L Cummins engine
All-Billet Duramax Drag-and-Drive Engine

Having been put on the back burner due to Wagler Competition’s popular DX Duramax engines, this brand-new billet Duramax engine has finally made it to the forefront. Rather than being aimed at truck pullers, this lighter diesel engine is specifically designed for drag racers and drag-and-drive events. Check out what makes this Duramax unique.

Wagler billet Duramax engine
Billet Triple-Turbo 6.4L Cummins Super Stock Engine

During a recent visit to Scheid Diesel, we got to see what goes on in the Terre Haute, IN-based engine and machine shop. We also got a deep dive on the details of a $150,000, billet, triple-turbo, 6.4L Cummins Super Stock engine build. It’s the pinnacle of Scheid Diesel builds, so don’t miss what’s in and on this engine.

Other Posts

CHE Ford Godzilla Trunnion Kit

The kit includes 16 heat-treated steel trunnions, 32 bronze bushings, and 33 retainer clips.

CHE trunnion kit
Holley Announces 2024 Flagship Events

Experiential events reinforce Holley’s commitment to serving customers across traditional and growing aftermarket verticals.

Rislone DEF Crystal Clean

First-of-its-kind product removes damaging crystals from SCR systems, clears P20EE codes.

Rislone DEF Crystal Clean
B&B Performance Adjustable Billet Timing Pointers

Available for SBC, BBC and SBF, pointers come with stainless steel pointer, fasteners and a black anodized finish.

timing pointers