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It’s always a treat to see the range of engines that can be built by a single machine shop. Some guys opt to revolve their builds around a particular engine platform or even within a particular horsepower range, and others tend to put out something different each and every time an order comes in the door. Jared Alderson and Kill Devil Diesel fall somewhere in the middle of those two.
Alderson, owner of Kill Devil Diesel, a diesel engine and machine shop based in the Outer Banks region of North Carolina in Poplar Branch, does everything from manufacturing their own parts to machining services, powder coating, and complete engine builds. We’ve worked with Kill Devil a few times over the years for various Diesel of the Week articles and other diesel content, as well as an Instagram Takeover inside the shop.
Alderson and the team do all sorts of builds, including Cummins, Duramax and Powerstroke. However, a major portion of Kill Devil’s business comes from their 6.0L, 6.4L, and 7.3L Powerstroke builds. They create complete packages for all sorts of applications, though their most popular 6.0L “workhorse” options make for around 425 horsepower and a solid setup for a work/tow vehicle.
Way nastier engines have come out of Alderson’s shop too, and we were able to check out a serious competition-level, billet aluminum 6.0L Powerstroke engine build when we visited the shop last month.
“This is actually for the KC Turbo race truck,” Alderson says. “They’ve been a part of the Ultimate Callout Challenge and other diesel events that really continue to push the boundary for what’s possible with diesel engines, so we wanted to be a part of that.”
With the limitations of a factory cast iron block, a billet aluminum block was sourced from Warren Diesel Injection. Then, Kill Devil Diesel handled all the final machine work, including adding the sleeves and line boring and honing to fit their particular tolerances. This engine uses forged Mahle pistons that are bored to 4.055 and take gapless Total Seal rings.
This engine configuration also features, Wagler connecting rods, a stock cryo-treated crankshaft, a KDD solid roller camshaft with Jesel solid roller lifters, Jesel adjustable rocker arms, KDD’s own CNC-ported Icon series heads with oversized valves, chromoly pushrods, and a sheet metal intake manifold from Rudy’s Diesel Performance. The intake has a built-in intercooler that helps with cooling air temperature and helps support better cylinder distribution of water injection and nitrous.
“This engine has our dry sump kit, which is a Peterson pump with a custom pan,” Alderson told us. “This one is a five stage, and it gives us a lot better control over the whole oiling system. We can put more oil to the engine or more oil to the turbos – some of these secondary high-pressure oil pumps don’t always love being fed with 150-lbs. of oil pressure.
“This will get Warren’s dual, high-pressure oil pump kit. It will have a massive set of injectors that are equivalent to 800% over. As for the turbo, Charlie at KC will be testing a bunch of different things, but drag racers tend to favor a big single, while sled pulling and dyno guys go for compounds, which help with better cylinder pressure and producing more torque.”
Alderson couldn’t give us any concrete numbers as of yet, but without nitrous, he expects this 6.0L Powerstroke to be making within the realm of 1,500 horsepower. With nitrous, the number will be closer to 2,000-2,500 horsepower. It’ll be finished up and ready to rock at this year’s Ultimate Callout Challenge on June 2.
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].
