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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.
We recently connected with one of Burton’s customers, Chris Moore, who had New Performance Automotive build him a 6.0L Powerstroke engine to use in a truck he was building himself. Moore isn’t just a customer with no diesel experience though. He owns his own diesel shop, Flatwoods Diesel Performance & Automotive Repair, along with an excavating business in Roanoke, VA.
Flatwoods Diesel Performance is a smaller shop that’s still carving out its reputation, but Moore is quickly turning the business into a more targeted endeavor.
“We’ve done repair for awhile and that’s how we got started,” Moore says. “We still do stuff for people around town, but I’m trying to focus more now on performance builds. It’s not so much fun working on old stuff that’s all greasy and has a ton of problems – we’d like to be doing something a little more interesting than that.”
A good showcase for the business are the multiple built-up trucks Moore owns. He’s got a 4th Gen 6.7L Cummins with a Fleece Stage 2 engine and full manual valve body, a Ford truck with a 6.7L deck-plated Enforcer engine, and another Ford that features the 6.0L Powerstroke engine we’re featuring today.
“I had Steve put me together a low compression engine because it’s a street truck first and foremost,” Moore says. “I do race it, but I like to drive it on the street too. I’m not running any coolant, so obviously it likes cooler temperatures, but I haven’t had any problems with oil temperature. It’s never gone over 200-degrees F.”
The 6.0L Powerstroke build features Wagler connecting rods and fly-cut pistons, along with Stage 3 heads and a Stage 3 camshaft from Kill Devil Diesel. Moore also added a set of performance valve springs. For fueling, Moore has a fuel cell in the back of the truck paired with a MagnaFuel 750 series in-line fuel pump.
“I didn’t go with an AirDog or anything, but I’ve been using that style of pump for about 10 years and haven’t had any problems,” he says. “It’s got a regulated return going into the 500/200 hybrid injectors. It’s been super reliable, so I haven’t tried to change anything.”
The truck has had multiple single and compound turbo setups over the years, but it currently features a compound turbo system with an S480/96/125 and an S500/88. The Powerstroke hasn’t been dyno’d, but with Moore’s current best track times, he calculates it to make around 1,400 horsepower.
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].
