Power Driven Podcast

Myer just made history at UCC 2026, becoming the first competitor to ever break the 3,000 point barrier with a total score of 3,393. This week Will sits down with Myer and guest Josh McCormack, a UCC 2025 competitor, to break down every run, every number, and every decision that went into the most dominant performance the event has ever seen.Across three days of competition, Myer opened on the drag strip with a 4.903, followed it up with 3,620 horsepower on the Super Flow dyno to bank more than 1,200 points in that session alone, and closed out the weekend with a 355 foot sled pull. The crew breaks down the tuning decisions, the overnight chassis conversion between dyno day and sled pull day, and what it actually takes to put up competitive numbers across all three disciplines in a single weekend.Having Josh in the room as a past UCC competitor adds real perspective to the debrief. The guys talk through what separated the top finishers from the rest of the field, why the West Coast teams dominated the leaderboard, and why pre-event testing at the drag strip and dyno is the difference between contending and just showing up. They also get into the sled pull setup, what happened on Myer's pull, and what the points game looks like when you are genuinely building toward something no one has ever done before.This is an honest debrief from the guys who built the truck, drove it, and rewrote the record books at one of the most demanding diesel performance competitions in the country.Subscribe on YouTube and follow the Power Driven Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.Everything Power Driven Diesel builds and sells is at PowerDriven.com. If this episode got you fired up, go check out what the shop has to offer.Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com

If you run a modified diesel truck, a roadside breakdown is not a matter of if. It is a matter of when. Todd, Will, and Myer dig into their best and worst breakdown stories to help you prepare for the inevitable before summer hauling season gets here.The guys cover everything from blown intercooler boots and dead alternators to turbo failures, low oil pressure, and full engine carnage. Most of their stories happen while hauling a trailer, which is exactly when you do not want to find out your diesel performance build has a weak link. Some of these repairs got made on the side of the road with whatever was on hand. Others required a little creativity, a few phone calls, and people willing to help.Along the way they hand out practical tips that apply to any diesel truck build, whether you are running a built second gen Cummins, a 12 valve, a 24 valve, or a common rail. Good intercooler boots, tight clamps, a tire plug kit, spare fluids, and a basic tool kit can solve a surprising number of problems that would otherwise leave you waiting on a tow truck.The bigger takeaway is that preparation before a trip matters more than any roadside fix. Check your tires, top off your fluids, inspect your battery terminals, and make sure you have the right tools before you leave the driveway. Machines break. The guys who handle it best are the ones who saw it coming.If you haul, race, or travel long miles in a diesel truck, this one is worth your time.Subscribe to the Power Driven Podcast on YouTube and follow along on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.Shop everything mentioned in this episode at PowerDriven.com, including intercooler boots and everything else you need to keep your diesel truck on the road when it matters.Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com0:00 Intro and episode overview0:45 UCC context and Myer's trip to Indianapolis2:00 The Mac: Ford Aero Max with 855 Cummins mechanical PT pump swap4:15 Coming home from UCC with a blown turbo in the Midwest5:30 Will Terry Fabrication: stovepipe turbo fix with Ace Hardware parts7:55 Garrett 475 swap, T6 flange mismatch, and getting over the Rockies9:45 Intercooler boots: when they blow and why it happens12:00 Boot maintenance tips, clamp torque, and upgrading before you haul13:15 Alternator trigger wire failure and diagnosing on the fly21:00 Broken Smith Brothers pushrod strands the family truck28:30 Alternator failures: 6.0 Power Stroke and the Las Vegas story30:45 Montana breakdown: getting a store employee to deliver an alternator roadside35:00 Low oil pressure on the 12 valve, loose turbo drain bolt, flagging down semi drivers39:15 Cracked billet flex plate discovered on the way home44:00 Carrying spare fluids, radiator hose stories, and what to keep in the bed45:45 Transmission cooler bypass trick with a pair of pliers46:45 Tire plug kit and 12-volt compressor: the tools that solve simple problems fast48:00 Boonie kit concept and the pantyhose serpentine belt story49:20 Always carry a flashlight49:45 The value of a good friend network when you are stranded51:55 Tyson borrows the truck and puts holes in the block55:30 Pre-trip checklist: tires, spare, fluids, spline lug socket, battery terminals

Part two of the engine building series picks up right where things left off, covering everything from bearing installation all the way through first fire and ring break-in. If you are building a Cummins or planning to, this is the episode you do not skip.Todd, Will, and Myer break down the full Morley bearing lineup, covering P, H, and V bearings and which one belongs in which build. Coated bearings, bearing installation technique, and why cleanliness between the bearing and saddle matters more than most guys realize all get covered in detail. Plastic gauge gets a thorough breakdown too, including an honest story about what happens when you misread a dial bore gauge.Wrist pin clip orientation, rod direction by platform, crank galley cleaning, and which way rods go in a 12 valve versus a 24 valve versus a VP44 are all walked through in real shop language. So are crank gear welding, cam retainers, piston protrusion targets, firing head gasket installation, head stud torque sequence, and valve lash strategy.The break-in section is worth the entire runtime on its own. Proper cam break-in, why you do it without coolant in the block, how to track oil temp with an infrared gun, and why ring break-in requires load are all covered. The crew explains why babying a fresh built diesel causes glazing and oil consumption issues, and breaks down break-in oil, first oil change timing, and cutting open the filter to check for debris.If you are wrenching in the garage and want to build a Cummins that lasts, subscribe on YouTube and follow the Power Driven Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.Everything the guys talked about in this episode, including Morley bearings, assembly lube, and Power Driven Diesel oil, is available at PowerDriven.com. Links below.Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com

Pistons are one of those parts everybody installs but not everybody actually understands. Todd, Will, and Myer break down piston design from top to bottom, and if you have ever wondered why there are so many options or which one belongs in your build, this is the episode you need.They start with piston bowl design and why it matters more than most guys think. Narrow bowl versus wide bowl, reentrant versus non-reentrant, and how each design affects the way fuel and air mix inside a diesel cylinder. Because diesels fire fuel directly into that bowl at the very end of the compression stroke, bowl geometry has a direct impact on combustion quality, smoke, and power output in a way gasoline engines never have to deal with. Swirl numbers get covered too, and why that circular mixing motion plays a bigger role in emissions and haze than it does in outright peak power.The conversation moves through piston options platform by platform. Common rail, 24 valve, VP44, and 12 valve all get their own breakdown. The guys talk about why they almost always steer people toward a narrow bowl for over-the-road use, but also when a wide bowl makes sense, like sled pulling and nitrous-limited classes where you are chasing every last horsepower.Cast versus forged is a big chunk of this episode and the guys do not sugarcoat it. Forged pistons are stronger and handle RPM abuse better, but the increased wall clearance required, the wear characteristics, and the oil ring differences make them a poor choice for anything that sees regular street miles. They even mention their factory 6.7 cast pistons surviving a truck that averages 2200 horsepower down the track, and what that says about how capable a properly built cast piston really is.The 12 valve guys get their section too. Stock pistons, the early first gen wider bowl swap, and why the shop has largely moved away from recommending low compression pistons now that six seven blocks are the go-to platform for high-output Cummins builds.Piston coatings and cylinder honing round out the episode. The guys cover their coating experiments on Myer's race truck, what coatings can and cannot protect against, and why proper piston wall clearance is still the thing that determines whether any of it survives.Subscribe on YouTube and follow the Power Driven Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you do not miss episodes like this one.Everything from pistons to full build components for your diesel is available at PowerDriven.com. If anything from this episode sparks a build question, the team there can point you in the right direction.Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com

Every diesel guy has been there. The truck feels great empty, pulls hard, and you love it right up until you hook a trailer to it. Todd, Will, and Myer dig into exactly why that happens and what you can actually do about it.The conversation starts with a real story about building a 12 valve for power without thinking about what it would have to do. Big pump, big single turbo, five speed, and a trailer to tow. The result was exactly what you would expect from a setup built for the strip and not the highway. It towed, but it was miserable, and that experience sets up everything else in the episode.From there the guys get into tuning strategy for trucks that need to work. Pedal mapping and throttle input are a bigger deal than most people think, especially when your transmission is mechanically activated and does not know your engine is making twice the power it was designed around. If your transmission thinks you are at light throttle while your engine is at full pull, you are going to have a bad time. Getting the tune and the transmission working together is step one.Turbo selection comes up as one of the biggest places guys go wrong when building a tow truck. Oversized turbos that are great for making peak power numbers are often terrible for towing because they surge, they come on hard, and they kill drive manners under load. Compressor wheel clearances also factor into efficiency and reliability in ways most people do not think about. The right turbo for towing is not the biggest one you can bolt on.Fuel system choices matter too. Massive injectors and multi-pump setups introduce complexity and reliability concerns that become a real problem when you are stranded on the side of the road a long way from home. For a dedicated tow truck, simple and reliable beats flashy every time. Carrying spare parts because you know your setup is likely to break is not a strategy.Tires are another thing that can quietly kill your tow truck. Load ratings, tire size, and how they affect your effective gear ratio all play into how your truck behaves under a load. Going up in tire size without accounting for everything downstream can smoke a transmission and make towing miserable regardless of what else you have done to the truck.The core takeaway is something the guys come back to repeatedly. You have to decide what your truck actually is before you build it. A dedicated tow truck and a street truck that occasionally tows are two completely different builds. You can have a modified truck that tows great, but the parts and strategy have to match the application.If you are building a diesel and towing is part of the plan, this episode is worth your time. Subscribe on YouTube and follow the Power Driven Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.Everything discussed in this episode is available at PowerDriven.com. If you are building a tow truck or a street truck that needs to work, the team can point you toward the right parts for your application.Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com

Not all Cummins blocks are built the same, and if you are pushing serious power, the one under your hood matters more than most people think. Todd, Will, and Myer break down the full spectrum of Cummins engine blocks in this episode, from the various 12-valve generations to the 5.9 common rail and the 6.7, and explain exactly why the differences matter when the power numbers start climbing.The 6.7 gets a lot of attention here, and for good reason. The conversation covers what makes it structurally superior to earlier platforms: a thicker deck, a larger bore, longer wrist pins, and pistons that have held up to 3,000 horsepower in competition builds without giving up. The guys talk through how modern tuning lets builders get even more out of what is essentially a factory race motor sitting in everyday trucks, and why the 6.7 has earned its reputation as the current king of Cummins diesel performance.The 12-valve conversation goes deeper than most. There are meaningful differences between block variations that matter at high power levels, and the guys cover what to look for. Power Driven offers a 14-millimeter main stud upgrade across their block lineup, including as a standard feature on their 12-valve block, because the math on clamping force versus a stock bolt simply does not leave room for argument.One topic worth paying attention to is the roller lifter issue on newer 6.7 trucks. The guys call it out as a real problem already hitting a significant number of engines, potentially on the scale of what the VP44 pump failure was for the 24-valve crowd. If you own a 2019-and-up Ram with a 6.7, this part of the conversation is worth your time.There is also a breakdown of why dropping a 12-valve head onto a 6.7 block causes combustion problems. The 12-valve injector enters the cylinder at an angle, so the piston bowl is offset toward that injector. A centered bowl piston paired with an off-center injector creates combustion characteristics nobody wants. It is a simple geometry explanation that answers a question the comment section apparently asks regularly.The guys wrap up with some real-world context, including Todd running 10-second passes in his tow truck and a story about winning the fastest pass at an airport drag race against mustangs and a supercharged F-150 on a 6.90 slip. The point being that the power these engines support on the street right now is genuinely historic.If this episode has you thinking about your next block build, Power Driven has you covered with prepped and upgraded Cummins blocks and everything else mentioned in the episode at PowerDriven.com.Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com

If you have ever second guessed whether you have the right turbo on your truck or just assumed bigger always means better, this episode is going to sort that out with real numbers from real trucks pulling real weight. Todd, Will, and Myer just got back from hauling to a race in Phoenix and brought the data to prove what properly sized turbochargers actually do out on the road.The guys recap the full tow to the NHRDA event, covering how Willard, their VP44 powered second gen, hauled over 22,000 pounds while running the 60-64 turbo with almost no smoke, no heat issues, and solid boost numbers from Cedar City all the way down to Phoenix.On the other side of that convoy, Myer was pulling 31,000 pounds in his 6.7 common rail tow truck running the Aggressor 480 in a compound setup, holding 30 pounds of boost against 27 pounds of drive pressure the entire way. That kind of boost-to-drive ratio does not happen by accident, and they break down exactly why it worked so well including how a ported cylinder head and cam combination keeps heat out of the air charge and off the radiator when you are working hard under a heavy load.From there the conversation moves into waste gate strategy for both single and compound setups, covering screamer gates, hot pipe gates, and what they learned while tuning the junker for burnout contest reliability at 130-plus pounds of boost. They also get into how nitrous changes the entire equation when it comes to getting exhaust volume out of the system fast enough to keep turbos alive.The guys cover the Aggressor 62-9 and 67-9 singles after running them in the Blue Collar class at the event, including back-to-back comparisons on fuel only and with nitrous. There is a real conversation here about spool characteristics, turbine sizing, and why the 62-9 spools noticeably quicker and what that means depending on what you are actually doing with the truck.They also get into how wide you can spread compound turbo sizes before things fall apart, and the honest answer based on their testing might surprise people who assumed there was a hard limit. The junker running a 62-9 paired with an Aggressor 98 as the atmosphere charger is the case study, and the dyno results on that setup are worth hearing.The episode wraps with a practical breakdown of which turbo makes the most sense depending on your platform and how you use your truck, covering the tow series lineup across the second gen, common rail, and Power Stroke applications. If you are trying to figure out what to put on your rig this is about as straight of an answer as you are going to get from guys who have actually tested all of it.Subscribe on YouTube and follow the Power Driven Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode.It is also March which means the Power Driven sale is live sitewide and they are giving away five Aggressor turbos to customers this month. Every hundred dollars you spend earns you an entry. Here is what is on sale:👉 10% off all Power Driven products including heads, transmissions, pushrods, air filters, and oil👉 15% off all PDD fueling 👉 15% off all PDD turbos👉 20% off Power Driven True 6.7L CrankshaftsIf you have been sitting on a parts order this is the month to pull the trigger.Everything talked about in this episode including the Aggressor turbo lineup and the full tow series is available at PowerDriven.com, and if you have been sitting on a turbo upgrade, March is the month to pull the trigger with the sale running and five turbos being given away to customers.Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com

What happens when a truck you built for testing accidentally becomes the perfect race weapon? That's exactly what we're dealing with heading into the NHRDA Diesel Desert Nationals in Chandler, Arizona, and we are fired up about it.In this episode of the Power Driven Podcast, we're breaking down everything you need to know about the brand new Blue Collar Class, a street truck drag racing format that is turning heads in the diesel performance world. No boost launches. No prepped surfaces. No Christmas tree countdown. They line you up, flip on a flashlight, and when it goes green, you go. That's it. It's the closest thing to a real stoplight race you'll find at a sanctioned event, and we are here for every second of it.The class has strict turbo size limits based on your platform, a 7,000 pound minimum weight requirement, and a 400 tread wear tire rule so you can't just show up on a full race setup and blow the doors off everybody. They want real trucks driven by real guys, and with a $300 entry fee and a $20,000 payout purse on the line, the competition is going to be serious.Here's the wild part. Our 12 valve test rig Vin-D, the truck we've been running injector tests, tow tests, and dyno pulls on for months, just so happens to sit right around 740 horsepower with a 67.9mm turbo and a towing cam. We did not build this truck for the class. It just worked out that way. Now we're going to dial in the wastegate, throw on some fresh rubber, and see what this thing can do when the light goes green from a dead idle.We also talk about which platforms have the real advantage in a class like this, why common rails could be tough to tame off the line, and what it would take to actually build the perfect Blue Collar Class truck from scratch. If you've ever wanted to go racing without dropping a fortune on a purpose built drag truck, this episode is going to get your gears turning.

Everybody loves boost. The higher that gauge climbs, the better, right? Well, not exactly.This week on the Power Driven Podcast, Will and the guys get into one of the most argued topics in diesel performance. Boost. What it actually means, why more of it doesn't always equal more power, and where the whole "boost is just a measurement of restriction" idea even came from.The conversation started after a buddy rolled in from Washington with a 6.0 Power Stroke on one of their new 68mm GT turbos. The thing laid down 662 horsepower to the wheels on completely stock heads and a stock intake. At only 33 pounds of boost. Meanwhile builds running 45 to 50 pounds are struggling to match that number. So what gives?Turns out the number on your boost gauge is only part of the story. What's happening on the exhaust side, how well your cylinder heads flow, your intercooler efficiency, air density, exhaust back pressure, all of it plays into how much power actually makes it to the tire. The guys break all of that down in a way that actually makes sense whether you're building a diesel drag truck, a tow rig, or just trying to get more out of your daily driver.They also get into why diesel turbo technology has quietly lapped the gas performance world, the real reason gasoline engines can make insane power at lower boost, and the tuning strategy behind the Junker's 1,170 horsepower 12 valve build.Plus the age old turbo sizing debate, why chasing peak dyno numbers can actually ruin a truck, and why the best feeling diesel you've ever driven probably wasn't the highest horsepower one.You don't feel a horsepower number. You feel fun.If you want to go deeper on diesel performance, turbo theory, and real world builds, subscribe to the Power Driven Podcast and leave us a review. It helps more diesel guys find the show and keeps the conversation going.

Welcome to the Power Driven Podcast from Power Driven Diesel. In this episode, we're answering a listener question from SuperCalFragilisticExpialidocious7314 about different power adding systems for diesel trucks.We start by talking about our experiences with water injection and water methanol injection on multiple builds. Spoiler alert: water injection lost power on almost every truck we tested, from single turbo street trucks to triple turbo race setups. There was only one time it actually picked up power, and we'll explain exactly why that happened and what made it different.Then we get into methanol injection and why it can actually add real horsepower on certain trucks, especially those with fuel system limitations like VP44 pumps. We've seen methanol add anywhere from 40 to 100 horsepower depending on the setup, and we explain the science behind why it works, when it helps with EGT control, and when it doesn't. We also touch on propane injection, nitro methane testing we did on one of our old trucks, and why compound turbo setups sometimes respond differently to methanol than single turbos.The second half of the episode covers superchargers versus turbochargers on diesels. If you've ever wondered why superchargers are popular on gas engines but almost nonexistent in the diesel world, we break down the real reasons. We talk about parasitic loss, why diesels need way more boost than gas engines, and why that creates huge problems for superchargers trying to keep up.We also discuss some real world examples of builders who tried supercharger only setups and supercharger turbo compounds, including results from guys like Brad Ponzi and Crazy Carl's Turbos. The results might surprise you, but we explain exactly why turbos keep winning in the diesel performance world.If you've got questions about water meth, boost systems, or anything diesel performance related, drop them in the comments. We read every one, and yours might end up as a full episode topic.

Fuel mileage is one of those things everybody talks about, but when you start digging into it, you realize it is not just one magic mod. In this episode of the Power Driven podcast, the guys get into what actually moves the needle on diesel pickup fuel economy and why some trucks can pull off numbers like 30 miles per gallon when most people assume that is impossible.It kicks off with a FreedomWorks video where a built 12 valve Cummins shocks everybody by cracking over 30 mpg in a baseline run, and that launches the whole conversation. They talk about how that truck was not stock, it had things like timing bumped, bigger turbo setup, four inch exhaust, and it was a two wheel drive, which matters more than people want to admit. From there they get real about the biggest easy win, getting rid of waste, and a lot of that starts with how fast you are driving. Dropping speed to keep rpm down and cut wind drag can be the difference between a normal 16 to 17 mpg truck and something that starts creeping into the low 20s.Then they spend serious time on tires because the difference is not small. They explain why skinny tall tires like a 235 85 16 can help drop cruising rpm and rolling resistance, and they compare that to what happens when you go bigger and more aggressive. They also get into the reality of injectors and timing, and why more timing is basically step one across platforms, whether you are talking 12 valve, 6.0 Power Stroke, or common rail. They break down timing in plain terms, why emissions pushes timing in a certain direction, and how tuning decisions like timing split can make a truck efficient without being risky when you are just cruising.From there it rolls into airflow and turbo choices, why turbine side matters so much for efficiency, and how transmission lockup, rail pressure, and even smoke all tie back into fuel economy. The whole thing feels like a shop conversation that connects the dots between diesel performance parts and real world miles per gallon without pretending there is one simple answer.

We learned some things in 2025 that completely reshaped how we think about diesel performance, and a lot of it challenged what most people assume about power, smoke, and tuning.This episode of the Power Driven Podcast is a year end breakdown featuring the Power Driven Diesel crew reflecting on everything they tested, broke, and learned throughout the year. The conversation covers diesel performance across multiple platforms including 12 valve Cummins, common rail Cummins, and VP44 setups, along with what real dyno testing and track time revealed. From R&D and turbo testing to race truck builds and tow rigs, this episode explains why small details in air, fuel, and timing matter more than chasing parts alone.One of the biggest topics is smoke versus power and why adding fuel does not always mean more performance. They dig into the question of whether smoke adds power on a diesel and explain how different platforms respond, especially comparing older 12 valve technology to modern common rail engines. The discussion naturally leads into AFR tuning, running lean versus rich, and how nitrous diesel tuning completely changes the equation when it comes to heat, burn efficiency, and timing. There’s a deep look at nitrous on diesel engines, including why pulling timing with nitrous is critical, how automated nitrous control improves consistency in diesel drag racing, and why feed line size and solenoid flow actually matter.Turbo upgrades and truck builds are another major focus. The crew breaks down real dyno results from turbo testing on different trucks, including the Junker drag truck, Windy, and Willard. They talk through GT55 and Aggressor turbo results, injector sizing lessons, and how some setups made more power than expected without bending factory rods. There’s also insight into wastegate testing, comparing screamer gate versus hot pipe gate setups on compound turbos.The episode wraps with lessons on VP44 Cummins performance, towing capability, camshaft upgrades, cylinder head flow testing, and why there’s still a lot of untapped potential in Cummins head design.Subscribe for more Power Driven Podcast episodes, follow along for more diesel performance testing, and check out everything Power Driven Diesel is building next.