Master Shredder! A 2,168-HP Monster Cummins
Shawn Baca’s Insane 2,168-HP Dodge
Shawn Baca has been an absolute diesel fanatic for years, running around the country and dominating dyno events and clicking off 10-second passes at the dragstrip. Videos of Shawn’s previous truck, a First-Gen Dodge dubbed the “Black Pearl” have gone viral on Youtube with nearly a million hits. After a while, however, Shawn saw the writing on the wall and realized that newer technology was the way to go, so he set building one of the most powerful common-rail Dodges the world has ever seen.
“THE FIRST CUMMINS TO CRACK 2,000 HORSEPOWER ON A CHASSIS DYNO”
The custom compound setup on the Cummins engine uses a 91mm “small” turbo and a huge 106mm Garrett GT5541 as the large turbo, making enough boost to hit more than 1,600 horsepower on diesel fuel alone.
Providing more than SIX times the stock output of the factory CP3 pump, a wild triple CP3 setup featuring three 120-percent over CP3’s from Industrial Injection supports the crazy fuel flow that the King Cobra injectors need to make power.
can monitor what’s going on with the truck via its smoke levels. With nitrous, the smoke cleans up com- pletely to clear.
BORN TO PERFORM
Shawn’s newer Dodge is based on a ’06 Dodge Ram 2500, and the truck has actually been around for quite a while. A number of years ago, it was Shawn’s daily driver, and a very representative platform for just how fast a common-rail could be with minimal modifications. With a single turbo and nitrous, the “Silver Pearl” as it was known, could click off 10-second dragstrip times and break 1,000 horsepower at the rear wheels with nitrous. After years of abuse, the stock bottom-end engine finally gave up the ghost and melted a pis- ton (at a little more than 1,200 horse- power).
A number of race-only parts like this aluminum fuel cell can be found on Shawn’s truck. Still, with the fuel efficiency of diesel engines, short excursions are still definitely possible. A substantial transmission cooler and 15-lb. nitrous bottle are mounted in the front of the bed as well.
Shawn wasn’t one to give up without a fight, and as the Lead Engine Builder for Industrial Injection, he set about building a new engine that would be capable of even higher power numbers. At the time, he was interested to see how much power could be made with a single turbo and ni- trous, so a single 91mm turbo was swapped on to the engine along with the giggle gas, and Shawn kept pushing the limits of the truck right up until the block split at a little over 1,500 horsepower.
A massive custom air-to-air intercooler was incorpo- rated into Shawn’s build, and flows enough air to keep the Industrial Injection compound turbos unre- stricted and happy.
Shawn’s fuel system was maxed out on a single FASS lift pump years ago, so a second pump was added. With three CP3 common-rail lift pumps, twin lift pumps are virtually mandatory.
BIGGER AND EVEN BETTER
Since Shawn had already gone through the trouble of building it “bigger and better” once, quitting after engine number two wasn’t an option. For the third engine, the best parts that Shawn could buy were installed in the engine, such as a heavily reinforced Industrial In- jection race long block that included steel Mahle Monotherm pistons, Carrillo connecting rods, and a Hamilton Cams camshaft. The fuel system was also up- graded with one of Industrial Injection’s first triple CP3 kits, with three 120-percent over pumps. The 91mm turbo also got some help in the form of compounds, with a 106mm Garrett 5541 taking residence in the inner fenderwell. The final piece of the puzzle was a set of Industrial Injection King Cobra injectors, which pushed the Cummins to ludicrous power levels.
A number of large 0.125-inch orifice solenoids from Nitrous Express are used to send a little extra oxygen into the mix, in the form of a 1,000-psi nitrous oxide gas.
Since a healthy dose of nitrous is used, twin Tur- bosmart wastegates that are mounted on a Steed speed manifold are used to relieve excess exhaust pressure. The custom piping was fabricated at Indus- trial Injection.
With maximum power in mind, Shawn uses not one, or two, but three nozzles to bring in the nitrous. Total added power is somewhere around 500-hp extra, as compared to what the engine makes on fuel alone.
2,168 RWHP
Now on his third time around, Shawn’s determination and perseverance has pushed the mighty Cummins engine past what many folks thought was possible. After a number of runs in the 1,400 to 1,800 horsepower range, Shawn finally took his truck and the dyno to the limits, with a 2,000 horsepower run that maxed out the dyno software. After some more tuning (and different software) Shawn has hit an incredible 2,168 horsepower, and has hinted that there’s still more left on the table.
While we don’t know when Master Shredder will finally stop chasing dyno numbers, Shawn’s Dodge holds the honor of being the first Cummins to crack 2,000 horsepower on a chassis dyno. With a number of incredible accomplishments under his belt, we look forward to what the future holds for Shawn and his Dodge, as he sets his sights even higher. DW
A set of custom Alcoa wheels give the Ram a mean and unique stance while tubular traction bars from Rollover-Motorsports.com provide extra traction and much-needed protection against axle-wrap.
Although Shawn was tight-lipped on transmission specs, we do know that it’s a custom-built 48RE- based transmission from RKL Diesel that handles the power. The trick slushbox has been converted to a three-speed instead of a four-speed for reliability purposes.
EDITORS NOTE:
Shawn is a current competitor in Diesel World’s Ultimate Callout Challenge, and he has stepped up his game for 2016. As this issue went to print, Master Shredder had just put down 1,962 rear-wheel-horse- power, on fuel only, NO nitrous (with a new turbo setup as well). Master Shredder is now running triples. I can’t wait to see what he does with it and a bottle at the Ultimate Callout Challenge in May. It’s going to be epic.
