Theme Tuesdays: Diesel Motors In Everything

There was a time when the words ‘diesel’ and ‘performance’ were seemingly at odds with one another. Those days are quickly becoming a thing of the past as diesel tuning progresses at an alarming rate year after year.

As a result diesel motors are starting to appear as a performance alternative to gas motors in all sorts of different applications.

Depending on where you source the motors these swaps can range from straight forward and low/modest budget (Cummins 4bt) to expensive and complicated (common rail Cummins), but when you consider that at their core diesel motors are quite simple I imagine even more vehicles will be ‘rolling coal’ in the years to come.

Bob Ward found the 7.3 International diesel motor for his truck from a Ford E series van, he then strapped a large Holset to it for some more power
If you have not read the feature on this truck it’s up here
This truck has since undergone a bit of an overhaul since these photos, but the swap remains
It looks a little utilitarian here, but has since been cleaned up quite a bit as seen below

View this post on Instagram

After 6 hours of driving in the rain… she clean

A post shared by Jeff Margeson (@jeff_lowkey) on

What in tarnation, Is that a Cummins in a Power Wagon?
Why yes, yes it is. This cool truck was spotted at Berlin Klassik in 2014, and if I recall correctly was built in Ottawa Ontario
Welderup made diesel swaps incredibly popular with this photo of their diesel rod
This ’28 Dodge has a 12V Cummins in it, the motors been worked over to put out 1270 ft.-lbs of torque and 693 rwhp
This Cummins powered C10 is known as the ‘Diezl Rat’

It’s a pretty gnarly looking truck, impossible to miss and I post it often
I don’t have a photo of the motor in this, unfortunately, but it’s actually a chassis swap

The underpinnings of the truck are Dodge, and the motor is a Cummins, obviously
Nearing the end of the local swaps with this 4bt swapped Miata – Photo: Engineswapdepot.com
Packaging is one of the hardest parts of diesel swaps, as you can tell with how well this motor ‘fits’ – Photo: Engineswapdepot.com

Not to be outdone by the Miata, Arugs Auto put 6.0L Power Stroke Diesel V8 into a skyline with two BorgWarner turbos hanging off it. Argus is hoping the car will eventually put down 650 hp to the wheels and 1200 foot pounds of torque – Photo: engineswapdepot.com

The 240 below is one of the first 4bt imports I came across. It might be the first, but I don’t have records to prove or disprove that

Switch things up and keep it classy with a Cummins powered Bentley
No engine bay shots of this one sadly

Here’s another diesel swapped B machine, this one with a motor 3.0 VW TDI motor

This semi truck themed Nova is from a previous WTF Friday post

For those who might like their Diesel (Durmax in this case) cars to be a little bit more traditional looking, Mike Racke built this back in 2009 – Photo: Truck Trend
Pacific Performance Engineering is a big name in diesel performance and they had a hand in this gorgeous twin turbo engine bay
SEMA is just around the corner, and this 1950 Cadillac was the topic of much discussion last year – Photo: Lowrider Magazine
That’s a 5.9L cummins under the hood. – Photo: Lowrider Magazine

Got a favorite diesel swap of your own that I missed? Let me know so I can pull together a part II of this post!

1 COMMENT

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover

Sponsor

spot_imgspot_img

Latest

Sunday’s Refined: Curated Sunday Special

I have no problem admitting that I’ve become a bit more guarded with my time. A lot of my recent event coverage reflects that. These...

Autostrada Magazine Sets The Bar At The Porsche Experience Center

Autostrada Magazine and The Porsche Experience Centre TO kicked off the 2026 season with a banger of a Cars & Coffee Style Event.

A Japanese Limo Lost In Canada

Toyota's Flagship vehicle, the Century is, usually reserved for ushering politicians & CEOs making it the perfect platform for a VIP build.

Rolling Like A G: A Datsun 240Z On 305s

Fit with Watanabe wheels, 235 and 305 section width rubber and a stroked L28 this G Nose Datsun 240z is the perfect driver's car.

Street Track Life: An E46 M3 With A Turbo Surprise

Witness Mike Catell's capable BMW drift build that combines power and comfort in a true street car experience.