Courtesy of Engine Builder by Evan Laux
Stainless Diesel is always on our diesel engine radar, as they’re constantly putting together sweet builds that excel on the track. The team’s Chevy S10 has been at the forefront of interest over the past few years, and they’ve finally gotten it to where they like it. We got to check it out up close at the 2023 Ultimate Callout Challenge.
“It’s been probably four or five years now that we’ve been working on it,” says Steve O’Neal. “We kind of took a bunch of leftover parts that we had laying around, and Johnny Gilbert found a rolling chassis and we just kind of started it up with the cancer awareness theme. We drove to Florida with it and ran it for a little bit.”
O’Neal purchased the truck for himself with the intention of going as fast as possible with a VP, while still keeping it budget friendly.
“The manifold charger is a five-blade 369 – it’s a 75mm turbine,” he says. “The atmosphere charger currently is a 400 frame. It’s a five-blade, 85mm 96 with a 1.15 housing on it, and it does about 120-lbs. of boost right now.
“It’s got a pair of ARP .625s in the head. It’s got an o-ringed head with a factory gasket… head studs, ARP rod bolts, some upgraded valve springs and pushrods and that’s literally it.”
By keeping the modifications minimal, Steve addresses the inherent issues with the injection pump’s fueling capacity at high rpm. Chopping off considerable weight from the truck also allows the setup to stay rather basic. With O’Neal in the driver’s seat, the S10 weighs around 3,600 lbs.
