Courtesy of Engine Builder.
Engines are inherently cool. That’s not new news to Sean Purdy. He’s been into anything with an engine since he was about 3 years old. From there, it didn’t take long to get into diesels. His diesel passion began with diesel lawn tractors and escalated into diesel trucks after attending his first truck pull.
“As soon as I was old enough to get behind the wheel is when it really started,” Purdy admits.
Today, Sean manages a large landscape construction company as well as their snow operations. He also has a small business hauling equipment and the like on the weekends. Sean’s work entails plenty of diesel engines, and he bought himself a truck to have some fun with.
“I have a 1999 Dodge Ram 2500, 5-speed with a 6.7L Cummins conversion that is second gen swapped and makes 1000 horsepower,” he says. “I bought this truck pretty well all stock except a few minor engine mods to the VP44 engine. Shorty after I bought it, it got swapped to a P-pump 24v with compound turbos. That lasted for about four months until a third gear heater ended that.
“I then went over the whole truck and re-did basically everything with all new – cowl hood, roll pan, caltracs, head lights, tail lights, all glass and trim, as well as a full paint job. It has the entire original body (no bondo), but was faded from the Arizona heat, so it got sanded down to metal and repainted. Once I got all that wrapped up, I sent it over to the guys at The Delta Speed Shop, and with a little help from myself it got the full 6.7L commonrail swap.”
Purdy says the goal for this truck was to keep it as close to factory looking as possible with a few exceptions. It has a full standalone harness that allows everything to work as factory, including the entire factory dash, warning lights, key, etc. This truck functions as it would from the factory.
“We are still working at getting some tuning issues figured out, so I am loading it up and taking it to Firepunk Diesel in the spring,” he says. “The goal is 1000-plus horsepower, which it should make with ease. It’s just my tire-shredding Sunday cruiser!”
