The Big Boss: Jerad Wittwer's 1,800HP Peterbilt & Performance Diesel Inc Shop Tour

That would just keep you going all night. >> America don't move without trucks. >> Everywhere you look is just astounding. If everybody thinks that they have a pickup that makes a lot of horsepower and they want to test it, that dyno will break your truck. I think it's guaranteed. >> So, we're in St. George, Utah at PDI, and we're going to find out how this place works and what they do here. So, this is Jared. What is PDI? >> PDI is a manufacturer of diesel performance products. kind of changed things up over the year that it's became more than just a performance company. It's actually manufacturing for good high quality and we've took the things we've done in performance over the last 25 years and put it into highquality replacement parts for engines. >> I've spent some time in the the shop there with Mark's coach, but I haven't really seen the whole campus here. You got multiple buildings. Which one should we go to first? >> Uh let's let's go in the shop. >> Before we get to the shop, I got to show you this custom Peter boat that Jared keeps at his house. So, what do you think? This is pretty wild. What year? Like what is the truck? What year is it? >> 2001 379 long hooded Peterbuilt 292in wheelbase. So it's called family business. You can see the logos everywhere. The the scallops, the paint, everything on the whole truck's got it. >> This is crazy. >> Check out the frame, the suspension. I mean, it's just amazing everywhere you look. build all new frame rails cuz you can see there's no bolts in the frame that hold the crossmembers. And then the engine, of course, was a brand new engine that makes I think this made 1,800 horse. >> That's it. >> Uh-huh. Just kind of kept going with it. We built it in 4 months. >> 1,800 horsepower. How much torque is that? >> I think it was like close to 7,000 foot-lbs. >> That's just insane. I've never seen anything like this before. >> Yeah. We don't even know what other kind of transportation device would have 7,000 footlbs of torque besides like a ship. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Or a locomotive. >> You don't even have a visible door handle. Anyways, your shifters are right here. So, like you know how usually you have a gear shift here, you shift to gears here. It's low on air. After we show you the engine, I'll start it and let it idle. So, as you can see, we fabricated every piece of this. So, even the air to air has the same scallops from there from the landing spots of the hood. Even the crossmember under there has it. >> Yeah, it does. >> What do you notice about this thing, >> man? How do you make that >> big? The big guy build all that. Tyler build all that. >> That's insane. >> He is no CAD drawing. Just scallops, cuts, welds, and then cleans it up to >> Insane. >> Yep. And we were talking earlier, remember that showing in my office, the tunable turbo? >> Yeah. >> This truck's got one on it. It's even got the scallops I machined into it. >> So, what all did you do to the engine to make it make 1,800 horsepower? >> Tons different pistons, cams, injectors, tuning. I mean, this this engine at one time spent about 3700 RPM. That's a lot for a big engine. This sounds pretty cool with that big old this scoop on it. It's a fiberglass hood, but see the logo in the front of it, too. >> Everywhere. >> Literally everywhere. >> So, how did you uh how did you get your wheels? You obviously got them without holes. >> Yeah. So, it starts with one single hole, which is here for the valve stem, and then you just water jet. >> So, did you get alo make those for you or how? >> Uh, them were center lines. I think I've got some left. You look the wheels even painted the blue color inside. >> I didn't notice that. Is it fast? >> Um, the problem was is when we showed it, we didn't grease it much. So, it it when we drove we've done a couple port entry shows with it and drove it around a little bit, but like anything upper words 100, it gets a little a little uh squirly. Can it just blow the tires off whenever you feel like it? >> As long as I can shift it, you know? I mean, like if you get it in the right gear and get it on boost. Yeah. I mean, it's not as good as the one that we had. We I built an engine that had triple turbos on it and when it would light it would just and it would light at about 130 it would smoke the tires off of it. >> That's it. It made made about 118 lbs of boost and this is somewhere around 60. >> You know, I've tested a ton of dash cams and today we got another one for you. This is the Red Tiger F7NA true 4K with Sony IMX 678 sensor front recording. Front is 4K 30 frames per second. The rear is 1080p at 25 frames per second and it still works great in the rear even through the factory tinted glass of Logan's car. Voice control, touchscreen, super easy to use. Take you 5 minutes to set it up if that. Going on right now is Red Tiger's 6th anniversary. And you can get the F7NA with an additional 15% off with our exclusive [clears throat] link. Use code RTF7NA4K for an extra 15% off in honor of their anniversary. They make great gifts. Check it out. I can't even imagine going 130 mph in a truck like this. >> On uh the back down in Weatherford, I was giving a guy a ride in a truck that's similar to this and I turned it sideways at about 155 and it scared him to death. Can you see the laser shooting around there on the >> Yeah. What is that? >> Just a light show for when you show them. >> It's just the detail is never ending. If you just look, you know, down here or underneath there, you know, or in the back, everywhere you look, it's just astounding the, you know, the fabrication and the detail. It's just I, you know, it leaves me speechless. >> And I've been around a lot of cool stuff, but I just I'm speechless. >> I am, too. I I normally have more things to say, more questions and stuff, but I find myself just looking at it and thinking like almost thinking nothing because I'm just looking at it and just taking it in. >> There's a kind of a crazy story about this, too, is we built this the frame, the engine, and everything. And then we hauled it to uh Connecticut and we teamed up with a guy named Todd Rocker Prairie and we built it together. So Carson went out there, my painter went out there, and then I would go out on the weekends and we kind of we kind of built this truck. together. And then it was, if you look on the dash on the other side, it has it custom built. I think it says on there for satin. I haven't even been back here yet. >> So, it's on everything. Like everything. >> Unbelievable. >> This is fully three-dimensional. Like every surface, top and bottom, upside down, is perfect. The only normal truck part I can see on it is the rubber on the airbags and the tires. That's like the only thing that is like shelf on this cuz the exhaust flow like to go through that thing. >> Uh, you know what? I've never cut it open to see how it flows actually. But it it definitely doesn't hold back. We probably should have inserted it some way, but we didn't. It would actually have that flow. I mean, a lot of it this truck never went on the dyno a whole lot cuz it was just for it's too hard on it for the looks and what it what it's about. But it, you know, we build it to show off our product, especially when, you know, caterpillars were still really, really hot item back when we built this truck. And nowadays, everything's a Cumins. Can you start it? >> As long as the batteries leave dead, see it's not a weak driver. Might give us a little grease. We'll get it. Heat up here. >> that just made my day. >> Smoke. >> Oh, just the the turbo whistle. >> Mhm. >> You know, dude, I can just imagine driving that. >> Well, I had a show. Have you ever seen that video of the same engine but on the dyno? I'll show it to you. That thing ran for 35 seconds. Used up half the oxygen in this giant building. [laughter] >> Yeah, I love that turbo whistle, man. >> That sounds so good. >> I can just imagine going through the gears, listening to that. And it just, you know, that would just keep you going all night just to work the gears and listen to that turbo wine. This is the same same exact engine but with triple photos. 2200 horse and broke the dyno. >> You hear it banging? >> Yeah. That turbo gets loud fast. Like way louder than I thought it was going to. This thing must just sound awesome just going down the road. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I give you a real black rev [laughter] up like your thumbnail. Like I don't know if it would work, but like to give you like a a cloud of smoke for the thumbnail. >> Oh, it would that would work. We [laughter] can do that. We'd have to open the door so we don't die. But >> open up some doors. Ready? >> That is awesome. >> That's cool. >> I think you just stained your ceiling, but >> you did it for science, so it's okay. >> God, let's look at it rolling out back there. Did you hear the turbocharger kicking and then the engine tone totally changed? >> Yeah. >> Pretty crazy, huh? That probably went to about 2,800 RPM right there. Wow. Cuz you heard it. >> As you can see, one of my pet peeves, I guess, is keeping the place looking like it's new, even in the shop. It would always be a disgrace to pull a $2.5 million motor home into something that you know like a lot of repair facilities or manufacturing processes that have grease. But this is a customer testimonial. Mark from Arkansas. >> This is one of the cool projects we get to do. You know, is Mark's coach. I think this is number three or number four we've done for him. Uh I think I've known Mark now. So it's number four, you know, and man, they always get better. So, you're working on a add a turbo back here right now, are you? >> Yes. Uh, we manufacture all the parts for the engine from the block to the cylinder head to the injectors, the exhaust manifold, the add a turbo kit, the intake. Even this one was kind of a little different. We've manufactured the front gear plate. It's got marks number six on it. I think originally we were only going to do 20 of these coaches, so I built 20 castings because originally it was welded and fitted together. You know, everything we do is a cast piece and then chedd, you know. Uh, >> so this is like an adaptation of kits that you do for semi-truckss. >> Yeah. So, we uh currently do that for the 389 and working on the 589. But they're they're two different worlds. It's a Fitmas and you know, even that piece over there, that's an intake piece that only fits new. And this only fits new coach, too. And this is your high pressure from the low pressure turbo to the high pressure turbo. The turbocharger, we manufacture the turbocharger. Have [snorts] bigger shafts in them and better bearings. >> What platform is your favorite? Like personally, you're you're the one that gets you going the most. >> I probably love Caterpillar the most. Even though they don't make engines for trucks anymore, but there's nothing like the sound of a strong running cat. Like you and I were standing out there a minute ago. That engine that went by had a Caterpillar in it and I could hear the engine mist through the exhaust. You thought I was crazy, but little background, I worked for a CAT dealership and did a lot of their first helped with their first engineering on this. Like because St. George is in a special place, you got 2,000 ft and within 60 mi you can be at 10,000 ft and you can pull 128,000 lbs in Utah. These gas haulers would load up anywhere from 112 to 122,000 lb. and CAT would send test engines in them and we were the center that if they dropped an injector and different things and the cool part is this engine platform I seen it in the in about the early it was 1992 and I remember first looking at it we had to call and get authorization to pull the valve covers off of it pulled it dropped the injector tip ruined the the piston and of course that was like the first one I ever got a a tear apart I was pretty wet behind the ears then I was only about 20 years old and it was cool to just see the overhead cam platform because I'd been around what Caterpillar is famous for is their B model and C model Caterpillar which is kind of somewhat the same but they had a a push tube engine and you had just you know their injection pressure was way way lower. you had I think pop off pressure was 5,500 versus 50 15,000 plus and nowadays we're into almost 40,000 PSI of rail pressure on these newer Cumins. Every part in this is made by PDI including the block. You know, when you and I first started talking about video and stuff, I explained to you this is a printed block. And I think you've been around it enough. You could see the scaling that was right here in the lines. That's from printed block. And this is going in a customer's truck to do R&D and make sure that the stress levels and runs for a while. We took a block like this that was a block and then reverse engineered it, changed some stuff, some webbing in it to make it stronger, printed it, and then we'll go into the actual match plates, the actual manufacture it after we do our testing on it. anything from the exhaust manifold to the turbo to the oil cooler to the pan cylinder head, the injectors, the rocker shafts, the cam shaft. And we do a lot of them. Like you can tell with Mark's motor, we do some custom paint even for a catapor. The turbo is capable of handling more horsepower, but still has a drivability if you want a stock engine. The exhaust manifold flows about 35% more air flow than a factory one. And also has this joint. Cat has a thing where they just slide it together and they put a diaper on it that handles it, but it's a loose fit. It doesn't have a seal. We use an Incanel seal. This would be the same manifold that I was talking about that was on that cat, but see how it's all eroded away and bent? Yeah. So, that really does that. But then you take, remember how I said that there's no metal theft? This is a convertible manifold. So, the only thing that was holding that together down the going down the road was the turbocharger being bolted on because it was broke clean in half just from the the heat or the expansion of the the block trying to pull it apart. Is that what happens? >> Crazy. But then it's just showing some cutaways of, you know, factory manifolds compared to ours. So, this would be ours and this is a factory one. But see the difference in the flow here. difference in the size. See the difference? But look at the wall thickness too for durability. See how thin this is compared to how thick this is. >> So really you can pick up as much as 20 horsepower. But see this joint I was talking about. So this just slides together on a factory one, but we run this incanel seal that slides on here and this does the ceiling of course when it's embossed. And then this is the serviceable unit. This is made out of Inkanel. If it's anything else, it won't last because you're, you know, you can be up to 1300 degrees in the in the exhaust manifold. That drilled rod that nobody's ever had. So, like you start, it's a different material, first of all. Second of all, nobody has that in the 6NZ rod. And there's a DLC piston pin. See how it's black? >> Mhm. >> And if you slide it in to the actual piston, feel how smooth that is. Wow. >> That's uh got phosphate coating on it. That's why it's black. >> This is a serious Is this iron? >> Yes. >> Wow. >> Yep. >> Are they all iron or steel? >> Some some are mono monotherm steel and some are welded steel. >> This is the heaviest piston I've ever picked up. >> So, there's a two-piece something similar. And this is kind of the old school of having a single, you know, steel skirt. What? That's crazy looking. And then a two-piece. But that is not as good a technology as this. And the reason why is is you got a cast iron liner, right? The bonding is totally different in actually how the metal fatigues. >> So [clears throat] that's why we went to mono steel or monotherm piston. So this would be all one piece. So this is forged like this, built completely and then machined. This is mono steel and this is welded centrifically. >> So or normal pistons like this with this skirt being a separate piece. >> Yes. >> I didn't know that. Why do they do that? >> Uh just older technology. I mean very common in lower horsepower, very common in low heat for emissions. This this would not live in today's world with emissions. Your exhaust temperatures now I mean DPF burnoff right is 1,200 degrees now. So like aluminum would almost be coming out the stack at 12,200 degrees. So you can't have an aluminum based piston doing DPF regen. >> Interesting. I've never seen anything like that before. These are so much different than, you know, car >> race engine stuff that I'm used to looking at. >> But see if you look down in here, the volume, how it necks down. >> And if you look how there's no volume of air coming up here. So, what happens to your cylinders out here on, you know, one and two and three and four. And if you take a walk over here, now this is just a printed one cuz I don't have any up here, but I could go grab one. This is this is the same model on the inside, but do you see the difference [clears throat] in the airflow? Yeah. So, the crazy part of it is is everybody thought I manufactured this for horsepower and realistically the horsepower just came with it. We were seeing tremendous problems with intake valves on a Cumins sucking up into the head because the high intake air temperature was so bad. Well, developing more air flow like that, we dropped intake air temperature by almost 20° under a hard pull, but we picked up like 20 foot-lbs of torque and like only 8 horsepower. But guys are seeing huge fuel efficiency because all six cylinders now are running balanced air over the years. As you can see the performance end of things but then adding it into daily use project product to give longevity. Are they built for more performance? Yes. I mean this engine would handle 750 to 800 horsepower tire. That's nothing uncommon. But do we do it just through adding a bunch of horsepower? We can, but that's not the goal. Well, the goal is longevity and getting the engines to last longer than you know even if they last longer than they do from the factory is our goal by putting better parts we fill with re-engineering components. You see the OE is not cut like this. We cut this so we can put a support on the inside of the oil pan create strength because of the vibration of the engine. They do have a a block girdle that sits up inside on a Caterpillar that girdles the block so it doesn't shake because some of the earlier ones would they'd get a crack down the block from from harmonic imbalance or the crankshaft dampener fell to the clutch where they drivers would drive them so long they would crack the block. That's kind of like the engine build. This is we, you know, we usually sell 40 to 50 of these out like this a year and a lot of long blocks too. We used to do a lot of different installs. We would install, you know, brakes when I first started and we do different things, but anymore this is more or less an R&D and only good customers or if they want PDI parts, we won't install anything but the stuff we manufacture anymore. >> So, if you're going to put more power to something, you're going to…