Throwback: Old Ford F-1 Hides 1,200 Horses

Madness!

“I did it to be different—to stand out,”  states Scotty Birdsall... Mission accomplished, I say.  Scotty Birdsall is an owner/builder/professional driver with more than 20 years of experience to pull from.  And boy does it show.  One of his latest creations "Old Smokey" is a true one of a kind, and it all started with a $225 Craigslist buy. 

Old Smokey

“I bought it to flip it,” Scotty says.  However he ended up growing fond of the truck once he started working on it, and what was to be a flip became a project.  I believe most of us can understand how that can happen. 

Want Some Block With Those Turbos?

Scotty started with the venerable 5.9 Cummins block, that was harvested from a 2005 Freightliner truck.  Significant internal upgrades had to be made in order to make the block survive his grand design.  ALC Racing Engines out of Santa Rosa built the engine using Mahle pistons, Carrillo con rods, ARP studs, a Hamilton camshaft and Hamilton pushrods.  Once complete, Scotty installed the engine behind the front axle centerline for weight balance. 

All About That Boost

To say it has a turbo would be incorrect... It has turbo(s), and big ones at that.  While it does have two turbos, it is not a twin turbo setup, it is a compound setup, with a smaller (HA!) Garrett GTX 80mm turbo spooling up and feeding the even larger 96mm GTX turbo.  

For those uneducated in how turbos work allow me to quote Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear/Grand Tour fame, "A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster."

All kidding aside, a turbo spools up and force-feeds an engine more air, that combined with more fuel equals more power.  In Old Smokey's case, the turbos crank out 100 psi of boost!

Cooling the boosted air down is done by not one but two intercoolers.  The first is air to liquid intercooler, then followed with a Mishimoto air to air intercooler fitted between the 80mm turbo and the intake manifold.

What does all that boost get you?  Answer: 1,230hp, and more than 2,000 lb-ft of torque at the wheels. 

Supporting Modifications

Scooty is using a stock Dodge ECM to monitor and run the engine functions, this includes boost levels that are determined by wheel speed, and which gear he's in.  Hardway performance was tasked with programming the beast and did so using HP Tuners software and an emphasis on power without rolling coal (kudos to them for that).

To feed the beast Scotty went with a pair of Industrial Injection XP Series CP3 pumps, which is supported with an AirDog 200 GPH lift pump.

To put the power to the ground, Scotty entrusted ATS Diesel Performance and went with one of their 47RE transmissions complete with billet internals.

The handbuilt tube chassis features SPC adjustable upper A-Arms, custom built lower A-Arms, remote reservoir Afco coil-overs.  Out back there's a custom-built four-link rear suspension with an adjustable Panhard bar.

Where the rubber meets the road we have 335/30Z R18 Toyo Proxes R8R rubber on CCW wheels.

But Don't Call it a Rat Rod

Scotty hates the term "rat rod" as it implies shoddy craftsmanship.  Whether that's on purpose or by design varies from builder to builder, and the skill level of each of course.

The only thing rough or shoddy about this truck is its paint.  Aside from that, you're looking at top shelf fabrication work and incredible attention to details.

>>Join the conversation about the 1200HP Ford F1 right here in the forum.

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