To meet their demand for horsepower and truck traction, Jake Jones and Miles Heberlein built this mechanically injected 6.0-liter Powerstroke engine. It is one of the only known effective mechanical injection systems on 6.0L. Find out what makes this unique build.
In addition to earning a living, half of the reason engine manufacturers do what they do is to strive to create better engines. This is exactly what Jake Jones and Miles Heberlein’s recently made 2.6 bore, mechanically injected 6.0-liter Powerstroke engine does. This version gives the duo an opportunity to learn about older technologies on newer platforms.
Jake and Miles became interested in engine manufacturing at a very young age. Because of their family’s influence and interest in competition, they are eager to participate more in the diesel world.
Jack said: “One thing leads to another. You end up getting involved in a tractor, a tractor, a semi-trailer, and then you do something yourself.”
At first it was just hanging out with friends, and later it turned into working in trucks and vehicles in their spare time. Today Jack and Myers opened a shop called The Ranch in Finnemore, Wisconsin.
Myers said: “We did a lot of work on 6.0 and 6.4.” “The store’s focus is to provide excellent repair services at reasonable prices. We don’t have a lot of machinery to process engines in-house, so we bring them to Wisconsin A performance store called Full Boar in Dodgeville, State, performs processing. For disposable internal equipment, we have milling machines, jet lathes and many manufacturing equipment.”
According to Jake and Miles, The Ranch is an old farm shop that can hold four trucks at a time. Despite its small scale, the workshop is still capable of some impressive diesel work. For example, this store recently manufactured a 6.0L Powerstroke P pump for the ’78 Ford F-250.
Jack said: “The original system is the brain of Jeremy Johnson. We have taken over the rope and brought it to the next field.” “This engine is built to ease our concerns about horsepower and Traction demand. This is the only known working machine injection system on a 6.0-liter Powerstroke diesel engine.
“Since we have been running the local 2.6 smooth bore bobsleigh rally for a year, we hope to make it more prominent in the eyes of the public. This is a disposable engine with a mechanical pump, and its fuel injection capacity exceeds OEM HEUI (hydraulic Electric unit injector) any fuel that the injection system can provide.”
When Jake and Miles knew they were going to run a mechanical injection system, the original engine of the F-250 was pulled. During the original manufacturing process, another spare engine was put into use, and the mechanical system was tested and measured, which quickly caused the engine to burst.
Jack said: “The engine was disassembled, cleaned and inspected. We found that the main line had been loosened, but the crankshaft was still straight.” “After the block was baked and sandblasted, the main body was drilled by 1mm and the block was drilled by 0.020˝ The crank on the deck has been designed as a blueprint. The main body has been polished to accommodate the main studs and coated bearings.
“The crank was then balanced and polished to a mirror finish, and new cam bearings and antifreeze plugs were installed. Before we finally reassemble the engine, all parts were cleaned and inspected last.”
Within 6.0L, The Ranch chose to use a set of customized Saenz Performance connecting rods, a Colt Cams Stage 3 camshaft, aluminum cylinder heads with O-rings, high-speed valve springs, tool steel cages, and chrome alloy pushers. Rod, a billet, low pressure oil pumps from Warren Diesel, manifolds and exhaust pipes from Capital City Performance and Dyno in Madison, Wisconsin, and a sintered iron three-plate clutch from South Bend.
“One of the biggest obstacles is the injector,” Jack said. “Fair Valley Performance must completely redesign the interior of the injector. This is a 6.0-based injector. All of them will be directly transmitted through the HEUI system. This is another benefit of the work we have done.”
Through this unique structure, Jake and Miles also received some advice and help from Full Boar, J&S Transit, Warren Diesel and Kill Devil Diesel. Currently, the engine is a 2.6 truck traction engine dedicated to the store’s ’78 Ford F-250, but there are bigger plans in the future.
“At our recent dyno meeting, the engine produced 1,196 hp and 1,741 ft.-lbs. torque.” Jack said. “Once the final error is resolved, we are fully willing to maximize the platform’s potential. We will provide this toolkit as a kit for the 6.0L community and may apply it to 6.4L.”
The weekly diesel is sponsored by AMSOIL. If you have an engine that you want to highlight in this series, please email Greg Jones, editor of Engine Builder Magazine, via [Email Protection].
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