1999 Ford F-350 - Shark Attack
Behind the scenes in the making of the movie Jaws, things didn't go well at all. Among other problems during filming, the mechanical Great White shark, dubbed "Bruce" by director Steven Spielberg's hard-pressed special-effects crew, encountered numerous technical difficulties.
Similarly, Sean Porter ran into a few of his own snags building up his "Great White," a '99 1/2 Ford F-350 that features nearly as many mechanical tricks as Spielberg's monster. The buildup didn't come cheap in getting an older 7.3L to perform as well as a Cummins or Duramax. How much dough are we talking about here?
"I'm sure around $200,000-no bull," Sean insists. "After putting on stuff, trying things, yeah, $200,000 for sure." What's impressive is that he did everything himself, from suspension to motor work to paint and body-all of it, with no professional shops lending a hand (although he does work for ATS Diesel, so he has quite a few resources to draw from). What makes him so self-reliant?
"I grew up always wanting to be the only one to work on my stuff so I would have only myself to blame if something went wrong." While many diesel enthusiasts have learned from the school of hard knocks, Sean just might be a star pupil.
"I've built three motors for Great White over the years to keep the shark out there," he admits, underscoring to his passion for sled pulls and diesel drags. Even though his rig is mostly for competition, "it's still licensed and insured for the street, and it still has the original engine blockin it."
No Cummins Engine Swap
Sean felt tempted to install a Cummins, due to its race reputation, "but I knew that there were a lot of other Ford 7.3L owners out there that were at the same crossroads," he points out, referring to the lack of performance options for the Power Stroke. Rather than give up on the International engine, he persevered. His passion for staying with the 7.3L engine really played a large part in completing the ATS Aurora 5000 turbo package for the Ford Power Stroke. "Now, everyone has the opportunity to build the same engine combination utilizing the same fuel system, injectors, and Aurora turbo system that I have on the Great White."
7.3L Performance Parts
As already noted, this setup didn't come without some teething problems from adding a new turbo. "After putting this baby on for the first time, I hit 52 pounds of boost. I was stoked until I blew the heads off," he winces. "Then I realized I needed head studs, and around this time is when the firering was developed. So that's when the motor came out for the first time. Once the firerings and head studs were designed, the common 7.3L head issues were a thing of the past."
The internals of the engine include modified rods, ceramic-coated pistons, and firerings for the heads. Pinnacle Headers by Jerry Jardine feed exhaust to the ATS Aurora 5000's turbine, with 30 percent more flow, Sean says. "Plus, it sounds like a V-8 gas engine, with a 4-inch intake coming from the turbo down underneath the front of the truck," he adds.
He also added 500cc injectors and twin high-pressure oil pumps to actuate the stage III injectors, along with twin aftermarket fuel pumps feeding each head. Sean also runs an ATS E-Power tuner, all of which is good for 637 horses and an abundant 1,200 lb-ft of torque.
Too Much Power?
Does he want to squeeze any more power from his shark? Well, yes and no.
"Because of the sled-pulling class rules prohibiting nitrous, the Great White has never seen the huge advantage of nitrous. Certainly with the quantity of diesel flowing from the massive fuel system, there is easily another 200 horsepower in the engine. We may never know due to the fact that the Great White continues to clean house on the pulling tracks."
For track duty it's not all about just the motor, though. A truck has to work both smarter and harder to be competitive, and that means some extensive driveline mods. Sean painfully recalls breaking the front axle spider gears four times, the axle shafts twice, and the aftermarket Super Winch hubs as well. Sean also beefed up the transmission by raiding the parts bins at his employer's factory. He threw in an ATS Billet 4R100 transmission, deep pan, billet shafts, and drums, along with the Co-Pilot electronic controller and a Five Star Viskus Drive torque converter.
Giving a nod to his employer, Sean notes that "the full ATS transmission package has been a real success in the reliability of the truck and is a huge advantage in the pulling track. The transmission is set up to allow for wide-open upshifts and downshifts during the extreme abuse of pulling the sled. At the end of the track the transmission is manually downshifted to transmit extra torque to the four wheels in hopes of getting every extra few feet."
37-Inch Tires, 9 Inches Of Lift
Continuing with some of Sean's other personal touches: "I also built my own driveshaft loops, one for the front, one for the rear, and one for the middle," he adds. Along with that are some custom-fabricated traction bars on the Fabtech 9-inch lift. Rolling stock consists of a set of ProComp tires, measuring 37x13.50, mounted on 17x10 Diamos rims.
For clearance around the big rubber, he fitted some 3.5-inch Bushwacker fender flares, recently painted purple to match the ATS stripe separating the two-tone finish. Other custom changes to the body include a 5-inch cowl-induction hood, fabricated by Sean.
"I took two hoods and made one out of steel to keep the body line in the middle," he explains. "I also shaved the door handles using Auto Locks remote door openers. It gives Great White a clean look." Speaking of clean, he installed stacks to keep the smoke in the air, not on the truck or fans.
With all these mods in place on the Great White, Sean achieved some significant success, but with a bittersweet ending: "It finally had a good season of pulls and ran a few 13.8-second quarter-mile passes and made a few full pulls," he says with a note of pride. But that wasn't the end of his challenges. "I did break the rear differential and left front axle shaft at the end of the full pull at Bandimere Speedway."
Was It Worth It?
What motivated Sean to go to so much trouble and expense? His blunt reply: "Taking one for the team. Building one of the best street-drivable, 8,000-pound-pulling, racing F-350 lifted trucks around-and one of the few 7.3L Power Strokes on the road that can run with the Dodge and GM trucks."

Photo Gallery: 1999 Ford F-350 - Custom Trucks - Diesel Power Magazine



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Very Nice! How Much?

Sweet Ride!

 

i saw that in the new diesel power magazine.
and yes that is a sweet truck

 

If he really spent 200,000 than he is an idiot. No wait an IDIOT.

 

If he really did spend that much on it then I want his job!!!!!

 

too much money

 

thats a lot of $$$, but people spend that much cash breaking and fixing things all the time... I thought it was all spent in just a build -- but to keep repairing things and rebuilding them, basically buying the same parts over and over, I can see how he did it...

unfortunately he didn't spend some of that $$$ to update the front end!