12 valve 5.9 cummins rear main seal install

If you show up at a diesel event today, you’re guaranteed to find at least a couple of old 12-valves still spooling their turbos. When it comes to adding power, the stock internals are way overbuilt for how much power they came with, and it’s not uncommon to make 700 horsepower or more on the stock pistons, rods, and crank. If you were able to find a bone stock truck and put it on a chassis dyno today, it would put down somewhere around 150hp to the rear wheels. The 100% mechanical design requires no electronic intervention to run other than a starter motor, and the design is so well sorted out they will run forever with nothing more than basic maintenance, and they are very simple to work on. Low power numbers aside, the 12-valve is a very solid engine. While that’s pretty dismal by today’s standards considering the 2019 HO Cummins is rated at 1,000lb.ft., back in the mid 90’s, that was a very competitive rating. When they left the factory, the 6BT had a horsepower rating somewhere between 160 and 215 horsepower, and the torque figures came in between 400 and 440 lb.ft. That distinction goes to a mechanical marvel of the mid 90s known as the 6BT Cummins. Common rails have been popular for some time now, but they’re far from the original high-performance diesel powerplant. High performance diesel trucks are more popular than ever, and with advances in turbochargers, tuning, and high-pressure injection, it’s possible to have a fuel efficient high-powered daily driver that can still tow and blast down the quarter mile.

12 valve 5.9 cummins rear main seal install