Reader’s Rig: Gorgeous Cummins-Swapped F-600 Ford Hot Rod Hauler

The crew at Classic Car Studio on YouTube has been frequently updating their viewers for quite a while now on a project that has definitely kept us buzzing. They have transformed an old, rusty, 1956 Ford F600 grain truck into a Cummins-swapped, show-winning, extremely detail-oriented rig. It started with a pretty rough canvas, but with a handle on fabrication, bodywork, and time, you can see what it has turned into.

In the span of 8,500 hours of labor, they have stretched the cab and floor as well as upgraded every square inch of this 67-year-old Cummins-swapped machine. After a lot of measuring, cutting, and fitting, the truck was finally completed and sent off to our friends at Firepunk Diesel where it could be dialed in on the dyno to make driving as clean as the exterior.

“The cab was so nice, it hurt cutting it up and turning this into a crew cab, but it is what the customer wanted,” said a CCS representative. “We had to manufacture new rear doors, a new roof skin, and everything else involved in turning this into a four-door.”

In the video, Firepunk’s Lavon Miller talked with the crew at CCS and discovered that the entire bed was handmade. That was necessary because when the truck arrived, it didn’t have what we would consider a “bed”. This truck features so much more than a custom-built body and big wheels, though. They have stacked it with a bangin’ suede interior, a custom-made metal dash with a far-from-stock instrument cluster, and a backup camera. Inside the polished and buffed engine bay is the real snazzy part.

Looking under the hood does not really elicit surprise, as we see a Cummins-swapped ride. We find a D&J Precision Machine Cummins engine with a pair of Stainless Diesel turbos mounted on the side, a larger CP3 high-pressure pump, and 100-percent over injectors. This is all backed by a Firepunk Diesel-built transmission. After dialing it in on the dyno, the truck made a stout 510 horsepower on tune one, and on tune two, it reached 706 horsepower with nearly 1,000 lb-ft of torque. “This truck has plenty left in the tank and I believe on tune five this truck could easily make over 1,000 horsepower, but we’ll let the customer have some fun with it and get comfortable with the power that is on tap before that,” Lavon said.