A stock medium-duty truck doing a 0-60 mph run in a leisurely 38.67 seconds is hardly surprising, but the team at KC Turbos recently showed just how much performance is hiding within these workhorse Navistar engines. Using the Orion Tuner from Power Hunger Performance, they transformed a sluggish hauler into a responsive and impressively quick machine, demonstrating the massive, untapped potential that a proper tune can unlock.

More Than Just A Flash

The process, documented in a test session with Bill Cohron of Power Hunger Performance, was far more than just plugging in a programmer. Cohron began with a meticulous safety protocol. “We read those [factory parameters] before we do anything else with the vehicle so that we always have a working copy of that,” he explained. To ensure a clean and successful flash, he then isolated the engine’s computer by physically pulling the fuses for the transmission and Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) modules, preventing any communication interference.

From Sluggish To Snappy

With the truck reflashed to a conservative mid-level tune, the results were immediate. On its first tuned run, the truck’s 0-60 mph time plummeted. “We knocked off 10 seconds,” a surprised Cameron Lewis announced from behind the steering wheels. After turning the power up to the maximum setting, the final 0-60 time settled in the 26-second range—a nearly 12-second improvement over stock.

Unlocking A Workhorse Engine’s Potential

Cohron explained that these Navistar inline-six engines are capable of huge power gains because their design is inherently robust. He said the factory detunes them significantly, because “They want these trucks to go 500,000 miles and not have any warranty issues.” He further explained the inline-six’s advantage over a V8 is that it has a lot more crank angle in between injection events, which gives you a lot more opportunity for pulse width, allowing more fuel to be delivered efficiently.

The Proven Power Of The Orion Tuner

The Orion Reflash System effectively taps into this hidden potential, more than doubling the engine’s output to over 400 horsepower and 1,100 lb-ft of torque. It’s a proven tool that safely transforms these reliable workhorses into surprisingly powerful and fun-to-drive trucks.