BangShift Project Profile: A Chevy S10 Land Speed Truck…Powered By A Mercedes Turbo Diesel?!


BangShift Project Profile: A Chevy S10 Land Speed Truck…Powered By A Mercedes Turbo Diesel?!

We’ve always been pretty hot on land speed racing here at BangShift and the big reason is that it provides one of the most amazing creative platforms for gear heads in the world today. There are thousands of available classes and millions of ways to build cars and trucks to fit the rules of those classes. BangShifter Dan Stokes who has been a part of the site since its earliest days has had a couple of land speed efforts but his most recent build really spins our crank. Why? It has all of the BangShifty elements of cool. It is unique, it is run lots at wide open throttle, and every inch of the truck has been touched, modified, or changed by the owner in his home shop.

At first glance, it may not make a damned bit of sense to stick a turbocharged Mercedes engine into the front of a little 1980s Chevy S10 truck but when you are a land speed racer and you are concerned with multiple elements of performance like aerodynamics, engine displacement, and speed potential, it makes more sense than you may imagine. Not everyone in land speed racing is interested in building a streamliner to run 500mph. The amazing thing about the sport is the personal challenges undertaken by the racers. Dan’s truck is classified as an F/DT (F-motor/Diesel Truck). The deeper you get into the alphabet, the smaller the engines get. That’s a basic rule of land speed racing. Being an F engine the displacement rules dictate 123-183i or 2.0-3.0 liters. Obviously this thing will never be knocking on the door of the 200mph club at ECTA meets but in land speed racing you are shooting for the current record and if there is not one, you are gunning to set one and bump it ever higher.

Using his keen bargaining skills, Dan was able to basically trade out a car he had for the previously caged truck and that is where the process began in his home shop. As mentioned, Stokes did literally everything to this rig from the paint to the hot rodding tricks applied to the Mercedes diesel engine. The suspension has been modified (the truck is on RideTech shockwaves) the necessary safety systems and modifications have been made to keep the the thing legal by the rules and as a complete stickler for safety, Dan has gone above and beyond in that department to make sure that the rig will protect him in the event of a mishap. Stokes is a Bonneville tech inspector and he knows the rule book. This isn’t a guy who wants to chop the corners off of anything

As mentioned previously, the engine is a five cylinder turbo diesel out of a Mercedes-Benz 300SD that is hooked to a Borg-Warner manual transmission. It has been touched up with injectors and other hot rodding tricks and recently an intercooler was plumbed into the system as well. It is not a 2000hp engine but it is a really unique and cool project that is a contender in the F/DT category at ECTA land speed racing meets and wherever Dan wants to race it.

We have given you a brief summary of the rig here, now you need to see the photos, hit the link and check it out for yourself! We give Dan a ton of credit on this build because of just how creative, interesting, and off the wall it is. A Mercedes powered S10 truck? That is 100% BangShift approved!

CHECK THE PHOTOS AND HIT THE LINK TO SEE THE BUILD –

dan s10 dan s103 dans104

SEE THE STORY OF DAN’S TRUCK HERE – DIESEL S10


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9 thoughts on “BangShift Project Profile: A Chevy S10 Land Speed Truck…Powered By A Mercedes Turbo Diesel?!

  1. Dan Stokes

    I try not to be influenced by what others think of my projects but I gotta say it feels REALLY GOOD to see Mutt (the S-10) on the front page! Thanks Brian and I hope folks enjoy the build thread. I don’t know how good the build is but doing weird stuff like I do necessitates creativity!

    Lots more engine stuff to do. When I get the $$ I’ll order up a Dieselmeken injection pump from Goren Lindgren in Sweden – he’s Da Man (how do you say that in Swedish?) according to other Diesel racers.

    Dan

    1. Dan Stokes

      To add a little more:

      The truck was formerly equipped with an automatic so I added a set of S-10 pedals (thanks to another BSer) and swiped the trans from a ’83 240D Mercedes. It’s a Getrag, not a BW.

      The first pic doesn’t look as good as Mutt can look. I was having “issues” getting him shined up and there was still stuck-on wax showing. I have most of that off now.

      I call what I do – and what many others do – “Rule Book Racing”. If you don’t have lots of money you can either build a slow (for the class) racer of find a class with a low or no record at all and build to that class. It’s a bad plan to build a car then go looking for a class to put it in, assuming you want a chance for a record.

      Dan

  2. Rebeldryver

    It is certainly different and unique race car project. I am guessing there are guys who just build a car so they can go fast, not worrying about beating a record?

    1. Dan Stokes

      ‘Zakly! Lots of folks just enjoy going down the track and don’t worry about the record thing (Peewee, for one). One of our guys is an older gentleman (like me except for the “gentleman” part) who runs a late model Mercedes sports car at 139 – just under the max speed with no cage. I’ll bet he’s run 50 passes like that in a car capable of probably 175 or more but he doesn’t want to add a cage.

      Either way it IS addicting and most of the folks I know find themselves wondering “What would it take to get a record”. In my case I wonder what I could do at Bonneville though I can’t afford to run there and don’t want the post-meet salt clean-up. What may not show in the pics is that Mutt is rust-free and I want to keep him that way.

      Dan

  3. mooseface

    That’s a really cool little truck, and that OM617 looks like it belongs in that engine bay tucked up nice and neat against the firewall.

    A rig like this is exactly what comes to mind when I think about hot ridding: It’s clean, it’s neat, it’s clearly loved, but all the fun go-fast parts are pretty far from off the shelf and it’s clear that Dan’s got a lot of sweat equity invested here.

  4. 3nine6

    OK, so where are the usual swap haters (angry GM hatin hard-on Jeffrey and so forth)? A kraut motor in a Chebby, oh the horror! And an oil burner at that! Congrats to the owner for thinking outside the box. YOU Sir are a true hot rodder! Smokey Yunick would be proud.

  5. Chevy Hatin' Mad Geordie

    What – no LS – it seems there is actually someone out there with a functioning imagination!

    Well done!

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