When you’re in show business, passion for your art is a basic requirement, and you have to be dedicated to grow that passion every day. Brothers Dustin and Brandon Naivar know this better than most, because they’ve taken their passion for great trucks and their talent for creative metalwork and welded the two together to form Showtime Metal Works. The result of their passion, dedication, and talent speaks for itself
Dustin and Brandon grew up around the steel fabrication business, because their dad was in the trade. The young men started spending their childhood around welders and metal fab equipment almost as soon as they could walk. In addition to a love of metalworking, the Naivar brothers also developed an interest in 4×4 trucks—the taller the better.
Building the best in lifted trucks became the brothers’ driving mission and they began preparing and taking their own trucks to shows across their home state of Texas. Eventually this hobby progressed into a business and they made the big jump in opening Showtime Metal Works. Now it’s their life’s work to build the best possible trucks for themselves and their customers, every day.
Dustin’s latest personal truck is a 2010 Chevy Silverado 3500 DRW 4×4, powered by a Duramax diesel. As a dedicated Bowtie man, Dustin has built two previous custom trucks for his own use. The first was a 2007 Silverado 1500 4×4 and the second was a 2007 Silverado 2500HD SRW, also Duramax diesel powered. You might say it’s been a journey to this particular destination.
Dustin’s reliable Duramax breathes in through an AEM cold air intake, and then a Garrett 61MM turbo pumps up the boost to an eye-popping 32 psi. Fuel is fed to the engine by an AirDog 165 fuel pump and air separation setup that provides 165 gallons a minute of fuel flow, at a constant 8-10 psi.
The exhaust begins with 5-inch downpipes, connected to a 5-inch Flo~Pro exhaust system. The exhaust dumps just ahead of the rear axle, through a 5-to-8- inch step-up, MBPR exhaust tip.
To further maximize power, Dustin selected an EFILive tuner to tweak the fuel delivery for a balance of maximum performance and reasonable economy. He also added a DSP5 unit from EFILive to allow himself to switch between five userdefined tunes on the fly. All the custom tuning was performed by Dirty’s House of Diesel, right in Dustin’s hometown of Taylor, Texas.
Dustin tells us the power is up to around 900 lb-ft and 500 horsepower at around 3,700 rpm. To keep this beast of an engine alive, Dustin chose a luidyne oil cooler to help keep temps down. Dustin swears by Lucas oil products to keep temps down and extend overall service life in every truck he owns.
All that fantastic engine torque is transferred through the stock Allison 1000, six-speed automatic to the stock NP263 transfer case. The Allison has been upgraded to a deep pan and external cooler from PPE. The T-case is still in stock trim and the 2.72:1 low range is just right for Dustin’s needs. Power is sent to the stock rear axle that sports custom Yukon 4:88-1 gearing, a PPE diff cover and the stock LSD. The front axle was also upgraded to 4:88-1 gearing from Yukon. Power hits the pavement, or dirt, via six Nitto Trail Grappler tires in 38×13.50R24. These are mounted on American Force 24-inch Scope wheels.
This truck sports a 10-12 inch Rize Industries suspension, remote-reservoir Fox 2.0 shocks and tubular upper control arms. The rear driveshaft is stock, but the front was upgraded to a dual-CV setup. In addition, longer, braided stainless steel brake lines ensure that full suspension travel won’t tug at the brake system. Rize heavy-duty tie-rods and traction bars round out the suspension upgrades.
On the exterior, the stock grille shell has been color-matched to the truck’s nononsense Graystone Metallic. Dustin and Brandon created the STMW (Showtime Metal Works) two-piece grille insert. The front fender flares are made by EGR, then painted to match the body and complement the stock rear dually fenders.
The bumpers also showcase the best from STMW. These steel teeth are unique and strong. The front bumper sports two Rogue4 40-Inch Delta Series, double-row LED light bars. Each of these torches puts out enough light for driving off the grid, even on moonless nights.
The rear STMW bumper sports two 6-inch LED lights. These are great for backing up at night, hooking up a trailer, or just for setting up camp. The stock headlamps have been upgraded to LED units from PlainAndSimple.com, with the STMW logo etched into them.
The truck they found came at the right price (only $8,200), but it needed a lot of work. The silver 2006 regular cab long bed had been involved in a serious traffic accident. In the accident the truck suffered a bent frame, bent front axle housing and extensive body damage, but it was still a good place to start for a project race truck. The damage could be repaired and the Cummins engine under the hood would be swapped into their daily driver while the race engine found its way into the go-fast truck.
To give the truck a solid foundation, the crew at Bella Customs straightened the frame. Then bodywork was completed on the panels that were reusable while the others were replaced. Since new panels were needed for the front end, Rose opted to improve the looks at the same time. He went with an SRT10 hood, bumper and grille combo. To further improve the looks, the trim and emblems were completely removed and the fuel door and grille emblem
were filled and smoothed. In the rear, a smooth roll pan was molded into the bed to replace the bulky factory bumper.
After the body was straight, several coats of Dodge electric blue paint were laid on the truck by K&K Craftsman to give the truck its signature sharp looks. To really make the blue paint pop, Rose added matte black accents to the hood and bumper, along with blacked-out headlights and taillights to go with the dark tinted windows. Unlike many Dodge truck owners who seem to want their mirrors to have as much wind resistance as possible Rose opted to remove the mirrors completely, replacing them with small carbon fiber panels to improve the aerodynamics of the truck.
After going through a few engines, Rose settled on the combination that was in the truck for his win at the 2014 Scheid Diesel Extravaganza. The engine starts with a 5.9L Cummins block and a balanced 5.9L Cummins crank swinging a set of Carrillo rods attached to Cummins pistons. It’s topped with a ported Cummins head with the intake milled off to make room for a Hellman side-draft intake manifold. A Hamilton camshaft actuates the valves that are controlled by a set of Hamilton valve springs. Engine machine work and assembly was handled by Rose himself, along with the crews at M.J. Tool
Fab and Superior Engine.
The fuel system is completely modified from the tank to the injectors, starting with a custom 15-gallon aluminum fuel cell mounted in the bed. A FASS 220 fuel pump/filter system is used to deliver fuel from the tank up to the dual CP3s under the hood with a PPE Dual Fueler kit. High pressure fuel is then handed off to a set of 125-percent-over BD Diesel fuel injectors to provide plenty of #2 on demand. Tuning is handled with EFILive programming from
Ryan Milliken at Hardway Performance to get the most out of the engine.
With all that fuel capability, Rose knew he would need plenty of air, so he opted to use a triple-turbo setup on his Cummins. A pair of S474 BD Diesel turbos takes in large doses of air through aFe air cleaners, then they hand off the compressed charge to a third S474. After the turbos, the high pressure
charge is fed through a BD Diesel intercooler before being routed into the ported head through the Hellman side draft intake manifold. The compressor
covers were treated to a blue carbon fiber hydro dip paint treatment by the crew at House of Hydrographics. Other parts under the hood were hydro dipped with a traditional black/gray carbon fiber paint to give the engine bay a high-tech look
On the exhaust side of the turbos, the single S474 is fed directly from the exhaust manifold. Then exhaust gasses are channeled from the turbine outlet of the single up to the pair of S474s. Individual outlet tubes from the S474 turbines merge into a single 5-inch exhaust that runs into the bed and terminates at a 7- inch diameter MBRP black miter-cut stack that sits just below the top of the cab.
The potent Cummins powerplant is mated to a Dodge 48RE automatic transmission that was rebuilt to handle the power by the team at Franks Transmission in Richmond, Michigan. An M.J. Tool Fab torque converter is used to channel the power from the balanced crankshaft to the transmission through a BD Diesel SFIapproved flexplate. To keep the transmission cool, Rose went under the bed forward of the rear axle and installed a BD
Power is passed from the transfer case to the front and rear axles through high-speed balanced CCI Driveline driveshafts. The crew at HSP Diesel ntegrated driveshaft hoops into the chassis for additional safety. The AAM 9.25 front axle retains its factory open differential and 3.73 gears while the
AAM 11.5 rear axle sports a positraction differential and matching 3.73 gears. To prevent the center section of the axle housing from rotating the tubes were fully welded to the housing.
Rose’s truck normally rolls on a set of 390/40R17 M&H Racemaster DOT race tires wrapped around a set of Diamo wheels, but he swaps them out for a set of paddle tires when he takes the truck to the sand drags. The chassis is lowered in the rear by removing a few leafs from the spring pack to give it a level stance with Bilstein 5100 shocks on all four corners and BD Diesel sway bars and steering upgrades to keep the truck pointed in the right direction at triple-digit speeds. A set of CalTracs traction bars is used in the rear to help launch the big truck down the strip without drama. To stiffen the chassis and
protect Rose in the event of an accident, the guys at HSP Diesel fabricated a roll cage that’s certified to NHRA 8.5-second ET standards, giving Rose room to make the truck faster without having to make additional changes to the safety equipment.
The interior of Rose’s Dodge is all business with a vinyl floor kit and no frills except for the factory dash. Tubes and bars from the six-point roll cage cross the small interior and envelop Rose in a cocoon of safety, along with the Sparco racing seat and RJS Racing Equipment five-point safety harnesses. JGS Machining fabricated a custom steering wheel adaptor for the Sparco steering wheel. Rose added six Factory Match Auto Meter gauges to the truck to keep a close eye on performance. There are three gauges mounted on the A-pillar with another three located on a steering wheel pod. He can monitor boost, drive pressure, transmission temperature, EGT, fuel pressure and fuel rail pressure all with a quick glance. He also installed a Ram Mount Tough Tray laptop station so that he can hold the laptop in the truck securely for tuning sessions and data logging.
Like most gearheads, Rose says the truck will never be finished, but he did get it to a highly competitive level in just seven months. His best 1/4-mile time is currently 10.20 at 133 mph, which is pretty darn fast for a truck that tips the scales at 6,150 lbs. Rose had a great 2014 season, including a third place finish in the 10.5 Index class at the TS Performance Outlaw Race, second place in the Super Street class at the NHRDA Indy event, a win in the 6.60 Index class at the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza as well as a win at the Merchant Automotive Sand Drags earlier in the year. The engine started the season making just north of 1,000 horsepower and by the end of the season Rose was putting down 1,385 hp and 2,055 lb-ft of torque on fuel with the triple-turbo 5.9L common-rail Cummins. But as with many high-performance race engines, when you push them to their limits, sometimes they push back—Rose split
the block just before the 2014 NHRDA World Finals, ending his 2014 season a little early.
Like any true racer, Rose will be using the winter downtime to build a new engine for his truck and, of course, he will be going bigger and better to come out swinging for 2015. We’ve heard rumors of a billet aluminum block, possibly with a 6.7L crank. The masters of horsepower over at Scheid Diesel will have a hand in the build. It looks like Rose will be back on his game soon and the rest of the competition better watch out, because he might have a better season in 2015 than he did in 2014. If you get a chance to see the truck in the pits at an event, go ahead and check it out, because when it’s on the track you might only see the taillights
Bump bought his truck in 2014 from Jones West Ford in Reno, Nevada. Despite being five years old, the truck had just 18,000 miles on it, which meant the 6.7L Cummins engine was just barely broken in. The first owner of the truck had already replaced the factory seats with four National Seating Premium Medium Duty air ride seats. They feature three different lumbar air chambers and two bolster air chambers that provide extra comfort when Bump is riding
high and living large.
Manning Equipment handled the chassis work, converting the F-650 to 4WD, and adding a pickup bed. For the latter, Manning’s VP of Sales, Mark Payton, says the frame rails needed to be shortened to 56 inches CA (Cab-Axle, measuring from the back of the cab to center of the rear axle). The rear axle simply slides forward, and the excess length of the frame rails is cut off.
The bed rises nearly a foot above the frame rails. It’s a standard OEM unit with a tailgate, fender flares, and chromed bed rails and bumper. Bump installed a Transfer Flow combination toolbox and fuel tank in the bed. Since getting access to the cargo area is much harder than on a conventional
pickup, a collapsible ladder is attached to a bracket that folds up neatly on the tailgate. To climb into the lofty bed, Bump rotates out the bracket and slides the ladder’s lower section down to the ground.
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