Ford Wouldn’t Build It, So Chris Guest Did!

When Chris Guest found his 2006 6.0 liter Ford F-250 flatbed work truck sitting on the lot of a Buick dealer in Alabama, he knew exactly what he wanted to do with it—though not many would have been able to guess his lofty plans. He had always wished Ford offered the F-250 in a standard cab short bed configuration and decided to take matters into his own hands. Guest’s goal was to create an exciting, unique street truck that could be reliable as a day-to-day grocery getter, but simultaneously light up the tires and blow the doors off an unsuspecting Mustang. So with close communication in his diesel community, especially Michael J Guest had high hopes for this stock, flatbed work truck as soon as he got his hands on the short bed for it. Bacon and Matt Wilbur, Guest set out to transform a bone stock workhorse to a reliable track killing daily driver.

As soon as he got the standard cab work truck back to his home in Bonaire, Georgia, the search was on for a short bed. Once the bed was located and the parts were gathered, it was time to start at Bacon’s shop, Cooking With Bacon. Seeking a perfect seam, Bacon began the 16-inch frame chop needed for the short-bed conversion with a Z-cut before attaching then reinforcing and box- ing in the joint. They then ground the welds smooth before priming and painting the frame to create a seamless product that looked as if it had came straight off the Ford production line. With the first big move completed, it was time to address some of the finer points of the chassis. Guest used DJM’s rear lowering shackles and cut one turn out of the front springs to get the height dialed in the way he wanted. And to stabilize his ride while adding to the comfort, Guest installed Top Gun Customz traction bars and trimmed the bump stops to prevent axle wrap and give the truck a smooth ride.

Once the F-250’s custom shortened chassis was dialed in, Guest’s attention turned to the body of the truck. Keeping with his goals of a streetable speedster, Guest had some subtle, sleek upgrades planned for the exterior. To start with, he opted for a simple yet attractive upgrade to new OEM Harley Davidson headlights with HID bulbs and ‘08 taillights. To help give the truck the more aggressive look Guest was looking for, he installed a Cervini’s 3-inch cowl induction hood J Expertly lopping 16-inches off the frame was no easy task, but Guest and his friends at Cooking With Bacon did the job right. and made the rear sleeker with a shaved ‘08 tailgate and a Street Scene urethane rollpan in place of a bulky factory rear bumper.

Adding to the subtle, yet aggressive look, Guest outfitted the front with a matte black e-autogrilles framed mesh grille insert. He also had a set of custom billet side badges made for the truck by Billet Badges embossed with “F-250 Super Diesel.” Still aiming for the sleeker look, the antenna was replaced with ‘The Stubby’ antenna nub. Keeping several of the upgrades in the Ford family, Guest opted to go with 20-inch OEM unique shortened F-250 to really make it stand out—when he came across the Lexus Ultrasonic Blue Mica, he knew he’d found the perfect color to coat his project truck.

With the short bed conversion dialed in and the body looking immaculate, the time had come to begin the engine build and develop the reliable powerhouse he had dreamed up. Leaving the Harley Davidson wheels paired with adaptable Goodyear LT275/65R20 Wrangler AT/S tires. With the short-bed conversion leaving him with a two-tone truck, Guest knew he had to paint the short-block stock save for a set of ARP head studs to clamp down the O-ringed cylinder heads; Guest, along with Bacon and Wilbur, planned to focus primarily on getting the fuel flow improved, increasing boost with a better turbo, and efficient tuning to dial in the power but keep the beast reliable as a grocery getter. Optimizing the entire fuel system, Guest utilized a Beans Diesel Performance fuel sump, a Fuelab fuel pump and an AirDog 150 air and water separator, along with a Diesel Driven regulated return, ensuring enough fuel flow at every point leading into the Warren Diesel 190/75 injectors installed in the machined cylinder heads.

To get the power spooling in the turbo, Guest turned to Adrian Guglielmetti at Mad Turbo Werks to build his MadMax 66mm VGT charger. For airflow, an S&B intake and filter was installed, and at the other end, expelling the exhausted fumes and smoke is an MBRP 5-inch turbo-back exhaust system terminating at a 6-inch RBP tip that adds a mighty rumble to the bright blue beast. Guest tidied up the engine bay nicely and rattle canned the intake manifold and intercooler piping gold to add a finished look to the clean engine bay.

With the mechanics of the motor prepped, Guest needed an expert tune to obtain the reliable drivability along with the raw power he was looking for. For the ECM tuning, Guest turned to Drew at Backroad Performance. Then to dial in the FICM tuning and test out dyno performance, Guest went to Bill Cohron and Jay Chatham at Power Hungry Performance who allowed many trips back and forth to dial in the F-250. The blue machine was able to lay down 660 horsepower and 1,276 pound feet of torque on the PHP dyno.

To get that power down to the road day in and day out, Guest needed Johnathan and Vinny at Lead Foot Diesel Performance to build the transmission. The ZF6 manual transmission was upgraded with a South Bend Clutch SDD3250-6.0 dual disc clutch and a MidWest short throw shift kit, bolstering strength and reliability while increasing performance and response. Drive Line Service of Atlanta was able to custom make a drive shaft for the short-bed converted truck.

This former work truck’s overhaul wasn’t over yet, though, as Guest began to set his eyes on the interior. To upgrade comfort and style, Guest swapped out the interior himself with black leather OEM Harley Davidson seats. To keep tabs on his high-powered engine, he installed a quad A-pillar gauge pod with GlowShift Gauges to monitor fuel pressure, boost and EGT as well as an Edge Insight CTS for more intricate engine monitoring. To further refine the interior look and upgrade its style, Guest added LED lighting. Turning his attention to the sound system, Guest swapped in a Pioneer AVH-X4600BT head unit and bumped up the sonic quality by installing Hertz door speakers in the standard cab truck.

Chris Guest knew what he wanted and went for it. Over a year-and-a-half build took him from a no frills, bone stock work truck to an eye catching, track running, daily driving street truck. This 660-horsepower 6.0L F-250 is able to run to the store while turning heads and in the next breath put down a 14.2 second quarter mile at 108 miles an hour. With the power and versatility of diesel motorsports and the willing help of many friends in the industry, Guest was able to convert a long-bed work truck into a short bed grocery-getting head-turning street beast. UDBG

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