Diesel shop talk with technical teeth.
Diesel Performance Podcast stays close to the wrenching, buying, and tuning decisions around Duramax, Powerstroke, Cummins, semis, and ag equipment. The conversations mix practical upgrade paths with blunt shop banter and frequent detours into what actually breaks, costs money, or wastes it.
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Diesel Performance Podcast is a diesel shop conversation with the hood up. It is not polished automotive lifestyle talk. Recent episodes are built around specific choices: how to spend a truck budget, what to watch when buying a newer diesel truck, how the Allison 10-speed fails and gets upgraded, and what instant tuning means for E41-controlled L5P and L5D Duramax trucks. The show keeps its vocabulary close to the parts. Lift pumps, sumps, draw straws, turbos, clutch packs, CDF drums, regen cycles, SCR systems, NOx standards, fuel consumption, and custom tuning all appear as ordinary working language. That gives the show its value. It lets a listener hear how diesel people reason through claims before buying parts or trusting a setup. The conversations often start loose. Shop noise, shirts, sales, jokes, and ribbing are part of the atmosphere. Then the talk usually tightens around what works, what damages equipment, what marketing leaves vague, and where a budget should wait for the next weak point. The show covers Duramax, Powerstroke, Cummins, semis, motorhomes, tractors, combines, and other working diesel contexts without treating them as the same machine. Guests bring in focused lanes: Jared on 10-speed transmission work, Julian from Performance Test Lab on emissions questions, Ben Evers of Calibrated Power on ag equipment performance, Bruce from Pittsburgh Power on semi-truck diesel systems, and Tim Mahoney on L5P tuning. The tone can be rough, playful, and blunt. The technical posture is more disciplined than the banter suggests. Diesel Performance Podcast is strongest when it cuts through upgrade folklore and puts the listener inside the practical tradeoffs: power versus reliability, tune quality versus emissions stress, chips versus custom tuning, and comfort versus brand loyalty when shopping for a truck.
Made for: Suits a listener who owns, works on, buys, tunes, or seriously compares diesel trucks and equipment. It is especially useful for someone who wants practical upgrade judgment before spending money.
What sets it apart: The show pairs loose shop banter with unusually specific diesel performance detail, from 10-speed clutch behavior to emissions-system stress and ag-equipment tuning. It stands apart by treating parts claims as decisions with costs, risks, and mechanical consequences.
The Diesel Performance Podcast is a conversation, debate, and everything else about the three main domestic diesel engines: Duramax, Powerstroke, and Cummins. Hosts Paul Wilson and Chris Ehmke cover topics every diesel owner wants to know. If you love diesel engines and light duty pickup trucks - you've found the perfect podcast.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Practical diesel engineering conversations connect tuning choices with reliability, emissions hardware, operating efficiency, and the next mechanical bottleneck.
Diesel Performance Podcast treats truck modification as applied engineering, with Anthony Bernini and Chris Emke testing recommendations against budgets, reliability, emissions systems, and actual working conditions.
A $5,000 truck budget gets a shop-floor twist: you might keep some of it.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A blunt budget-build discussion that favors smart sequencing over shiny parts.
Diesel Performance Podcast turns this installment into a practical shop-floor discussion about a simple question: if someone has $5,000 for a build, where should it go first.
A practical look at Allison 10-speed weak points and the fixes builders are already using.
The episode centers on Allison 10-speed development, with Anthony Bernini and Chris Emke anchoring the discussion around Jared Ewert's takeaways from going to Suncoast and being walked through where the program should go.
A clear look at how tuning, aftertreatment, and emissions classes collide in diesel trucks.
Diesel Performance Podcast spends this hour tracing a familiar diesel problem: too much fuel, not enough air, and the strain that puts on the DPF, SCR, and regen cycle.
A practical look at ag tuning, fuel savings, and the tradeoffs behind quick chip swaps.
Diesel Performance Podcast centers on the Midwest spring turn, when tractor talk starts to pick up. Ben Evers of Calibrated Power lays out uprates, fuel consumption savings, and the push for farm equipment that works more efficiently.
A shop-floor look at what actually matters when buying a diesel truck.
The episode makes a familiar diesel-truck question feel practical by centering how buyers actually decide. Anthony Bernini and Chris Emke return to the basics: budget, year range, test drives, interior feel, and the small design choices that make one truck click while another…
Car reviews with the fine print left in.
Car reviews with garage-floor honesty.
Fast car talk with lived-in opinions.
Real car testing, plain-spoken buyer advice.
Paul Wilson and Chris Semke discuss a lifted L5D 6500 Duramax on 43-inch tires with tuning and a custom bed, exploring its aftermarket popularity and performance issues.
The hosts of Diesel Performance Podcast introduce a surprise tuning update for L5P Duramax trucks using EZ Lynk, with guest Tim Mahoney explaining the new capabilities.
The hosts discuss the importance of customer service in the diesel performance industry, highlighting their sponsors WC Fab, XRG Performance, and Calibrated Power.
The hosts of the Diesel Performance Podcast discuss spending $5,000 on a truck, interspersed with banter about old t-shirts and shop happenings.
Jared Ewert discusses his experience building Allison 5 and 6 speed transmissions and transitioning to the new 10-speed 10L1000, with insights from Suncoast training.
Julian Filipovic frames Performance Test Lab as a lower-cost emissions R&D step that can get a modified vehicle on a dyno within a week instead of waiting months for SEMA or California Air Resource Board testing.
Diesel Performance Podcast brings Ben Evers of Calibrated Power onto a spring planting conversation about agricultural diesel tuning in Nebraska and the Midwest.
Anthony Bernini and Chris Emke use the Diesel Performance Podcast to answer the common buyer question "what would you buy?" for 2024-or-earlier diesel trucks.
Chris Emkey and Anthony Brunini outline L5P modification paths, from a stock-turbo 550-horsepower tow rig to builds targeting 800 wheel horsepower.
Nick Priegnitz traces diesel engine control from the mechanical 12-valve Cummins to modern model-based ECUs.
Charlie Fish of KC Turbos describes a $20,000 Blue Collar Average Joe class for two-wheel-drive diesel trucks at Wild Horse Pass.
Paul Wilson introduces a detailed comparison of stock, modified wastegate, and Stealth STR turbos for 03-07 Cummins trucks, based on data analysis by Nick Pregnitz.
Bruce Mallinson from Pittsburgh Power discusses his 47 years of experience designing diesel engine systems for semi-trucks and pickups, including the Max Mileage product.