In the aftermarket, this pump is loved and hated. In recent years, companies have started investing time and money in the research and development of this pump. The results include quite substantial flow increases. From the factory, the engines were rated at 235 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. The high flowing aftermarket VP44 pumps are now almost capable of supporting 800-plus horsepower on straight No. 2 (No. 2 is in reference to using only pump fuel) and more than 1,000 horsepower with nitrous.
The aftermarket has for many years taken the VP44 injection pump off the engine and installed p-pump conversions (the necessary components to add a 12-valve p-pump). The p-pump conversion is the most popular way to reaching high horsepower with a 24-valve engine.
In addition to the differences in injection pumps, you have those that are hard core, diesel No. 2 power fanatics. Typically these are people who are sled pullers where the rules state no nitrous. On the other side of things, you have those who love nitrous and heavily rely on the additional air supplied by the nitrous to boost the horsepower numbers by 200 to almost 600. These are typically drag racers who have always been allowed to run nitrous and believe it is a safe, cost-effective alternative. Then somewhere in the middle of the spectrum are the people who believe in adding everything they can. So they will be adding the propane, nitrous, water/meth, No. 2, fuel additives and anything else they think they can add to get them where they want to be. We won't be discussing any of those options here, as finding the right mixture is extremely hard and often times massive engine failure results from the wrong combination.
We will simply focus on the most common and popular ways. Where you live and what you do determines how you achieve the horsepower you are trying for. So, what we thought would be the easiest engine in this series of stories to write, actually became one of the most challenging.
We have worked to compile a list of the most common ways of reaching 500, 750 and 1,000 horsepower with a 24-valve engine, but by no means is this the only way possible. We can probably write 15 articles on this and not one will repeat the recipe. Then on top of that, you have the different brands that make each component and before you know it, you are probably talking about more than 100 ways of reaching these goals.