Diesel Babe 7.3

Shyla Nordman is a Michigan native, who grew up around cars and trucks, and knew at a young age that she wanted to build a truck. Even then, she knew when she said "build", she would not be purchasing her truck off the dealership lot or any craigslist ad, she wanted to literally build a truck from the ground up. Maybe at a young age she wasn't fully aware of the amount of tears and blood that might go into this 7.3 liter build, but she definitely was fully prepared to put in the hard work, along with a lot of hours of sweat, stress and several sleepless nights.

Why build a diesel truck? Shyla decided that a diesel truck would be the perfect project for her, when she fell in love with diesels at truck and tractor pulls.

When Shyla bought the 2001 7.3 liter truck, she didn't have much choice but to begin the cosmetic work first! She began by painting the frame with a protectant, upgraded the the front end and cab to the 2007, and also swapped to the 2010 tailgate, with the Superduty inlay! Bushwacker fender flares came next, and she upgraded the air filter to a S&B cold air intake. Shyla is currently building her own Oracle halo headlights.

Now that the build is taking the shape of a truck, Shyla will continue to upgrade other accessories. Her plans include, but not limited to: tires, wheels, lift, bumpers, traction bars, and other metal fabrications. She is looking forward to beginning work on the motor performance part of the truck; what she refers to as the "REAL" build.

A little More About Shyla!

Shyla is 24 years old, and along side of her fiancé, is running an auto/diesel performance shop on the side, hoping to make it a full time business! One of the things, she's enjoyed MOST about the 7.3 build, is the fact that she's had very little help from her fiancé. She hopes her work on the 7.3 encourages women to work on their trucks themselves, and learn as much as they can!

Go after what you believe and love to do, even if you the first time around, go back and give it another try! Never give up on something you want!

Shyla was featured in Diesel Tech's Power of Pink!

Ladies of Diesel

Shyla's GREAT sponsors*:

S&B Filters

Oracle Lighting

Bushwacker

Red Dirt Hydrographic, LLC

DWI Signs & More

*at the time pictures were submitted!

We would like to thank Shyla for being a great figure among women interested in diesels! We enjoy having you a part of our community, and have loved seeing your build come along! We can't wait to see what 2015 has in store for you and the 7.3 Powerstroke!

Pictures contributed by Shyla, Diesel Babe 7.3.

Article written by: Amy Kent

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