5,000-HP Jet-Powered Twin-Engine Kei Truck on Public Road Gets Thumbs-Up From Fire Brigade

‘I don’t like my Honda Acty Attack’s performance. Can I get a 5,000-hp upgrade?’ said no Kei truck owner ever. Then Cody Detwiler bought one, and all the hot hinges of hell broke loose when he customized it with a fighter jet engine. And took it out on the highway for a test drive.

Honda is one of Japan’s founding pillars of motoring, with a range of products spanning from outboard motors and motorcycles to sportscars and pickup trucks. The Acty is one of the humble minitrucks that have endured through the decades as the company’s go-to solution for all-purpose utilitarian vehicles with a very small footprint.

Equally small, the engine in said Acty is, as you can imagine, a little bit more lively than a domestic-grade coffee grinder. However, the tiny vehicle gets the job done without much fuss and on a low budget. It does everything you ask it to, except one thing: it’s not particularly fond of speed.

With a rear-mounted 656-CC three-cylinder engine delivering 552 hp and 45 lb-ft (61 Nm) to all four wheels, the Acty Attack is the most muscle-bound factory variant of the third-generation utilitarian. That is typically enough for regular, everyday, normal people’s use. For WhistlinDiesel’s social media antics, that’s something he would put in his toothbrush.

Hence, the popular YouTuber retrofitted his example with a slightly more potent powerplant—a jet engine. In traditional WhistlinDiesel fashion, that’s about as fitting as pouring gas on fire. Ironically, he chose diesel as the fuel for the jet (maybe he was concerned with mileage). As we can see in the video, the jet takes up the whole bed of the tiny truck, all  6.5 x 4.5 feet (198 x 137 cm).

I’m curious if the big aircraft turbine prolusion system is within the 440 lb payload of an Acty, but that’s the owner’s business to comply with NHTSA rules and regulations. By the way, remember how I said the mini Honda has a rear engine? Well, now it has a mid-jet one, too. So, an engine in the bed and one under the bed – this is one cool truck, although that flamethrower blaze at the rear might inspire other epithets.

In regular drive mode, the four-wheel drive Acty Attack isn’t a powerhouse of speed – at 65 miles per hour (105 kph), it’s hardly noticeable by highway patrols. But switch on the enormous jet, and people dial 911 like there’s no tomorrow. At least, that’s what drivers on the same highway as Cody Detwiler did, and first responders came in hot.

However, since the firetruck is concerned with putting out fires, not traffic, the YouTuber ends up with one more fan for his multi-million-follower pool. Interestingly enough, Kei trucks are a popular choice for modifications that involve mainly swapping the engine with whatever outrageous option is available.

From turbo-fed 1,300-CC motorcycle engines (sourced from a Suzuki Hayabusa) to more tame engine tune-ups, all with the purpose of making the baby pickup a bit faster. And guess what – this jet-engined example is subject to speed-improving mods, too. First off, a proper air inlet would significantly boost the thrust. Secondly, and vitally, a jet pipe and final nozzle would probably double the engine’s current output.

Since the truck is still in one piece, and the jet is still operational (unlike other WhistlinDiesel projects that went up in flames - literally), I expect (at least) a second episode with the fire engine red pocket rocket.