Engine Masters

The dream when building a custom performance engine is horsepower, and we plot, plan, and put in hours to make that happen. Sometimes those hours have a way of multiplying, especially when chasing the most power you can get. This is when you decide to take things just those few steps further in the search of more. An example is a hot Mopar 360 combination I have been working on for my ’74 Dodge D100 truck project. This started with a fully built engine that has served as a dyno mule for several years. The engine is pretty nondescript down low, a production block bored 0.040 inch over, featuring a stock crank and rods, along with a set of Probe forged flat-top pistons. The only thing special about the short-block…

LUNATI – CRANKSHAFTS Lunati Voodoo Crankshafts are available for big-block and smallblock Chevy applications. These affordably priced, superior quality cranks have features normally seen only in far more costly, high-end race cranks. Each Voodoo Crankshaft is CNCmachined from 4340 forged, non-twist steel for extra strength and durability. Voodoo Cranks are precision-indexed, dynamically balanced, and nitride-treated for improved bearing-journal surface strength and wear resistance. Weight reduction holes are located in each rod journal to allow for quicker rotating assembly acceleration and improved engine acceleration. Voodoo Crankshaft offers other premium features, including profiled counterweights to reduce operating windage and parasitic operating loss, and all bearing journals are micropolished for long bearing life under the most demanding race conditions. For more information, including detailed specs, visit lunatipower.com or call (662) 892-1500. POWERHOUSE –…

CHEVY GUY I have been a reader of Engine Masters for years and a low-buck hot rodder. I loved the hop-up story in the last issue on the 454 Chevy. Although these days the stuff I see is all about big numbers and big dollars, this story was different. I have always said the 454 Chevy is one of the best engines for power potential, even when relatively stock. This thing used a stock smog-era bottom end but put out 435 hp with just a mild cam, intake, and cheap replacement-style heads. That may not seem like a lot compared to custom race engines making a thousand horsepower, but it is as much as the legendary factory big-blocks that made these engines famous. The torque and reasonable rpm range make…

The engine is kind of deceiving and doesn’t look that impressive, but it has all the right stuff. One of the best compliments we have received is people remarking on how simple it is. It looks simple, but it has been refined The Cleveland Ford has an interesting history, one that was short lived in the USA, but one that made an impression. Debuting in 1970 at 351 ci, it was right in the middle of average as far as displacement for the era, but topping those cubes was a cylinder head design that was anything but ordinary. The Ford 335-Series “Cleveland” small-block heads were revolutionary as much as evolutionary, featuring design cues that still form the basis for all-out unlimited race heads today. Rather than the common inline valve…

The show was on. Engine builders, staff, spectators, and student assistant teams poured into the engine dyno facilities at our host facility the University of Northwestern Ohio for the 2016 AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge. As with the previous year’s competition, the Challenge was divided into multiple classes—this year featuring a Small-Block Shootout, the return of the Vintage class, a Spec Big-Block class, and for the first time ever, a power-adder with the Nitrous class. In all, we had 23 teams from engine shops across the country ready to duke it out for a share of the cash purse and the glory of victory. The AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge is unique, as it provides a competition where engine builders can compete head-tohead under very specific build rules as a test of…

“With vintage iron, small- and big- blocks, and for the first time, nitrous oxide, the competition was nothing short of a three-ring circus” With four classes of competition, the 2016 AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge brought out some of the widest variety of American muscle engines ever seen on the dyno. With vintage iron, small- and bigblocks, and for the first time, nitrous oxide, the competition was nothing short of a three-ring circus—with the seriousness of a noholds- barred competition. To recap, let’s review the competition classes. THE CLASSES We opened the competition with the Small-Block Shootout, pitting serious hot rod street-style engines. The caps here were a compression ratio maximum of 11.75:1, replacement heads, and cast manifolds. The class allowed carbs or EFI—and with wide-open cam rules, unlimited displacement, and…