Last month, in the first installment of the Engine Masters series of articles, we introduced engine builder John Beck and highlighted the parts and pieces he wanted to use in Popular Hot Rodding magazine's Engine Masters Challenge competition sponsored by Jegs. The competition pitted dozens of engine builders from across the country against each other, not for being able to generate the most amounts of horsepower from a small-block, but the real world combined performance of horsepower and torque.
There were a lot of rules for the contest but, because there are so many variables, there had to be strict guidelines so the playing field would be level. The engines would be normally-aspirated small-blocks (any make) with a maximum displacement of 366 cubic inches. No power enhancers, such as superchargers, blowers, turbos, or nitrous systems would be allowed. Most of the other major engine parts (ignition, carburetion, air cleaner, cam shaft, heads, intake manifold, headers, connecting rods, pistons, rocker arms, oil and oil pan, water pump, starter, fuel, and mufflers) were to be all commercially available, non-race over-the counter items.
There were, however, variances with nearly all those parts, as the water pump could be electric or mechanical, the rocker arms could have up to 1.6:1 in ratio but OEM rockers above that ratio were accepted, custom and/or coated pistons were allowed but titanium or aluminum rods were not and, though you could port the daylights out of the heads, NASCAR-spec, Yates, or other types of racing heads were not allowed.
There were 26 categories of contingencies, but the builders didn't have to use any of those manufacturers if they didn't want to, because the first place prize (without contingency money) was $10,000. Final power numbers would be determined by averaging the torque and horsepower numbers (corrected for conditions) in the pre-determined rpm range (and a huge one at that: 2,500 - 6,500rpm).
That required the builders to create powerplants that would be more conducive to street applications rather than race track, which is why titanium valves and high-dollar parts weren't allowed. The concept was to get good info for the normal street guy (and we think normal guys want gobs of torque and horsepower for not a lot of money!)
An invited 50 builders, from pros to guys who thought they knew what they were doing, submitted their motors to one of three different dyno centers (one in SoCal, one in Washington, one in Memphis) to cull the group down to a final 12. Those 12 would be tested at the Westech dyno facility in Mira Loma, California-a site where some of the biggest names in performance engines have tested their powerplants.
The difference between some of the pros and the novices was evident right off. Those who had pre-tested their engines on a dyno proved that testing, testing, and testing were the keys to winning the competition. In the case of John Beck, the engine builder who decided he'd try and make his mark with a reworked 307 block and a load of racing experience, that meant teaming up with his buddy Eric Weinrich of Dyno-Motive (Placentia, California).
Even John admits his 30 years of racing and engine building would not have been enough to climb up the ranks of this competition if it wasn't for Eric's help (who he's known for more than 3 decades). Eric applied his engine dyno know-how to help tweak and tune John's small-block to perfection. Having accurate and repeatable test numbers to look at translated to more and more power for the motor. Initial testing on the dyno started with a baseline camshaft and, in one particular day, they tried six different camshafts, each providing more insight as to how this engine would work in the contest.