Ever since its introduction in late 2001, the Engine Masters competition featured in our sister publication, Popular Hot Rodding, has been one of the most talked about contests for fans of normally aspirated, pushrod V-8 engines. If you're not already familiar with what Engine Masters is, here is a brief overview:
The idea is to get engine builders from all over North America, large and small, commercial and private, to show how they measure up against one another in standardized dyno testing. They design and build an engine that conforms to a specific set of rules regarding displacement, intakes, carbs, and heads. The idea is for engine builders to use their expertise and imaginations to science out combinations that make power and are feasible for readers to duplicate.
"This series was developed for street-oriented combinations," said PHR tech editor, Scott Parkhurst. "The engines have to be built with off-the-shelf components and with the intentions of being installed in a '55 or newer chassis. This prohibits the use of custom-made parts--everything has to be commercially available with a part number so no one has an unfair advantage."
Though one might think that the long and extensive aftermarket support for the various Ford and Chevy V-8 engines would have given builders of those engines an advantage, it has actually worked out to be a much more balanced matchup across the board.
With the focus on street performance, the competition placed equal emphasis on torque and horsepower. That means that the engines with the most area "under the curve" would fare the best in this contest, so the inherent strength of the Pontiac V-8, its superior torque production, would have a chance to shine in the competition.
Parkhurst said that another interesting footnote to the Engine Masters competition is that the series has attracted engine builders from various sources. "We're getting people from all different motorsports disciplines participating," he told us. "Where else are you going to have boat racers, oval trackers, and drag racers all competing in the same event?"
In this round of the Engine Masters series, Pontiac was once again represented. For this story, we will be concentrating on the highest placing of the 3 Pontiac V-8s entered, a 467 stroker from Butler Performance. "What the Butlers did was enter an engine combination based on their basic crate motor and turn up the wick about 50 hp, Parkhurst said. "This might be an opportunity to evolve the engines they already offer."
Indeed, the performance of the Butler 467 is impressive when one realizes that very little in the way of testing for the optimum combination was performed. Where some of the other competitors tried as many as 5 other camshafts in their engines, the Butlers were forced by the constraints of time to try only one camshaft, rocker ratio, intake, carb, and one set of headers.
"We built this engine on a Wednesday, broke it in and tested it that Thursday afternoon and carried it to Comp Cams the following Monday for the regional competition, without making any changes, other than timing and jetting," David Butler recalled. "We didn't even change valve lash or spark plug gap. We built this engine just like all of our customers engines and competed with it just like we assembled it the first and only time."
With the sixth place finish overall, the Pontiac hobbyist in general can be proud of how their Ponchos stack up against some of the best Chevys, Fords, and Mopars out there. Follow along as we watch Rodney and David tear down the 467 to see what went into its impressive performance and how well it held up.
ABOUT ENGINE MASTERS
What started out as PHR's annual engine publication has grown into an extremely popular engine competition series that has in turn, expanded the publication into a quarterly title, edited by Scott Parkhurst.
"Engine Masters was the name of our engine publication, so when the competition was developed, we tied it in with the magazine by sharing the name," Parkhurst explained. "The popularity of the series fueled the expansion of the book enough to make it a quarterly."
In addition, the Engine Masters Web site (www.enginemasters.com) is an excellent resource for enthusiasts looking for the latest information and rules, past competitions and an archive of buildup articles, dyno pulls, and photography.
Why not put your Pontiac combination to the test? Anyone is free to apply to compete in the Engine Master challenge, it is not just for professional engine builders. Hobbyists and backyard builders are also welcome to compete as well. This is also as level a playing field as anyone could ever find, as no non-production OE or one-off aftermarket parts are allowed--everything has to be off-the-shelf and readily obtainable. "Several engine builders have made the most of the exposure they received from their participation in Engine Masters," Parkhurst added. "It's an opportunity for builders to make a career for themselves." --DK
DYNO CHART Dyno Pull Score 1101.6 points Score = (Avg.Torque 3,000-6,500 rpm) + (Avg. Horsepower 3,000-6,500 rpm) Averages are collected over 3 back-to-back dyno pulls to eliminate spikes and represent truer power figures. RPM Torque Horsepower 3000 536.1 306 3100 534.0 315 3200 534.8 326 3300 537.1 337 3400 542.9 351 3500 547.2 365 3600 554.9 380 3700 564.3 398 3800 571.7 414 3900 581.7 432 {{{4000}}} 592.5 451 4100 603.4 471 4200 609.8 488 4300 615.7 504 4400 619.8 519 4500 623.9 535 4600 624.5 547 4700 621.5 556 4800 619.3 566 4900 616.2 575 {{{5000}}} 613.4 584 5100 610.6 593 5200 607.0 601 5300 602.4 608 5400 598.2 615 5500 591.9 620 5600 586.3 625 5700 583.6 633 5800 578.1 638 5900 570.4 641 {{{6000}}} 562.5 643 6100 554.7 644 6200 546.4 645 6300 536.1 643 6400 526.7 642 6500 511.2 633 6600 504.3 634COMMENTS FROM THE BUILDER
We have used this long rod combo for many years and made it readily available (with our initial partnership with Eagle) to the general customer at a very reasonable price with the production of the new cranks. We use these long rods for broad power and durability, especially when using cast cranks and factory blocks.
This contest was a perfect fit to showcase what we build every day. Most of the pieces in this combo are parts that we stock in-house and use in our customers engines. We didn't use any coatings, exotic rotating assembly or valvetrain pieces, high compression that would live only through the dyno pulls, or do things that we wouldn't normally do for a good reliable pump gas, street/strip engine.
Because of this, we had to spend very little time from specing the engine to final tuning. The one piece we did use on this engine that we might not normally use on an engine like this was the BOP belt drive. The nice thing about the belt drive is our ability to change cam timing right on the dyno in just a matter of minutes--very important because of the limited time we have to make changes. Otherwise we would use a traditional timing chain, timing cover, and water pump set up.
HPP ENGINE BUILDUP WORKSHEET Engine Displacement 467 ci Horsepower 659 hp @ 6,500 rpm best Torque 625.3 ft-lb @ 4,500 rpm best Bore/Stroke 4.181/4.250 Block/Crank combo '70 400 block (.060 over) Eagle crank Bore/Stroke ratio .98:1 Rod/Stroke ratio 1.6:1 BOTTOM END Block 400 Pontiac, 2-bolt main Year '70 (but later model blocks work just as well in 2-bolt applications) Preparation Baked, bead-blasted, and tumbled to get block back to raw cast-iron; magnafluxed to assure no cracks; sonic-tested cylinders to assure thickness; deburred and all bolt holes tapped; align-honed with main studs (2-bolt); deck measured front and rear, decked 90o, and cut to exactly 10.220; bored and honed with a torque plate; oil restrictors installed Deck Height 10.220" Crank Eagle 400-4.250 cast steel Preparation Inspected, turned/polished, indexed Balancer Pro/Race (SFI approved) Rods SCAT 4340 H-Beam forged 6.800" Preparation Inspected/checked big and small end for proper sizing Bearings Federal Mogul 3/4 groove tri-metal race Pistons CP pistons in this particular build but we stock (and normally use) Ross pistons for these combos. Our off-the-shelf Ross piston for this combo weighs approximately 426 grams and will handle up to 250 hp of nitrous with no problem. These CP pistons weigh 424.5 grams Preparation Inspected, checked pin fit, deburred Piston to deck height -0- Piston pins Ferrea forged/tapered, 128 grams Method used to retain piston pins in pistons Double spiral locks Rings Total Seal Classic Race w/standard tension oil ring Preparation Filed to fit Rod bolts ARP 2000 (SCAT) Head studs ARP OILING SYSTEM Windage tray None Crank scraper None Oil pan Billet Fabrication/JBP custom to work with BOP belt drive, side kick-out for windage and trap doors for oil control Oil pump Melling M54F {{{80}}} psi Preparation Blueprinted HEADS Casting number 60589 Edelbrock Chamber open/closed Open Head mods Ported and polished, 3-angle valve job, chambers enlarged to 80 cc Maximum flow at 28 inches of water Intake Approx. 315 cfm Exhaust Approx. 235 cfm Compression Ratio 10.8:1 Valves Ferrea 1-piece stainless Intake size 2.11" Exhaust size 1.77" Angles used in valve job 45-degree intake and exhaust Mods Grind and back-cut Retainers Comp Cams chrome moly 10° Keepers Same Valve guides, brand, type Bronze Valve seals, brand, type Pioneer Teflon Rocker shafts or studs ARP rocker studs; shafts not allowed so we couldn't use our CNC wide ports Rocker arms Comp Cams aluminum roller Rocker arm ratio 1.65:1 Pushrods JBP .116 wall thickness Diameter 5/16" Length 9.{{{300}}}" CAM Brand Comp Cams custom grind Roller/Hyd./Solid Solid flat tappet Duration at .050 Approx. 260° Lift Approx. .{{{600}}}" Centerline Builder would not divulge Lobe separation angle Builder would not divulge Installed position Builder would not divulge Lifters Crower Valve springs Comp Cams Seat pressure Approx. 140 lbs Open pressure Builder would not divulge Timing chain BOP engineering belt drive INDUCTION Carb Book Racing modified Holley Dominator Size Approx. 1,000 cfm JETS Primary #82 Secondary #82 Intake manifold Edelbrock Victor 1050 #2956 Mods Port-matched, plenum-ported, turtle installed for better fuel distribution and atomization IGNITION Distributor MSD Pro Billet #8563 Amplifier MSD 6AL Coil MSD BLASTER 2 Wires MSD Total Timing 36° Mechanical advance Mechanical 18° EXHAUST Headers Hedman Primary tube diameter 1 3/4" Collector size 3" GASKETS Brand JBP exclusive head gaskets, SCE intake and exhaust, BOP engineering Viton rear main seal