In 2009 the Popular Hot Rodding Magazine's Engine Masters Challenge allowed fuel injected engines into the competition for the first time. We quickly sent in our application and were accepted to compete. This competition is open to any Detroit made V-8 of any cubic inch and the points are tallied such that the biggest motor with the most horsepower is not necessarily the winners. The points are figured by taking the average hp and average torque through the permited rpm range, added together and then divided by the cubic inch of your motor, making it able for a 283ci to compete with a 572ci engine for the best average power per cubic inch.
Being our first year, we had no idea how well we would do and if a fuel injected engine was able to challenge the top dogs of past competitions. We built a 383ci gen 3 with an LSX block and AFR cylinder heads and a down draft intake using GM electronics. We were amazed at how little time you have for fine tuning between warm up and the final pulls. Caught a little off guard and not tuned to the conditions, we still managed a good number for our first time in the competition. We ended up 15th out of 30 competitors.
This year we were determined to do better. We rebuilt our engine to conform to the new rules changes and with the experience we picked up last year, and switching to a F.A.S.T. engine management system, we were ready and able to quickly re-tune for the conditions. Over four days of qualifying we were scheduled to run on day three. By the end of the day we held on to 2nd place. Day four were the ten heavy hitters that have placed high in past competitions. When all 40 competitors finished, we were still in the top six which puts us in the final shootout.
On day five we did a little more fine tuning to the program and were ready to run one more time. After the smoke had cleared, we finished 5th and were quite pleased. Next year we are shooting for the top spot! Check out the action at Popular Hot Rodding, or check out the February 2011 copy of Popular Hot Rodding magazine.
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