2008 Engine Masters Challenge - Wednesday Updates!

Stine Automotive brought a basic small block Chevy with obvious circle track influences. The engine made extensive use of GM parts including iron Vortec heads and a GMPP single plane intake. Confident of their pre-event tune-up the team made no adjustments or tweaks during the allotted tune-up period. The engine seemed to go through a valve train harmonic just before peak rpm, which had to hurt the overall score. Still the Stine entry had the juice to get into the seventh position.

Blair Patrick Racing came to the show with a 406 Ford, a version of the venerable FE engine family made famous by the 406 Police Interceptor package used in 1962-63. We can certainly say that this well worked example put out quite a bit more than those engines of yesterday. The engine sounded solid during the warm-ups, and in the following tune-up period the team tuned the combination with jetting and timing changes done in one hit. It worked with a resulting score in the qualifying pulls of just under 2400 points - enough to capture third place in the current standings.

The Kauffung 305 Chevrolet was disqualified for an illegal oil pan.

C & J Racing came to the show with a Ford 351 Cleveland with the notorious CHI cylinder head combination, and true to form the engine exhibited very strong numbers in the warm-up pull, high enough it seemed to threaten the leaders. Unfortunately, trouble came in the form of dropping numbers in the qualifying runs, with the engine showing serious problems by the third pull. Even so, the C & J engine completed qualifying and retained enough score to capture sixth place in the current standings.

Coates Motorsports came to the show with a 327 Chevy based engine and misfortune struck as soon as the engine was certified and fired as a timing error prevented the engine from accepting throttle. The effort ended with a DNF when it failed to meet the warm-up pull requirements.

Weingartner Racing's 400 Chevy seemed like a solid entry and it was apparent right from the first dyno sweep that it had power potential. The engine ran through the warm-up pulls cleanly and without incident, and we could see that the team was pleased with the numbers. Fellow competitor Shannon Carnathan joined with Weingartner to aid in the tuning process, adding fuel via a jet change during the tuning period. The result of the effort was sufficient to achieve a current sixth place in the standings.

Porting Dynamic Racing Engines, headed by Dave Storlien brought a 302 Chevy combination with high expectations. Storlien is always a definite contender with an engine combination that was said to well eclipse the excellent performance turned in by their combination of the previous year. Disappointingly the engine was mounted to the dyno with an oil pan that did not meet the rules requirements resulting in a DNF.

Traco brought a 302 Chevrolet that met with unexpected problems of an undefined nature leading to a DNF.