2005 Jeg's Engine Masters Challenge -- Day 2

Dyno #1 #35 -- Autoshop Racing Engines -- Orlando, FL.

Lennart Bergqvist came to the 2005 Jeg's Engine Masters Challenge expecting nothingbut the best for his big-block Chevy.The Orlando, Florida engine builder was happy with the performance of his big "rat" motor during his time on the DTS Dyno. "I had to back the timing off a bit after what I saw yesterday" Bergqvist was referring to the hurt Chevy of Donald Williams during yesterday's competition.Lennart's dyno testing previous to today's competition paid off as his numbers of werewithin just a few horsepower of what his engine was able to achieve on his own dyno.

Auto Shop Racing Engines -- Chevrolet

Dyno #2 #30 -- Torque Inc. -- Ashland, OH.

The group from Ashland, Ohio brought their big Cadillac engine to the 2005 Jeg's Engine Masters Challenge ready to go head-to-head with the Bow-ties, Fords, Buicks and anything else there was to compete against. Unfortunately, during the warm-up pulls Donovan Harrison and the crew weren't able to achieve desired oil pressure. With the group getting together in a small conference, they decided to withdraw from the event. "We just didn't want to scatter our motor all over the dyno cell so we figured we would quit with it in one piece."With some problems during dyno testing just days before the event they had made some changes to the engine and thoughtthey had the bugs worked out, but it just wasn't to be this year.

Torque Inc. -- Cadillac

Dyno #3 #32 -- Automotive Machine & Performance -- Philot, KY

Mike Phillips brought one of the best-looking engines to the challenge yet. However, Mike didn't bring out the stout Buick to win a beauty contest. He madethe hike from Kentucky to be a contender in the 2005 Jeg's Engine Masters Challenge.After his warm-up pulls Phillips and his crew chose to keep the engine running while makingchanges, including the high-speed air bleeds. Mike contended "I want to keep the intake cool, so we keep the engine running while making changes. Besides, if we drop one in we have another hand just in case.Mike has a DTS dyno of his own back in Philpot and was happy with the results in today's challenge."We did some testing last Friday and our numbers today are just about identical as they were backhome". After the Buick made it's last Pull Mike commented, "hey, this ain't no dyno queen, this is a street engine."

Automotive Machine & Performance -- Buick

Dyno #1 #27 BES Racing Engines -- W.Harrison, IN.

Tony Bischoff came into the 2005 Jeg's Engine Masters Challenge confident that he stood as good a chance as any to make some competitive qualifying numbers. As Bischoff watched the previous dyno pulls in cell #1 he started to second guess on his setup.Tony made three jetting changes hoping to squeeze out every ounce of horsepower and torque the big-block Chevy could muster up. Unfortunately all the changes and warm-up pulls only added more heat making the big rat a little unhappy.

BES Racing Engines -- Chevy

Dyno #2 #31 Dove Perforemance -- Columbia Station, OH.

The father and son team of Jim and David Dove had high hopes of bringing their latestFord to the big-block version of the 2005 Jeg's Engine Masters Challenge, unfortunatelytime ran out on their new Ford project. Being the competitors they are, they showed up with their back-up engine which was originally built in 1991 and run on alcohol. With a fewmodifications and some new parts they were able to compete in the 2005 competition.Not familiar with the East Coast air, they were a little unprepared by bringing jets that were somewhat too small. Even after two jet changes during the warm-up pulls(going from 99's to 104's) Jim felt they could have gone even bigger. Dove informed the Engine Masters staff "Had my latest motor been ready, we would havemade some real horsepower."

Dove Performance -- Ford

Dyno #3 # 33 Cadillac Performance Parts -- Chattanooga, TN.

To say Cadillac engine builder Richard Potter is colorful is a slight understatement. Richard's big-block Cadillac engine sports purple components including the headers. He attributes the "loud" coloras a tribute to the late "Battle of the V-Twins Daytona" champion New Zealander John Britten.
Richard's second warm-up pull proved to be the most dramatic so far this week as the balancercame off at high rpm. With 20 minutes left on the clock he managed to acquire another hub from Cadillac contestant John Walker, who had pulled out of the competitionearlier in the day.
Potter claims his motor makes 800 hp on his dyno at home in Chattanooga. Earlierin the week I asked Potter about his chances on winning. His answer -- "I camehere to collect." "We started with 30 degree timingand bumped it up to 34 degrees on the last warm-up pull. Had I not lost the balancer on the second warm-up pull, I would have had more time to change jets, fatten it up,and make some real power."

Cadillac Performanc Parts -- Cadillac