Muscle Car Engine Shootout!

Over a four-day period, our 30 chosen competitors battled it out on a pair of DTS dynos located at the University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima, Ohio. Each competitor got a series of warm-up pulls, a brief 20-minute tuning period, and three qualifying pulls to determine their score. The score was derived from the average torque and horsepower number from three consecutive runs in the range of 3,000 to 7,000 rpm (up from 2,500 - 6,500 as in previous years). These two averages were added together, multiplied by a factor of one thousand, then divided by the declared cubic inches. This somewhat esoteric formula is designed to level the playing field so that larger engines don't have a performance advantage over smaller ones. The top six qualifiers then go to the finals on Friday for a crack at the title of Engine Master.

In formulating the rules for this year's Challenge, we made a deliberate effort to allow our competitors to stretch their wings. And while things were a bit more on the racy side than in prior years, we felt it was time for some new power combinations that would really peg the dyno needle. Nevertheless, we felt it was imperative that all engines be built with commonly available blocks, cylinder heads, and cast intake manifolds, and run on 91-octante pump gas (provided by Shell). In the end, these muscle car powerplants use hardware you can (for the most part) buy right out of the Jegs catalog. With the exception of some trick port work, a secret cam recipe, and some expert tuning, these are engines that can largely be duplicated by the average enthusiast.

Here for your perusal are the engine specifications and dyno-verified performance of our 30 competitors, along with their qualifying scores. Irrespective of whether you follow the JEMC, you'll appreciate that the qualifying score does a really good job of leveling out the difference between engine sizes, and provides a great way to rank the different engine types and the skill levels of the various builders!