The '07 Amsoil/Mopar Muscle Engine Challenge - Tech

Mid America Racing Engines
Washington, Iowa
Having competed in all of our Engine Challenges and winning last year's Engine Challenge, engine builder David Bruns of Mid America Racing Engines is no stranger to dyno competitions. He knows it takes a cost-effective and potent combination to place well, and brought a solid small-block to this year's contest. Sporting Indy cylinder heads and a solid roller camshaft, the Mid America entry sounded strong from its initial pull. Tuning with jet and timing changes, and using different carb spacers, David Bruns' engine produced contest-leading power of 567.1 hp and 489.2 lb-ft of torque, earning him a fourth place.

Speed-O-Motive
West Covina, California
Known for building reliable, powerful engines, and placing well in previous competitions, it was no surprise when the Speed-O-Motive entry made more than 518 hp on its first dyno pull. Engine builder Tucker Caven further tuned his entry to the second highest power score of the competition at 529.2 hp and 467.2 lb-ft of torque. Brodix B-1 AMC cylinder heads and a solid roller camshaft combined with a stout 408ci short-block was Speed-O-Motive's key to making big power. Their powerful performance was good enough for fifth place in our competition.

Muscle Motors
Lansing, Michigan
Engine builder Mike Ware of Muscle Motors is widely known for building some of the most powerful engines in drag racing, so we were a little surprised when we saw his 400ci, Six-Pack-equipped small-block. Mike said the explanation was easy-he wanted to be different, had limited time, and was already building this engine for a customer who agreed to enter it in our contest. After the Engine Challenge, this engine will be dropped into a Challenger T/A clone, which explains the triple two-barrel induction. Since the Six-Pack intake is a dual-plane unit and limits top-end power, Mike built this engine for torque, and plenty of it. In fact, the 400-inch engine's 456 lb-ft of torque is a good indication that this engine could have made significantly more power if topped with a single-plane intake. Even limited, this engine placed a very respectable sixth place in a tight competition

MRL Performance
Jackson, Michigan
Instead of setting his sights on huge power numbers in this year's contest, engine builder Mike Liston of MRL Performance decided he'd rather show the potential of the most widely produced, and most widely overlooked, small-block-the 318. Though Mike fell a bit short of his goal of 500-plus horsepower, his Magnum-headed 318 ran well and produced nearly as many horsepower per cubic inch as the top engines in the contest. At over 380 hp, this 318 would be a blast in a street-driven A-body. We congratulate MRL Performance on their seventh place finish, and, more importantly, for showing that 318s can be performance engines.

Diamondback Engines
Richmond, Texas
Diamondback Engines drew the first dyno slot in this year's Engine Challenge, and, unfortunately, their engine had problems during their first qualifying pull. After inspecting the damage, engine builder Damon Kuhn decided the damage was too extensive to attempt a repair and pulled his engine from the competition. Though we don't know how this engine would have placed since it didn't qualify, the guys from Diamondback agreed to make repairs to their damaged rocker arms and re-dyno the engine at their facility. Look for their numbers in an upcoming issue.