Jon Kaase is very proficient at port and valve angle design so it’s no surprise that his Y heads were totally reworked to get a winning combination out of them.  My own heads were simply angle milled so that the valve angle was 16.8° rather than the stock 18°.  It’s hard to say exactly what that’s worth HP wise as the valve sizes, compression ratio, spark plug sizing (10mm), and rocker ratio was changed at the same time as the valve angle was changed.  But all those changes were worth 22HP which was significant.  I was handicapped on the camshaft as my short lobe center camshaft failed early on and I was simply forced to use a less desirable camshaft.  As a result I had an engine that was peaking 594HP at 6800 rpms and was not the player it should have been in the 3000-6000 rpm range.
 
I am considering an EMC specific Y for next year’s competition which I would expect to be a better player than the engine I used this year.  This year’s engine was built with many parts that were sitting here in the shop so from that regard, it did really well.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted , your engine did Great and did the Y blocks a Great honor on how well it preformed!

-Gary Burnette-

Thanks Gary.  I’ve got a buyer for my 2015 EMC engine once the pistons have been changed out to run on pump gas.  This will give me the funds to start on next year’s EMC engine.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

The latest Hot Rod magazine is out and has extensive coverage of Engine Masters Challenge... There are nice write-ups on Ted's, mine, and Jon Kaase's engines.. Also a cover shot of Jon's motor..

In the coverage of the event, a story headline pronounces how a scrub LS was humbled by an ancient Y Block in torque production.    Am I dreaming?

Congratulations on the Hot Rod coverage. Good to see  the Y write-ups , your Linc.. engine looks great!  There was a pic of your Merc in Hot Rod Deluxe, as well, pg. 80.  Barry L 

Royce, you may be dreaming, BUT the dream would not exist without your work, time, Effort and money. You Jerry, John, Ted, Timmy and some hundred others. Thanks!!
 

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

I think there should be a adjustment  to the  rules, What Kaase did to  his heads  is an  improvement no question  but it is not in the same  direction the Y guys will be doing in there garage!
I  can see some  port rework  but  building  the  heads out of  welding  rod is a little over the top!   I also thought  he  gained little  for the trouble he went to compared to the Y  with the  unmolested heads.

Engine Masters is not about building an engine that represents what the average guy builds in his garage.  It is about building an engine that dominates the other entries by whatever means necessary, within the stated rules.That's exactly what Jon did.  While his hp numbers weren't that far out there, the torque produced by his engine eclipsed that of all the others (and even some of the engines in other classes).  That indicates that his mods worked very well for the competition.
Even Ted's entry, while certainly more conventional appearing, is far beyond what the average Y guy will do in his garage.



Lawrenceville, GA

        This is true  but  Every body that knows any thing  about an engine knows  any thing about  engines  knows the power of an engine is  in the heads!  if you want to  spend the money and the time you can re configure  a head to  make any designee  possible!    You may as well Put a set of  AFD Cleveland heads on the Y   engine and make some real power!

That might be quite hard.
LS1 heads are closer but that needs some serious work.


Hyvinkää, FI