And the engine challenge idea would be cool, but unfortunately without a sponsor donating a LARGE check you'd never get it to happen. The problem is all the contests out there today are not based on unlimited rules, and also usually not based on peak power #'s, which is basically what you'd need to have for what we are talking about here. Look at Enginemasters, it is pump gas and average power. And MP is now doing this "Mopowered SB Engine Challenge" that we are in, but it is only 1/3 about Power and TQ, and those are averages, not peaks. The other 2/3 of the scoring is on MSRP cost and vacuum and idle RPM. I don't know if the MP rules have made it on the net yet or not, but we've had paper copies for over a month. Very interesting rules, but in no way is it any kind of peak power contest. And my motor unfortunately is going to make it's HP peak slightly past the 6500 RPM cut off I do believe.
The problem with contests these days is the motors cost too much to build for an unlimited contest. Unless you are independantly wealthy and have an extra $20-$30K laying around to spare you can't build what you want to build in your mind. Even if you sell the motor after the contest you will still take a huge monetary loss on it. The only reason to do a contest engine in my eyes is either for advertising or for fun. At least in the MP contest, they have factored in cost heavily to keep it down, and they gave us $7000 in free parts to start with, otherwise I could'nt have afforded to do one this year. But for a peak power contest you'd need to spend between $20-30K to be competitive. You'd almost have to be given a check for let's say $25,000, build the motor while keeping track of all $ spent on parts, compete with it, and then have to give the motor back to the contest sponsor at the end along with any $ left unspent. There would have to be some form of spending limit for a peak power conets othrwise the cost could get really out of hand. This is why I don't think you'll ever see a peak HP or peak TQ contest. And I think the cost factor as I stated above is one of the reasons WHY you don't see HUGE power 59* motors. Not because it can't be done, but because if someone is going to spend that kind of $ they just move right up to the bigger heads, which for the most part require special blocks. I think that is what some people are missing here... We're not talking about most powerfull SB Mopars ever built, we're talking about specific limited head/block combos. And even with that.... I bet if I sat down and invoiced out Johnny's 416, Carb to pan with headers I guarantee it is a $15-$17K motor. He could have built a comparable or a more powerfull 48* motor for less. And alot of people ralize that today, and are going that route. Of the 14 SBM engine builds I have going right now, let's see 3 are using 59* heads? A set of Battens, B1-BA's, and W2's All the others are W8 and W9. All between 410-440 inches. That seems to be what the public wants today.
