Inside The No. 1 Qualifier

For the last four years, Popular Hot Rodding magazine has put on the Engine Masters Challenge. This competition pits a select group of engine builders against each another to build the most powerful pump-gas engine and prove it on the dyno, while adhering to a strict set of rules that includes engine parameters, which change each year. Anyone can apply, and usually 40 or so builders are selected to compete. Their buildups can represent anything from typical Chevys and Fords to Mopars, AMCs, Olds, Buicks, Cadillacs, and--yes--even our beloved Pontiacs.

Hobbyists who have followed the Engine Masters series each year have also seen a trend developing--Jon Kaase Racing Engines (JKRE) of Winder, Georgia, has won the competition the last two years with variations of Ford Engines--a Lima-based, 468-inch big-block in 2003, followed by a 407-cubed Cleveland small-block in 2004.

Kaase is a serious Pro Stock engine builder who has been a major player in the sport since the late '70s. His shop's specialties are big-block Fords, Chevys, and Mopars, but as you will soon see, it's not limited to them.

So why did an engine builder who has won with Fords for the past two years decide to go with a Pontiac this time around? "I've always had a soft spot for Pontiacs," Kaase says. "Back when I was 16, my sister's boyfriend took me for a ride in his '64 GTO, and it was a life-altering experience. Its power, its styling--that '64 had everything a guy who wanted to go fast and look good doing it could want! So when the opportunity came once again to compete in Engine Masters, I decided to explore the possibility of building a Pontiac. What I found in my research was that the Pontiac aftermarket had come a long way over the past few years. With the new IAII block and the new Tiger heads, I felt that a Pontiac would not only be competitive in this competition, but could win it."

Unfortunately, a triple crown was not on the dyno sheets for JKRE in 2005, but the Fourth-Place finish, though quite an achievement given the competition, has nothing to do with the fact that the engine is a Pontiac and not a big-block Ford. Truth be told, Kaase's Pontiac was the top-qualifying engine going into the final round.

Then, it lost power on each of its three runs in the final. At first, Kaase thought he had hurt the engine by tuning too close to the edge, given the pump-gas requirement and its 12.4:1 compression. He later learned that Pontiacs don't hurt that easily, and the problem was simply a piece of a carb gasket that got sucked into a main jet. Had that not happened, chances are JKRE would have enjoyed three Engine Masters wins in a row, and the Pontiac would have risen to the top of the heap. Regardless of that single setback, this engine has over 200 dyno pulls on it and hasn't scattered its contents. It has produced peak numbers of 851.7 hp and 786.2 lb-ft of torque (on 93-octane fuel at JKRE). It has over 700 lb-ft of torque from 3,700 rpm through 6,300 rpm--enough to require a chiropractor for the driver when operating in a Pontiac with traction.

Given the engine's power production and what Kaase has accomplished, HPP thought you would be interested to see how it was all done, by tearing down the engine at JKRE. The following article reveals what went into the IAII-based, 507-cubed engine to run the number and what hoops had to be jumped through to meet the rule requirements of the competition.