Kanaris Engines sits just off the Metropolitan Ring Road outside Melbourne, Australia, in an unassuming industrial park, but inside the building is where engine-building magic happens.

Proprietor James Kanaris has shared details with EngineLabs on one of his killer Holden engines in the past, and now he’s back with this wicked 442-cube low compression small-block built for endurance ski boat racing.

Endurance ski boat racing, for the unaware, is an absolute torture test of man and machine; the engines, boats, and competitors take a beating on the water.

“The engine is run in different length races up to 100 miles long. It needs to run in the 5,500-7,500 rpm range for most of the race, and does see a little more rpm on some of the longer races. It also has to have to have some low-end drivability to pull the skiers out of the water smoothly,” Kanaris explains.

This particular engine runs in the 8L class, and doesn’t have many restrictions in terms of construction other than it has to be naturally aspirated. Kanaris’ customer required that this particular engine run on pump fuel, but there were no other limitations placed on him during the construction process.

Eight little soldiers from Oliver Racing Parts all lined up in a row.

In constructing 442 cubic inches of long-life small-block, Kanaris looked across the pond to select American parts that would do the job with a minimum of complications. To that end, he selected a Dart Iron Eagle tall-deck engine block and stuffed it with a 4.125-inch stroke forged crankshaft from Callies and Oliver connecting rods to round out the package.

Australian cylinder head manufacturer Racer Pro was tapped to provide a set of 15-degree cylinder heads and matching intake manifold for the project, while American parts make up the majority of the rest of the build. A Kanaris-spec custom camshaft, T&D rocker arms, a Jesel camshaft belt-drive and pushrods, and Crower roller lifters actuate the valves, which are from REV. Motion is controlled by Manley Nextek springs held down by titanium retainers and Crower valve locks to help round out the induction package.

Oiling is handled by a Stock Car Products oil pump, a dry sump pan from Dan Olson Racing, and the attendant plumbing, while an MSD crank trigger and Haltech ignition system fire off the fuel that’s dispensed by the pair of Braswell carburetors.

As the engine’s ability to go long distance at steady-state rpm is most important, a number of considerations need to be taken during the planning and construction process.

“First off, attention to detail and selection of the right parts for durability and performance have to be kept in mind during the planning process. Oil control and engine clearances like piston-to-bore are very important to us in this application,” Kanaris says.

Attention to detail is critical; every engine clearance is blueprinted for consistency. An ATI Super Damper is used on this engine to help reduce unwanted harmonics and provide long life.

“Setting up a good cooling system and controlling oil temperatures over the long distance go a long way towards boosting the durability of the engine. In this application, horsepower is just as important as keeping the engine alive. In order to help, we have a good data logging system using a Racepak dash and Haltech Platinum Sport setup that’s logging everything and also controlling the timing,” he adds. “We have it configured with alarms that kill the engine in a major malfunction like an oil pressure drop, but also will alter timing and rev limit when the engine oil temp or water temp is too hot – and will add everything back when things are brought back in control.”

Plenty of dyno time ensued to get the proper calibration for the conditions – the engine was even tested with single and dual-carburetor configuratons before settling on the dual setup.

The top-shelf components used in this build are necessary when an engine is expected to live in a steady-state running environment at such high rpm, and the ability to monitor what’s happening in the engine is critical to the continued development and high performance of the platform. This particular engine pumps out over 750 horses on the customer-required United 100-octane unleaded pump fuel.

The skiers that ride the water behind the boats? They get a set of skis, a helmet, life jacket and a prayer before the race starts. Simply awesome!

Check out this insane video of ski boat racing from the Mildura 100 earlier this year!