Tech Talk: World’s Fastest N/A Coyote, 1,000HP Flat-Eight & Weird Engines

In this November installment of EngineLabs Tech Talk, we’re going to cover some of the hottest topics to grace the digital pages of EngineLabs. That includes the world’s quickest and fastest naturally aspirated Coyote engine, a killer naturally aspirated Jeep straight-six build, an eight-cylinder Boxer engine, a clean-sheet V6 engine design, a hot-V Gen-V LT engine, VW’s V5 engine design, and a whole lot more that you might not have seen if you’re only following us on the website.

HOT ARTICLES OF THE MONTH

The World’s Quickest and Fastest Naturally Aspirated Coyote Engine

As a long-time NMRA racer with a pair of class championships under his belt, Carlos Sobrino left the sealed-engine Coyote Stock world, wanting to get wild with a N/A Coyote. To accomplish that goal, he teamed up with Elan Power Products, known for their wild competition engines, but with one possible hiccup — they had never built a Coyote before. However, that proved to not be an issue.  

The first iteration used a factory aluminum 5.2-liter engine block, but in this latest version of the build, the team swapped to an iron Werewolf block, choosing dimensional stability over the weight savings of the aluminum block. Using a 3.900-inch-stroke crank, steel Carillo H-beam connecting rods, and custom MAHLE pistons that only use two piston rings per slug, coming in at 336 cubic inches and just a smidge under 14:1 compression.

While that’s definitely a stout short block, the real magic is in the cylinder heads. Elan’s porting program, combined with Godbold Engineering cam profiles, moves a ton of air. Add in a Dailey dry sump system and tuning from Ken Bjonnes from Palm Beach Dyno, and this 10,000-rpm Coyote is now the quickest and fastest naturally aspirated Coyote engine in the world.

Newcomer Racing’s Big-Power Naturally Aspirated Jeep Straight-Six

When you mention Keith Newcomer and 4.0-liter Jeep inline-six engines, you know you’re going to see something cool. The last time we covered one of his builds, it made more power than any other Jeep inline-six, ever, with the turbocharged combination making more than 1,000 horsepower.  

This time, his wild project is a naturally aspirated inline-six stroker for a mud drag racing Jeep. Displacing 4.8 liters from a fully counterweighted 3.895-inch-stroke crank with a bunch of Newcomer Racing’s go-fast touches and goodies on it, Keith used custom-forged H-beam rods and custom-forged 4.00-inch JE pistons for a 13:1 compression ratio.

The engine also has Newcomer Racing’s roller valvetrain installed for both durability and efficiency, testing both multiple rocker arm ratios and valve spring combinations, making something approaching max-effort when it comes to naturally aspirated Jeep engines. Newcomer also dynoed the engine with both a 650cfm carb and a factory-PCM-based fuel injection setup, only to find little difference in peak power, but a better torque curve from the EFI. 

Lake Speed, Jr. Tests Zinc Additives and DLC-Coated Lifters In The Lab And On The Dyno

Whenever Lake Speed, Jr. dives into some tribology testing, we know we’re in for a geeky treat. In his most recent testing, Speed tested the effects of extra zinc (in the form of ZDDP) as well as coating flat tappet lifters in Diamond-Like Carbon to see how it all affects wear.

For the ZDDP and other chemistry modifiers, the results were quite complex, since it’s a lot more nuanced than simply “More zinc is better.” Speed’s testing even went so far as to show that premixing the chemistry modifiers with the oil beforehand instead of just dumping it into the valve cover and firing up the engine can have pretty significant benefits in and of itself.

Moving to the advanced DLC coating, as expected, the coated components showed little to no signs of wear, but there was wear elsewhere in the system, from uncoated components. While the lifters remained pristine, the rest of the engine components suffered. The final results of the testing were simply that there is no easy answer.

In his video, Speed breaks down all the data to a super granular level, and it’s worth the time investment to watch, but this testing does definitively reveal two combinations of oil and coatings that you definitely don’t want to be caught with in any combination.

QUICK NEWS

Production Eight-Cylinder Boxer Engine From RUF

At the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed, noted Porsche customizer RUF debuted an all-new, in-house-designed eight-cylinder boxer engine. Displacing 4.8 liters and supplemented by a pair of turbochargers, the engine, dubbed the RUF B8, produces over 1,000 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque.

For its debut, it was fitted into the firm’s CTR3 development car, and had noted American Driver and TV host Tanner Faust piloting it up the Hillclimb. The B8 is still a prototype, with its production details still yet to be finalized, but this will mark the first time a flat-eight engine will be used in a production road car.

Horse Powertrain’s Featherweight W30 V6 engine

Horse Powertrain, an internal combustion and hybrid powertrain development group owned by a conglomerate consisting of Renault, Geely, and Aramco, has announced its first V6 powerplant. The W30 is a 3.0-liter 90-degree V6 that has a host of high-efficiency design features. Twin turbochargers will pressurize the engine, while the hot-V design will nestle those turbos in the valley of the engine.

One of the big design points is that the engine will only tip the scales at 160 kilograms — or 353 pounds — while making upwards of 536 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque and spinning to 8,000 rpm. The engine design has the ability to be mounted longitudinally or transversely, and will debut in the upcoming 2030 Lotus Emira. 

Nivlac57’s Hot-V Gen-V Project — a Hot-V LT engine

Calvin Nelson, who you likely remember from our articles on the Nissan VK58, has yet another wild project he’s undertaking: a Hot-V LT engine. His combination uses a Gen-IV LS short block with Gen-V LT heads. His plan was to reverse the flow of the heads, similar to what was done on Gen-I SBCs back in the day, repurposing the intake ports in the valley as exhaust ports.

After working out the engineering to get everything to work, Nelson then designed an 8-into-1 exhaust manifold and hung a pair of GT3582 turbos off the end of it. For those thinking it’s some YouTube smoke-and-mirrors stunt, he’s run it on the dyno to the tune of 637 horsepower, and run mid-sixes at over 100 mph in the eighth, between the frame rails of a Mark III Supra. At that weight and trap speed, it suggests a figure closer to 700 horsepower at the wheels, but the fact that it runs at all is genuinely impressive.

WEIRD ENGINE OF THE MONTH

Volkswagen’s VR5 and VR6 Engines

Some of the most misunderstood engines on the internet have to be VW’s VR line of engines. There are two main variants: the 5-cylinder VR5 engine and the 6-cylinder VR6 engine. While both designs have a single cylinder head, that single head hides a 15-degree bank angle (10.5 degrees for certain VR6 variants), making the engines V5 and V6 engines, respectively.

The “VR” naming convention comes from the V designation, combined with the German word Reihenmotor — which means “inline engine”. So the VR, or V–Reihenmotor, designation translates loosely to “Inline V engine.” This naming convention, combined with the single cylinder head, has led to a lot of people misunderstanding the engine’s shallow V design.

Making the engine even weirder are the slanted piston crowns, to match the angle of the cylinder head deck. However, even with the very complex and very German design, the VR5 and VR6 have enjoyed commercial success as well as a cult enthusiast following. Truly, its mechanical weirdness is a huge part of its charm.

Discussing the VR5 is always an easy way to start an argument online with a lot of people who are very confidently wrong, either not understanding that the engine is actually a V engine, or people who go the opposite direction, calling it a W engine, because they recognize the unique cylinder configuration as half of VAG’s W-engine architecture. Regardless of what you call them, they are still cool engines.

THIS MONTH’S INTERNET RANDOMNESS

Blue Turd’s “3D-Printed” Piston

Once again, we are looking at the Blue Turd Facebook page, because, once again, he stirred up the internet. This time by posting an AI photo of a high-compression 3D-printed piston. We actually 3D printed a connecting rod and piston for April Fools’ Day this year, but this AI-generated image, coupled with his story about not being able to get a company to make his piston design, really sold the idea.

However, it really does bring up a point. With all the advancements being made in additive manufacturing, will we ever see the process used — with appropriate materials, of course — for actual production pieces? It sure seems like functional SLS pistons could be more than experimental, sooner rather than later.

PROJECT UPDATES

Well, we can finally talk about a project that has been under heavy wraps for several years around here. In the coming months, you’ll see us building a Ford Barra green-top engine that we brought over from Australia with the help of some industry friends.

The goal is to make more than 1,000 horsepower out of a single-turbo setup, reliably, using a bunch of parts that are now available in the US, for an engine that was never sold here. This is an engine platform we’ve been interested in for a very long time, and it should be a lot of fun.

We’ve also got a fun project going on with Horsepower Monster and Pro Motor Engines involving a pair of 302 Chevy Trans Am engines, so make sure you stay tuned for those videos coming soon.

That wraps it up for this installment of EngineLabs Tech Talk. A quick reminder that our newsletter subscribers see some of this information first, before it’s on the website or in a video, so if you aren’t already, get subscribed to that at the link down below.