With the third season of LS Vs. Coyote getting ready to kick off, it makes sense to look back at the previous seasons. The LS vs. Coyote debate has fueled bench racing arguments for years, and Horsepower Wars took it to the dyno in an all-out battle. The first season featured naturally aspirated engines built within a strict $9,999 budget, and the LS3 walked away with the win. But Coyote fans weren’t satisfied, claiming the Ford mill needed boost to show its true potential. So, the LS vs. Coyote shootout returned for Season 2 — this time with superchargers, a bigger budget, and two of the best engine builders in the business. The stakes were higher, the rules were looser, and the goal was simple: build the baddest boosted street-friendly engine possible within the budget.
LS Vs. Coyote Season 2: Bigger Budgets, Bigger Power
For Season 2, the budget was bumped to $15,000 per engine, and that did not include the cost of the supercharger, electronics, injectors, or basic machining and assembly. What it did include was all of the engine components, from the oil pan to throttle body, along with any special or unusual machining, such as sleeving the block and porting of the cylinder heads.
Both teams were supplied with ProCharger centrifugal superchargers but had free rein over which model they wanted to run — as long as it used a 12-rib serpentine belt drive. No cog belts or gear drives were allowed. Both engines also used the same ProCharger air-to-water intercooler, ensuring a level playing field.
Fueling the fire was E85, chosen for its low cost, relative abundance at the pump, and ability to make stupid power. Both engines were tuned using a Holley Dominator ECU, and injector choice was up to each team. However, both engines would be tuned via the same ECU on the dyno.
How the LS Vs. Coyote Competition Was Scored
This wasn’t just a peak horsepower contest. Instead, the battle was broken down into three scoring categories:
- Peak Power + Torque (4 points) – The total sum of horsepower and torque determined the biggest contributor to the overall score.
- Power Under the Curve (3 points) – To reflect real-world performance, the average power over a 3,000-rpm range was calculated.
- Horsepower Per Cubic Inch (2 points) – This ensured that displacement differences were accounted for fairly.
The Builders
Bringing their expertise to the competition were two of the best in the industry:
LS Engine
Bryan Neelen and his team at Late Model Engines (LME) out of Houston, Texas. Known for building some of the highest-horsepower LS combinations in the world, LME came into the shootout with a game plan centered around big displacement and brute force. Here is a link to the LS Build.
Coyote Engine
Tim Eichorn of MPR Racing Engines. Eichorn is a household name in NMRA racing, with a deep understanding of what it takes to make modular Ford engines perform at the highest level. Here’s a link to the Coyote engine build.
Each team built their engine at their own shop, with their own tools and machines, before shipping them to Westech Performance in Southern California for final dyno testing. Both engines would be tested using the same Holley Dominator ECU and ProCharger air-to-water intercooler—keeping things as fair as possible.
While the actual showdown was fraught with breakage, both engines showed significant potential to soar with boost. However, the ruleset was far from perfect. With LS vs. Coyote Shootout Season 3 on the horizon, we’re digging back into Season 2’s results to see what worked, what didn’t, and what we can expect next.
