Engine Masters - Season 3 (2018)

It's back to basics with a comparison of dual-plane versus single-plane intake manifolds. While the intakes used here are typical for any carbureted V-8, the lessons about how the length of the intake runners affects the shape of the power curve apply to any four-stroke engine. So are you into low-end grunt, or top-rpm horsepower? And how much of one are you willing to sacrifice to get the other?

There is no hotter engine package these days than the turbocharged GM LS-Series V-8. Many people have proven that you can pull a 4.8L or 5.3L straight out of a junkyard and boost it to the moon and make 1,000 hp-but what if you're a little more conservative and want to have huge power but also reliability from an engine you can drive every day on pump gas? We'll show you where we spent the money and where we saved it, and why we chose some lower-power components in favor of budget and reliability as we make incredible power from a 5.3L with a single turbo, 91-octane ...

You asked and we're here to answer. We take our small-block Chevy 383 and show, piece by piece, how much power your water pump kills. We move from an electric pump to mechanical with all kinds of cooling tricks to show you just how little it matters. We even throw on an alternator under load just to drive the point home.

Get ready for "no replacement for displacement" with a massive 598ci BluePrint Engines crate big-block Chevy. We're going to show you two completely different power combos, one for low-buck and massive street-ready low-end torque, and a second one for high-buck and high-rpm killer horsepower. Both of these setups proved super effective and we'd encourage you to duplicate them, but the episode also addresses the age-old questions about torque versus horsepower and how they are affected by parts selection and rpm-as well as how they might need to be set up in a car. And...

A junkyard Chevy LS engine with a turbo-it's a dime-a-dozen concept these days, but how big can it go? To find out, Engine Masters went to the originator of the "Big Bang Theory" dyno test: Richard Holdener, who delivered the world a 1,200hp boosted 4.8L way back in 2011 in the pages of HOT ROD magazine. Holdener has brought many junkyard engines to a power-adder-assisted demise since then, and has found the connecting rods to be the weak spot. The Gen IV engines have better rods, so this time the victim is a 6.0L with a pair of BorgWarners on the way to 30 psi. Will ...

More myths shattered. For decades, street/strip racers have been told not to run nitrous-oxide injection on the most common dual-plane intake manifolds because "you'll get fuel distribution problems." But is it true? We're here to find out on Engine Masters presented by AMSOIL, where this time we run the most popular intakes with a 175hp nitrous shot and analyze cylinder-to-cylinder air/fuel ratios to discover the facts. While we're at it, we'll find out which intake makes the most power on nitrous.

A show for the ones who disputed our Episode 2 test with throttle-body injection (TBI) not being real electronic fuel injection (EFI). So we're back and more serious than ever with a state-of-the-art 1,050-cfm multipoint EFI system facing off against the 750- and 1,000-cfm relics known as carburetors. Which will squirt the most power into our tried-and-true 383 Chevrolet? Find out here.

This Engine Masters is very personal to host David Freiburger, since it's his own race engine that he handbuilt in the quest to get into the 200 MPH Club at El Mirage Dry Lake. Instead of the normal A/B testing on Engine Masters, this episode will focus on the details that make the engine optimized, specifically for the sustained wide-open throttle operation required for land speed racing. Plus, you'll get to see a ProCharger make more than 1,000 horsepower on a 23-degree, 347ci small-block.

In the modern world of bulletproof bottom ends, boost has become the go-to for bolt-on power. But is it really the best way to get where you want to be? David Freiburger, Steve Dulcich and Steve Brulé take a bone-stock 5.3 truck LS and test four different combos of built and boosted. Building off the baseline of the naturally aspirated motor, they pull big numbers with just an intercooled turbo setup. Next, they pull the turbo to build it N/A with heads, a cam, and an intake, and then finally hang the turbo back onto the newly built mill. The choice is up to you (and ...