815ci Ford Pro Stock Hemi
Jon Kaase Racing Engines, Winder, GA
In the world of oh-too-large drag racing engines, all roads lead to Jon Kaase. Kaase Racing Engines (KRE) has been building behemoth big-block Fords for over 20 years and has had a hammerlock on IHRA Pro Stock championships as an engine builder extending back to 1998. Besides these big Fords, Kaase also builds equally oversized GM and Mopar Hemis. Research even further and you'll find that Kaase paid his dues as far back as 1977 when he was crewchief for Dyno Don Nicholson when he won the NHRA Pro Stock World Championship. Kaase also builds the occasional 514ci Ford street engine, designed his own small-block and 429/460-style aluminum Ford street heads, and won the Engine Master's Challenge in 2003 and 2004 with killer Ford powerplants. Kaase thinks these are some of the most powerful normally aspirated automotive engines in the world at 1,300 lb-ft of torque and 1,720 hp. He's probably right!
A. Induction
The sheetmetal intake is a Dave Hughes creation mounting a pair of Braswell or CFM split Dominator carburetors. The carbs feature 2.250-inch throttle butterflies that flow an astounding amount of air.
B. Heads
You could easily roll a Titleist golf ball down the ports of these C and C Ford aluminum Hemi heads and have plenty of room left over. Victory 2.680-inch intake and 2.040-inch Manley exhaust valves are cranked on by a set of WW Engineering rocker arms and covered with Moroso valve covers.
C. Ignition
That's an MSD distributor beltdriven off the crank, which also includes the HVC coil and plug wires. KRE also uses a complete digital programmable ignition for this 8,000-rpm beast that allows individual cylinder timing, but according to Kaase, "no real witchcraft."
D. Short-Block
These 815ci Pro Stock motors start with a C and C Automotive aluminum block machined by Alan Root that allows huge 4.75-inch bores with an equally excessive 5.750-inch stroke. The crank is a billet-steel piece from Sonny Bryant that spins Bill Miller 7.750-inch aluminum rods fitted with 17.0:1-compression CP pistons. Imagine spinning this behemoth to 8,100 rpm in the lights.
E. Oiling System
Moroso supplies the dry-sump oil pan, oil tank, and multistage pump that keeps everything properly lubricated.
F. Cam and Valvetrain
To prevent twisting the cam as it works against the massive spring pressure, KRE's cam journals measure a main-journal-like 2.475 inches in diameter. Duration measures 286 and 320 degrees at 0.050 tappet lift and the lobes generate 0.630 lift all by themselves. With a 2.0:1 rocker ratio, that's 1.260 inches of valve lift. KRE uses both Comp cams and pieces from LSM, a Detroit cam company. Kaase says he has to run heavy-wall 91/416-inch-diameter pushrods to keep them from flexing.
Beast Master
If you think this Hemi's big, KRE also built a tractor pulling Ford Hemi displacing 900 ci that uses the same 4.75-inch bore size but with a massive 6.350-inch stroke and arm-length 10-inch-long aluminum rods. The long stroke demands a very tall deck height to squeeze it in. To accomplish this, KRE built a 2-inch-thick plate that fits between the block and the heads to increase the deck height. Kaase says it made 1,400 lb-ft of torque, and we guarantee it won't fit under the hood of a '70 Mustang.