Engine of the Week is presented by
This Volkswagen Beetle cost owner Steve Dalton $600 when he bought it back in high school for use as a daily driver. Every year since he’s owned the car, the Beetle and its engine have gotten some sort of performance upgrade to the point that it is at now. Steve is a regular on the drag-and-drive scene, and we caught up with him at Sick Week 2024 to get the details of the air-cooled and turbocharged VW engine for this episode of Engine of the Week.
We’ve known JBR Engines owner Jose Bello for a few years, and well before that, we knew his shop was one of the premier shops in the Honda and import engine scene. During a recent visit, we got to see an all-billet Honda K24 2.2L engine coming together for a customer looking to improve upon his 5.86-second quarter mile time!
When planning our trip for Sick Week 2024, we knew we’d be exploring areas all throughout central Florida. We figured, rather than simply hop city to city, let’s see what engine shops we can visit in an effort to showcase what they have going on. First on the list was JBR Engines in Plant City, FL, just outside of the Bradenton area.
A car like this 1966 Corvette featuring an 872 cid Reher Morrison Pro Mod nitrous engine is trying to kill itself every minute it’s running. But, a lot of this drag-and-drive racing is about loving the car you’re working on and feeling it’s a cool hot rod. John Ens and Dave Schroeder certainly have a cool hot rod, even if it’s a bit different! Check it out!
Born without arms, Matt Stutzman, aka the Armless Archer, has excelled at competitive archery. Now, he’s turning his focus to another passion – drag racing. Looking to go 200 mph in the 1/8th mile, Matt runs a Top Sportsman drag car with a supercharged big block Chevy engine. Check it out!
Damon Elff’s Toyota Supra, which features a turbocharged 2JZ engine, will send you backwards as it revs up. This 2JZ is wicked, and we caught up with Damon at Sick Week this year to get the full scoop on the build.
This 50th anniversary Mustang Cobra Jet features a turbocharged 5.0L Coyote engine and it’s one of the fastest Mustangs in Mexico. That said, there’s still room for improvement, and Martin Martinez of Junior Performance plans to make it even faster!
Known by many as the Canadian Chuck Norris, Richard Guido has been a staple of the drag-and-drive scene for a long time. Not only does his Pontiac GTO, boasting a turbocharged 521 cid Pontiac engine, drive literally everywhere, the car gets it done on the track as well having won back-to-back Sick Week Stick Shift
We caught up with Jeremy Wagler of Wagler Competition Products at the 2023 PRI Show, where he had two new billet engines to show us. One was a Duramax, and the other was this Wagler CX – a billet 6.7L Cummins-based engine that was designed with specific enhancements over a factory Cummins block for drag
As we’ve mentioned in other Sick Week interviews, there aren’t tons of import cars at the annual drag-and-drive event in Florida, so when we see something like RC Flint’s Honda S2000, we take notice. Upon further investigation, RC opted to forgo the 4-cylinder for a 414 cid L8T engine, and we got the full scoop
The Cummins engine is a powerhouse in the diesel world, but even the mighty Cummins can be improved upon. And who better to do it than Jeremy Wagler and Wagler Competition Products. The shop’s new Wagler CX billet engine is based on the 6.7L, but utilizes some different attributes for big power and performance.
