Gallery>> Chrome And Horses: The Engines Of Sema

Some of you may recall, the recent Art of the Badge articles, fellow Speedhunter Jonathan Moore wrote on the subject of classic automotive emblems at recent Goodwood Revival. These articles had a bit of a shockwave effect on the rest of the Speedhunters team, as it made us rethink a little bit about how we approach event coverage. While we’ll always give you a high level overview of an event, Jonathan reminded us that it’s also refreshing to showcase specific details across a wide variety of cars.

So while Jonathan chose to showcase classic emblems at the Goodwood Revival, we decided on a slightly different approach for this SEMA article and selected the subject of engines. Such is the breadth of highly crafted show machines at SEMA, we thought this was the one subject that could unify the wide variety of automobiles on offer. All cars have engines right?

So from the much hated V8 to S-Chassis swap….

… to the classic visions of this tri-carbed flathead, I present to you the Engines of SEMA 2011.

Practically all the cars on display had pristine show qualify engines, but only a few combined this with pure functionality too. The force fed turbo setup on the Blowfish land speed racer has already pushed the car well pass the 300 mph mark at Bonneville. The fact that it’s also aesthetically beautiful is a bonus…. I suppose that we shouldn’t expect anything less from Rad Rides by Troy.

This Pro Mod Mercedes 500SL was built by Rick Lefevers and was wowing show-goers at the K&N booth. It features a 526 cubic inch, quad turbocharged Keith Black built aluminum Big Block Chevrolet lump, with four Garrett 88mm turbochargers blowing into a custom intake manifold with 16 injectors and 4 throttle bodies. Power is estimated to be in the 3000 range. Madness!

Diesel power isn’t something you normally associate with funny cars, but that’s exactly what you are looking at here.

The straight six M Power powerplant from Mike Essa’s drift spec BMW Z4.

A force fed Subaru flat 4. Tidy.

These two massive 91mm Borg Warner turbos force feed a 5.4 liter modular V8 block. Somewhere back there is a Mustang drag car too!

With so many amazing cars on display at SEMA, it’s easy to become desensitized.

Two is better than one.

Flawless presentation.

More twin turbo action, in the engine bay of a ’68 GTO.

Glorious velocity stacks on the ’41 Willys in the Cragar booth.

This LSX motor found its way under the hood of an AMC AMX.

Dig the retro style intake on this ’50 Chevy Fleetline.

Viper Competition Series drag engine in the Mopar booth.

Another view of the mid-engine conversion on the Tatsu Scion iQ.

Ok that’s it for our little tour of some of the more interesting engine set ups at SEMA 2011. Let us know if you like this style of post or not.

Back soon with more SEMA 2011 coverage.

:Rod Chong

SEMA 2011 Coverage on Speedhunters

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3

Whats the deal with the blender on the Double ztrouble Model T?

4

+1

some basic specs to go with each engine pic would be great too

5

Pro mod mercedes benz 500sl with a big block chevy... is that sarcasm? Other than that me love reggae and V8's.

6

@MPV TT Thats so that when people ask "yeah, but does it blend???" they can say f#ck you, of course it does

7

2nd pic, is that a v8 in a japanese fronted integra, or an S-chassis?

8

Nice shooting but more detail please, what I loved most about the crests of goodwood was the helpful background snippets. But live the engine shots! How about a section on aero packages?

9

i like this.

10

this post is baller, and we dont hate the s chassis ls swap it'd just be nice to see other swaps, lsx swaps are all over the webz this is the one site i come to, to see something different

11

Whats up with the blender on the duel engine car??

12

yeah good style of post. I lke v8 swapped s chassis.

13

I always love staring at some engine porn. Any more info on the '50 Fleetline? Who built it?

14

Personally i'm not an engine guy but those are some sweet engines!

16

Love it! you should do more indepth coverage like this.

17

This is a very nice article, liked it a lot... especially the diesel.



Need moar trucks...

18

YES, YES, and YES.

19

i like it!! what about doing 'Headlights' of SEMA......??

20

blender's a nice touch :)

21

Please please please give us some desktops of the gallardo's turbo setup!

22

optimus prime porno..

23

@veedub93 - that's an s14(a)

24

To correct myself - that's an s13.4...

25

Like it alot! Maybe some more info on each (in this case) engine.

26

Does like!!!!!!!!!! allot

27

Love how y'all always work on pushing out better and better posts instead of sticking to a regular routine. Keep up the good work!

28

As a journalist, I believe you should put more information.

29

great way to start the morning.

<3 the V8 S-chassis swap.



@veedub93 it's a kouki S14. that's probably why the caption has "s-chassis" in it..

30

awesome coverage thanks! and i know this is speedhunters but some of those trucks in the first galleries look cool... any chance those might be up for a gallery section?

31

IAG's Suby FTW

32

massive like on this post maybe even more detail on some of them but still sick !

33

What's with the blender on the Ford.. :D

35

awesome indeed!

36

it would be really nice to get some basic specs along with the photos (and not just "yeah its got some velocity stacks" or "yeah its got twin turbos") c'mon speedhunters!

37

I like it a lot. I think it would be an improvement if you gave a little more info about the cars, or maybe an overall shot of the car.

38

this years sema coverage has been fantastic thus far. this post included. very impressive stuff

39

Look at all that gross excess power wrapped in chrome! : )

40

section on aero package

41

Great article maybe try adding some rotary engines?:)

42

There are alot of drool inspiring engine bays goin on here but the show started ended for me with Underground Racing's LP570-4 (or might I say "LP1000-4") Superleggera at the top.

43

Very good way of presentation.. Most certainly dig this... I'm clearing the drool on my table right now..

44

Personally, I think this is an incredible way of doing things for this type of post. I often find myself wanting to know more about certain aspects of the cars you guys are covering. I am always asking why do this that way or this way and most of the time you guys answer, but not always. My thing is always how, what, and why? Plus I love how diverse the site is. I am a fan of many genres, please keep it coming. I know I'm all over the place but whatever. I am a long time reader and hands down this is probably not just my favorite car website but my favorite website period!

45

efjpewjfpwf

46

While walking through the Essen Auto Show the other week, Rod and I started talking about the recent

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