If you are a hardcore lover of engines and hot rodding, the name Pete Aardema is not unfamiliar. This is a dude who has built some of the most wild, interesting, over the top, and complicated engines of the last 50 years, really out of the depths of his own creative brain. Knowing that it only makes sense that he’d hook up with Kevin Braun to go land speed racing and the power plant would be a scratch built V12 engine that makes 928hp naturally aspirated out of 369 cubic inches. This was enough to shove their car to 279mph on 11 cylinders after a lean condition caused them a melted piston.
This is the first fire up since the engine was rebuilt with new pistons with a little more meat on them to help prevent the melting condition again. The neatest part of this video, outside of the obvious is the bench racing between Aardema, Braun, and the other guys at the shop. They surmise that the air scoop may have been delivering a lot of air to the rear cylinders, causing the lean condition that melted the piston. Some fixes and ideas as suggested.
If you want to think that hot rodding’s dead, that’s on you. These guys have some news for you. It ain’t.
