It made no compression and then he broke every head bolt but three while getting it apart to figure out just what was wrong with it, but that did not deter him! Nope, our dude Richard Holdener busted his ass and got the Ameri-Barra, otherwise known as the Atlas 4200, ready to rock on the dyno at Westech and rock it did. Below you’ll find both NA and Boosted testing going on with this cool inline 6 and we totally approve. There are some seriously stout examples of these engines running around, even if they aren’t nearly as popular as some of the other combos. We know of several that make well over 1,000 horsepower on boost in street driven cars that are reliable, and also of several that run in NHRA competition naturally aspirated.

These are cool engines and I’ve thought so for years. And I’m not alone. Again, the popularity isn’t going to compete with an LS or something, but they didn’t make nearly as many of them either. They are “rare” in comparison, but you can find them in the wrecking yard and when they are tuned and happy they are amazingly smooth. Inline engines in general are smooth running, but there is something about one of these Atlas combos that just sings.

Watch Richard’s videos and below and let us know if you’d rather have an NA combo or one with some serious boost making big steam? We’ll take both.