Kaase’s Off-shore Racing Focus
A quick analysis of Kaase Racing Engines’ accomplishments began in the mid-nineteen seventies in professional drag racing. More recently, in 2016, the firm extended its engineering interests to off-shore competition, including the rebuilding of Mercury racing engines as well as power units for Poker Run and other prestigious pleasure boats. Kaase’s marine presence has brought a few favorable comments!
New Zealander Wayne Valder’s NZ-11 won the 2019 APBA national championship Supercat class.
Based in Sarasota, Florida and rigged by Grant’s Signature Racing, Supercat is a spec class that embraces boats powered by twin, naturally aspirated big-block Chevrolet engines restricted to 510cu in. They’re required to run Brodix cylinder heads and limited to 7,000rpm, 0.720in valve lift, and with a single distributor and carburetor. The 2019 events featured 7-10 competitors and raced at 8-10 venues from Michigan to Key West.
Grant Bruggerman, owner/rigger of Grant Signature Racing and team throttle-man writes, “Kaase Racing provides us with great, dependable power, meticulous attention to detail, and excellent customer service. We could not ask for more.”
Racers Anthony Brash, owner and throttle-man, and Sheldon Edghill won the 95mph class of the 2019 Trinidad and Tobago Great Race. They also won their class in 2019 Trinidad and Tobago Championship.
“Those Kaase guys are brilliant,” says Energiza crew chief Barry Podmore. “I first met them in 2016 when they were preparing the championship-winning engines for the Miss Geico team. We spoke and soon after I engaged them to build and maintain the power units for the Energiza team—twin Kaase Boss Nine naturally aspirated Ford engines.”
Ninety-four miles in distance and organized by the Trinidad and Tobago Powerboat Association, the annual Great Race is one of the world’s longest off-shore events. It comprises six maximum speed classes: 50, 60, 70, 80, 95, and 130mph. Monitored by GPS transponders, any boat found exceeding its class speed limit is automatically disqualified. Each year, as the Energiza team won its class, they would ascend the speed ladder to the next level. However, their current boat is unsuited to 130mph racing, so for 2020 they’re aspiring to repeat their 2019 efforts.
2019 Trinidad and Tobago Great Race 130mph class winner. Crew comprises Ken Charles (driver), Darin Marshall (throttle man) and Devindra Joseph (navigator). Mr. Solo Too is powered by twin Kaase supercharged big-block Chevrolet engines.
“It was soon apparent that there is much more to Kaase’s organization than just a natural ability—they are obviously competent engineers. But they are also excellent communicators, discussing engine specs and alternative combinations. In addition, they are intensely competitive and relish the challenges of power boat racing. But raw power is only one element of a race builder’s armory. Kaase’s team has also delivered on time.” – Ken Charles
Powered by two Kaase Mercury twin turbo 1650 engines, prominent force Miss Geico became 2017 SBI & OPA unlimited class World Champions / 2018 SBI & OPA National Champions and the 2018 OPA World Champions.
Power from these premier class engines in 2017 and 2018 was derived from two 550cid V8 twin-turbocharged engines configured with double overhead cams, each generating 2,000hp and propelling the boat up to 200mph.
Performance Boat Center/Jimmy Johns Supercat racing team is based at the Missouri reservoir, the Lakes of the Ozarks.
Throttle-man Myrick Coil says, “The real measure of competitiveness in off-shore racing is accessing strong and reliable engines and cultivating a competent team. With Kaase we have found both: powerful twin big-block Chevrolet engines and access to their engine builders.”
Raising the roof: The New Kaase SR-71 Heads for 429-460 Fords
If you’re not a follower of high-performance aviation, then Jon Kaase’s cylinder head part numbers may be of only passing interest. But for the warbird faithful… Click here to read Jeff Smith’s article in EngineLabs.
Car Craft Article – April 2019
Big Boss: Kaase raises the bar with new SR-71 Big Block Ford Cylinder Heads
Written by Jeff Smith, Photos by Vic Moore, Moore Good Ink
Published in the April 2019 issue of Car Craft. Click here to read the full story.
Vintage class winner: EMC attracts 600,000 views
Jon Kaase has won this year’s Amsoil Engine Masters Challenge Vintage class with a 473ci 1958 MEL (Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln) engine. Exploring the classic turf in distinctive fashion, it was not the first time Kaase had arrived with an unorthodox relic endowed with bewildering technology.
Held annually in early October at the University of Northwestern Ohio, his entry produced 770hp with torque never less than 630lb-ft during the entire scored rpm range of 3,700-6,200rpm. The engine’s peak torque was recorded at 715lb-ft. Earning a check in the sum of $13,700, it was Kaase’s seventh victory at the prestigious affair, which coincided a few days before his sixty-fifth birthday.
This year’s Vintage rules specified factory cast iron cylinder heads and prohibited welding or the application of epoxy to the ports. Also, it was stipulated that the engine block must retain its original bore spacing and original block deck angle. A further constraint for Kaase was the fact that he had to return the MEL block to its owner, Royce Brechler, in a functioning condition. Read More.
Kaase revives Ford FE
Winder, Georgia: Some recent production at Jon Kaase Racing Engines included the building of several impressive Ford FE hot-rod engines, not least of which a beguiling Cammer version.
Big-block V8s packing 427 cubic inches (7 liters), FE production began in 1958 and ended in 1976. It replaced Ford’s Y-block and at the end of its reign was succeeded by the 385-series.
Competition FE engines were characterized by their remarkable record-breaking history, scoring dozens of NASCAR and drag racing triumphs and winning hundreds of races in Shelby Cobras. But in global motor sports, the FE’s reputation soared when it powered the unassailable Ford GT40s to two successive 24-hour Le Mans victories in 1966 and ’67. (Read more)
New Kaase Big Block Ford Rear Seal
New one-piece seal conceived for use on Ford 429-460 big-blocks; Boss Nine; and P51 engines
- ∇ Simple assembly; reliable service
- ∇ See installation sequence below
Without wishing to diminish the performance of any current rear main seal for the Ford 385-series engines, Jon Kaase wanted more.
“We had to go out of our way to find it,” he says. “In fact, we had to go out of the country—to England—to get the quality we were searching for.” Using the same manufacturing source as the Sprint Cup teams and following several years of testing, the seal makers produced the tooling, the prototype seals and now the production items exclusively for Kaase.
This new seal is a one-piece device that replaces the conventional two-piece arrangement. On its face there is a dot—a small indentation—that represents the exact place to cut the seal with a razor blade for installation.
Once cut, the seal can be wrapped around the crank and a daub of silicone sealer placed in the joint. Before lowering the crank into the crankcase, apply a light film of silicone to the outer perimeter surface of the seal and rotate the joint such that it is positioned in the main cap.
There are numerous causes for rear main seals that leak: insufficient lubrication at the sealing lip edge, shaft roughness, lip hardening, lip softening and so on. But what offends the racers and hot rodders most is the indignity of having to do the job twice, which is often a day wasted if the oil pan cannot be removed without raising the engine half-way out of the engine bay.
To this end Jon Kaase’s new rear main seal for 385-series big-block Fords is aimed at sealing it right first time.
Kaase Wins his 6th EMC Title
When legendary AMSOIL Engine Masters participant Jon Kaase considered the new Vintage V8 Class for the 2015 Challenge, he contemplated engine possibilities with the cold pragmatism of a serious competitor. One of the key requirements from Kaase’s perspective was the availability of an aluminum cylinder head. As Kaase explains, “An aluminum head allows almost unlimited modifications, and in an unlimited class like this year’s Vintage category, we wanted a head that can be machined and welded or modified.” Topping the Mummert heads is a custom adapter mating the heads to a tall Edelbrock small-block Chevy tunnel ram. The bottom end was built with a Bryant billet crank, Carrillo rods, and custom Diamond pistons. The result is a 400ci engine putting the squeeze on the mix at a 13.9:1 ratio. To work with the mushroom-tappet arrangement of the Ford Y-block, custom lifters were manufactured by Trend, with a Comp Cams billet flat tappet orchestrating the movement. Kaase custom-fabbed a long set of tri-Y headers and installed an MSD ignition system to light it off.
So what is the effect of all of these mods on this ancient Ford? How about numbers that would leave any builder of the latest hardware slack-jawed at the results. Torque started off strong at 526 lb-ft at the 3,000 rpm bottom of the test range, and twist only ramped up from there. Peak torque recorded measured 596 lb-ft at 4,600 rpm. On the power side, Kaase didn’t disappoint, with peak output showing 584 hp at just 5,500 rpm. That was plenty of power and torque over the rpm range to net a class-topping score.
JKRE supports Race for the Wounded
MISSION:
TO HONOR, EDUCATE, AND EMPOWER OUR WOUNDED COMBAT VETERANS.
VISION:
TO HELP OUR WOUNDED COMBAT VETERANS INTEGRATE AND ADJUST BACK INTO SOCIETY THROUGH COMPETITION.
PURPOSE:
*RAISE AWARENESS TO THE CHALLENGES OUR WOUNDED VETERANS ARE FACED WITH ON A DAILY BASIS.
*CREATE AND FACILITATE A SUPPORT NETWORK FROM OUR LOCAL AND NATIONAL COMMUNITIES.
*TO HELP OUR WOUNDED COMBAT VETERANS ENJOY COMPETITION.
*TO FACILITATE COMPETITION, EDUCATION, AND EMPLOYMENT IN MOTOR SPORTS.
CORE VALUES: THESE ARE THE VALUES WHICH WE BELIEVE EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD DISPLAY TO OUR WOUNDED VETERANS.
*HONOR
*LOYALTY
*COURAGE
*SERVICE
*FUN
HONOR- WE WILL HONOR OUR WOUNDED COMBAT VETERANS THAT HAVE HONORED US BY THEIR SACRIFICE.
LOYALTY- WE WILL GIVE THE SAME LOYALTY TO THEM AS THEY HAVE GIVEN TO US.
COURAGE- WE WILL ATTEMPT TO SHOW SOME OF THE COURAGE THAT THEY HAVE SHOWN US.
SERVICE- WE WILL PROVIDE A SERVICE TO THEM FOR THEIR SERVICE TO US.
FUN- WE WILL ENSURE THEY HAVE FUN!