Mast Motorsports engine build epic part1

Mast Motorsports is doing it right! Horace Mast and his employees (that are more like of a band of brothers than co-workers) engineer and produce some of the highest quality, highest horsepower, and most desired LS engines in the market today. Follow along with my hotrodder bucket list, exclusive experience as I document a tour of the facility, a Mast Motorsports engine build, dyno run and subsequent installation into the LSX G-body!

In keeping with the high horsepower theme that the LSX swapped Gbody had with the Champion race engine big block, the owner decided to go with a high horsepower Mast Motorsports Black Label 440ci LSX engine. When he ordered the engine from Mast, he requested the video dyno results with the engine. It was at this time many great minds came together and we were invited down to Nacogdoches, Texas to take a tour of the facility and to participate in the engine build.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by the shop General Manager, Chris Durrett, who gave us the complete tour of the facility. We very quickly discovered Mast Motorsports is much more than a simple engine building shop. They are a fully working CNC machine shop with in-house engineering capabilities, multiple dyno rooms, and a parts distribution facility. It was very exciting to witness the research and development of new products taking place, as well as the many varied tasks that were being performed while we were there. Yes, they hand build and dyno test every engine they produce, but they also cast and machine their own cylinder heads, and intakes; they take “MADE IN THE USA” very seriously. One thing I was extremely impressed with was the level of autonomy that everyone displayed. Everybody knew what to do to get the job done and worked extremely well together when doing it! It’s really cool to see a group of people with positive attitudes and that have a passion for the jobs they perform. One word could sum up their work environment – FUN! This was a very cool place to visit and I hope you enjoy what I am able to show you here. This facility should be on everyone’s “Go to” place to visit if you’re a car enthusiast that is purchasing an engine.

Mast entry — Right away, after walking through the front doors, one is met by these works of art. You’re obviously in the right place when you see engines and heads in the lobby!

Hang a right and through the lobby and follow the sound of the music! Very quickly, excitement takes over, and I found myself wanting to run to see what was on the other side of the door. Dyno rooms!

engine dyno room — It’s directly down to business after walking through the lobby. Seen here is one of several working dyno rooms. They even have a separate chassis dyno to test the engine in the car! These large displacement small blocks have a NASTY attitude; this dyno pull was far from over when I snapped the shot. (spoiler alert: this was one of the dyno pulls on our engine!)

After you see probably the coolest thing you think your going to see (dyno rooms), it’s on to the candy store! I felt like a little kid thinking “I want one of those, one of those, and oh I could really use that too!” The parts room had everything I needed and lots of stuff I didn’t need, but I still wanted them!

shipping an recieving — The shipping and receiving room is joined with the parts storage area. This makes for simple product flow in and out the door. As seen here, Mast Motorsports has specialized crates for the new engines to be contained in for shipping. Just look at those engines though! I could tell one of them wanted to go home with me!

heads ready to assemble — Cast and machined right here in the good ‘ole USA, these parts are ready to go. Mast Motorsports machines, inspects, and tests their own heads on-site. These parts were inspected and ready to use or to ship. I thought they looked pretty cool all lined up like a bunch of para-troopers getting ready to jump.

After we picked our jaws up off the floor, we were introduced to Perry Kiritsy, the engine builder that would be guiding us through the ultimate engine building experience. Perry spent the next 2 days foregoing his personal life by staying late to finish the engine.

engine clean room — Some time was taken for going over how the build is going to go and ironing out a few other details. Speaking of details, everything going into the engine is cleaned multiple times then placed on the racks for assembly, then cleaned again before being used. The engine assembly room is a very clean environment, a surgery room. The work stations are covered with fresh white paper, and the engine blocks are covered with bags when they are not being assembled. Once the engines are complete they are taken to the dyno room for proving. Get ready to see how these monsters are put together! (side note: check out the aluminum v4 baby block in this picture – 185hp for your motorcycle!)

Devil is in the details… This kind of tool control and quality brings a happy tear to an aviation guy. I have my personal tool box shadowed, and I was very happy to see all the guys there with similar organizational skills. Yet another clue to show you how professional the crew is at Mast Motorsports. Plus, if you’re a true mechanic, you enjoy seeing this kind of stuff.

Almost ready to build a Black Label LSX 440! The LSX 427 short block was machined and prepped prior to our arrival, but we brought off our own speed parts for this engine. The engine is going to be a different kind of animal, this fossil fuel consumer is going to eat through a QFT 950 carburetor (more on this carb. in the future)! Definitely new LSX technology, but it’s still got that old school punch.

LSX 440 ready to build — While prepping the slugs for this beast, the engine was bagged. This bag came off and went back on several times throughout the build process. Does your engine shop do this?

I hope you enjoyed the photo tour of Mast Motorsports presented here. Next time on the site HotRodRegal.com, I will describe Mast Motorsports engine build-up – which will include many more cool pictures, and maybe even a few videos! In the meantime, check out MastMotorsports.com or like them on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news from them!

Mast Motorsports engine pic — Your going to want to come back to see how this angry little engine came together and what its capable of producing.

Thanks for keeping up with HotRodRegal.com

-Matt