Why does it seem that so many success stories start in a garage? Is it the solitary nature of the creative process? Or, the humble beginnings of anything new? Silicon Valley is one place where the likes of Gates, Jobs, Wozniak, and others transformed our digital world within the non-descript walls of a neighborhood garage.
And so it was for Josh Klein and Luke Wilson. Their Indianapolis garage was quite literally the vehicle to realize their dream. They started 20 years ago blocks from the Indy Motor Speedway with an idea to build world-class racing engines. Raised on the smell of rubber, sound of shrieking engines, and sprint and quarter mile tracks, in some respects the direction of their lives was pre-ordained.
Out of that garage was birthed 4 Piston Racing. They’ve grown by leaps and bounds over the years not only assembling Honda engines particularly but developing engine heads and other components in-house. Starting from the top of the induction system to the crank, Josh and Luke have gone over every inch of a motor to extract maximum power.
4 Piston offers complete engines, individual parts, and machine shop services for a range of 4-cylinder engines. But most of their work is dedicated to Honda B, D, H, and K-series motors. Through their innovation, design, hard work, and trial and error they’ve backed racing teams that have toppled a multitude of FWD quarter mile records
First up in the Sport Front Wheel Drive (SFWD) class is Shawn Ramey in a Honda Civic powered by a 1300 hp 2.0-liter turbocharged B-Series motor with a 4 Piston Outlaw GSR CNC cylinder-head.
Next up is Nelsito Aleman in another Honda Civic also powered by a 1300 hp 2.0-liter turbocharged B-Series motor with a 4 Piston Outlaw GSR CNC cylinder-head.
And what’s most amazing about this run is it was all-motor! No turbo, supercharger, nitrous or any tricks. Just a 2.5 liter K24 with a CNC 4 Piston Pro 163 cylinder-head. I can’t understand a word of it, but the announcer is awesome.
So whether you’re into software or cylinder heads, it’s nice to see passion, precision and a belief in one’s own ability. Over at 4 Piston Racing, these guys turned a simple dream into a reality – making world-class racing engines. Below is a great interview with Luke Wilson explaining his latest creation and his craft. Give it a gander. Buckle up.
The engine is based on a factory, K24 block, sourced from an Acura, and utilizes an OEM forged crankshaft. From there up, 4 Piston has worked their magic to fortify the 4 cylinder for quadruple digit power. Ramey Racing /LA Sleeve ductile iron sleeves are installed and machined for copper O-rings and Wiseco Extreme Duty pistons are hung on BoostLine connecting rods to maximize strength.
Up top, a 4 Piston–CNC ported, TSX cylinder head is equipped with Ferrea valve springs, Competition Plus valves, and 4 Piston billet turbo cams. ARP head studs keep the lid on the 50-plus psi of boost the engine is designed to handle.
Forced atmosphere is supplied by a massive, 72mm Precision turbocharger and fed into a Kinsler modular plenum intake manifold. The turbo is capable of delivering over 50psi of boost and is fed pressurized exhaust via a Speed Factory equal-length turbo manifold. The engine, which is designed to work in both street and racing applications, is capable of running on various types of fuel. On 93-octane pump gas, it is capable of 600hp. E85, with its higher octane and chemical intercooling properties brings 1,000hp to the table and finally, C85 race fuel allows for even more boost and over 1,200hp worth of go.
“We’ve used this engine in everything from road racing to time attack, to weekend drag racing, said Wilson. “You can drive it to the track on pump gas with 600 hp, and add race gas and turn up the boost.”
The engine is ready to go to the dyno, and shortly the team at 4 Piston will have video proof for the world of the engine’s potency.
The guys from Weisco and Boostline worked with 4 Piston to get the rotating parts made the way they want them and the end result is a reliable engine that uses lots of factory parts and a handful of aftermarket pieces to create a engine that’s the size of a suitcase but makes power like nothing that you could imagine.
The complexity of making all of this power with a factory block and a CNC ported factory head is mind boggling. The margin for error is zero, not just in assembly but in tuning as well. The engine uses a 72mm turbocharger which they tune to 33psi of boost for 1,000hp but is capable of making something like 55psi if they really let it eat. Want to turn that 1,000hp into loads more? Easy, just put better fuel in it and crank the boost up.
The team over at 4 Piston in Danville, Indiana make some serious powerful Honda engines. Take for example their 2.7 L K-Series inline-four built specifically for FWD drag racing. They reach 2.7 L by increasing stroke to 106 mm and bore to 90 mm. Inside you find a Winberg crankshaft, Wiseco pistons, GRP aluminum rods, and a 4 Piston CNC head capable of flowing 430 cfm. Once together you have an inline-four that is capable of producing 500 horsepower naturally aspirated and 10,000+ rpm (shifts at 10,600 rpm)