Reality Racing - Inside Robert Yates Racing Engine Shop

The Engine

At one level, it's scary how stock the Yates modular engine is. The block, heads, and intake are all FR500 parts. These are limited-run performance Four-Valve V-8 engine bits originally seen on FRPP's three FR500 Mustang development cars a few years ago and now mainly available through the company's catalog. To these basics Yates adds its own dry-sump oiling system; a modi-fied front engine dress to accommodate the engine mounting and accessory packaging required by the Multimatic chassis; a small amount of port work for increased airflow and power--it isn't difficult to get 500 hp with Four-Valve airflow--along with seat and guide changes for 24-hour racing durability; custom camshafts for power; custom cranks, rods, and pistons for durability; and, of course, numerous detail changes for midengine mounting, ease of maintenance, and so on.

So, on another level, the engine looks considerably different from what's under the hood of your Mustang Cobra, and indeed there are few identical parts between a stock Mustang Cobra and the Yates Four-Valves. By the time all the massaging and bulletproof parts go in, the finished product is far from production. Yet stock and Yates Four-Valves are remarkably similar engines, much more so than the small-blocks in Winston Cup are to 5.0s, or 5.0s are to anything racing for money at the World Ford Challenge.

To get its engine program running immediately and to avoid wearing out their expensive, hand-built-prototype and rare Ford-supplied parts, RYR Engines bought a Sean Hyland Motorsport Four-Valve 5.0 to use as a dyno mule and test bed. The only modifica-tion to the basic SHM package was going from the SHM copper gasket and O-ring head sealing to a shim gasket because of water leaks. This stock production-based engine is still being used for parts development work at RYR Engines.

For the eight RYR Four-Valve engines built so far (two development engines, four race engines, and two Panoz Esperante race engines--they're another story), RYR is using aluminum, 94mm bore, steel-capped FR500 blocks from the original run of these blocks. These CM-6010-D50 blocks are not in the FRPP catalog, and apparently you really don't want one anyway. Originally spray-bore 5.0 units, these blocks have had the spray-bore (a neat idea that unfortunately hasn't worked) machined out and liners installed--all these blocks break in the water jacket, leaking coolant into the head bolt bosses. John has his tricks to make these early, essentially first-run prototype blocks live, but like everyone else around high-zoot modulars, he was waiting until May 2003 for "production" FR500 blocks from Ford. These improved units are being built in production Ford facilities, foundries, and machining lines and won't have any coolant issues.

John adds ARP main and head studs to the blocks. Admittedly, this is partially a "just because" move on his part, seeing how the stock fasteners work quite well at 500 hp. However, the OEM head bolt is a stretch-to-yield fastener, and because these engines are regularly torn down and reassembled for servicing, that would have meant buying head studs by the carload. Hence the ARP studs.