It’s the fourth season of Horsepower Wars, after a short hiatus, which kicked off the season with LS vs Coyote 3 – pitting a turbocharged 5.3L LT engine against the venerable Gen 3 5.0L Coyote. If you missed it, you can check out all the action on Dragzine. Spoiler alert: the Coyote won by the slimmest of margins. In the C10 Shootout, presented by Summit Racing, we are taking those very same engines and dropping them into – you guessed it – Chevy C10 trucks for the ultimate drag n drive shootout.

LS vs Coyote 3 Recap

On the third iteration of LS vs Coyote, we started with some of the latest versions of the engines that are readily available on the used market as the core engines – the 5.0L Gen 3 Coyote from a 2018-2023 F-150 and the 5.3L L83 from a 2014-present Silverado. And yes, this meant that technically the LS was not actually an LS but a Gen V “LT.” We picked two of the best in the country to build each – Late Model Engines for the LT and Fast Forward Race Engines for the Coyote to square off on the dyno using a simple rule set. Each engine was given a similar Holley intake and Tick Performance air-to–water intercooler, E85 fuel, and the license to pick whatever parts they wanted as long as they stuck to stock displacement, which would be crammed with copious amounts of boost from an HPT 76mm turbo.

Both engines used the factory blocks and heads, but were given lots of attention and machine work. The Coyote was given FFRE’s signature re-sleeve and O-ring treatment, while LME stuck to the factory sleeves but cleaned up the cylinders. FFRE gave mostly just a clean-up to the capable Gen 2 heads, but LME gave the Gen V heads a full CNC-port job and even port-matched the intake. The factory bore size was limited to stock-sized Manley valves, but the real magic was in the rest of the valvetrain as each engine sought to spin over 9,000 rpm in order to win the trophy, given simply to the highest peak horsepower number.

In the end, the bore limitation and RPM (remember, horsepower equals torque multiplied by RPM and divided by 5,252) gave the Coyote the slight edge with the limited turbo size. On Westech’s dyno, the Coyote won out with 1,419hp over the LT’s 1,401.

C10 Shootout Rules

If you are familiar with Horsepower Wars, it’s been known in the past for a deep rule book and strict enforcement at the hands of someone like Lonnie Grim on the $10K Drag Shootout. With four teams competing for $10,000 cash and the vehicle they spent 10 days building, there was a lot on the line – including their reputations. That brought out some fierce competition and unique interpretations of the rules. People bled, people vomited, and a trailer caught fire. Well, this time we wanted something a little more relaxed. Just a friendly competition between two builders for fun.

In a nutshell, the rules are built around keeping these 100% street trucks. That means all steel and all glass, aside from the back window, if needed for the roll cage design. We’ll even have full interiors. Once completed, they will still resemble their stock beginnings but with a whole lot more attitude.

We are using the same engines from LS vs Coyote, including the turbo, intercooler, and Holley EFI to control port injection (no Direct Injection or Variable Cam/Valve Timing). The fuel of choice will be ETS Z85 Perfo (basically a race E85), and the rear tires will be Mickey Thompson 295/55/15 drag radials.

There will be a 100-mile drive followed by a best two-of-three race at Darana Dragway West Salem, Ohio. Cool down and repair time will be allowed, but both trucks must complete the drive under their own power.

‘72 vs ‘78 C10

Our two C10s for the competition are clean examples, one painfully bone stock and another already modified but still majorly lacking in the powertrain. Both will be getting a major upgrade in the power department, so not to worry.

The ‘72 is the stocker, a short-bed with a 350 cubic-inch small-block Chevy and a three-speed Turbo 350. It was repainted white and underwent somewhat of a restoration recently. The ‘72 is a second-generation C10 truck, known as “Action Line” or “Glamour Pickups” for good reason – they look incredible! From the factory, they had independent front suspension and a coil-spring rear suspension with long trailing arms.

The ‘78 C10 is known as a “square-body” for its appearance as well, and our example came with the popular two-tone paint (black and accented with white). It’s lowered with a C-notched frame and typical Pro Touring upgrades for better handling, but still a stock 350 cubic-inch small-block and a 4-speed automatic powering it. Square-bodies have a leaf spring rear suspension, which is an interesting twist to the C10 Shootout. Leaf springs have proven a simple and effective combination at the drag strip, capable of sub-one-second sixty-foot times. However, the factory traction bar setup in the second-gen – not so much! Are ladder bars or a 4-link in the ‘72 C10’s future? We’ll have to see!

The Builders

Eric Yost of Customs by Bigun, winner of season 1 of the $10K Drag Shootout, will be using the FFRE bullet to put together the “Coyote 10.” The heretic is based on the 1972 Chevy C10. We’ll be ripping out a small-block Chevy to squeeze in the wide, DOHC Ford V8 with a lot of custom work. Bigun is a master of fabrication and promises to show off his skills, incorporating his deep knowledge in building drag and drive competitors as well as his NASCAR roots, based in Mooresville, North Carolina (the mecca of stock car racing).

Big 3 Racing of West Salem, Ohio is also a major player in the drag and drive game, having competed at every major event in the country. These diehard racers will be putting together the “Big 10,” the cherry 1978 Chevy C10. Its black hue does not convey its pure intentions, sticking with a “Chevy motor”albeit a late model LT engine. Big 3 excels at building well-thought-out combinations from start to finish that can withstand the ultimate torture test, as well as track and dyno tuning to achieve their potential.

Next time, we’ll start tearing into these beautiful trucks before they are rebuilt from the ground up by Big 3 and Bigun. This year is all about having fun, building some cool stuff, and taking you guys along for the ride. Stay tuned!

Horsepower Wars C10 Shootout would like to thanks its sponsors for making this possible including Summit Racing, Holley (Holley EFI, Simpson, etc), Manley Performance, Diamond Racing Pistons, COMP Cams, Moroso Performance Products, Total Seal, Automotive Racing Products (ARP), Cometic Gaskets, AMSOIL, Vibrant Performance, HPT Turbochargers, ICT Billet, ATI Performance, Meziere Enterprises, AFCO Racing, Optima Batteries, Old World Industries/Peak, Strange Engineering, SPAL, Auto Metal Direct, and Wiles Driveshaft.