Engine of the Week is presented by
Raul Lopez Sr. got into this industry and into engine work in the 1990s. At the time, he would spend time with a friend who had an engine shop named Infinite Performance. Unfortunately, that friend passed away a while back, but Raul Sr. was hooked on the engine building business and decided he would carry on right where his friend left off.
He opened Infinite Performance Racing in a new shop space in 2003, keeping the same shop name to honor his friend. Today, Raul Sr. runs the shop together with his son, Raul Lopez Jr.
“My dad got me into cars and engines,” says Raul Lopez Jr. “My dad is an engine builder and I’ve been working with him for over 10 years ever since I left high school.”
Infinite Performance Racing, located in Miami, FL, focuses on Coyote, LS and LT engine work, but the majority is Coyote oriented.
“Most of what we do are the Coyote engines such as the 5.0L, 4.6L Cobras, Terminators and stuff like that – mod motors,” Lopez says.
The shop is 2,200 sq.-ft. and the father and son duo do all their engine assembly in-house, but utilize MPR Racing Engines for machine work to ensure everything is how it’s supposed to be.
“We do a lot of street cars and some track cars,” he says. “We also do fabrication work. We do a little bit of everything. We try to be a one-stop shop.”
One of the engine builds the shop recently finished is for Raul Jr.’s personal 1992 Foxbody Mustang Hatchback. It’s a Gen III 5.0L Coyote engine with mirror image twin turbos.
“I have a Gen III Coyote engine, which are the motors we are touching the most now,” he says. “Ever since the Gen III Mustangs came out, everybody is all over them. We’re working on those a lot now. Whoever has a Gen I or Gen II is going back to the dealer and getting Gen IIIs.”
The 5.0L Coyote in Raul Jr.’s Foxbody was sleeved and machined at MPR and it was assembled at Infinite Performance Racing. The engine’s rotating assembly features a stock crank, I-beam rods and Diamond pistons.
“We used Frankenstein cylinder heads and they got CNC machined and ported,” Lopez says. “The engine also has an MMR billet ICX intake manifold. That’s a water-cooled manifold with 16 injectors. It’s got stock camshafts from the Gen III, but it runs a full Ferrea valvetrain.”
For the turbos, Lopez says he used Precision twin 76/75mm mirror image turbos. The engine is using about 35-40 lbs. of boost and is capable of 1,800-2,000 horsepower on M1 alcohol fuel.
“The car is getting the final touches now,” he says. “We are wiring it up and it’s going to be running off a FuelTech 600. Once the car and engine are properly wired, we will start testing.”
The ‘92 Foxbody Mustang has a 25.5 roll cage and is running on Weld wheels with an X275 tire. It’s set up for 1/4-mile drag racing with a 3-speed Rossler transmission and the engine is tuned by Karel Tuning.
“We are shooting for 6s,” Lopez says. “We’ve been in the 7s plenty of times.”
Here’s to hoping Raul Jr. meets his goals!
Engine of the Week is sponsored by PennGrade Motor Oil, Elring – Das Original and Scat Crankshafts. If you have an engine you’d like to highlight in this series, please email Engine Builder Editor, Greg Jones at [email protected].
