Nobody had ever brought a naturally aspirated 2-stroke engine to C&H Dyno which could hit the 300 horsepower mark. Nobody that is, until PSI General Manager Dale Raffauf and Lissy's Polaris owner Bob Lissy pulled up with a sled code named Project F. Bolstered by an in-house PSI dyno sheet claiming 300.5 hp, they were certain they would leave with the Dynotech record secured. They were right.
PSI introduced Project F at this year's American Snowmobiler Trail Mod Invitational. Powered by a 1400cc Genesis engine, this giant really packs
a wallop. And we have dyno tests from two separate shops to prove that this
Genesis is the strongest, naturally aspirated snowmobile engine ever made!
We wondered exactly how a person decides to build a mill capable of producing
301 horsepower on pump gas. "It all started over dinner in Van Auken's Inn at last year's Shoot-Out," explained Raffauf. "Bob looked at me and said 'let's build one with three Genesis 925 cylinders on it.'"
The idea then went to PSI's design shop in Wild Rose, Wisconsin. "We finally got a chance to build the 1400 around Thanksgiving," Raffauf said.
The magic behind Project F is three Genesis 88mm cylinders, each topped
off with a patented PSI Dial-A-Dome head, which allows the consumer to increase or decrease cranking compression. PSI includes a triple 76mm billet stroker crankshaft to handle the 196 foot pounds of torque.
For the dyno tests, Raffauf reported that they adjusted the Dial-A-Domes up to about 160-165 pounds of cranking compression and used C-12 race fuel to avoid detonation. At a trail friendly 135 pounds of compression, consumers
can use 92-96 octane pump gas, and still expect to pull around 290 hp. At
that point, what's 10 horses difference anyway?
All this power doesn't come for free. The price you pay for power, is that it goes through more gas than a Packer fan at Lambeau. When it hits peak power at around 8500-8600 rpm, it drains the tank at over 160 pounds of gas an hour. At about 7 pounds per gallon, that's just under 23 gallons of race fuel in one hour at WOT. Obviously no one could or would hold a 300 hp wide open for an hour.
Raffauf was quick to point out that this is not an engine package for just any Joe Rider. "This will be a very limited availability motor. There's too much power to let just anybody get a hold of one. We'll be selling primarily to hillclimbers and drag racers."
Editor's note: Jim Czekala called to clarify that his fuel meter was
miscalibrated, and that the fuel flow numbers indicated on the C&H Dyno
grid are significantly higher than actual.
Project F Genesis 1400
PSI Performance Dyno Dec. 5, 1997
| RPM | CBT | CBHP | FUEL | BSFC | CAT |
| 6800 | 143.2 | 185.4 | 136.6 | .784 | 58 |
| 6900 | 142.9 | 187.8 | 135.5 | .768 | 58 |
| 7000 | 147.7 | 196.9 | 141.2 | .764 | 59 |
| 7100 | 146.2 | 197.6 | 142.6 | .769 | 59 |
| 7200 | 156.2 | 214.1 | 144.0 | .769 | 60 |
| 7300 | 155.9 | 216.7 | 142.4 | .701 | 60 |
| 7400 | 161.3 | 227.3 | 145.6 | .683 | 59 |
| 7500 | 161.3 | 230.4 | 144.3 | .667 | 59 |
| 7600 | 175.9 | 254.6 | 145.8 | .611 | 60 |
| 7700 | 175.6 | 257.5 | 147.2 | .610 | 60 |
| 7800 | 185.7 | 275.8 | 152.7 | .590 | 59 |
| 7900 | 181.5 | 273.0 | 153.2 | .597 | 58 |
| 8000 | 178.0 | 271.1 | 157.1 | .615 | 56 |
| 8100 | 181.9 | 280.5 | 157.7 | .598 | 58 |
| 8200 | 181.9 | 284.0 | 157.7 | .591 | 58 |
| 8300 | 187.4 | 296.2 | 159.7 | .576 | 61 |
| 8400 | 187.3 | 299.6 | 160.1 | .570 | 60 |
| 8500 | 185.7 | 300.5 | 162.2 | .574 | 57 |
| 8600 | 181.7 | 297.5 | 163.6 | .585 | 57 |
RPM: Engine crankshaft speed.
CBT: Corrected Brake Torque.
CBHP: Corrected Brake Horsepower.
FUEL: Actual fuel flow pounds per hour.
BSFC: Brake Specific Fuel Consumption.
CAT: Carb Air Temperature
Project F Genesis 1400
C&H Dyno Dec. 14, 1997
| RPM | CBT | CBHP | FUEL | BSFC | CAT |
| 6800 | 163.6 | 211.8 | 165.0 | .785 | 41 |
| 6900 | 161.2 | 211.8 | 163.2 | .776 | 41 |
| 7000 | 172.0 | 229.3 | 171.2 | .752 | 41 |
| 7100 | 173.6 | 234.7 | 171.9 | .738 | 41 |
| 7200 | 178.2 | 244.3 | 181.1 | .747 | 41 |
| 7300 | 184.0 | 255.8 | 185.8 | .732 | 41 |
| 7400 | 188.6 | 265.8 | 189.6 | .718 | 41 |
| 7500 | 194.3 | 277.5 | 194.7 | .708 | 42 |
| 7600 | 194.9 | 282.0 | 193.5 | .692 | 42 |
| 7700 | 196.6 | 288.2 | 199.1 | .694 | 39 |
| 7800 | 196.2 | 291.3 | 199.7 | .689 | 39 |
| 7900 | 195.5 | 294.0 | 202.8 | .693 | 39 |
| 8000 | 194.7 | 296.5 | 197.6 | .670 | 40 |
| 8100 | 194.2 | 299.5 | 200.7 | .675 | 41 |
| 8200 | 192.8 | 301.0 | 204.8 | .685 | 40 |
| 8300 | 189.0 | 298.6 | 207.9 | .701 | 41 |
| 8400 | 184.5 | 295.1 | 208.1 | .709 | 40 |
| 8500 | 183.4 | 296.9 | 209.3 | .710 | 41 |
| 8600 | 176.5 | 289.0 | 199.5 | .695 | 40 |
| 8700 | 170.7 | 282.7 | 191.7 | .682 | 40 |
RPM: Engine crankshaft speed.
CBT: Corrected Brake Torque.
CBHP: Corrected Brake Horsepower.
FUEL: Actual fuel flow pounds per hour.
BSFC: Brake Specific Fuel Consumption.
CAT: Carb Air Temperature