All time greatest engine?

Etched on the wall in the great Egyptian pyramids. IN DO TIME THERE WILL BE AN INVENTION CALLED THE AUTOMOBILE, AND IT WILL BE HOT-RODDED!!!! AND THE GOOD LORD ABOVE PROCLAIMS THE ENGINE OF CHOICE FOR THIS HOT-ROD TO BE THE SMALL BLOCK CHEVROLET!!!

 

Ummmm define "greatest", Greatest in what respect ? ,,Power to weight ratio maybe?, fuel economy ? esthetics? longevity? repairability? availability? RPM range?,weight? and on and on and on we go. Yes flatheads look great in a hotrod but my memories take me back to flatheads that boiled over too often and starter drives that were famous for bendix spring failures,not to mention the "more then twice" occurance of broken pistons. but !!!! all that said they were still a flathead and they had that flathead sound, flatheads were great!,still ARE great!, all round greatest ?? man thats a hard one to answer !!

 

Since this is such a HANDS DOWN winner for the SBC, would the question be a little more interesting if it were to say "What was the all time greatest engine prior to 1955?"
Now, the flathead might be your immediate answer, but there are a few lesser known beasties out there who kicked a whole lot of ass and can STILL kick a whole lot of ass with the right speed goodies.

One that I've been digging dirt on is the Hudson Super Six 308 with the Twin-H power. Now, by all accounts it is virtually bulletproof, and if I recall, it and the Hornet dominated Nascar for a few years in the early 50's ... when they actually raced "stock" cars. I guess right up until the introduction of the SBC.
Sure, the cork clutch is an interesting outdated method, but we weren't talking about transmissions.
"Mild" modern updates borrowed from the gracious gentlemen at www.uncommonengineering.com

 

Coolest engine...

For me, probably the BRM H16.

Underpowered, overweight, overcomplicated, but cool...






BRM also made a Blown V16 which was worse.
One of the most powerfull Engines of its day, but undrivable.

 

That BRM type 75 diagram hurts my head.

 

A DSM (turbo mitsubishi's for those who dont know what DSM means)
But we all know that they are pieces of shit, haha.

If you had all the money in the world would you buy a SBC over something else?

 

Me too ... and a Cadillac !

 

Another Favorite of mine...

The Alfa Romeo DOHC 4cyl.

For a long time Alfa was selling 4dr Sedans with All Aluminum, DOHC, Weber fed, Hemi headed engines, when nobody else was...

 

4 valves per cylinder too, I believe.

Be glad you dont have to adjust those...

 

The aircooled VW flat four.........

 

No.

But maybe the Quad Cam Carrera Porsche Flat 4...




Or even better,

The Flat 12 Porsche 917 Engine....
( I think that one in CanAm turbo version, still holds the record for the most powerfull Road Race Engine...)

 

This is one of those debates that's going to have some seemingly clear answers but be subject to everyone's own opinion. For instance, I like the Pontiac V8s - the same basic block design was made for 25 years in displacements from a 194-ci 4 with one bank lopped off, to a 455. The 347s in '57 were as fast as the Hemi Chryslers.

But if you're going to argue greatest based on popularity, availaibility, and so on, then it's the Flathead Ford until 1955 and the SBC since.

 

I'll concede the SBC point...

Shit if my Buick breaks down on the side of the road and I can't fix it, I wouldn't be able to fix it on the side of the road anyway. What part is gonna break that I can't get? Ignition, carb, got it covered....

Show me a top fuel hemi with actual Chrysler parts.

 

Always loved nail heads for driving on the street. Lots of tourqe
and fun to look at,

 

And this is what happens when a Great Hot Rodder, Car Constructor, Race Car Driver needs an Engine.

He grabs a Production Olds Block, Redesigns it with new Heads, etc, Drops it in his own F1 Car, and wins the Championship...

Jack Brabham.

 

the ford BDA Twin Cam, 4 valve per cyl, won thousands of races in everything from Formula Atlantic (originally Formula B in about 1969, still use the ford engines in some parts of the World) to Ford Escort World Rally Cars (the single most Rally winning cars in History). Having owned a Ford Escort Rally RS1800, I can tell you that motor at full anger sounds like nothing else, pure magic! And the Turbo engines made well over 650 HP. not bad for 4 bangers

 

If you lined up, end to end, all the people who fell asleep reading this thread, they'd be a lot more comfortable...

 

Yeah, the Kent Family of Ford 4 cyls...

1 litre MAE F3 Screamers, pre X-flow, Xflow, pre X-flow downdraft, DOHC Lotus, BDA 16v, 16v FVA, and the turbo BDA's,etc... all based on the same block.

As far as production based Engines go, it must have racked up almost as many wins as the SBC.




All time greatest Hot Rod Street Engine?
Yeah... SBC.

 

all time greatest engine is, as mentioned, a tie between the flathead and sbc--both (within their respective periods) introduced thousands to hotrodding by their affordability and availability. all time greatest engine? gotta love the allison v12. best production motor for power in a street car? cant say no to a factory cross-rammed 302 chevy (a real one--DZ mark, 4 bolt mains...). have to add another plus for the alfa romeo 4 bangers for best design, beautiful engine internally and externally. best motor that folks dont know about? polydome chryslers--in all essence, single rockshaft hemis that share parts with sb chrysler. speaking of which, 340 with a six pack is a mighty fine motor as well... this could go on for days.....

 

I'm pretty impressed with the 'Banger in The Old Crow.

 

I may be a bit biased ... but I'd say that exwestracer is a very wise man ... and must be a great Wyotech instructor!

Don't get me wrong ... I love a nice flattie (with or without Ardun heads) ... or a nicely detailed Nailhead Buick ... and I can certainly appreciate the performance "bang for your buck" that the SBC offers (and I hear they make great starter motors for 426 HEMIs ) ... but for me, the all time greatest (post-1936 Hot Rod) engine has to be the early HEMI (preferably a 392ci Chrysler).

 

Ditto.....period.

 

Greatest? What does that mean??

Is it the "most popular", or highest HP, or rarest or coolest looking? So, I decided a way to answer the question for myself this way. If someone told me their dad had an old engine that he used to race with in his shed and he wanted it gone today and would give it to me if I'd haul it off, when I pulled back the old tarp, which one would have me wet my shorts the most. It is a toss up between a SOHC Ford 427 and a 426 Dual quad hemi.

 

RYAN has the right answer, without a doubt the SBC...........

CRUISER

 

that was so uncalled for bro....i say a leanin 6...

 

Same can be said for Nascar Small Block Chevy engines.

Last time I checked current Top fuel engines still have the same basic block layout as a 426 Hemi, distributor, and oil pump mounting locations are the same etc... The Modern SBC race engines are about the same, at least the Top Fuel Hemi engines still use the same port configuration as the production engines, I've never seen a production SBC with non siamesed intake and exhaust ports, but that is what Nascar is using.

 

Chebby!

 

how about a hemi sbc

 

Small block Chevy and 235 Chevy straight 6.