All time greatest engine?

Ford GAA.

or the doble steam engine

 

Nope, engine swapping is as old as hot rodding.

 

I'm guessing you wouldn't like that I'm putting a big block Ford in a Cadillac? I wouldn't blame you for doubting this, but I was offered a free Chevy big block crate motor if I would use it instead. I was tempted to take it just to have, but if I didn't use it an important customer would have felt betrayed, so I turned it down.

A lot of people agree with you. I have never understood the logic. If you are putting the wrong engine in a car, what's the difference who made it? SB Ford into a Miata is a popular swap. Until recently Ford and Mazda had some common interests, so in the minds of some that legitimizes the Ford swap. Now the GM LS is becoming the preferred choice. Although it is a better option in some respects, there are those who think the GM engine is not appropriate.

 

I'm all for seeing a big Caddie motor in a 57 Chev. . .

 

Man, Im not in the mainstream.I still like em

 

Most prolific? SBC. Greatest? Hardly. Hemi is the name of the greatest engine.

 

how about some falconer's or a Olds shuddawas

 

"A Ford in a Ford" was an advertising message by one of the big Ford engine builders. Now some people believe this is what you have to do to be cool and admired by your friends and piers. It is the dumbest thing I ever heard and I can not believe how gullible some people are. I wish this trite saying would go away with rat rods. Advertising sells a lot of stuff to idiots.

 

holden grey 6. not a holden man, but they did anything and everything to it.

 

Re: All time greatest engine?

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Personally, I've always been a big fan of the "10lbs of stuff in a 5lb bag" look, so for me it has to be the early Hemis.

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Early hemis are boat anchors, Allison V-16 is the only way to go.
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Alliance Member



Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: San Mateo, Ca.
Posts: 4,160



</TD><TD class=alt1 id=td_post_3168303 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid"><!-- icon and title --> Re: All time greatest engine?
<HR style="COLOR: #e5e5e5; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->Quote:
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I'd like to see one them there Allison V-16's, they are very rare indeed.

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[SIZE=+0][SIZE=+0]They were built mostly on overtime. Otherwise you only had time for 12 cylinders. [/SIZE][/SIZE]
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Got to wondering about the origins of Allison knowing there never was a V-16 and to my huge surprise here's what I found...Probably more correctly a W-24 or W-3420

Allison V-3420

<!-- /firstHeading --><!-- bodyContent --><!-- tagline -->From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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<!-- /jumpto --><!-- bodytext --><TABLE class=infobox style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; WIDTH: 315px; TEXT-ALIGN: left; border-spacing: 2px"><TBODY><TR><TH style="FONT-SIZE: large; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0.3em; TEXT-ALIGN: center" colSpan=2>V-3420</TH></TR><TR><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; LINE-HEIGHT: 1.5em; TEXT-ALIGN: center" colSpan=2>



</TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #aaa 1px solid; TEXT-ALIGN: center" colSpan=2>Allison V-3420 Engine</TD></TR><TR><TH>Type</TH><TD>Liquid-cooled X-24 piston engine</TD></TR><TR><TH>Manufacturer</TH><TD>Allison Engine Company</TD></TR><TR><TH>First run</TH><TD>1937</TD></TR><TR><TH>Major applications</TH><TD>P-75 Eagle</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The Allison V-3420 was a large experimental American piston aircraft engine, designed in 1937.

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• <LI class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1">1 History <LI class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2">2 Specifications (V-3420) <LI class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3">3 See also <LI class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4">4 References
• 5 External links

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>//<![CDATA[if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); } //]]></SCRIPT>[edit] History

In 1937, at the behest of the United States Army Air Corps, the Allison Engine Company agreed to design and build a large-displacement high power aircraft engine. The resulting V-3420 was essentially a pair of 12 cylinder Allison V-1710 engines mated to a common crankcase with a 30° angle between the inner cylinder banks. The crankshafts of the two V-1710 engines were geared together to drive a common propeller shaft. Most V-3420 parts were interchangeable with those for V-1710-E and -F engines.
The V-3420 had a power-to-weight ratio of 1.6 kW/kg or 1 hp/lb, excellent for its time. It was envisioned as a powerful yet compact engine for several advanced Air Force projects of the day, including the Douglas XB-19, the Boeing XB-39 Superfortress, the Lockheed XP-58 Chain Lightning, and the General Motors P-75 Eagle. As none of these designs reached full-scale production, only about 150 V-3420s were built.
[edit] Specifications (V-3420)

General characteristics

• Type: 24-cylinder turbosupercharged double-"Vee" liquid-cooled piston engine
• Bore: 5.5 in (139.7 mm)
• Stroke: 6 in (152.4 mm)
• Displacement: 3,421.2 in³ (56.06 L)
• Length: 100.0 in (2,540 mm)
• Width: 56.0 in (1,422 mm)
• Height: 34.0 in (864 mm)
• Dry weight: 2,600 lb (1,180 kg)

Components

• Valvetrain: Single overhead camshaft per 6-cylinder block, two intake and two exhaust valves per cylinder, sodium-cooled exhaust valves.
• Supercharger: Single-speed one-stage gear-driven supercharger
• Turbocharger: General Electric
• Fuel system: Bendix-Stromberg PT-12E1 three-barrel injection-type downdraft with automatic mixture control.
• Cooling system: Liquid-cooled with a mixture of 70% water and 30% ethylene glycol, pressurized.

Performance

• Power output:
  • 2,600 hp (1,940 kW) at 3,000 rpm at 25,000 ft (7,625 m) for 15 minutes
  • 2,100 hp (1,565 kW) at 2,600 rpm at 25,000 ft (7,625 m) maximum continuous power
• Specific power: 0.76 hp/in³ (34.6 kW/L)
• Compression ratio: 6.65:1
• Power-to-weight ratio: 1.0 hp/lb (1.64 kW/kg)

 

I wasn't going to post to this damn old thread, but now I will...

A Ford in a Ford is pretty cool, not a necessity, but for those who decide to do so mockage is not cool.

But anyway, IMO, for any hot rod or even a stocker, the early Hemi is tough to beat as far as a cool engine that is affordable to the masses. For this reason these engines receive my vote for the "All Time Greatest Engine", and I say this having never owned one.

 

Briggs & Stratton.

purely to be a shit disturber.

 

When I was studying to be a machinist some twenty years ago, one of my instructors brought up a great point. He said "If you give ten different poeple the exact same blueprint, you are gonna get ten different parts back." Case in point, if you ask a Mopar, Ford, Chevy, Olds, Buick, Pontiac, Caddy, Studebaker, etc. guy what engine is the greatest, what answer do you think you're gonna get? We are all biased towards our favorite make. As an engine and car builder, I have a hard time deciding which I prefer myself. I drive a Ford, race Chevys, and a Cutlass with a Chevy engine, and own a Pontiac as well. The majority of hot street cars I have built for customers over the years seems to be Fords but I have never really counted. The best engine is one that you can afford to build!!! We all have a dream engine, but most of us will never own it! Mine is currently the 1970 Olds 455 4 valve per cylinder hemi engine. Yes Olds did make them but they never saw production. Build what you can get parts for, fits your budget, and something you can have fun with, and who cares what all of us think right? LOL

 

By the way all of you have mentioned some pretty cool engines. Just goes to show how diverse this hobby is !

 

greatest engine I can afford: SBC
greatest engine that I can't afford as a chevy guy: 409
greatest engine I can afford but sell out tradition: LS series
greatest engine that is cool at any stage: flat head
greatest engine that makes me want money and Ford loyalty: SOHC
greatest engine to put in a digger: Hemi
greatest engine...

 

Ford had a pretty good idea at one time.....

 

Got some pictures of one???

 

Deuces, Ford had lots of good ideas, and I own many of them!!

 

........ Please post lots of of pictures!!! Thanks!

 

Those who know me will think I've lost my traditional mind. That said, SBC, 66 327, with the 30-30 Duntov cam, fuel injection double hump heads with the 2.02" intakes, aluminium hi-rise intake with Holly double pumper carb.

Ford flathead V-8 next.
Ford flathead 4-banger with Crager overhead conversion.
Miller Offy 4-banger.
Ford dual OHC V-8 Indy engine.
Ford Cosworth V-8

All were leaders in their own day. The Miller Offy was so dominant that 33 out of 33 Indy starters ran the engine. The Ford flathead 4-banger was hot rodded far more than any engine in its day. The Ford Indy V-8 was derived from the 260-289 SBF in less than a year. Cosworth great dominant design. Yes, my choices reveal my Ford preference, but they are all great.

 

Ford's overhead cam hemi was the SINGLE overhead cam motor. The dual overhead cam V-8 motor was the pent-roof, 4 valve per cylinder Indy motor and was 255 ci.

 

I'd never use the L-79 intake manifold on a small block chevy... Too restrictive with those "dog leg" intake runners.. I'd use a "tuned" version from '67-'72 small block AKA.. The Z/28 aluminum high rise... Ditto on all the other parts you mentioned....

 

A little different look at the question...


Model T banger. Why?

Its the one that started it all, first mass produced. The techniques learned from this mass production led to any and all advancements to the internal combustion engine from casting techniques to metalurgy and many other things. It also changed the game altogether by putting the horseless carriage into the hands of the masses, not just in the wealthy neighborhoods. Into the hands of those that couldnt afford to pay to fix it and had to do it themselves.

Being mass produced made it an easily replaced powerplant. This makes people brave, hard to modify or improve on something that cant be replaced if you screw it up.

Simple design, this made it easy to work on. Now anyone with a mechanical mind can get in there and see how it works and how to improve it. This leads to many enterprising young men and women to design and build "performance" parts. Some guys named Chevrolet were involved in this kind of enterprise.

Each of its many faults were fairly rapidly solved, by add ons and by evolution to the next generation designs.

Yeah all in all it wasnt the greatest engine, but all the great ones that came later were based on the principles outlined by this crappy little engine.

Hard to build a killer castle without a great foundation.

My take anyway.

 

It's all good stuff man.... Don't sweat it!! Thanks for posting those!!

 

I have an early Hemi and Olds Rocket. Love them both, but life would be easier and cheaper with a sbc.

 

why? the best thing about a old hemi is it is one of the pretty engines they don,t have to go fast but the grearhead that looking for overall preformace will have a sbc he may put other valve covers on it so it looks like a old motor but that,s just one of the things that make sbc,s so great you can if that,s you thing i myself wouldn,t i love sbc,s and nailheads, caddy, and y-blocks and i would want the real thing of nothing

 

all in all the sbc,s then a whole list of motors comes next

 

I friend has 2 427 SOHC's. He said you can almost fit a tennis ball in the ports. The timing chain is like 6 feet long too

 

X2 Have done it and back on the road in an hour.

 

first gen Z28 302 small block. enough said.