Hot Rods So, what do you think is the coolest hot rod engine ever?

For a normal street guy it was a 427 with a 352 crank. If you crunch the numbers it works out to 396 inches.

I made friends with a fella in Rome, Georgia, when I was wandering around, had to stop there to work for a bit. he captured a medium rise 427 with a busted crank cheap and had a 352 crank. He said "we're gonna thow this crank in der. Hit'll make about 396 cubes and run like a turpentine'ded cat." I said "Like a stripe'ed ape?" he said "well you say it your way I guess, yankee." He shoved the whole kit 'n' caboodle in an ugly assed '59 Ford post car, painted 396 cubes on the hood and he was absolutely right, "it ran like a Turpine'ded cat"

I have built another one since out of a high riser and it ran real well too. I would build another given the chance.

Oh and yes @falcongeorge if memory serves you are correct.
QUOTE="wood remover, post: 11465178, member: 206949"]these must be a few of my favourites ,as they are all in my garage
what you mean brand loyalty???
1961 390 HP 1969 250 i6 1966 425 buick 1940 v8 60 hp 1937 twin maytag
View attachment 3182232 View attachment 3182234 View attachment 3182237 View attachment 3182238 View attachment 3182239 [/QUOTE]
LOL my mom had a single Maytag on an old gas washing machine. It has been said that would try and soup anything. Her's ended up with two carbs.

By the way I have always considered brand loyalty to be a crock, I will try and soup anything, they are all fair game and if I have one I'll play with it.

 

hemi

 

Benno, I might even be able to find a pic of an actual 2x4 396 for the '67 NASCAR season.

 

Well that just may count as a not lame engine.

 

My Vote, Hands Down for badest hot rod motor.

Reyes_GM_3 by G V Gordon posted Apr 5, 2016 at 2:02 PM

DSCF6396 by G V Gordon posted Apr 5, 2016 at 2:02 PM

30Cliff by G V Gordon posted Apr 5, 2016 at 2:02 PM

 

I was afraid of that for ya. Looked into a "warmed up" version, nothing serious, and it would be 1/2 that. Still, as I threw out there before, if you find a cheap Caddy with 60K miles or less drop it in and flog the shit out of it. We had one that lasted almost 200K miles before it started to seriously use oil. Had a 63 390 in a 62 Ford SWB unibody PU. With a 3.23 gear I waxed the shit out of 73 4spd Z-28. He was a bit embarrassed since I did it in front of our HS at the time. While he was spinning away the old Kelly Springfield L-78 snow tires hooked hard and left him cryin. He couldn't even catch up when it did hook. From a roll I pulled away at the top of 2nd gear. Now mind you this wasn't anything of merit beyond a cpl kids breakin the law, but that old "Fordillac" pickup left an impression for years. You could do a lot worse, spend a lot more, but cosmetics are cheap and easy. If this is going into an old V8 Ford pickup you'll smile so wide you gotta turn your head to finish it. Just sayin...

 

Caddy isn't out of the question. I love the looks of the 365's.

 

Art Deco theme works nicely.

 

This Cad is wrapped up nicely. Many a daily posters are MIA on this thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/lee-pratts-latest.1014906/

 

Oooooooh. I like that.

 

Have had several over the years, This Roadster is for Sale !

 

That makes two of us, that is one cad that is very well dressed.

 

I got this wrong. I was just looking at 1966 daytona 500 coverage, and in 1966, NASCAR limited cars with a wheelbase under 119" wheelbase to a max of 405 ci. So the 396 was an easy size for Ford to hit by using 352 cranks, so 396's went in Fairlanes and Comets. I dont think this NASCAR rule lasted more than one season.

 

Back then the rules changed by the whims of the losers ( with clout that is). Things got outlawed and rules changed to suit whomever was in bed with the club at the time.

OK way off the trailhere but here is one for you. I looked at some nostalgia drag race rules by one of the larger sanctioning bodies at the time and they had a rule that no 426" MOPAR motors in any configuration.

 

..and the saying 'a picture is worth a thousand word's? Humble Pie is served when a build like this roll's up.

 

For sure a handsome and interesting motor. I think it would be a slam-dunk choice for Thore's '48 Pontiac; genetic connection, the correct shape and scheme for the Pontiac's engine bay, will accept a BOP-pattern THM trans, and makes some decent ponies -- 165 hp (base) and 215 hp (Sprint) for the 230 cid (1966-1967), 175 hp (base)and 215/230 hp (Sprint) for the 250 cid (1968-1969).

And just for grins, the Sprint version has a divided exhaust manifold to facilitate that wonderful straight-six sound through a pair of glasspacks!

 

In 1940 Harry Warner's '33 Ford roadster got a Wayne 12 port Chevy engine, it was driven that way for 50+ years... The restorer replaced the firewall and installed a flathead, it was now so correct that it soon sold at auction for $272,000.00 proving once again that flathead believers have the FATest wallets. P.S. the seller threw in the Warner 12 port in the deal... Thanks alot, Dyno Dave

 

Sweet!

 

Gotta love Roth's Mysterion engine bay.

 

I didn't look through all 10 pages of this thread so if a few other guys already suggested the powerful 145 hp Ford 223 straight 6 that wouldn't surprise me....

 

The ' Indy Ford Four Cam ' always wanted to put one in a 69' fast back Mustang

In the race cars the pipes were in the center of the engine, but you can flop the heads from side to side for a normal exhaust set up

DND

 

In my opinion, there are a lot of really cool engines, and it really depends on the car and era for what is "coolest" for a specific application. But overall, the coolest hot rod engine is the 392 Hemi. I have two of them.

Here's the one in Wally Parks' Suddenly '57 Plymouth.

 

But did these actually run? Back in the day, many of these touring customs were just rollers - chrome blocks with no innards. Or did this one run? Gary

 

Most if not all of Roth's cars ran.

 

There was one, raced at Bonneville. Could be wrong, but I think Danny Ongais drove it?

 

I was wrong, Mario Andretti...

 

And of Course Ermie Immersso won the AMBR twice with a 4 cam in a T

 

And then there is this one in a 62 Falcon

 

WOW!!^^

 

I'm pretty much a Chevy kind of guy speaking motorly (is that a word).
But when it comes to one mfg having a monopoly on outrageous engines Ford gets my vote.
Here are just two examples (yes, I'm aware these are not production engines).
Gurney-Weslake
Jim Busby twin V8's



Gurney-Weslake V12