Art & Inspiration Is there an engine you just love?

283 Chevy with a Dontov solid lifter cam. Lump, lump.

 

Will they be ready come August?

 

I don't know if it's 'growing up' or changing with the times. Being a die hard GM fan, mainly Chev, I've started to like any motor that has the word "old" in front of it: old Caddy, old Chrysler, old Olds, old FE, old BBC or SBC, etc - you get the picture - they don't make these any more. Sure I drool over a raised cam, long stroke, aluminum block, 700" BBC, but that money would have paid for the town I grew up in.....gotta have some sense.....once in a while

 

I love Ardun flatheads and my new favorite engine hasn't been built yet, but it is being built by H & H Flatheads. On my last trip they told me they have the order for a Lincoln Continental V12 overhead valve conversion engine. Can't wait to see it.

 

Toss up between the Olds 303 and Mopar 318. Had both as a "young-un" and never managed to destroy either. Both were great Basic V8s. Almost as bullet proof as my Plymouth 218 flathead six. Another great motor but well, just not a V8, but fun just the same.

 

SOHC 427 Ford

 

I like motors that have supprised me over the years in how well they have run. low deck Dodge hemis tall deck Desoto hemis 318 polys 302 jimmys 300 fords and 327 Ramblers

 

Amen!

 

My first hot rod engine was a 303" Olds with Clay Smith cam, Mallory ignition 4 Stromberg 97's on a log manifold and high school auto shop headers in a Mod A channeled coupe. Took over a year to get it on the road. Blew the motor racing and beating a Corvette. I have a soft spot in my heart for Olds Rocket motors. Replaced the Olds with a 59AB flathead with a McCullough supercharger and 4 bbl Rochester carb. Motor cost me $30 as an auto shop project a friend built but had no use for. I like flatheads! My next car was a '63 Plymouth - 383 Golden Commando powered Belvedere hardtop with 4 speed and Sure Grip 3.91 rear end....I miss that car and it was one of the few that I bought new. The 383 was fast as most street cars of the day and it was the biggest MoPar with the 5 year, 50,000 mi warranty. My next hot rod engine was a 368cuin Lincoln V8 with six Stromberg 48's in a flat bottom V-drive boat. Easy engine to work on and it sounded really great. When I got out of the service I traded for a jet boat as the down payment on some land I was selling. The boat had a 454 BBC with twin Ray Jay turbos that were intercooled and had preheaters under the carburetor. The motor was pretty worn out when I got it so a friend rebuilt it and put in on a dyno. Made almost 900 hp on gas but at 6,800 rpm you could see the rpms up, the boost up, the temperature up and watch the fuel gage go down. I loved that boat and motor but it wasn't really practical for a family ski boat at 100+mph in the flying kilo. Sold the boat and the buyer replaced the motor with a 455 olds and put the turbo BBC in his truck. Still drives it today. My favorite motors today are my airboat motor, a 454 HO soon to be supercharged (next week) and my hot rod motor, a 283 SBC. When the hot rod is fully functional I will replace the 283 with a 500hp 383 stroker motor.............I have lots of favorite motors

 

427 L88

 

Yep



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It's a long list. But, Ford SOHC 427 has to be at the top for looks and just general cool factor. Picture is the gear drive setup on Sneaky Pete's cammer. Also very cool.

 

I had a 54 Nailhead in a 47 Chev Coupe, and that engine wasn't the most powerful engine I have owned, but I will love it forever.
Back in the day of 2 lane roada, my friends and myself were travelling from the middle of the Province to Vancouver on the 1st of July (our big holiday. The road was just packed with campers, and I decided that I would pass about 40 or so of them to make some time. I was wound right out in second, when it sounded like a grenade went off in our ears. I clutched it immediately and had to pull off to the left side of the road because there wasn't any room on the right.
I figured we were screwed, and wouldn't even be able to get a wrecker, so I decided to turn it over. I hit the starter and it turned over, so I attempted to start it, and it ran. It sounded like hell, but it ran. I figured the engine was toast, so I told the guys that it was a gamble, but that we would attempt to drive it the 7 miles into town, and sort things out from there. The car made it and didn't sound any worse, so I told them the plan was to head for the next town, and if it started to sound any worse, we would just shut her down and take the bus.
We were actually able to drive the 300 miles into Vancouver and make it to work. I actually drove the car that way for another 2 weeks before I had the time to fix it.
I was able to con the owner of the service station where I bought gas to let me pull the head and pan to have a look, and when I saw the result, I couldn't believe my eyes. I had obviously kissed the top of the piston with a valve, and knocked everything above the piston pin boss into the crankcase without doing any damage to the cylinder. I bought a new piston, installed it, and was back on the road the next day with a job offer to work at the station as a mechanic.
I drove the car for two more years, but had to sell it because I couldn't afford the gas as I was paying my own way through university.
That engine was awesome!
Bob

 

Did you see the pic of mine above?



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I feel like the smaller displacement versions of any engine family seem to run the best. 283/327 chev, 290 Amc, 232 Amc 6, 330 olds, 260 ford etc. why is that?


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Yep. Those headers were messing my eyes up.

 

394 Olds .
It had an air gap manifold.
Beehive valve springs .
"Floating" piston pins .
Forged steel crank and rods .
All stock!

Plus , it would reportedly handle a "full load " of nitromethane . With no other modifications than forged pistons.

 

A General Electric J-79 jet engine . If I'm not mistaken.
We had two of them in the F-4 "Phantom" jets that I worked on in "Nam" .

 

I got on this thread early on, but now that I've thought about it I'd like to post again: Group 1( motors I like by sound): 1. The sound of my 1st car : 44" modified Crosley :somewhere way over 10K just before a 'flat shift' 2. The sound of a 4-cam ford Indy motor wide open. 3. That recording of the NOVI qualifying at Indy that's over on the "Sprint-car thread" 4. The sound of any wide open Big Offy . 5. The sound of either a "flat-crank" V-8, or the sound of a 'cammed' V-8 with 180 headers. 6. The sound of a flock of the old Unlimited Hydroplane Boats back when they were running piston engines! I'd better stop, bit you get the picture...Group 2(motors I've either owned or worked on) 1. that Crosley again. 2. Un-muffled 276" flathead Fords(my old Sprint-car) 3.Y-block Fords(they're just "cool") 4. Y-Block Lincolns(ECU especially)very reliable, had several & LOVED them. 5. SBC Sprint-Car motors : cheapest/easiest Race motor to build & maintain, & sound really good on the Back-Straight of a big track. 6. Model A-B Bangers :reasonably reliable, relatively cheap to play with, hopping them up has become a sports "sub-group" of it's own.......

 

Even being a die hard Ford fan and like the 427 and Cammer these two mopars are pretty awesome


Max Wedge

 

I am mad about BB Chevys, I have a 435 horse 427 that I haven't found a home for yet. Currently running two 454 cars and one 396
Bob

 

Yep, I have flown the Voodoo, F5, and the Starfighter (which had the J79), and when you lit the burner(s) you knew you were going flying.

 

I'm drooling.

 

Way off topic, but I love jets too. My favorites are an eclectic bunch based solely on how they look, they just look like they can fly, or they have a styling to them. F-105, P-80, F-4, B-58, F-86, I'm sure I'm missing some. Don't get me started on piston powered birds.

 

Absolutely. The famous Ford Flathead. Flatheads are a lot like your wife, you have to love them to be able to put up with them. Hahah.

Shown, is the first flathead I built that is on my T. I have flatheads in all of my hotrods.

 

My ford Racing aluminum 302/5.0

My 66 Pontiac 421 W/tripower. I know it has the wrong color paint but I liked it better.

 

I love my 320 Buick Inline Eights, but if you're going to do an I-8 Buick I would reccomend the 263. Never built one but have read a lot about them. Lighter, shorter, easier to find, and a newer design. Plus they will fit in any old Buick Model, Probably need the same massaging as the BBB.--Compression Cam, bigger valves, porting,, a couple steel main caps, full flow filter, newer style rod and main inserts, line boring, aluum. rods or weld, bore &bush steel rods for full floating pins.. Obviously bore at least 0.1875 and have Jahns or others make some pistons to get the compression up to 10to one or so.. Also polish, Zyglo, shot peen and heat treat steel rods lWe also cut a fire notch in the half dome and cut a couple oil grooves in piston skirts.. And balance everything, About the same stuff we do to the 320.
We bored all ports and valve pockets and seats a Lot and used Pontiac valves. I've been told the port and pocket castings are thinner on the SBB tho..
I see roller rocker sets are now available, We found a n aluminum flywheel with an O.S. diameter nearly the same, ordered it blank &bored to fit our Dynaflow crank. We also ran just a steel pulley in place of the huge vibration danpener.but there's a lot of conjecture about this, see posts on Vibration Dampeners
"Valves run with the big end Down, or someone else ownes them!" P.S. Manifolds and tuned or colecters a must.

Fireball 5

 

Jaguar 3.8 Goldhead fitted with triple DOEC webbers D type LE Mans

 

I joked with this member recently about his avatar that it look's like he is rather fond of his engine. HRP

 

You're a sick man Danny, "I like that in a person"!