10 Greatest engines of all time

One of my picks would have to be a humble Falcon six or more correctly Ford US six.

The power that can be extracted reliably with a turbo is just astounding. My son's had over 500BHP or 330Kw or whatever at the rear wheels and there are some outputs much greater . And this with perfect street manners although pretty touchy on the throttle.

To think it started as the 144CID ? way back in 1960 and still had the same basic block up until now is a credit to the original designers .
Another contender would have to be the 300CID six as fitted to the F100 way back. They also put out enormous power in drag cars reliably.
And what about the BMW 2litre 4cylinder. Formula Junior Silhouette cars were putting out over 1000BHP. I can recall Grice complaining that the chassis flexed so much that he never knew where the gearstick would be.
Regards Philip A

As with any such list, it begs the question "What do you mean by 'greatest'?"

I would say that this would have to be those engines that have made a significant impact on the history of motoring (considering it is a car magazine).

A few suggestions -

1. Ford 'T' engine. This is the engine that changed motoring from a rich person's hobby to everyday transport. But it was significantly, one of the first engines with a detachable cylinder head, and certainly the first such to be produced in significant numbers.

2. Ford flathead V8. For the same reasons it is in the original list.

3. VW flat four. Again for the same reasons.

4. Chevrolet four of, from memory, 1914. This was the first mass produced affordable overhead valve engine, which had a very large number of direct descendants, not only GM down probably to today, but was also copied by Austin, with descendants including the mini and passed on to Nissan with further descendants. Also descendants from Chvrolet include many Toyota engines.

5. White and Poppe engines used in the Morris to produce affordable motoring in the UK - but not great for this reason, but rather because they were the first car engines with fully interchangeable parts - no fitting required.


I'll leave it at that, but these perhaps give the idea of what I think should rate as greatest motors.

The Rolls Royce Merlin has to be the greatest engine of all time. [bigsmile1]

Before opening the attachment, the Jaguar engine sprang to mind.
I would have included the big Cummins, from the NH 220 (hp) of 743 cui through its various incarnations to the 525 hp N14 Plus at 855 cui. After over 40 years of production, virtually no parts were interchangeable but, the basic design remained the same. It was a sweet engine to drive, giving incredibly high service mileage even with excessive wear.
I'm surprised the two stroke Detroits didn't rate a mention, if only for their versatility.

One thing I have noticed is that American style auto engines seem to need a lot of CC to get the same power &/or torque that the Europeans do with just a few CC?
Maybe wrong but my observation.
Jonesfam

I couldn't see 300Tdi on the list to vote [bigsad]

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Originally Posted by Shortie

I couldn't see 300Tdi on the list to vote [bigsad]

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Thats because the cam belt broke smashed the valves and rocker gear and cracked the head[bigwhistle]

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Originally Posted by rangieman

Thats because the cam belt broke smashed the valves and rocker gear and cracked the head[bigwhistle]

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This is an engine thread,not fishing [tonguewink]. Pat

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Originally Posted by jonesfam

One thing I have noticed is that American style auto engines seem to need a lot of CC to get the same power &/or torque that the Europeans do with just a few CC?
Maybe wrong but my observation.
Jonesfam

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A bigger problem with the American engines is that while European engines use cc's or cubic centimetres, American engines are still using cubic inches.

That would have to be holding back progress! :)

The Miller/Offenhauser race engine line (developed from the Peugeot GP engine from pre WWI)
The Peugeot won the Indy 500 in 1913. Miller and Offenhauser looked after the US based engines during WWI and copied it into their design post war.
It's iterations were winning up until the mid seventies.

Ford/Cosworth DFV.
Keith Duckworth's creation reshaped what efficient cylinder head and port design was about in a lightweight but powerful package.
Think about all the twin cam engines prior and they used wide included valve angles. It gave a nice port shape to the valve head and chamber, but, this limited valve duration and lift and had a reasonable amount of bare head exposed in our relatively tall combustion chamber.
Narrow the VIA and you can increase cam/valve duration and lift, minimise bare head area that quenched the flame front, reduce spark advance as the chamber is shorter, with all this increasing efficiency and dramatically increasing power and torque.