10 Greatest engines of all time

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Originally Posted by johntins

BDAs, wow, what a donk.

Personally, i'd rather a Holden V8 to a Chev. Check out what Repco did to a 308.

Little bit surprised no one has mentioned our own alloy V8, derived from the Buick. Poorly executed, I know, but a great design. The power TVR was getting from them was nuts. I remember reading, when MG put that engine onto the 'B', that it was 19 lbs lighter than the stinking B Series they took out. There are a couple of them racing in Historics, and they are quick.

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The little production Ford Kent block that became the basis of the BDA/BDD line is pretty amazing considering the power they were able to squeeze out of them.

The Holden is quite a bit lighter than a SBC too.

The Buick/Rover basic architecture even became a championship winning F1 engine thanks to its light weight and (I can't believe I'm about to say this) reliability. :D

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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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I think thats more a side development because of taxes in the various countries - I belive the europeans get taxed on engine size so makes the higher horsepower small capacity engines worthwhile

I have to agree with the ford six's the 250 2V could out do a lot of V8's and I saw a couple that had been played with that could stay with a standard 351, another on that I would add to the list is the Holden 186 In my opinion it was a bloody good pro former and it was worked and used by many in competitions with out failures

I would agree with the SBC and LS. Great motors and a massive history that have impacted people's lives over a lot of years both in and out of the US. Still is an accessible and extremely well supported and popular "go to" motor away from standard fitments also.

the other is the VW flat 4 which brought power to the masses in a most elegant piece of engineering. Mind you, with 25hp in some cases your seat backs were never in danger.

Looking to the future, it think the most important motors will be the modern DI tdi motors to don't appear to use fuel

I don't disagree with any of them but the article does have an American bias,

Other classic engines would have to include the Alfa bosso v6 and twin cam 4. Toyota 4age and BMC B series.

cheers

Steve

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Originally Posted by shanegtr

I think thats more a side development because of taxes in the various countries - I belive the europeans get taxed on engine size so makes the higher horsepower small capacity engines worthwhile

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That was the case here for a time as well. Formula Horsepower was used in Rego calculations. In the UK, it was responsible for the poor bore/stroke ratios of most post war engines through to, I believe, the late 60s. Responsible for many an asthmatic Austin or Morris.

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Originally Posted by johntins

Aurelio Lampredi's superb FIAT twin cam would get my vote above anything from Chev. It wound up being developed into the Lancia Delta Integrale, one of the greatest rally cars ever. If you're going to include 'planes then the Rolls Royce Merlin would be top three, if not top.

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Originally Posted by Fifth Columnist

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

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A Merlin at noise is spine tingling to hear.

Having said that, so is a big radial, just different.

as is a BDA at full noise sucking through Weber's, a Daddo L Series sucking through Weber's somewhere in the mountains, an A9X or Group C Commodore sucking through Weber's at full noise across the top of the mountain, the crackle of almost any straight six with a single pipe pulling stupid revs, John Goss's XJS at full noise across the mountain (but not the TWR Jag's, they were just loud) and the old Fiat straight 8 GP car I saw and heard at the '91 Adelaide GP, that was WOW.

But I digress......

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Originally Posted by rick130

A Merlin at noise is spine tingling to hear.

Having said that, so is a big radial, just different.

as is a BDA at full noise sucking through Weber's, a Daddo L Series sucking through Weber's somewhere in the mountains, an A9X or Group C Commodore sucking through Weber's at full noise across the top of the mountain, the crackle of almost any straight six with a single pipe pulling stupid revs, John Goss's XJS at full noise across the mountain (but not the TWR Jag's, they were just loud) and the old Fiat straight 8 GP car I saw and heard at the '91 Adelaide GP, that was WOW.

But I digress......

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Don't leave out the 265 Hemi in the E49 Charger.

Datsun L's, modded by Datrally... takes me back to my Datspares days.

Webers and Dellortos can make almost anything sound nice....

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Originally Posted by PhilipA

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 .

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That Ford engine is a beaut. The Turbo version of the Barra is regarded by many tuners as the equal to Nissan's RB26DETT of GTR fame, although I dips me lid to the Nissan, simply because what is achievable from the smaller capacity.

Another straight six worthy of note is any of them fitted to BMW's 'M' cars.

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Originally Posted by johntins

That Ford engine is a beaut. The Turbo version of the Barra is regarded by many tuners as the equal to Nissan's RB26DETT of GTR fame, although I dips me lid to the Nissan, simply because what is achievable from the smaller capacity.

Another straight six worthy of note is any of them fitted to BMW's 'M' cars.

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Speaks volumes about RB26DETT as the Barra motor had continued development right up until recently, where the RB26DETT is currently a pretty old motor. It would be interesting to know how much power that RB26DETT really actually made, I suspect a lot more than that claimed.

Mind you, if engineering comparisons are being drawn, I am really impressed by the latest Mercedes M133 in the A45 which is producing 280kw from 2 litres, so 140kw/litre where the Barra is about 80kw/l and even the Ls9 is only about 77kw/l.