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Best V-8?

  • Chevy Big Block

    Votes: 52 11.1%
  • Chevy Small Block

    Votes: 245 52.5%
  • Chyrsler "B" Big Block 400

    Votes: 1 0.2%
  • Chyrsler "LA" Small Block 340-360

    Votes: 12 2.6%
  • Chyrsler "RB" Hemi 426

    Votes: 52 11.1%
  • Ford Big Block 429-460

    Votes: 11 2.4%
  • Olds Rocket

    Votes: 18 3.9%
  • Ford "FE" 390-427 or Cleveland 351, specify in post

    Votes: 28 6.0%
  • Ford "Windsor" 351 and for arguments sake 302

    Votes: 28 6.0%
  • Pontiac 350-400

    Votes: 20 4.3%

The best V-8 ever made

39K views 166 replies 111 participants last post by  bringstone 
#1 ·
What is the best production V-8 ever made?
 
#4 ·
I don't know how you could argue that the chevy small block was the best v8 ever made. Just because they made a bunch of them doesn't mean they're the greatest design out there. The only reason the aftermarket ever focused on them so much is because they're common. Heck, only reason I built one was because they're cheap and I didn't have to change motor mounts! Furthermore, I wouldn't say the longevity of a SBC is anything more than average or maybe a little above average. If you want to see a motor you can't kill, how about an olds 350 or a 318 mopar?

SBC's I think have several flaws. The timing cover design was an obvious attempt to save money. They're not a good design at all. The oil pans don't seal well to the front timing cover. The motor is a stock 23 degrees whereas much of the mopar stuff is stock 18 degrees from the factory (see how much its going to cost you to make a SBC into an 18 degree motor). The combustion chambers on most SBC motors are poor and the port design on the heads from the factory is really not that great (considering the exhaust has to make an 180 degree turn from the intake to get out of the head).

That said, the oiling design and valvetrain on the chevy's were pretty good, but to be honest, I think the smallblock mopars had a nicer valvetrain from the factory. The stamped GM stuff for SBC (rocker arms anyway, not to mention cam failures and timing chain problems in the late 70's) is pretty inconsistent. Stock ratio being a 1.5 and many of the factory pieces not measuring even close to that.

SBC for all intents and purposes is a cheap, decent motor. That's why they used it for so long. I wouldn't say its the greatest motor in existence, though.

My vote goes for the rocket 350!

K
 
#9 ·
like Boomer said best in terms of what. MPG? low end torque ? high end HP ? longevity? reliability ? interchangeability? ease of maintanance & repairs ? cost of repairs ? ability to accept performance modifications ? impossible to answer that one. bad poll really
 
#10 ·
I voted for chevy small block, but only because the LS1/6/7... are GM small blocks. They have a great port design, they are all aluminum from the factory, and they make great hp with relatively small cams (.235 @.050 is really big for an ls1).

Adam
 
#14 ·
This was a test, this was only a test.

A poll about the "best V-8" and it turned into a discussion about SBC's.

I think in the history of the world there has not been a machine engine as sucessful as the SBC. Over 50 years old and the mainstay of countless models of GM.

Very very few flaws to mention(the 5-7 firing order which Comp Cams has fixed and the timing cover to pan which several aftermarket companies make two piece covers)


CI can vary from 265ci-400 factory.
Virtually equal length runners on the intake make for each cylinder sounding the same and making even HP, great intake and better than average exhaust ports. Supreme interchangeability! rear mount oil pump gotta love it!
 
#18 ·
NXS said:
Very very few flaws to mention(the 5-7 firing order which Comp Cams has fixed and the timing cover to pan which several aftermarket companies make two piece covers)


CI can vary from 265ci-400 factory.
Virtually equal length runners on the intake make for each cylinder sounding the same and making even HP, great intake and better than average exhaust ports. Supreme interchangeability! rear mount oil pump gotta love it!
The FIRST Chevy V8, the 265, came out without an oil filter.
:spank:

I look at a 440 and a Chevy small block, and I see the same basic layout, with improvements in the 440. The intake can be removed without draining the water. The oil pump is on the OUTSIDE of the engine, it can be serviced or changed easily. The oil pan has NO problem, it seals well. Distirbutor in the front, no cam flex to worry about. The "Y" block design is now being used in the small block Chevys, but the B Mopar had it back in 1958. 350 cubes coincidentally? ;)

I would rather have a 440 Mopar for an engine, if there were no such things as "brands" and I just had to choose which is better.
I think the Chevy is basically the same engine, and due to it's popularity since it's inception, it would have to be "up there" on anybody's list?

Windsor Fords are compact, lightweight, and if they came out with a better head design would have been much more dominant.

AMC engines are good, but the oil pump relying on the front cover housing is trouble waiting to happen, as well as a couple internal oiling system faults that need addressing.

Lots of the "street cars" had too much as far as head design is concerned. Arguably that's the problem with Hemis, Clevelands, rectangular port BB Chevys, etc.... They needed larger cams, steeper gears, etc... to make them perform.

How can a "best engine" be picked, when every one has it's strengths, and every one has it's drawbacks?
 
#21 · (Edited)
Best Opposed to What?

Ford's 240/300 inch inline and AMC's 4.o liter inline seem to be fine engines with tremendous ability to withstand abuse.
Not many SBC's will go over 200,000 and still pull hard like an inline will.

Additional Comment:
I voted Pontiac. Seeing how Pontiac has been behind the power and streetrod industry consistantly more than Chevrolet, they also build some of the stronger engines.
The 389 was a very versatile engine that came in many forms. 389, 400, 421, 428 inchers come to mind. I'm not sure about the 455 but would think it's on the same block as the others. People forget about the "Judge"
Aside from that, the slant 6 was one powerful stay together motor too.
For me, if you want brute torque, keep your ponies all inline, and not scattered all over the back 40 like V8's.
 
#22 ·
Crazy Mopar Guy said:
The FIRST Chevy V8, the 265, came out without an oil filter.
:spank:

I look at a 440 and a Chevy small block, and I see the same basic layout, with improvements in the 440. The intake can be removed without draining the water. The oil pump is on the OUTSIDE of the engine, it can be serviced or changed easily. The oil pan has NO problem, it seals well. Distirbutor in the front, no cam flex to worry about. The "Y" block design is now being used in the small block Chevys, but the B Mopar had it back in 1958. 350 cubes coincidentally? ;)

I would rather have a 440 Mopar for an engine, if there were no such things as "brands" and I just had to choose which is better.
I think the Chevy is basically the same engine, and due to it's popularity since it's inception, it would have to be "up there" on anybody's list?

Windsor Fords are compact, lightweight, and if they came out with a better head design would have been much more dominant.

AMC engines are good, but the oil pump relying on the front cover housing is trouble waiting to happen, as well as a couple internal oiling system faults that need addressing.

Lots of the "street cars" had too much as far as head design is concerned. Arguably that's the problem with Hemis, Clevelands, rectangular port BB Chevys, etc.... They needed larger cams, steeper gears, etc... to make them perform.

How can a "best engine" be picked, when every one has it's strengths, and every one has it's drawbacks?
As long as we're talking about the 440, why not talk about the relative higher nickle content in the blocks, not to mention the GIANT unbreakable webbing...

Anybody who's actually owned a v8 other than an SBC would know...

K:thumbup:
 
#23 ·
Oh man. LSx series hand down. Absolutely brutal engineering in that one. Different oiling system, Heads that are practically perfect and can EASILY flow 300+ on a smallblack (thats more than alot of big blocks get), you can change the cam witout pulling ANYTHING other than the timing cover off, reusable o-ring gaskets everywhere, 6-bolt mains, the list goes on...

Unless you've actually torn down an LS1/LS6, then you have no idea what they put in this thing. I think it's as close to perfect as a pushrod motor can get. I run around town with a 500+ HP LT1 every single day, and my friends with modded up LS1's make me look sick at the strip (as well as most everything else street driven). It really is spooky how well engineered the LSx series is.. And they only weigh in at apprx. 550 lb's fully loaded (all accessories).

Hard to beat..

Dave C.
 
#24 ·
best engine ever

While arguably not the best engine ever made, but probably the most prolific and enduring, would have to be the Ford Flathead V-8.
That engine probably did more to rev up the hot rod industry than all the other engines you have listed, combined.
It just wont die. Today, there is still speed parts being made for it, in spite of the fact that its last year of production, In the US, anyway, was 1953. Ya just cant keep a good thing down.
 
#25 ·
I agree the poll question is not clear enough to give a good answer. What makes one engine better than another or "best" it will depend on what you are looking for.

While I agree the LS series of engine are flat out amazing, I am just an old school kind of guy and can't get into them yet.

The 318 Mopar was (and maybe still is) the engine that was able to make the most HP per cubic inch of any push rod V8. My first car (Plymout Duster) had a 318 in it and boy did I punish it but, was never able to hurt it.

The SBC is kind of like the Powerglide, or Ford 9 inch. Neither were the best in factory form but, with the aftermarket stuff made for them it's hard to beat them (from the stand point of parts availablity, modifying). There is no one correct answer to this poll.

Very good point above about the Flathead Ford, that's where Hot Rodding started.

I like all American V8's (as long as they are Chevy), LOL.

Royce
 
#26 · (Edited)
1951 - 53 Chrysler hemi. Set the design standard for the compact V8 still in use today, quality construction throughout with high nickle iron castings, hardened exhaust valve seat inserts, dual valve springs, full flow oil filter, dual point distributor, forged steel crank & rods, (all features rarely seen individually in a standard production engine singly, let alone all together) can be built to put out world class horsepower even 50 years after it debuted, and preceded Chevy's first 'landmark' V8 by half a decade.
 
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