Who built the best engine? Why?

[Scorpma82]

This will stir things im sure....plz be mindful, this is purely an opinion based post, no right or wrong answers...plz no slandering (thats a tractor engine, that engine is shite etc etc etc)

Also, the reasoning is to be unbiased (RB26DETT is the best coz it wont Bathurst is not an unbiased reason)

This post is open purely to see what ppl think.....nothing more

I personally like the Ford 302Windsor V8...y?
An engine that has proven to be a great lil (in comparison) donk since the mid 60's...powering various Falcon GT's and Mustangs to victory on the race track
Has been torquay enough to see service in various commercial vehicles such as F-series trucks
Has been constantly updated to comply with ADR's all the way to the AU Falcon of 2002
Its racing pedigree has given the engine an endless amount of aftermarket support
Has been one of the most common engines in conversions of other cars in 'street machining'

I know there is a long list of great engines....but this one i've favoured for my own personal reasons....love to hear your opinions and ur reasons behind them

[natosig]

I. Personally like the nissan rb series as i have a patrol with an rb 30 power gains can be had with minamal cost and parts from other rb sereis engines can be interchanged and they are pretty tuff

[webby]

4cyl: Cosworth BDA/BDG. No explanation required, it just is.
6cyl: Toyota 1JZ-GTE. All the good points of the bigger 2JZ, but cheaper and without the Fast&Furious AIDS. Kicks the shit out of the RB25 in every way imaginable, and unlike the RB-series engines is actually reliable.
8cyl: Chrysler LA smallblock. Powered everything from Darts and Dusters through to the big Dodge pickups of the day, bulletproof reliability, easy power and huge aftermarket support. Besides, we all know it's Mopar or no car.
Brotary: Mazda 13BT, circa. Series 5 RX7: Doesn't have the horsepower, refinement or smooth progressive twin-turbo setup of the later models, but is considerably cheaper and MUCH easier to work on. And, contrary to popular opinion, it's actually quite reliable provided you leave the ports alone and keep to the service intervals.

A few others that didn't quite make it:
Mitsubishi DASH 4G63T: a reliable 147kw from a non-intercooled 12v SOHC four. 163kw if you optioned the car with an intercooler. In 1986.
Toyota 1G-GTE: All the good points of the RB20, none of the bad. Happy to rev all day long, but you have to do so to get anywhere, especially if it's powering a standard GZ20 Soarer. Sounds AMAZING though, and with a single GT3082, a tune and a 4.3:1 2-way LSD you'll be going through rear tyres at a rate that will give your wallet bulimia.
Nissan RB20DET-R: Typically sluggish RB20 performance under 3500rpm, but after that? Hang the fuck on. T04E turbo at 20psi on a mandrel-bent stainless tube manifold and a NISMO ECU from factory boosted the otherwise anemic redtop RB20DET to a firebreathing 180kw.
Nissan FJ20ET: The father of all high-performance Nissan turbo fours. Powered the DR30 RS-Turbo of the mid 1980's, along with the S12 RSX.
BMW S14B23: E30 M3. That is all. The pinnacle of hot European production 4cyl engines, alongside the Mercedes-Cosworth M102 2.5-16v.
Mercedes-Cosworth M102 2.5-16v: W201 190E 2.5-16v Evolution II. Long winded name for what is probably one of the finest sports sedans ever to come out of Germany.
Chrysler Hemi six: Bulletproof, torquey lump of a thing, and so simple you could rebuild it with a fork. Unfortunately, the excessive weight automatically ruins the handling of any car you put one in.
Toyota 4AGE: Rev-happy little twincam four, most at home in the late-production AW11 MR2. Pretty much a blatant copy of the Cosworth BDA.

[A112H]

Depends on application

[amgis_obrut]

don't have a favourite engine they all break and can all be improved, though i do like the Fj20et

[75glnt]

Na 4; these g32s seem to be pretty bomb proof! As are the g15s

na turbo; the dohc g63s are my pick of the bunch.. Easily upgradable, apparently reliable, quick and sound nice

6s. Go the hemi 6s!! Also gotta add the old leaning tower of power! 225 slant 6. Completely bombproof!! And the hemi 6... Master of all inline 6 engines!! Quickest in its day, but, like the astrons.. They're heavy!!

Also I might add. The 4.0 ford engines are pretty cool (I'm not a ford fan, so that's a bold statement )

8; well! Gotta be a 318 fireball!! Powerhouse for sure!

I only dislike 1 breed of engine... Chev. Oh, and the 3.8 commodore engine.. Sorry
I'm not slandering at all, this is my opinion..

The chev; when I was younger.. My mum and I rebuilt a 350sb chev with all the top parts in the day. Was 40thou over, stroked, larger ports and valves, double row timing chain, 3" exhaust, edelbrock head and performer manifold. Holley 465 4bbl or whatever that weird one is! It had a 2 speed power glide and an LSD.

It was supposed to be a weapon! Dyno read 480rwhp in a hq sedan.. And... It was a pos!! Always broke down, never went anywhere (quickly). Just didnt have any power!? So no need to say. It was a waste of time. The old 179 hp Holden 6 kicked it! Although it was a weapon ;) 110thou over, 12 port head, v8 valves, celica box.. 13.8 1/4 in another hq sedan.

The v6.. Well.. From what I've seen and heard.. There's no need for an explanation! Overheating! All that crap!

Anyway, that's my opinion no harm intended

[Turbo047]

The Best Engine. Umm.

I may have a different opinion than most.

THE BEST ENGINE BY FAR IS THE "GAS TURBINE". Where a piston engine will give you a power stroke every 2 or 4 strokes the turbine is constantly on power. (I've been thinking of how to use a helicopter engine and gearbox in one of my projects)
The only car manufacturer to my knowledge that put one in a car was Rover with the "Jet 1" LeMans car back in the 50s. It did a major downfall, it had no engine braking and fried its brakes while in the lead. (for the size if you had a Diesel putting out 3000Kw in the same space you can have a Turbine putting out 22500Kw with no oil changes and not much maintenance) (sorry I'm a Marine Engineer by trade)

If we are talking piston engines I would say number one is the Buick alloy V8 215. Originally for the Skylark, the Americans had over a 50% failure rate in the castings and gave up on it. Rover bought the rights to the engine in the early 60's. From then it has been used in Rover sedans, Range Rovers, Land Rovers, Leyland's, the Brabham world champion F! car that Jack Brabham and Repco developed and a bunch of Hot Rods and Boats. The engine was put to rest in 2004 with the last Land Rover Discovery 2 V8. It enabled Leyland Australia you achieve better performance in the P76 than the Big 3 at the time because of power to weight. The Engine along with all the auxiliaries including gearbox was under 200kg (Just for info the CommonWhore V6 3.8 is this engine with 2 cylinders cut off)

Next on the list is the Jaguar AJ V8. I've got a 4.0 version in my daily drive, a Jag XJ 8. It is the sweetest engine I've ever felt. So SO smooth with balls. You don't hear anything, you just get put into the back of your seat. As with most Europe cars the power comes higher in the rev range. At 3500 rpm at WOT it is a hell of a ride. It comes in a Supercharged version, that I have not had the pleasure to drive. Jaguar developed this engine back in 96 and has been increased in volume from the original 3.2 to 4.0, 4.0 Supercharged, 4.2, 4.4, 5.0 and 5.0 Supercharged. and has been used in all the petrol powered Jaguars and Ranger Rovers to this date.

Three on the list is the RB Nissan. No explanation necessary, they are just awesome with the power that can be had.

Four is the Astron (with balance shafts fitted, cause I hated it when I pulled them out) I've got a Astron 2.6 Turbo and for the past 20 years its been handing CommonWhore and Falcon (and yes even XR6 Turbos) drivers arses to them on a plate. Not till the LS2 did a CommonWhore ever come close. (Nitrous Oxide will fix that)

Five is the Rotax 2 stroke. 130hp from an engine the size of a six pack.

[Tj.]

This is a hard question. For me a great engine is one that stirs emotion. Gives you the fizz that talking sheepdog from Top Gear is always banging on about. Also, for me at least, I like something that is a little bit unconventional. I like that about anything really, a love for the unloved. It's kinda why I have an appreciation for Rotary engines and the fact that Mazda have persisted with it when all others (and there were a lot of others) gave up.

Anyway, the stand out lumps for me;
Nissan S20 2L DOHC straight 6. The noise this motor makes, especially in race trim is akin to two angels boning so hard they cracked open the gates to hell. Epic.

Ford DFV V8. Saw service in many forms of top tier motorsport including Formula 1 and was the power plant for Ford's Supervan demonstration cars. Sounds how imagine Kerry King's farts would.

Ford/Volvo Duratec 5 cylinder turbo. I know, I know. Hear me out. Here's a bit of an orphan engine from a broken home. Volvo have been playing with 5 pots for years and during the time that Ford owned them they wedged them into the Focus and Mondeo XR5Ts and the awesome Focus RS. This belter of a motor transformed an already capable chassis into a car with enormous character. I know this is meant to be a discussion about motors but that's the point I'm trying to make. It made gobs of torque and emitted the most peculiar and mesmerising sound. A sort of howling warble. So hard to explain. And when driven hard, they let of an enormous bang between gear changes. With the stock exhaust it turned an otherwise capable but a little nose heavy car into an absolute barrel of laughs.

As I said, my choices aren't the most technically advanced, most powerful and so on. They're motors that I find utterly captivating. That makes them special to me.

[Scorpma82]

Hey TJ, your opinion on an engine is simply that...your opinion.....I wouldn't worried about technically advanced.....my post was on a 302W SBF.

Another engine i really like is (and im not a big turbo fan at all) is the Ford Sierra Cosworth 2LT!

Ford really went bonkers with this car....600HP was churned out in these engines (in Grp A racing trim) 23 years ago!!! (imagine how much more drivability and power these engines would with with today's computer technology!!)
It was just as much as Nissan's beloved RB26DETT at the time....but was in a car the size of a Focus...with a centre of gravity of an Anglia!! (and above all else...RWD only!!)

[VGJONO]

The Best Engine. Umm.

I may have a different opinion than most.

THE BEST ENGINE BY FAR IS THE "GAS TURBINE". Where a piston engine will give you a power stroke every 2 or 4 strokes the turbine is constantly on power. (I've been thinking of how to use a helicopter engine and gearbox in one of my projects)
The only car manufacturer to my knowledge that put one in a car was Rover with the "Jet 1" LeMans car back in the 50s. It did a major downfall, it had no engine braking and fried its brakes while in the lead. (for the size if you had a Diesel putting out 3000Kw in the same space you can have a Turbine putting out 22500Kw with no oil changes and not much maintenance) (sorry I'm a Marine Engineer by trade)

Chrysler never had a production car with a turbine, but they did do a limited trial run of a turbine powered car, Called the Chrysler Turbine (very original name ) but instead of selling it they loaned them out to employee's and customers that had spent big money with them in the past. sadly, it wasnt very well received due to no engine braking, and if you left it running in one spot too long the weeds coming up through the cracks in the pavement would catch fire when it came time to get rid of them chrysler destroyed them as if they sold them they would have had to pay some shitty tax thing as they were made offshore by ghia i think.

by the way maybe not the pretties, but very cool

[cheaterparts]

This will stir things im sure....plz be mindful, this is purely an opinion based post, no right or wrong answers...plz no slandering (thats a tractor engine, that engine is shite etc etc etc)

I personally like the Ford 302Windsor V8...y?
An engine that has proven to be a great lil (in comparison) donk since the mid 60's...powering various Falcon GT's and Mustangs to victory on the race track

I know there is a long list of great engines....but this one i've favoured for my own personal reasons....love to hear your opinions and ur reasons behind them

yes the little 302 Windor was a good engine - some time ago we fitted up some 302 Cleveland 2 V heads to one and it realy worked well
better than the 302 boss set up with the pre 351C 4V ( the 4 V clevo heads were made for the 302 W Boss first )

the 265 Hemi have to be up there with great engines

almost anything Honda made in the 1960s the RC166 ( 250 cc 6cyl that reved 22,000 in 1966 )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaRop_ZMwo0

I think the BMW M 10 engine is up there designed in the late 50s and in production from 1962 - 1988

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M10

even the turbo F1 engine was based on these things and produce about 1,300 hp (969 kW) in qualifying from a 1.5 lt engine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M12

there are so many great designed engines it's hard to pick one

[Tj.]

almost anything Honda made in the 1960s the RC166 ( 250 cc 6cyl that reved 22,000 in 1966 )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaRop_ZMwo0

Sweet Jebus! What a noise! I loved how everyone in the video jumped when it fired.