What Engine Should We Build Next?

What ever you do don't use T and L engines for the build, they are scammers. Ask me how I know. I can't believe they are still allowed to advertise on your website and in your magazine. Horrible experience, police and BBB involved.  

I think you need to do comparisons.  Pistons with coatings vs. without coatings .  What is the horspower and torque advantages.  Do they increase gas milage.  Compare heads vs. ported heads.  long rods vs. standard rods.  Higher compression vs. regular compression (10 to 1 vs. 11 to 1 or whatever).  Rings are the metric rings worth it?.  Are gapless rings worth it.  They have a lot of comparisons we would like to know about.  Engines we can build but choosing parts based on advertisments or what your buddy is doing is not the best way.  Even if your buddy has the same motor as you, it may not the best choice.  I personnaly like a 351w with 400 horsepower and the best milage possable.  I still have to drive it and gas prices will never be cheap again.    

HotRod magazine, years back, tried to compare big blocks to small blocks.  But, one has canted valves, the other does not. I really wish they had gotten a stroked diesel 350 block stroked out to a big block size, then grabbed an Olds big block, and used the same big block heads for both blocks.  Its expensive, but it could make a more of an "apples to apples" comparison, and see if the block size really makes a different other than weight.

Or, maybe compare a 351C stroked to 427 cid, to a 429 big block Ford.  Similiar valve angles and oiling systems, similar cid, but the bigger block may have longer intake manifold runners, port lengths, etc.  Would there be a noticable difference in power made with these differances?

For certain, don't waste time on the Chevy small block.  Someone who wants a cheap CSB can just buy a used Targetmaster. No one needs to build a CSB if they just want 300-350hp for their street machine.  


You want oddball?  Do an Olds 403, some trans am fans have questions.  OR, grab a 429 or 368 Cadillac engine..can the 8-6-4 heads really offer anything in an age of rising gas prices?

Its not 1950's anymore.  The REAL reason people work w/ CSB's is that's all you read about in magazines--so its what they copy. If someone wants a toy, but doesn't know exactly what, they don't pick up a Mustang mag.  So, the chances they'll find out an article on building a 400M is.....small.  Or maybe they have a free 318...where on the news stand will they find an article on how Magnum heads will work on that?  Even the Mopar mags barely cover it, focusing on bigblocks.

Or maybe the 5.7 Hemi...they're in the junkyards now, who wouldn't want to dump one in their hand-me-down car they just got for free?  Is there an article explaining the ups-and-downs of how to hop it up?  

If you want to try a 4 cylinder engine, you can check turboford.org for the old 2.3 liter, or there's the newer Duratec etc.

Chevy had a 2.0 liter in Cadillac Cimerons, etc that used Chevy smallblock lifters (Variable duration, anyone?), CSB rocker arms (tho you'd need the narrow ones for one of the cylinders), and Pontiac Sunbird GT's offered a turbo version.  Could a stop at a NAPA store create a Detroit Honda killer?

Or the old Oldsmobile Quad 4...and of course, Dodge had its 2.2, and there's whatever squirrel-cage engine the Neons now use.

for those of us living up north, a FWD beater car is useful.  An x-11 citation clone would be fun, but even these 4 bangers could be a fun way to vacuum up Hyudnai Tirbirons, Subuaru WRX's, and other kids who think they are super fast.

But would it sell issues? um....no.  Then again, what if gas prices go up again?  would an issue telling you how to buy old junk that outruns imports and gets good gas mileage sell then, if you could just pull it off the shelf and run it on the front cover?  

A 289 with Chevy C'rods? Hmm...I think a 302 with 289 rods, like Ford built with the Boss 302, would have a better spread of power over the RPM range.  But Reher Morrison says long connecting rods don't do anything like Smokey Yunick thought.

As for a Pontiac 301 used for anything...I thought it was a tiny sized block too weak to hold power.  I'm going to have to read further how to make it a 383, b/c I think its a block different from the usual 326-350-389-400-421-455.

Speaking of Pontiac, ever notice their 350 comes close to the GM Gen3 5.7 liter in stroke and bore, valve angle and tall, narrow ports?  

Not to hog the blog, and this is probably more for a Mustang-oriented mag, but...I'd love to see someone compare a Ford 5.4 liter "tall deck" verses a 4.6 stroked out to 5.1 liters...see if that raised deck really is worth the need to swap hoods, etc, or if just stroking a 4.6 that came with the Ford is a better investment in cash.

Also, that person who  posted about a 425 Olds crank in a 403...tell us more about this.  What machine work has to be done to the reciprocating assembly?  I have a 425 shortblock with '66 4-4-2 heads just sitting around, so now I'm interested...  

I would like someone to drop a 4.6 crank into a 5.4 for a better rod to stroke ratio. Them build the motor like a large cube F1 engine and see what this thing can do n/a.  

im varry intrested  in low deck big block mopars like 383 and the 400 i was reading about the aims oil bild off and now im hooked i wont to no more on how they got that amount of power out of that block  
a nother question i have is degereeing a cam y centerline how dos this work im really puzled about this topic and i mean every thing about degreeing a cam is confusing to me i would love to  lurn more about this thinks  

A 383 with a 440 crank, for a low deck 426cid, and then either Stage V hemi heads or maybe some type of Stage III clone...or maybe a 400 with that same crank (451cid), a cam using the larger lifter bore advantage, then compared to a Chevy 454 for potential and cost...or maybe the 3rd generation hemis, done up not w/ bolt on parts but real HP increases like machining tricks, oiling tricks, head porting tricks, and whatever else that frees up HP without costing gas.  B/c I doubt $4 per gallon gas is only going to happen once

As for building a 5.4 like an F1 engine...does that mean a turbo?  

I'd like to see more of the engines that are still cheap to get. 383 or 400 Chrysler, 351C, 460 Ford, FE, late model LT1's, hell no one even builds up 302/351W lately. SBC's bore me and I own one. If you must do a 454, my 70 Caprice has one that needs a rebuild. lol.  

Or if you really have to do a 454, drop in a 396 crank, and make an L-88 replica, or an L-71.  When's the last time you saw a magazine build one of these solid lifter screamers?  they are doing retro everything else....  

I suggest you build a Reality Check motor.

Take the winner of the Engine Masters Series - any recent year, does not really matter which.

Build a duplicate of it yourself.  The difference is that you'll use the parts "as delivered", just like 95% of your readers would do.  No special head porting or machine work, no trick carburetors, rings that will last for several years of daily driving, oil pumps that deliver enough pressure/volume for the motor to survive idling in gear for 10 minutes at a time.

Dyno the motor, and show us readers how much power we can REALLY expect out of such a motor.  Even better, stick it in a real street car, and tell us how it actually performs in real life!

:-)

Lee  

i think the next engine should be a dodge 3.9 because there isn't that many parts out there that i can find  and i just think it would be nice to see what the peak performance would be on one. i like the motor i know a lot of dodge guys and not one of them knock it plus i got one and i want some ideas  for what i can do with it its a very sturdy engine and it would just be nice for a couple of v-6 s to go head to head like a head on build between the dodge 3.9, the  chevy 4.3 and the ford 3.0 or 4.0  that or some inline 6 builds  the jeep 4.0 the chevy 4.8 and the ford 4.9  

A high rpm ohc motor is what I would like to see. I only refered to f1 because of the amount rpm's that they turn. I know there is no way anybody could match a f1 motor but something around 9,500 to 10,000 rpm's would be very cool. N/A or turbo I dont care. A third gen hemi would be cool too. Just way too many ls's lately!!!  

I would like to see mods added to the ZO6 corvette