Thanks, found it.

 

What about an FE big block guys? I know it wasn't even mentioned but the FE has more in common with the 440 as far as design than the other 2. I know that 429/460 Fords can run and so can the Chevy big blocks, but the FE just has a mystique about it that is hard to nail down. I get to wondering sometimes about Chevy's first big block... the 348 and 409, never hear much on them or can find much. Sorry to go slightly off subject though guys.

 

Depends on what the engine is needed for. Put enough money in any of the three and any of them will be the winner. Talk stock out of the box, its a different story. Back in 1969 , I watched a bone stock 383 Road Runner beat a stock 429 1970 Boss Mustang consistently on a 1/4 mile track. As a rule back then, the Fords stayed away from the Chevies 454's and the Mopar 440's , if they didnt want to give up their movie money on a drag race bet. We did not have a top end track, but I was in my buddies 70 Challenger with the 440- 6pack, and watched the speedometer disappear off the guage once only for me , and the engine was still pulling revs when he had to let off of it. Scary. jmo

 

Same is true around here. But the scarcity of them speaks for the popularity and the high demand for them, thus the higher price also. When a item is not in high demand , there is usually a good stock of that item, with a lower price attached to it. The old supply/demand economics in play, jmo tho

 

Well, I tend to think of the 440 as an oversized small block chevy. Maybe thats why I like them.Heads are very similar,especially changing spark plugs with headers. As far as the boss 429, I don't think they really made good street motos at least compared to chryslers hemi.It may not be one of the big three, but I had a buddy with a 70 stage1 455 buick that used to eat up every big block around and it was stock and quiet.

 

I owned a 440 for a long time and it was a great engine. I spent a ton of money on it and when I sold the car, the guy bought it just for that motor. The biggest con for the big block mopar's is cost. It cost me a crap load more to build my 440 than if a 454. That and weight, I had a cheapy engine stand that I had to weld in an extra beem from the upright to the center leg because it started to sag and bend when I had the engine all together and sitting on it for a while.

 

I know some older guys that grew up in the muscle car days and several of them have said that the 426 Hemi wasn't crap on the street unless you changed the cam. I am guessing to a smaller one. I don't know how much truth there is to that but I have read and heard more than once that a 440 6-pack would eat it's lunch on the street. I somewhat agree on the Boss 429 not being that great on the street. I know that the 351 C 4V wasn't any good till about 3,500 rpm. We all know that an FE 427 Cammer could pretty much lay any of them to waste. What about the 429 Semi-Hemi (also know as the 429 Shogun or Shotgun... can't remember which).

 

I'll just take a Hemispherical combustion chamber 426...

 

let us know when you find one....

 

I saw a Hemi in a junkyard in Billings MT but I am guessing it was probably one of the smaller displacement earlier ones.

 

Annihilator- Remember, the 427 SOHC FE was never released as a street engine, regardless of the rumors. (My Uncle Joe knew a guy that had a cousin who talked to a Ford engineer who said that 3 were sold by mistake.) It was purely designed for racing, and when NASCAR ruled that these exotic engines (like the 426 Hemi) had to be offered in street cars to the public in order to race, Chrysler did, to the tune of about 10,000 installations from 1966 to 1971, Ford did not with the SOHC 427. So, without offering the engine for sale to the public, there is no way of knowing if the 427 SOHC motor in a streetable configuration would "lay waste" to a 426 Mopar. Just bench racing.......

 

I thought that even though they never released it in a street version that Nascar banned it because it was beating everything and the Mopar camp was whining....

 

No, NASCAR gave Ford, as well as Chrysler and GM, the opportunity to run their engines, provided they built street versions. Remember, it's National Association of STOCK CAR Racing, which in the 1960's really meant stock cars. Ford chose not to qualify the 427 SOHC, and continued to run the 427 OHV motor, followed by the 429. Also, don't for one minute think that Chrysler would have not responded with an OHC Hemi if it had been necessary. When Ford introduced the Talledaga Torinos, Chrysler responded with the Daytona in 1969, and the Superbird in 1970. The Mopar camp doesn't whine........

 

The Mopar camp doesn't whine? I knew there was a reason for a change in rules last season allowing them to extend the nose of there cars.

 

Well, as far as I'm concerned, Chrysler ceased when DCX was formed. I really can't get into four door sedans with Charger written on them, Hemi Station Wagons (Magnum), 1940 Ford clones (PT Cruiser), or V6 Hot Rods (Prowler). Besides, today NASCAR cars are purpose built race cars, no closer to a stock car than a K-car is to a Hemi 'Cuda. I've never seen a 2 door Taurus either. So, if they whine today, who cares. But, back in the late 1960's and early 1970's, Mopars were the cars to beat in NASCAR, and the Hemi was what everyone tooks shots at. Let's not even talk about the Hemi and its derivatives at the drags......