OK,heres my take,I don't really have a favorite,because alot depends on the chassis it's going in;
289/302/351w-readily available,cheap to modify,can be very economical or 600+hp on a stock block.Great all aound engines for light cars & light duty truckin'
351C-Great engine back in the day before good Windsor type heads were introduced.Nowadays I don't care for them unless it's in a restored Mustang/Torino.
351m/400-I bash these on a regular basis,but I guess the're not all that bad.Put some comp. to them & keep them under 5000 rpm & I guess they make an ok truck motor.
272/292/312-Not a barn burner,but man what a lugger!Friends got an old '59 wrecker and it'll get down and crawl...in high gear.Reminds me of how a 300 six will pull.
332/352/360/390/410/428 FE-From mundane to exotic,the FE done it all.Although dated,aftermarket support is strong as ever.Great engines for trucks & old Galaxies.
429/460-The best big block ever.Easier to find than the 440 mopar,cheaper(sad but true GM guys)than a 454,these engines do everything well.Good hp,great tq,good oiling system.Whether you need a low rpm truck motor or a 6000 rpm race motor,the 385 series can do it w/minimal bottom end mods.Mpg for these are not bad considering their size.Great engine for anything it'll fit into.
240/300 six-not a v8 but since this is a truck site...The 300 is probably the best six built IMO.Not a gas mileage champ,but 300's w/300-400,000 HARD miles are not that hard to find.Kinda makes you wonder how far they would go just riding around empty.
Here's my picks
best all around,all purpose-289/302/351w
best longivity-300 six
best torquemonster-429/460
best ancient technology still going strong-FE's
best engine that has almost all unique parts for it only-351C
best engine to put in anything built before '60-Y-blocks
most common engine to find in '73-79 pickups/big cars-351m/400(sorry,I couldn't give it a best of anything)Again,JMO

 

well I would almost agree with you, but I wouldn't give the 289, 302, 351w best all around engine. more like best choice for a light car build up. They really aren't good for a truck expecially if used as a truck and pulling a lot not much torque.
I would give the 429/460 best all around, they can be built for pure out tq, or can be builst for serious rpm and hp. There was one build up lately that had torque figues that would do a diesel proud, adn I run a stroker that will out rev most small blocks and making around 900hp. and with alum heads is less than 100lbs heavier than a iron headed 302.

 

I'll second your #1 choice.
My 70 Mach 1 with the 351 4V Cleveland and closed chamber heads showed many a Mopar and GM product it's taillights. I've always believed the Boss 351 was one of the best engines Ford ever manufactured. A great balance of power and weight IMHO.

 

I see your point,but a smallblock is ok for most truck owners who just "use" them on occation.By all around I meant power/packaging/economy.Like I said,the 385 series isn't bad on gas for it's size,but a smallblock will usually do better,especially when just riding around empty.Having said that,I like my 460 in my truck better than a 302,but the 302 sure fits my old Comet & Maverick better than a 460 would!Major surgery there.

 

Well like I said using them as a truck engine, you brought up riding around empty, and thats not really using them. When I had a 302 in a truck and pulled anything with it my big block got better fuel economy. But in the light car catagory yeah a 289/302 is a good choice for like the maverick or comet, but come on you gotta be honest major surgery or not a 429 powered maverick would be fun.<a href="http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm824BXUS" target="_blank"><img src="http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_7_4.gif" alt="Dream Big" border="0"></a>

 

Hands down, without a doubt, the 427 SOHC is the best performance engine ever made. Whoever said it was no competition for a 426 hemi was right....it would kill a hemi.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong in saying this, but I believe they weren't allowed at LeMans because they were too big. I believe it was a 289 in the GT40's that won LeMans.

Trevor

 

The 427 raced in Le Mans.
The MKI used a 255 cubic-inch Indy 4-cam, the 289 and 302. The 289 was by far the most popular, producing between 380 and 400 horsepower. When the MKI returned during the 1968 and 1969 season it was outfitted with the 302. The MKII came equipped with the 427. The third generation, the MK-III, had 289 cubic-inch engines. The final version, the MK-IV all were given the 427.

GT102, GT103 and GT104 competed in 64 (all three retired - although they did set a new lap record)

In 65 2 cars (GT106 and GT107) competed with the cammer. 4 other GT's competed with the 289. None of them finished the race though, but, again the GT (with the 427) set the fastest lap.

In 66 13 GT's competed (and you wonder how they won??? ) a combination of Mk I's, Mk II's and MkIII's.

In 67 a combination of Mk III's and Mk IV's - with 2 of the Mirage lightweight specials (which were all Mk III's).

In 68, all cars were Mk I's, as they were in 69. They changed the regs (mostly due to the GT) to ensure vehicles had a more equal power to weight ratio, the GT could have competed with the 427, but it would have to be very heavy.

Le Mans never banned the 427 - they have a very "free" set of rules, NA V12s compete alongside turbo diesels, alongside supercharged V8's - the only engine it ever banned was the Rotary (after Mazda destroyed the competition in 91)
In fact, Chevy competed with "thier" 427 in thier C5-R Corvette for the last few years.
However, as mentioned, the 427 couldn't compete, as the set up new regulations which meant the GT couldn't compete with its weight with that size engine.

 

As far as I know the only sactioning body to ever ban the SOHC was nascar, after it did a testing run at daytona and set a track speed record that hasn't been broken to this day, and Chrysler demanded that nascar ban overhead valve engines or they would not allow any of thier cars to compete in the nascar circiut, so they go thier way.

 

hands down the FE series. if you dont look at a cammer and drool then you need to own a chebby. my (as of now) stock 390 will pull a house down and then rev to 6 grand when ever you ask it to. the bottom end of these things can easily take 7500 stock.

 

I don't think the Ford OHC 427 was ever used at Le Mans. Banned in NASCAR and I believe used as more of a drag engine.

I think the 427 OHC was probably rightfully banned from NASCAR, back in the '60s. IMO, it would been hurtling those old stockers at much more speed than the tires, etc., could handle. I think it would of been too fast, for safety reasons.

Even now, an updated 427 OHC, in a modern stocker, I think would be too much. What did the few that were prepared for the street, so that NASCAR would sanction put out? Somewhere around 617 hp + and that was supposed to be streetable.

Imagine bringing it up to racing tune? Too potent, especially in view of the fact that NASCAR kept on trying to slow much smaller, cube OHV V8s with restrictor plates, for safety.

Imagine what an unfettered 427 OHC would do? Chevy also made some engineering mule versions of an OHC big block, based on the fabled Rat motor. They were out of NASCAR, at the time, but it would be like the big 3 Diesel wars of present day.

ie: Ford makes the most powerful engine, than GM trumps Ford, than Mopar, trumps GM, than Ford trumps GM...where does it stop?

Usually the 427 side oiler and variations of the 289. Contrary to the Corvette C5 not being competitive, at Le Mans, in fact it was more than competitive. It kept winning it's class at Le Mans, with drivers like Ron Fellows.

 

Negative.

Chrysler was more than up to the challenge....(BTW, They were all OHV motors)

It was safety and safety alone that was the demise of the big blocks.


Here's an excerpt from a Mopar site.....gave its due to the Ford SOHC IMO:


Dual overhead cam HemiA 426 dual-overhead cam Hemi was actually produced - two of them, in fact, and both were made in 1964. The DOHC Hemis were made to counter Ford's response to the 1964 426 Hemi, the 427 SOHC, but when NASCAR ruled against Ford's engine, there was no need for the overhead-cam Hemi.

Neither of the DOHC Hemis were ever placed in a car; one was destroyed, the other moved to the Kansas City area. (source: Muscle Car Review. Thanks, Stéphanie Dumas.) Recently, famed engine builder Larry Shepard told us that he has the A-925 cylinder head and other related parts, purchased from the late Dan Napp.An article by Tom Shaw in Mopar Muscle went into more detail. The DOHC Hemi was project A-925, and it would need to be much more powerful than Ford's SOHC 427, but still rugged enough for racing - and able to conform to NASCAR's rules. Two possibilities were considered, according to Shaw - one using two cams positioned between the heads, in the "valley;" four valves on each cylinder were operated by lifters, pushrods, and lifters. This expensive setup was an unused contingency plan. Nearly as ambitious was an engine with aluminum heads, dual overhead cams, and, again, four valves per cylinder, with pent-roof chambers. (Chrysler had been working with four valve per cylinder engines for a never-completed Indy run in 1963.)

The dual-plane intake manifold had eight runners per side (Chrysler was into efficient and innovative intakes) and made of magnesium - but designed for a single four-barrel carburetor, as required by NASCAR.

The cams were driven by a cog belt, using external cog wheels at the front of the heads. Because the cams were directly above the valves, valvetrain mass was low, so the engine could rev high - a 7,000 rpm redline was specified, high for the era.

 

Dang your right I mispoke, when I said overhead valve meant to say they outlawed overhead cam.
But I have read the articles from the day, and Chrysler did infact protest the SOHC, and did infact threaten to pull out of NASCAR if they didn't outlaw overhead cam engines specifically the SOHC, yes they produced that overhead cammed engine but Chrysler wasn't sure they could make it last, and the cost was so prohibitive they wouldn't have been able to put enough of them into passenger cars to meet the required production numbers at the time. Ford was willing to eat that cost to beat the hemi. I would have to look again but in 1964 dollars the SOHC cost for $14,000 each to build, and the sales price in the ford catalog was $2375, and although I don't have a number for what that chrysler engine costs I can bet it wasn't any cheaper.

 

First time I've heard that a 460 has a good oiling system....like the 351C (and M/400), it sux in stock form for high revs (which is kinda ironic considering the 351C's revving nature.) Fortunately, it's easily remedied.


Y blocks are turds......one of the many reasons the SBC took off so well in '55.

 

Chrysler did sit out in '65 but it was because NASCAR made them Homologate(sp?) the hemi......not because they feared Ford.

Please find something that showed Chrysler protested the SOHC....I am very interested.

 

http://www.allpar.com/mopar/hemi/hemi.html



When the 426 Hemi was introduced in 1964, it was strictly a racing engine. On February 23 of that year, four Hemi-powered Mopars swept the Daytona 500, finishing 1-2-3-4. This single event caught the racing world by surprise and eventually prompted NASCAR to impose stricter production rules on Chrysler. Instead of producing only a few blueprinted Hemi motors each production year, they would instead have to produce several thousand and sell them in "ordinary" production vehicles. Fortunately, Chrysler didn't throw in the towel on the hemi after this (although they did sit out the 1965 season), and the end result was the slightly detuned street hemi which first appeared in 1966 B-body Dodges and Plymouths