I agree about the 2.3L Turbo. Boss 302 rods and forged pistons really made this engine indestructable. I had one in a 86 cougar when I was 16. Dumping the clutch at 7,000rpm and holding it there while doing donuts was an everyday occourence. The engine was rarely ran below 4,000rpm and it never gave me a bit of problems. It was pushing 14psi too after I had the wastegate repaired hillbilly style.

 

I forgot to mention one of my favorites, as well. The Northstar 4.6L V-8's that Cadillac puts in their Sevilles and Devilles is an EXCELLENT engine. We have one in our 2000 STS, and that is one nice engine.

 

I dunno about that caddy engine. When I worked at the lube rack all I heard was how much power it had and how much it broke down. It was always simple things like a bad injector or a bad sensor but these problems were VERY frequent. They use a ton of oil between changes also which isn't necesarily a bad thing. They probably hold 7.5 - 8 quarts for a reason.

 

Best engine I ever owned was a 1988 460...over 200,000 miles and never even had to touch it other than tune ups.
Worst engine was a 1971 Chevy Vega...all aluminum POS...cured me of buying anything Chevy.

 

Best engine gotta be the 300 I-6 (second to none) frame twisting torque.

Worst car engine - a pontiac turbo 301
worst truck engine - chevys 2.8 v6

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TorqueKing
[B]so you guys like to trash the Chevy 305, but you're forgetting, there actually was one creature more hideous and pathetic:

The Pontiac 305

Is that what I had in my 75 Grand Prix? If so I agree, pretty sure it was. Motor sucked.

My personal favs

69-73 Olds 350 Rocket
67 Ford 390 , beefy strong block reinforced webbing.

hehe flame me but the 258 straight six that came in CJ-7's and other jeeps

and for some reason, probably because i still drive it, 72 472 cadillac motor, if I throw throw the 70 heads on and remove the smog stuff it would be way better. Its one smooth running BB.

 

I'll agree on the AMC straight six. They are pretty bomb proof, that's why they're so popular in the Cherokees. Now that fine 2.8 AMC used(yes I know it's a fine GM product) was terrible. It's sad when the base 4cyl. is better than the optional v-6.

 

Gonna cast my vote. Here goes.

Best engine of all time:

Ford FE

Worst engine of all time:

Chibby 4.3 v6

Heres my explanation. Every 4.3 that I've had friends who had experience with has developed a very loud knock and stopped running at approx 200,000 miles. EVERY ONE OF 'EM! Turns out they have piston skirt wear issues, where the piston skirt breaks.

As for the Ford FE... Nothing beats a half grand of stump pulling, window rattling, black streak leaving TORQUE!!!

 

I'm sick and tired of hearing how the 4.9L IL6 has"frame twisting torque"....lol.

Fact is I have driven several and owned one of my own-it's on my list of favorite engines also-but who are we kiddin here? "Frame twisting torque"? lol.

I think most of the nostalgists around here are letting the term"inline" play with their heads-it's no Cummins people, THAT IS "Frame twisting torque". It makes my list because it offered higher torque at lower RPMs then any v8 in it's class-and being an inline it was well balanced and could last a LONG time.

But it did have draw backs as well, for one it had a very narrow power range, at higher RPM's going up hill or carrying a heavy load, ALWAYS required downshifting-if it was mounted to mazda 5 speed all that torque still din't mean chit. And in the 2.73 rear axle ratio-it barely moved out of it's own way!

Bottom line-mounted to a decent tranny and rear axle ratio-it had good pull-better than the small v8's- very reliable engine,and good fuel mileage. But that's it.

It was not equal to the 350 Chevy-not even close-the 350 offered the same torque at low RPM -took it higher with a W-I-D-E powerband and produced 100 more horse to boot- on top of this -there is no other motor that could be modded on the one end to be used in racing AND served equally well in truck applications.

Too bad the 300 IL6 is'int still produced-it was a great motor -better than any other 6-and offering better truck suited dependability than lot's of v8's- but lets try to keep things in perspective....lol.


Regards.

 

Maybee it is the diffreence in weight, but My 2wd I6 f150 and 3:55 gears has no problem outrunning a 4X4 chevy 2500 with a 350 and 4:11 gears.

 

just from my own expierence i have to say that ford makes some excellent 6s. iv got the 2.9 in a bronco 2 and that thing will keep up a mild 302 easily. at 172k miles she still runs like new. or did untill the ignition shorted out. the ford 3.8 are great engines aswell. may not spin em off the frontline like a v8 but will keep up in the upper band. as for worst i cant really critisize any of them. the only one weve had die was a used abused and uncaired for 305. 250k miles it died. the woman didnt want to fix it and wanted it dead so she drove it without oil for for a week.

 

A couple of you have mentioned in this post the Chrysler slant 6. Fine little motor, in my opnion. I remember looking under the hood of an early-70's Satellite with one and thinking, "jeez, there's room enough for TWO of them in there." And then I had THE IDEA: why didn't Chrysler take two slant 6's and mount them on a common crankshaft, creating a V-12? All they would have to do is cast a block and an intake manifold and use EFI- everything else (pistons,valves, heads, etc...) would be stock slant-6. Would have been one hell of an Imperial motor, something Ford or GM wouldn't have had, and wouldn't have cost much to build. Oh well, I can dream, can't I?

 

I don't know...........maybe because that V12 would only be a 450 and the 440 was already available???? I do agree on the toughness of the slant 6. We were romping a Dart(?) off road in HS and ripped the oil pan off of it. Drove it back to school a good 20 miles with no oil. The thing got us back.



My vote for most historic goes to the FE. I think the utility versions are turds(sorry if I offended anyone) but in race trim they've won everything from Le Mans to NASCAR to Top fuel(the 427SOHC is a masterpiece) Not to mention powering AC Cobras...the list goes on.

 

best engines
ford 300I6 why the heck did they get rid of it???
cummins I6 turbo diesel
7.3 idi diesel
older 360v8 dodge's
318 v8 dodge
slant 6
426 Hemi
older 350 chevy
Viper v10

worst engines
6.5 turblow diesel + any other chevy diesel before Duramax
the V6 dodge put in minivans
460 ford. never had any luck outa the ones I have had/been around
yanmar diesel thats in Small JD tractors.
early perkins diesels

 

Ok, I was just gonna read; but here's my 2 cents:

Best engine ever built is the small block chevrolet. I'd have to give it to the 350 just from history and duration. In my *opinion* the 327 is much better (proportionally, stroke/bore, etc), but the 350 has the history.

The worst engine I've ever owned was a Datsun 1.4 liter dog. It ran like a dream and didn't burn oil even when I donated after 20 years; but I'd done like 4 or 5 head gasket replacements and head repairs. It was so weak I had to shedule my freeway entrances....I couldn't just jump out there. That's not the worst car I ever owned; that would be a 1970 Austin America--what a piece of cr*p!! It shared the oil between the tranny and the engine, it was weak, and on top of that it was an automatic.....I take it back; this is the worst engine ever.