What is the rarest or strangest, unusual engine you have owned?

[Chris142]

I have had 2.

A 302 Chevy.

Many people know of the 302 Chevy was made for 3 years. Seems those guys think all 302's had the DZ suffix.
What they don't know is that in 1967 Chevy made the 302 but with a small journal crank and 2 bolt main block. Mine was a 67 with the "MP" suffix which was an engine destined for California with an air pump.

A 266 cu in International V8.

Again many people have heard of the 304 and 345 used in the light line international scouts and trucks.

Say 266 and people look at you like you have 3 eyes.

 

[Jdeere562]

International Harvester model M diesel farm tractor.

Go the the parts store for a set of points and condenser, they thought I was messing with them.
It had a distributor and started on gas to warm, then you switched it to diesel.

 

[Elkins45]

I owned a Chevy Colorado with the Vortec 3500 3.5L I5. AFAIK it and the later 3.7 were the only five cylinder engines ever made by a major US carmaker.

 

[GON]

Not a big outlier- but I currently own a 32 valve (4v per cylinder) V8 in my 2004 Lincoln Navigator. This 32v engine is reportedly popular in Mustangs, but a very rare engine in Ford manufactured SUVs, where 99 percent of the Ford SUVs on the same frame received Fords modular 2v and 3v V8s.

 

[BobsArmory]

I didn't own it but I ran a 1940s era 95 Northwest Dragline with an inline 6 Murphy Diesel engine. Pistons the size of coffee cans. Wide open was something like 800 or 1200 rpm. As I recall it had some crazy type of combination generator/fuel pump.

Was never really any good with it. I spent more time untangling cables than dredging sand at the sandpit

 

[Nessism1]

Not strange per se, but I rebuilt a Mazda rotary 12A one time, and ported it using Racing Beat "street port" templates. Added an aftermarket intake manifold and tiny Holley 460 cfm 4 barrel carb. And, of course, an exhaust header.

This setup ran crazy good. Driveability was "drive to church" civil, while it reved out very satisfying. My dream project is to take a similar engine and slam it into a frog eye Sprite.

 

[walterjay]

I had a Cadillac with a 368 engine.

 

[gregk24]

My 1995 Honda Accord had the 2.7 V6, I don't remember it being too common back then. That's the best I've got.

 

[JeffKeryk]

'64 Corvair, owned for a very short time
'70(?) Vega, owned for a very short time

 

[gman2304]

I had a 1981 Chevy Monte Carlo that had a 267 CI V8….. AKA a boat anchor!

 

[Passport1]

I've had many of these. Two cycle diesel. Still have one in its original box. Weighs about 23 grams.

Cox International

 

[6.7 CTD]

3S-GTE

 

[Speedy3861]

I've had 3, not all that strange, but unusual & somewhat rare.

1967 Pontiac Le Mans Coupe with 326 H.O, 4-speed Muncy
1963 Corvair Monza Coupe 102 4-speed with full John Fitch Sprint package (Stage 2 engine work)
1966 Corvair Monza Coupe 110hp (164ci) PowerGlide Full body restoration, factory dual exhaust, upgraded carbs and electronic ignition.

 

[wings&wheels]

1932 Maytag Model 92 Neat single cyl 2 stroke, air cooled, hit n miss motor originally used for washing machines, but also adapted for churns, generators, etc. and even go karts.

Couple model live steam engines from childhood.

Not mine, pic from 'web...too snowy to walk to garage.

 

[chainblu]

Olds 215

 

[MVAR]

Not a big outlier- but I currently own a 32 valve (4v per cylinder) V8 in my 2004 Lincoln Navigator. This 32v engine is reportedly popular in Mustangs, but a very rare engine in Ford manufactured SUVs, where 99 percent of the Ford SUVs on the same frame received Fords modular 2v and 3v V8s.

Friend's wife has that 5.4 32V in her Navigator. Has over 400k mi on that thing. One transmission rebuild & swapped out the air suspension for coils but it's been solid for them. Nearly as many miles on it as her husbands F350 with 7.3 (and also a transmission rebuild at nearly the same time as her SUV lol).

 

[BobsArmory]

I had a 1967 Olds 98 Holiday Coupe with a 425 Super Rocket

 

[tig1]

In the mid 80s I owned two Fords both with the 2.0 diesel engines. One was a 85 Ford Escort wagon and the other was a 84 Ford Tempo. Both had the 5 speed manual trans. Got great MPG, 45 local and 52 MPG on the hyw.

 

[Cujet]

My current car, the Jag F-Type has a supercharged 3.0 V6 that is a V8 block with the aft 2 pistons removed. They did not shorten the block or the 5 main bearing crankshaft. It just has a counterweight where the aft 2 connecting rod journals would have been.

Jag's engineers seemed to really take the cheesy way out for a V6. However, the result is way better than expected. It's a blast to drive, and can handle a lot of boost due to a lot of head gasket surface area and strong internals.

 

[shortyb]

1995 Ford Taurus SHO with the 3.0 Yamaha V-6 and 5 spd manual. A jewel of an engine protected by a rather mundane car.