Your personal "thumbs up" engine?

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Like ARCOgraphite said. There's been so many. The one that sticks in my mind above all else was the 389 hi-po in my 1965 Pontiac GTO. It was so well matched to the car, it just begged to be driven. At 117k it was pretty much used up. With the oils of the day and leaded gas, 120k was a high mileage car.

The The Chrysler 3.3 is the most underrated engine. Not the most powerful but the smoothest, quietest, most reliable of any I've owned.

I hope the new 3.6 in my GC proves as solid. I would love to have that engine and 6 speed trans. in my 89 Dodge Spirit Turbo.

Wayne
 
Chrysler 2.2/2.5

Not for power or durability. For ease of access.

I can change the thermostat completely in the time that a Ford 302 owner will spend just getting to the bottom bolt on his housing.

Plugs, wires, distributor....all right there on the front of the engine. Seems like the last car that was actually designed to be accessible.

Power and durability? Kawasaki ZX600C. AKA: Ninja 600R.
It was a stroked 400cc when Yamaha and Honda were starting to build 600s that were intended to be 600s from the start. (Suzuki downsized a 750 motor)
I dragraced mine more weekends than not. I was still beating Hurricanes, FZRs, and Katanas when it had 50,000 miles on the clock. First 600 I ever lost to was a CBR600F2 and he had to catch me on the back half of the track

Dead simple to maintain. Screw type valve adjusters, cable clutch....

It had good power everywhere on the tach. Acceptable low end, good midrange, great top end. 3,000 to 11,000 just roll the throttle on. If you are above 3000 rpm, you are in the powerband.

Engine was reliable as an anvil. Even when I switched to PCMO (Castrol GT-X 20W50) at or around the 42,000 mile mark. That may have ultimately contributed to the loss of 2nd gear, but the engine still had good compression across all 4 cylinders at over 80,000 miles. I could still roll on the throttle at freeway speed in 6th and walk away from the newer ZX6 Ninjas
 
Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
I would love to have that engine and 6 speed trans. in my 89 Dodge Spirit Turbo.

Wayne


Concerning old Spirits... the old 2.2 Turbo III engine in the Spirit R/T and the Daytona IROC R/T was an absolute monster. An early '90's engine that with just an exhaust upgrade and a cheap manual boost controller would push 290 hp to the wheels, which would absolutely murder any Mustang or Camaro of the time, and probably give the Corvette a serious run.

If it were as reliable as it were powerful, and put in a rear wheel drive car, it probably would have been better remembered.

It's a shame that the engine had issues though. Cracked heads were common, as were finicky timing belts that would fall off if they weren't very precisely tensioned... thankfully it wasn't an interference engine so it was more an annoyance than an expensive problem.
 
Originally Posted By: Mykl
Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
I would love to have that engine and 6 speed trans. in my 89 Dodge Spirit Turbo.

Wayne


Concerning old Spirits... the old 2.2 Turbo III engine in the Spirit R/T and the Daytona IROC R/T was an absolute monster. An early '90's engine that with just an exhaust upgrade and a cheap manual boost controller would push 290 hp to the wheels, which would absolutely murder any Mustang or Camaro of the time, and probably give the Corvette a serious run.

If it were as reliable as it were powerful, and put in a rear wheel drive car, it probably would have been better remembered.

It's a shame that the engine had issues though. Cracked heads were common, as were finicky timing belts that would fall off if they weren't very precisely tensioned... thankfully it wasn't an interference engine so it was more an annoyance than an expensive problem.


Yup, a real monster, One guy modded his R/T with a huge turbo and pulled 500hp on pure alcohol. Friend of mine put one in a 89 caravan. A real sleeper. A modern version of that engine is in the Neon R/T4. I've hear numbers like 350hp.

Wayne
 
Yeah the fuel injected Chrysler 2.2/2.5s were really solid engines. The 2.2 didn't produce a lot of power and was a bit rough, but the 2.5 had a lot of low end torque and was pretty smooth thanks to the balancing shaft.

Can't beat either for serviceability.
 
As usual, gotta represent a couple of forgotten Mazda piston engines:

The J-series V6 - st00pidly overbuilt engines in all regards; rod size, forged parts, journal sizes (rod and main), block strength/alloy (high nickel iron) High rod/stroke ratio. Installed in relatively rare and/or unassuming vehicles (929,MPV), it escaped many people's radar- especially enthusiasts.

The F-series I4 - F8/FE/F2 - one of the legendary high miler hunks of Japanese iron, and again overbuilt. This engine was found in the 85-92 Capella/626/MX6/Probe/Telstar/85-92 B-series truck/Ford Courier/Ranger, Bongo vans (and Ford Freda clone), 98-2002 Kia Sportage, 92-98 Capella Wagon and continues service this day in Yale/Hyster forklifts.

The exact same engine block (incl. same main/rod journal sizes) has been easily commissioned to diesel duty in the R-series diesel, which has evolved throughout many diesel iterations from early 2.0L N/A IDI (some Americans might remember it from the `85 era Tempo/Topaz diesel!) all the way up to the pre-Skyactiv 2.2L DOHC CDI diesels (185hp/310ft/lbs stock | 243hp/392ft/lbs with flash and turbo upgrade). "The torque is actually restricted, as this is the mechanical limitation of the stock clutch" lol. love it.

Not one of these engines are weak, all overbuilt. 500WHP FE-DOHC's (with matching torque) on stock internals is common. One fella in PR even did this (500whp stock internals) while reusing the stock head gasket! The FE-DOHC, design wise, is tantamount to a 4-cylinder 2JZ-turbo (same bore & stroke) but with stronger stock rods (in the NA version!)!

All NA versions of the J-series and F8/FE/F2 could have a turbo strapped on and take high boost/torque without snapping a rod. I've never actually heard heard of a rod in these engines breaking, or a block cracking- ever. I miss the days of disgustingly overbuilt stock engines
frown.gif
. Now everything requires sleeves, all forged internals before you can do anything and you're still stuck with smally journal sizes *sigh*
 
Mercedes M120 V12, got a bad rep but they last forever and put out all kinds of HP doing it. They were also in use for over 20 years with Zonda and AMG after Mercedes killed production in 1999. Another interesting fact is that it was the first production V12 Mercedes produced since well the war...last ones were in tanks and aircraft...

They were putting down an honest 400hp in the early 90's when the only way to get that kind of HP in a street car in the US was a Viper, or maybe an F40.

In later guise both AMG and Brabus punched it out to 7.3L and got all kinds of NA HP out of the thing.


Now that they are getting older you can hot rod them, I mean an S600 is the perfect drift car!
 
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Based on what I've owned:

1. Current gen 5.7 Hemi
2. Chrysler 3.6 Pentastar
3. Ford 4.6 3V
4. Chrysler 318 Magnum
5. Ford 3.5 Duratec

I started driving in a Chrysler 2.2. It was pretty solid. Chrysler 2.0 SOHC in Neons was also solid.
 
Toyota/Lexus V8 engine in LS4xx are very smooth and reliable, Mercedes V8 engine is good but not as good as Lexus V8. But the best engine I must say Honda 2.0-2.2L engines in the S2000. They are small 4-cyl engines but generate a lot more power than almost any engine up to 3.0 liter without turbo/super charge, also it can rev to 8-9k RPM and producing good sound and consuming little gas in doing so.
 
Any LSx based motor.

Of all the motors listed in this thread besides the previous gen small block Chevy, I would say it gets put in more cars, than any other car.

From the Subaru WRX and BRZ, to Ford Mustangs, RX-7s, RX-8s, BMWs, Volvos, Hondas, Porsche and the list goes on and on.
There is a reason for that. Reliable, cheap power, with a HUGE aftermarket.
They also use it in a ton of airplanes and boats.
WGP-BRZ06-1.jpg

WRX.jpg

ls1_rx8_3.jpg

1999_Porsche_911_LS1_For_Sale_Engine_resize.jpg

Lots more out there.

They make kits to put it in a lot of cars.

I also like the 2.2/2.5 Mopar stuff. I had a bunch of them Reliable? Well I wouldn't say that, but easy to fix and fun to modify? Yes indeed.
 
"Old style Chrysler Hemi from the 60's" in the late 60s i bought a 56 354 hemi from a new yorker. the owner told me that he didnt change the oil and it spun the center main bearing, THEN he drove it like that for 70 miles. when i took it apart the ONLY journal with damage was the center. ALL the rest miked at nominal
 
Early non turbo RX-7 engines often lasted a long time. Unfortunately, the only RX-7 models that excite me are ones with turbos. It is a shame that the Renesis was N/A, but still often had a short life.

The VG30i and VG30e were Nissan V6 engines that never got famous, but they are the reason many early Pathfinders, Hardbody trucks, and 1989-1994 Maximas are still alive. It was also the only good thing about the 1985-1988 Maxima. Of course, the related VG30DETT became famous for lasting for ages even at higher than stock horsepower levels. If it didn't use a timing belt, it would be a perfect engine.

Diesel Benz engines from the 80s are well known for their durability, but their gasoline engines were still excellent.
 
Yes, the Buick derived V6 3300/3800-Buick V8 401/425 Nailheads-Chevy small block-I never could hurt a piston Mazda engine-no oil burning or generally discoloration=amazing-not the same with the Mazda rotary tho!
 
Well, I really like the 3.7L Ford. its being discontinued on the 2015 F-150 so I guess it qualifies as a mill that was overlooked, although its still around. Its powerful enough that if I had a teenage son, I wouldn't let him drive a regular cab Ford with one.
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
VG30DETT became famous for lasting for ages even at higher than stock horsepower levels.


They`re definitely indestructable. Here`s a copy and paste from one of the Nissan Z forums:

*Got 243K miles on my 94TT...original OEM turbos still spooling...no leaks,no smoke. Frequent oil changes with 20W50 Pennzoil*.
 
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