Like this? And don't forget the 501 IH six with pistons the size of soup bowls.
Posted on 10/02/2015 12:59:05 AM PDT by Cowman
(#10): Ford 427 SOHC (#9): Ford 351 Windsor (#8): Chevrolet 454 (#7): Cummins 5.9L I6 Turbo Diesel (#6): Chrysler 225 Slant Six (#5): Chevy 427 (#4): Ford 300 I6 (#3): General Motors LS1 (#2): Chrysler 426 HEMI (#1): Small Block Chevrolet (Gen 1) 350
The Feather Duster was a 1976 Plymouth Duster (aka Dart Lite) that was specially modified to get outstanding gas mileage. They used some aluminum parts, like the trunk lid and hood. If you’re interested, there are some good articles online. It really was an interesting bit of technology for the times.
aren’t the 454 and 427 almost the same engine?
I’ll never forget my friend Greg’s father’s 1970-something Ford Torino with a 351 engine. (he/we drove it much more than his Dad ;) This innocent-looking “sleeper” was a flat-out beast & could fly! Blew away many cars in the neighborhood, containing greater horses, off the line @ traffic lights ;))
I learned how to drive on tractors and dump trucks long before I was ever allowed to drive a pickup or car. My dad had a 57 Ford gravel truck w/292. First time out I could not get the tail gate to trip, I was pulling on the rope and the lever just would not come down, meanwhile the box was going into the air. When I looked forward all I could see was air! The front was off the ground by about 4 feet, my dad was along side laughing is rear end off. Gravel was spilling over the top of the gate and it slowly went back on all fours.
I hired on as a custom combine truck driver at 16 years old, went south with them. I had no drivers license. Drove a 2 ton 1966 Chevy with the 292 six in it. Never got caught as no one cared back then if anyone had a drivers license or not.
How I miss those days of simplicity and freedom!
I had that happen to me once, but we had the rock gate extensions on the gate so the end was open. I had a load of tree stumps, and when I dumped it they got hung up in a wad at the end of the bed and the whole thing went over center. I was backed up to a ravine, and fortunately I was far enough from the edge that it didn’t go over. As soon as I realized what was happening I had my hand on the door handle and was prepared to bail out of the thing and let it make that trip by it’s lonesome.
Very first car purchased was a '64 Galaxie 500 with that 289 in it. Good engine but what I remember most was that the engine compartment was the size of a bedroom in comparison to today. You could actually access every necessary area for repair/maintenance/replacement!
I was wondering that as well. A real sweet running engine.
I have to throw in the Nissan VQ30DE 3.0 6cyl. Had one in my 98 Maxima and not only was it still running strong at 300K when I sold it recently but did not experience any perceptible loss of power until about 220k. Thing was right as rain and ran on rails.
Great list, and posters have added other really good engines that deserve equal billing. It just doesn’t look like a list of ten is enough.
I have to add a couple more sort of quirky favorites of mine that I used to have in a number of old trucks:
International Harvester 302/345/392.
They were workhorses that were hard to kill.
Had a four cylinder in one Scout that was the same IH block as the V-8s, but they closed off one side. It was a real dog though. Not nearly enough power to suit me.
And for something really obscure, we had a couple of the humungous old IH 549s. They were practically indestructible. We had them in single axle semi tractors, and those things would pull a 55,000 pound trailer down the road at 55 mph. Might take awhile to get up to speed, but they would pull it all day long.
Of course, they were in cabover tractors, which meant the linkage to the transmission was really, really complex. It took a real artist to shift those danged things.
In hs I worked at a gas station and the guy who owned it raced a 1950 Ford coupe with a flathead V8. I remember one issue as you cranked up the compression and timing was cracking the block between the valve seats or between the valve seat and the cylinder bore. Also the block would not tolerate overheating, and you needed a big radiator because the long exhaust passages in the block transferred a lot of heat to the cooling system.
Small-block Chevy: check. Big-block Chevy: check. 426 Hemi: check.
Pretty much covers it in my book.
“I didn’t know hogs had bicycle pedals on them!!!!! LOL”
It works like a moped. You pedal to start.
That old 5.9 was soooo simple to work on.
For $299 I picked up 6 Diamond P 370 hp injectors and then added a Holset HX40 turbo, then had to add a strong Southbend clutch to hold the torque and a 4” turbo back exhaust to get rid of all that smoke.
Thing had 420 +/- HP and over 800 lb/ft torque.
With a 4:10 rear end and 5-speed manual, when you put it in 1st gear and drove it off it would sound like a dump truck coming down the road.
The P7100 mechanical fuel pump was the best pump Cummins made for the B series. That thing could dump in fuel like there was no tomorrow.
Miss the old beast.
I have a Ram 4500 with the 6.7l and 6-speed, but the thing is so choked off with EPA $hit that it has way less power then my old ‘97.
I would put the Chevy 454 ahead of the Hemi.
Ah, Yes, The infamous "Lean Burn" days. Most of the guys I knew that had em pulled out the LBI and dropped on a Holley and MSD.
Like this? And don't forget the 501 IH six with pistons the size of soup bowls.
“Engine would still be purring but Dodge truck would be completely falling apart around it after 300k. Owned several of the 24 valve.”
There was an article in the Turbo Diesel Register magazine about 10 years ago about a guy that pulled boats from the manufacturer to dealer with a mid 90’s 12 valve truck.
He finally put it into reserve status at something like 1.2 million miles. Head and pan had never been off.
While it may not have the track record of those engines on this list, I’m thus far pretty enamored with the 3.6 liter Chrysler Pentastar in my 2014 Rubicon.
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