Yahoo Autos These Are Your Favorite Eight-Cylinder Engines
Ah, the eight-cylinder engine. Beloved by muscle car fans, pickup truck owners, and the entire “no replacement for displacement” crowd. It’s a design that’s persevered from the early days of motor vehicles to today’s fastest and finest — but which eight-cylinder is the best? That’s the question we posed to you all yesterday, and today we’re looking through your answers for the top picks. Here’s what you came up with.
Powerstroke 7.3
How about a different one then all the muscle car engines and exotics that are the obvious answer? I give you the international Navistar T444E also known as the Ford Powerstroke 7.3L. It was the workhorse of Ford’s super duty trucks for many years and also powered many school buses and work vans. Bullet proof reliable and capable of handling lots of power adders. In its final form (with turbocharger and intercooler) it made 275hp and 525 lbs.-ft. of torque.
If there really is no replacement for displacement, then the 7.3-liter Powerstroke is truly irreplaceable. For context, that’s more displacement than the last five vehicles I’ve owned — combined.
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Duesenberg Straight-8
Any answer that’s not a straight-8 is wrong. I’m going with the Duesenberg:
The straight-8 is an underappreciated engine. It has all the fuel efficiency of a V8, but takes up twice as much space along the length of your car. Things that are bad are good, and this is good.
Submitted by: neverspeakawordagain
Ford-Foyt Indy V8
The Ford - Foyt Indy V8 is best because A.J. Foyt ! The engine traces its lineage back to the Miller inline 8 because Miller designer Leo Goossen, along with Miller engine builder and three time Indy 500 winner, Louis Meyer, helped develop it. It first won Indy in 1965 with Jim Clark at the wheel of the Lotus 38.
Remember when IP law wasn’t Disney-strict? When a racing driver could just buy the rights to an entire engine design and everyone was okay with that? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Cosworth DFV V8
The Cosworth DFV 90° V8 is the winningest racing engine of all time, and it looks great and sounded great, so I’ll go with that...
If I won the lottery, I’d put a DFV V8 into something hilariously incongruous. Maybe the back of a Mk1 Golf, Renault 5 Turbo-style. Anyone want to help crowdfund this?
426 Hemi
Since I am first, I’ll take the obvious winner.
426 Hemi.
1964, 425 hp (gross) and 490 ft-lb of torque (Gross) where the official numbers, but dyno tests showed more like 433/472 (Net) which means that the official numbers were sand bagged by around 10% or so.
That engine is still out there and has a significant aftermarket for racing. In full race trim, it is easily the most powerful car engine ever, regardless of number of cylinders (actual horsepower and torque measurements are unavailable because no dyno can measure over 10,000 hp).
No engine has won as many races as the 426 Hemi. The vast majority of which were 1/4 mile long or less.
A list of the best eight-cylinder engines legally has to include the 426 Hemi. It’s just a prerequisite, a 101-level best engine. I can’t not give it a slide.
Small Block Chevy...
Even though I’m not a Chevy guy, it’s got to be the SBC. You could make strong arguments that the aftermarket industry as we know it wouldn’t exist without it. It brought speed to the people.
In absolute terms, the Porsche 918 Spyder’s V8 is probably my pick. 4.6L, 608 hp, 9150 RPM. Insane.
Ah, how times change. Remember when Chevrolet’s logo was written in space-age cursive? Neither do I, but I want it back anyway.
...And Its Modern Successors
I’ll go with the obvious here. GM’s SBC, LS, and now LT engines. Relatively small, light, powerful, torque-y, reliable, cheap, versatile, no exotic technology to deal with, any mechanic can work on it, parts are everywhere, you can easily buy a crate motor direct from GM or from a million other suppliers, etc. Sure, there are certainly more powerful, higher revving, stuff out there; but it’s gonna be more expensive, less reliable, bigger, or have some other major compromise. This is the most well rounded of all V8s in my opinion.
From the ashes of the SBC, rises the engine that likely comes to your mind when you think V8. The LS is the eight-cylinder, the one that ends up in every YouTuber-swapped SEMA build and half the drift missiles at your local skidpan.
The GT40's 427
