i own just about all of these motors being discussed here, including the ohc inline 4's that reside in my drag bikes. one drag bike has a 929 cc fuel injected engine wtih dry nitrous kit that makes 170 crank horse with just a 25 shot of juice. i shift it at 11,500 rpm's. pretty trick engine i think. my other drag bike engine has a displacement of 1052 cc's and i turbocharged it with a aerodyne aerocharger variable vane turbo pushin 8 lbs. of boost and that engine is making 190 crankshaft horsepower with no intercooler. i blow thru the rejetted stock carbs and shift that engine at 10,500 rpms. that engine has 125 crank torque. it is one bad *** engine for sure. a 8.1 litre viper engine would have to make aproximately 1500 horsepower to equal that kind of volumetric efficiency. the suzuki hayabusa engine that resides in my 800 lb. mini superlite sandbullet sand rail is one way wicked race engine that displaces 1300 cc and revs to 10,500 rpm's. it makes 175 n/a crankshaft horsepower and 120 crank torque. the mini bullet muffler i run on my rail makes that engine sound like some kinda f1 race engine. it is the most killer sound on the planet.
as far as my car and truck engines are concerned the 6.8 litre ohc v-10 engine that is in my ford superduty truck is a pretty cool engine with its "y block" and all. but like a viper engine it is big and heavy. i will probably end up putting a centrifugal supercharger with aftercooler on it thanx to vortech. the ohc engine in my ford lightning that is currently making 530 crankshaft horsepower thanx to the 15 lbs. of boost that i am runnin thru it is the coolest automotive engine that i have ever had the pleasure of owning and operating. that boost coupled with that 5.4 litre stroker engine is one of the most addictive torque rushes i have ever felt in a automotive application. the bore on the engine is only 3.55 inches yet the stroke is a massive hemi like 4.15 inches. i am making 600+ ft lbs. of torque at the crankshaft with this setup. the v-10 engine in my super duty has the same bore and stroke with just 2 more cylinders. the updated version of this engine that will reside in the new ford gt-44 will be the baddest thing to ever hit the street. last but not least my old 1971 datsun 240-Z race car that i put a 1981 280-ZX turbocharged ohc straight 6 engine into made some killer torque too. i ran 10 lbs. of intecooled boost thru my triple mikuni side draft carburetors and dyno'd 300 crankshaft horsepower and 350 crankshaft torque with only 2.8 litres (175 cubic inches) of displacement. a small block chevy with 350 cubic inches would have to make 700 horsepower to equal that kind of volumetric efficiency.
with that said, i still like my pushrod engines too and the ls6 that is in my Z06 is one silky smooth high revvin little demon. but the 454 engine in my drag boat that i bored .030 over and bumped the compression ratio to 10.25:1 is bad to the bone. i have a weiand tunnel ram with 2 holley 650 carbs and open headers. it dyno'd 750 crank hp with a 200 shot of nitrous. i throw one hell of a rooster tail at the lake thanx to my dominator jet drive.
in the end the pushrod v-10 engine that resides in my viper has the most potential of all the engines i own. 488 cubic inches with 10 cylinders. ahhh................. there is just no replacement for displacement!
not!!
ohc and pushrod engines? its all good for me! just like chevy, dodge and ford. at the end of the day the only thing that matters to me is did that ride put a smile on my face
and as long as it spends more time runnin at wide open throttle than bein torn down to be fixed at the shop then it is worth it to me.
and so with that said of all these high performance engines that i own and operate i would have to say that the viper engine is probably the most reliable as a result of relying upon it displacement to get the job done. it doesn't have to be built as high strung as other engines to make torque. and that is just fine with me because............. 5,000 horsepower will never do u any good if u can't get the thing started.
