Hooniverse Asks: What is the best V8 engine of all time?

Jeff Glucker

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I believe the V8 is the greatest of the combustion engines. It’s inherent balance produces wonderful noise. There’s lots of power to be produced with a good V8. You don’t need forced induction to help it go. It’s immediate. It’s wonderful. The V8 is great. But which V8 is greatest?

Now that is a tough question. It would be easy to point to the General Motors LS family of engines. There’s a reason the LS is used in every engine swap under the sun. Even Hollywood knows about the LS, because the LS3 is most often the engine of choice for your average on-screen stunt car. It’s durable, easily repaired, and makes over 400 horsepower right out of the box.

Mopar fans, we know. You have some seriously great powerplants providing juice for many a muscle machine. From the 60’s and 70’s, on up to modern day, it’s easy to make a case for a Mopar family member. Hellcat all things, after all, right?

Settle down Ford folk. Of course I know what you have on your side. Hell, you won at Le Mans right? More than once, in fact.

We haven’t even gotten into European or Japanese V8s. Because there are some heroes on both sides of both ponds.

What do you think is the greatest V8 of all time? Sound off below!

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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33 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: What is the best V8 engine of all time?”

  1. fede Avatar
    fede

    since there’s nothing in the article saying it has to be part of a road legal car, I’m going with the most obvious answer (but also the correct one): Cosworth DFV

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Ford-Cosworth_DFV_rear-right_National_Motor_Museum%2C_Beaulieu.jpg/1024px-Ford-Cosworth_DFV_rear-right_National_Motor_Museum%2C_Beaulieu.jpg

    Reply
  2. Greg Kachadurian Avatar
    Greg Kachadurian

    This one.

    Reply
    1. bill45 Avatar
      bill45

      Absolutely 100% correct!

      Reply
  3. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    Today’s Top Fuel cars use the same basic architecture as the 426 Hemi engines going down the strip in 1964. The difference is that the modern ones put out 20 times the horsepower of the original recipe.

    https://st.hotrod.com/uploads/sites/21/2015/12/001-Top-Fuel-Horsepower.jpg

    Reply
    1. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      Without necessarily wanting to take away from that, it’s only because the rules basically prevent the use of anything else.

      Reply
      1. 0A5599 Avatar
        0A5599

        For the first couple decades of their development, that wasn’t the case. Other combinations took the win light less and less, and eventually anything beyond the default configurations became a handicap in the pits. How would you like to be the only one running a 392 or BBC, blow up your last good block, and not be able to borrow a spare one from any competition?

        Reply
        1. outback_ute Avatar
          outback_ute

          That’s definitely true, but since what, mid-90’s-2000 or so they have banned anything else, I gather to put some sort of limit on spending

          Reply
          1. 0A5599 Avatar
            0A5599

            It made things easier on the rulebook and the handicapping staff, too. Minimum car weight, maximum displacement, a mostly spec engine recipe…done. It used to be all kinds of weird variables like X number of pounds per cubic inch for splayed valve engines, and Y pounds per CID for true wedges, except the number would be changed to Z if there were two engines in the car, but those could run no more than 50% nitromethane…

            Here’s some inside baseball about the McGee quad cam dropping out of the circuit. http://www.draglist.com/artman2/publish/daily_stories/The_Real_Story_of_the_McGee_Quad-Cam_Engine.shtml

          2. outback_ute Avatar
            outback_ute

            Yes I was aware of the McGee engine, and there is a reason many racing categories are so tightly controlled. But at the same time not as interesting as when it was possible to innovate, eg Indy through to about the 1970s.

  4. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    The Ford FE. It’s a truck motor, a sedan motor, a bus motor, a boat motor, a muscle car motor, a dragster motor and yeah, it finished 1-2-3 at LeMans in 1966. It’s the motor in the freakin’ Batmobile, okay?

    Beginning production in 1958 and ending in the mid-seventies malaise that killed all the big blocks, this thing powered the 1960s motorsports scene while also keeping the wheels of commerce turning.

    Reply
    1. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      I used to have a Holman Moody side oiler about 5 feet from my office door.

      Make mine a Cammer, though.
      https://cdn1.mecum.com/auctions/sc0511/sc0511-107458/images/sc0511-107458_2@2x.jpg?1306006512000

      Reply
  5. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    American, European, Japanese V8…? There’s one which sound induced genuine fear, known as the “KGB Interceptor”.
    https://m.ok.ru/video/68059044487312-0
    Terrible regime, awesome car.
    https://i.ibb.co/58bY8gY/Ju-KHNu-A6-Ryi-PQnhd-HIyd-UA.jpg

    Reply
  6. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    The LS needs another 30 or so years. I’ll go with the original old school Chevy Small Block. Still going strong in the crate motor category.

    Reply
    1. Maymar Avatar
      Maymar

      Not only that, the SBC is the people’s V8 (and certainly, in sheer numbers, must be the most common V8). Beyond excellence and racing pedigree (which it does have), it’s powered everything from work trucks, to common commuters, to limos (possibly even propelled heads of state?), to sports cars, to high-end exotics. There has been an SBC for nearly all purposes, which is admirable in its own right.

      Reply
  7. Scott Glucker Avatar
    Scott Glucker

    your Great Grandmothers 1972 Caprice 327. She used to do unintentional burnouts. I stole that car a few times in high school. It was amazing!

    Reply
  8. needthatcar Avatar
    needthatcar

    It’s almost impossible for the answer to be anything but the small block Chevy. 1954 – 2003 production, over 100 MILLION units, can make just about any amount of HP (including 120 for my grandma’s 1976 Caprice). Pretty much bulletproof reliability, parts available on every street corner… The fact that it was designed in the early ’50s and was still in production 50 years later says it all.

    Reply
  9. smalleyxb122 Avatar
    smalleyxb122

    I can’t pick a favorite, let alone a best, so I’ll go with cultural significance. Credit where credit is due, the Ford flathead popularized the notion of a V8. If you wanted power, you wanted a V8. That began with the flathead. The SBC changed the game, but the flathead wrote the book.

    Reply
  10. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    I’ll make the case for the chevy big block. It’s not an all ’rounder, but in terms of being an accessible platform for Big Dumb Power, it has come through for half a century. The LS may be closing in on that measure, but my experience with the Pontiac V8 had me frequently checking what the equivalent would have been with a Chevy engine, both SBC and BBC and I kept coming to the conclusion that it was just stupid easy to go fast with those engines.

    Reply
  11. BJ Avatar
    BJ

    350SBC

    /thread

    Reply
  12. Al Bergstrazer Avatar
    Al Bergstrazer

    I’ll go out on a limb and say the flathead Ford V8. It brought V8 power to the average car buyer. For it’s time it was truly revolutionary with a cast crankshaft, first mass production monoblock v8, high pressure lubrication system, etc. It is part of the foundation of the performance aftermarket industry, as well as instrumental in the growth and popularity of auto racing of all kinds in the U.S. Hemi heads (via Duntov) Roots Superchargers, fuel injection, all became into common use on the flathead Ford.

    Reply
  13. Bret Avatar
    Bret

    Since I need to be different and not jump on the GM LSx bandwagon, I’ll say Mercedes M156. It’s the 6.2 liter v8 used in all the “6.3” badged AMG cars. It makes a glorious noise, pulls strong to fuel cut, and returns phenomenally badge fuel economy. What’s not to love?

    Reply
  14. Scroggzilla Avatar
    Scroggzilla

    If this is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.

    Reply
  15. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    I like far too many V8s to choose the best. I’ve enjoyed Ford 390s and 289s and AMC 360s, but those are just personal favorites with which I have experience. The V8 in the current F-Type is impressive, and I was once very surprised by a Volvo V8 with a tuned exhaust. And while I don’t care for the sound of it, Ford’s Voodoo V8 is amazing. Honestly, other than the old Rover 3.5 and the Chevy 305, I’ve not really ever encountered any bad V8s.
    Edit: I will say that I strongly prefer V8s to be naturally aspirated.

    Reply
  16. danleym Avatar
    danleym

    What, no one said the Moto Guzzi V8 yet?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moto_Guzzi_V8

    Made in 1955, DOHC, 8 carbs., and took its bike up to 172mph. In 1955.

    Ok, so it didn’t accomplish much, and didn’t last long, so maybe great is a stretch, but its definitely cool.

    Reply
    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      My first thought was the Moto Guzzi V8, because I’ve seen one of the seven reproductions and it’s burned into my mind, but it was kind of short lived, and didn’t work very well, and when it did the chassis couldn’t keep up with it.
      Then I started to think of the Morbidelli V8 and went back to my bunk…

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d3c9ef04b78e8e6c7f8d3884e93aea74f238e00cbd78ce444258cd833a0c0814.jpg

      Reply
      1. 0A5599 Avatar
        0A5599

        If I had to pick a two-wheeled answer, I’d choose the V8 with only 4 pistons: the RC40. Not for any other reason except that it’s glorious engine pr()n.

        https://img.drivemag.net/media/default/0001/27/thumb_26830_default_large.jpeg

        Reply
      2. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
        SlowJoeCrow

        Thank you for bringing up both Moto Guzzi and Morbidelli for me, plus the RC40 that exists sole because the FIM banned V8s.

        Reply
  17. Al Bergstrazer Avatar
    Al Bergstrazer

    I’ll go out on a limb and say the flathead Ford V8. It brought V8 power to the average car buyer. For it’s time it was truly revolutionary with a cast crankshaft, first mass production monoblock v8, high pressure lubrication system, etc. It is part of the foundation of the performance aftermarket industry, as well as instrumental in the growth and popularity of auto racing of all kinds in the U.S. Hemi heads (via Duntov) Roots Superchargers, fuel injection, all became into common use on the flathead Ford.

    Reply
  18. Eric Rucker Avatar
    Eric Rucker

    Really, to say something that isn’t the Small Block Chevrolet family is the greatest V8, you have to prove why it’s greater than a SBC.

    I don’t think I can do that for any of the competing domestics. A case might be made for the Ford sidevalve V8s and their making V8 power accessible, but they were supplanted for a reason.

    You could make an argument for, say the Toyota UZ – extreme smoothness, the basis of Lexus’s launch, good enough to eat the Germans alive, and it certainly didn’t hurt Toyota’s durability reputation. There are, of course, complaints about serviceability in the Lexus LS application, but you could also find UZ engines in pickup trucks and SUVs.

    …but is it really greater than the LS engines? Hell, for the last year of the 2UZ-FE in the Tundra, a Silverado with the Vortec 4800 was more efficient and more powerful (although not as torquey – VVT probably helped), despite having one less gear in the transmission! (You could certainly say that it’s greater than the old Gen 1 SBCs that the 1UZ-FE competed against, though.)

    Someone might suggest a Ferrari V8 purely on character, to which I say… if we’re gonna play that game, I’ll nominate the Volkswagen W8 even though it’s technically not a pure V8. Terrible serviceability, not particularly impressive power, less efficient than the big V6 would’ve been, but holy shit, it has character. And noise.

    Reply
    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      Admittedly, my familiarity with Chevrolet engines isn’t the greatest. However, I don’t consider the LS to be a “SBC”. Unlike the LT1 of the early 90s, the LS (to my understanding) wasn’t an evolution of the SBC, but a nearly all-new replacement for it. I thought it had little in common with the older engine except for bore spacing and a few other trivial parts (maybe lifters, considering the LS was OHV). From discussions I’ve had at car shows, the “SBC” ended in the mid-90s. I never thought of it as anything more than “Chevy’s V8”. Ubiquitous, reliable, and cheap, but not special.

      The LS is admittedly an impressive engine. It’s relatively inexpensive and makes great power, and manages to be competitive with much more modern designs. My only problem with it is that it’s so ridiculously common in swaps. When I see “LS-swapped [whatever]”, I move on, because everyone has been there and done that already.

      I think “best V8?” is an ambiguous question, really. “Best” could be interpreted as most reliable, most utilized, best engineered, best bang-for-buck, best sound, best torque… it’s all up to interpretation. I personally would put the LS into the “bang-for-buck” category, but would leave the original SBC out of the argument altogether.

      Reply
  19. desmo Avatar
    desmo

    https://i.auto-bild.de/ir_img/1/0/4/2/6/7/8/Porsche-928-GTS-729×486-cc940d6047f5cbde.jpg

    Porsche 928 GTS.
    Obligatory change of the timing belt could cost you $5000.- but for your consolation you acquired the largest timing belt in automotive history. Of course I agree with @bhtooefr:disqus that in terms of value-for-money ratio nothing beats a GM Small Block, but this means comparing the wrong things.

    Reply
    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      The 928s sound fantastic, with the right exhaust.

      Reply
  20. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    “She’s the last of the V-8s”

    “You can shut the gate on this one, Maxie. It’s The Duck’s guts!”

    Reply