I don’t know a ton about foreign motors other than surface level stuff like the 2JZ, Wankel, etc. so please forgive my ignorance outside of US motors.
However, in my eyes, it doesn’t get better than the simplicity and easily available power of the SBC, BBC, and 6BT. What are your all time favorites and why?
I was looking for u/F1_Geek B58 comment. Disappointed.
LS(1) motors. Great power, easy to work on, “cheap”, somewhat lightweight, not hard to find, and can put in almost anything.
There’s a reason “LS-swapped” is a cliche/running joke. They’re probably the best all around crate engines you can buy.
I’d like to drop one in my e90 BMW and call it a 357i.
LSE90.com has you covered. I’d also love to LS Swap my E91 one day.
Coyotes are catching on but still more expensive, but oh man tbatvpowervand and high rpm pull and scream. There was a Cayman with a swapped and modified Coyote that use to run at my track that was a monster. Would eat GT3s alive like they were Yugos and was hilarious hearing that scream come from the car. Plus, whipple’d F150s are fun, brutally fun, love my Platinum that can still tow and rocket away.
Someone else years ago had an old Porsche 917 with an LS7 swap outta C6Z. Lol, was nutty but a handful.
I’m an LS guy, but I’m sure much of it has to do with the small size and relative abundance of the motor. These things definitely have their weaknesses and limitations.
Source: broken LS car sitting in my garage
K swaps may be catching up
Lol. No
2UZ-FE
There was a ski race boat in Australia that ran one for a few years in the 5.2L engine class against 5L NASCAR engines, it went well and it was a beautiful little motor
The Mercedes M119 V8 from the early 90s. Great sound, beefy internals, and easy power without major issues.
Honorable mention goes to the Mercedes-Cosworth 16-valve 4-cylinder used on the 190E 2.3-16, but those engines need to be maintained very well or else they get fussy.
J series honda
Honda F20C, B18C, and the Totoya 1LR-GUE. All of them are extremely reliable, high revving formula 1 inspired peak examples of Japan engineering at its finest.
BMW’s got a special place in my heart for engines
M52
S52
M54
S54
M73
B58
There’s some more that I like but I kinda forgot most of them
Volvo/Yamaha B8444S, rev happy DOHC V8. 315hp from 4.4L was stout for its time. A glorious soundtrack once uncoupled from the OEM exhaust. Noble took it and squeezed 650hp out of it.
I feel like everything Yamaha touches turns to automotive gold
Either the GM 327 or the Chrysler 340 Absolutely phenomenal little small blocks
The humble BMW M50 (2.5L) and M52 (2.8L). Very simple engines with strong iron blocks and stout bottom ends. You can rev em to 7k+ without any issues and they’ll take a ton of boost on a bone stock bottom end.
I’ve owned several M50’s with over 300k miles on them with nothing done besides basic gaskets. I’ve tracked them quite a few times as well, spending a whole day at limiter, and they just take it like a champ.
Hellcat Engine? $60k for 707 horses back in 2015. Now they’ve got a trim that has 1025HP. I know Hellcats get a bad rep but hearing the supercharger whine and hearing the tires spin is alot of fun.
Dismissed Private.
In my land, 4g63 runs the streets. The engine was still in production and it’s easy to swap it into many Protons as they were based on the Mitsubishi platform.
Lol it’s always funny looking at rotten Wiras with bad paint jobs having a 4G63T before they basically outlawed it for being such a common swap. Now you’re only limited to the 1.8s but that hasn’t stopped anyone really.
Though tbh the parts are getting expensive so 4B is de wae if you have a Lancer/Inspira. Freaking dirt cheap makes me regretting not getting a cheap Inspira 1.8 lol. Only RM20k nowadays and the 2.4 4B12 is like a RM4k swap
It’s outlawed? Never heard it was outlawed and I still see people run those setups, especially in car meets.
The 4b platform isn’t really that popular unfortunately. Too much issues here and there.
GMs 3800 in the 80s and early 90s. Fantastic reliability.
Honda K-series (K20 and K24) is I think my all-time favourite motor. High comp, V-TEC, able to rev to the moon, respond to boost extremely well.
Suzuki Hayabusa, I mean it was named after a Peregrine Falcon for God’s sake, how cool is that.
Ford Barra turbo has to get a mention, those things just love more boost being thrown at them. Wish it revved a little higher though, although built examples can get pretty spicy.
Everyone’s saying the 1JZ or 2JZ and while yes they are great motors, I’m going with the 1GZ. It’s the 5L V12 from the Century, in very basic terms it’s two 1JZ engines joined to form a V12. They never made a factory turbo version, but, just like the JZ engines, they do love boost.
