PPC top ten engines of all time..

HairbearTE · Post by **HairbearTE** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:05 pm

1. Small block chevy
2. Alfa twincam
3. Mazda rotary
4. Bentley 4.5 litre
5. Ford crossflow
6. VW flat four
7. Chrysler Hemi
8. VAG 1.8T
9. Jaguar V12

10. Subaru flat four.

Hmm.. think the mail bag will be full in the ppc office this month.

bill shurvinton · Post by **bill shurvinton** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:24 pm

Can't argue with 1,2,3,4,5 and 9.

I would prefer the flat 6 to the flat 4 from the pen of porsche, and never been a hemi fan. 8 and 10 are dubious.

At the end of the day, when V8s are talked about, the Buick 215 just doens't count compared to the mainstream yank stuff. We all love it, but that doesn't change its position in history. Chevy make more small blocks in a year than rover did ever.

So its a top 20, not a top 10.

Ian Anderson · Post by **Ian Anderson** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:08 pm

1500cc BRM 16 Cylinder Formula 1

Hell the even made a record of the noise it made

Ian

ian.stewart · Post by **ian.stewart** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:28 pm

Flathead V8,
Cosworth DFV/DFX
Cosworth BDA, spawned an auful lot of 16v copies,
Merlin v12.

HairbearTE · Post by **HairbearTE** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:39 pm

The Jag V12 is the worlds first aluminium boat anchor and putting it an the e-type was close to treason imo. The Jag six would be more deserving of a top ten position. I'm also not sure that there were only two engines ever that are better than the Mazda! It's a wankel engine, clever design yes, but 3rd best engine ever? The Audi is a cracking little unit but has it earned a place in this list yet? The scooby performs as well as most engines that have been tuned to that level. No V6's at all in the top ten and some would argue a good case for the old ferrari V12. The chevy LSx engine has shown there's life in pushrods yet and deserve recognition. Ford DFV is another nice piece that springs to mind. It's all about opinions of course. It'd be interesting to see how the list would look if it were a readers poll. Makes for a good debate though eh?

bill shurvinton · Post by **bill shurvinton** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:21 pm

But without the Xflow there would have been no twincam and without the twincam there would have been no BD and therefore no DFV. Therefore the Xflow is the greatest engine ever.

Jag V12 in E-type was wrong, but the engine is still great. Very few engines are as smooth and refined. At its best in the daimler double 6 IMO. You hear the starter and see a puff of smoke, but the only way you can tell the engine is running is when it pulls away. Superb.

He he, fights could start over this thread

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:10 am

Well I think the RV8 should have been there. It was in production for a very long time, went into a lot of vehicles, and is a popular choice for persons like ourselves.

It might not be perfect (not many engines are), but that doesn't matter. Otherwise the Lexus engine should be in the list and lots of other Toyota engines that just work.

Chris.

HairbearTE · Post by **HairbearTE** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:36 am

I must admit I was surprised at the omission of the old RV8. In truth it probably dosen't deserve to be in the top ten on any single innovation or achievement but its loyal service to car modders in this country for the last 30 or so years could have been taken into account. I've emailed a very tongue-in-cheek letter to Will about this and he responded by saying the rover wouldn't be in the top 100!

bill shurvinton · Post by **bill shurvinton** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:27 am

One thing I did remember in the bath last night was of course the 2 F1 world championships of the repco brabham. OK the only but they used was the block, but still a laurel.

Of course by that argument the BMW 318 engine should have been there as the basis for the TAG turbo F1 engine. 1500ish HP from 1.5 litres for a lap (if you were lucky) is pretty good going by any standards.

kev_the_mole · Post by **kev_the_mole** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 12:47 pm

Perhaps they should have put 'PPC top ten best loved engines of all time'?

ian.stewart · Post by **ian.stewart** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:03 pm

bill shurvinton wrote:But without the Xflow there would have been no twincam and without the twincam there would have been no BD and therefore no DFV. Therefore the Xflow is the greatest engine ever.

Jag V12 in E-type was wrong, but the engine is still great. Very few engines are as smooth and refined. At its best in the daimler double 6 IMO. You hear the starter and see a puff of smoke, but the only way you can tell the engine is running is when it pulls away. Superb.

He he, fights could start over this thread

If we follow that logic, then the Crossflow should not be there it should be Pre X flow

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:19 pm

I think it would be more accurate to have titled it '10 engines that Will Holman likes'.

Chris.

bill shurvinton · Post by **bill shurvinton** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:54 pm

ian.stewart wrote:
If we follow that logic, then the Crossflow should not be there it should be Pre X flow

Pedantically yes. And I have a couple of pre-Xflow heads in the garage...

kev_the_mole · Post by **kev_the_mole** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:45 pm

I think it would be more accurate to have titled it '10 engines that Will Holman likes'.

...surely then he would have fitted a chevy, not a ford, to his capri

Anyway I won't hear a bad word about the nice Mr. Holman who showed great concern about my misdirected PPC magazines when I told him about the problem at the Festival of Speed and even followed up with a phone call on Monday to make sure of my 'new' (20 months ago) address

That is unless the next mag does not turn up and I'll be slagging him off with the rest of you!

JC. · Post by **JC.** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:18 am

A series?
B series?
Jaguar XK
Aston Martin marrek designed V8.... his 6 cylinder engine is my favorite engine.