1960's engine wars

[Diodedog]

A/SA 9.65 136.30 05/05/18 Steven Wann - Modesto, CA
'62 Plymouth

[DanE1]

SOHC 427 Ford
Boss 429 Ford
Chrysler Hemi 426
Chevy 427
428 CJ Ford

Agree on your pure power potential ranking, but then we come to OP's "We want something with longevity." and the SOHC doesn't have it. Can't remember anyone running one in an endurance application, but I'd bet against the chain lasting very long.

The Ford SOHC 427 was designed and tested to beat the 426 Chrysler Hemi on the SuperSpeedways . 500 miles mostly full throttle.

[quickd100]

Back in the day watching street racing. I show some 426 Hemi's get beaten by the 440 6 pack

Stan

There were a lot of poor running Hemis. Alot could be traced to improperly sealed intake gaskets. With a proper tune stock for stock the 440 6pack didn't have a chance. For the AVERAGE guy they were better off with the 440 6pack. IF you kept the Hemi properly tuned you didn't have to worry about many other cars.

[Calypso]

With modern valvetrains, would Boss 429 with higher lift potential fall behind Cammer in endurance application?

[shiftbyear]

Pontiac developed a RAM AIR V tunnel port engine in various configurations, one was a 303 for trans am. The bottom end was quite stout. Like the 427 SOHC it ended up as an over the counter item. I'm sure many mfg's. had stuff on the drawing board ready to go. I'm also impressed with AMC's effort into racing also.
http://www.wallaceracing.com/RAV-story-page1.html

[quickd100]

After Ford built the cammer motor Chrysler decided to 'one up them'. The A-925 project was a belt driven dual overhead cam 4 valve 426 Hemi. Chrysler didn't really want to build the motor but with Ford saying they wanted to use the cammer in Nascar they felt they didn't have a choice. They built 2 motors, and then showed France a picture of one and said if he approved the Ford cammer they would use the A-925. France promptly banned both and the A-925 was cancelled.

[Turbo231]

After starting my post on Can Am engines, I started wondering about comparing the top engines from the 1960's and what their true potentials would be today. My list is:

Ford 427 SOHC
Ford 428 CJ
Ford Boss 429
Chrysler Hemi 426
Chevy 427

Say you have to use stock block and head castings and limit displacement to 430 cid. Fuel can be 110+ octane. Everything else is fair game including fixing any inherent oiling problems. Since this topic started with Can Am, all engines have to run mechanical fuel injection. Again, we are not building a drag race engine. We want something with longevity. Also, we will not worry about the engine weight and just look at power potential.

How would you rate these in order of power potential?

I think you can add Olds to that list...can am and the 455 69 H/O and 70 W30

Did any non-Chevy GM engines make it into Can Am? I know some of them were very capable competitors on the street.

[hoffman900]

After starting my post on Can Am engines, I started wondering about comparing the top engines from the 1960's and what their true potentials would be today. My list is:

Ford 427 SOHC
Ford 428 CJ
Ford Boss 429
Chrysler Hemi 426
Chevy 427

Say you have to use stock block and head castings and limit displacement to 430 cid. Fuel can be 110+ octane. Everything else is fair game including fixing any inherent oiling problems. Since this topic started with Can Am, all engines have to run mechanical fuel injection. Again, we are not building a drag race engine. We want something with longevity. Also, we will not worry about the engine weight and just look at power potential.

How would you rate these in order of power potential?

I think you can add Olds to that list...can am and the 455 69 H/O and 70 W30

Did any non-Chevy GM engines make it into Can Am? I know some of them were very capable competitors on the street.

Some of the Mckees had Oldsmobile engines in them. A deceased family friend had a twin turbo Oldsmobile, 4wd McKee that I believe has been since sold by the estate. It was too ahead of its time. There are a handful of small block Fords floating around too. These would mostly be mid/late 1960s cars.

[SupStk]

I know there were two variants of the Boss 429, one which was designed as a race engine. Did they actually compete in NASCAR?

[Little Mouse]

With all the hoopla about the 1969 dodge charger daytona and the 1970 plymouth superbird and there areo advantages. Pearson won the 1969 nascar champoinship for ford with the 429 boss race engine.

[PackardV8]

Did any non-Chevy GM engines make it into Can Am? I know some of them were very capable competitors on the street

Hemi-powered McKee Mk. V Sports Racer.



In 1965, Richard Petty found himself on the sidelines of NASCAR’s Grand National series, a victim of the sanctioning body’s (temporary) ban on Chrysler’s Hemi V-8 engines. Eager to explore other racing options, Petty struck up a conversation with race car builder Bob McKee, who accepted a project to build The King a Can-Am car, powered by a Hemi V-8. By the time said car was completed, the NASCAR Hemi ban had been lifted and Petty was once again at the top of his stock car game; still, the 1965 McKee Mk. V Sports Racer raises the question, “What if things had worked out differently that year?”

When completed, the Hemi-powered McKee had 600 horsepower, in a package just over 1,600 pounds dry and on a 96-inch wheelbase. Such a race car does not forgive many mistakes, so Chrysler’s director of racing, Ronnie Householder, connected fighter-pilot-turned-roadracer Bob Montana with McKee. The fact that Montana also owned a successful and performance-oriented Chrysler-Plymouth dealership in Phoenix, Arizona (which regularly played host to the Ramchargers drag racing team), probably didn’t hurt either.

Montana purchased the car from McKee in late 1965 and managed to quickly put up two SCCA class wins before the season ended. In 1966, he reportedly qualified fifth on the grid for the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside, a race that also included star drivers such as Mario Andretti, Pedro Rodriguez, Phil Hill and A.J. Foyt. The car saw action in the Can-Am series as well, although its razor’s-edge combination of short wheelbase, somewhat flexible tube frame chassis and massive horsepower made it a handful to drive with anything resembling consistency. By the end of the 1967 season, the rise of monocoque-chassis race cars from constructors like McLaren and Lola made the McKee obsolete in the Can-Am series, and Montana reportedly retired the car from Can-Am competition in 1968. It was still competitive in the SCCA, however, and Montana continued to race the Mk. V in SCCA competition until 1969.

[pdq67]

Keeping the big beasts tuned!

I knew of a '64, 2x4, 425hp/427 Galaxie 500 XL that almost got beat by a '64, 300hp/327, "equipped", Chevy II . The guy went back home and installed a set of new plugs and pounded the Nova in the dirt!

pdq67

[quickd100]

With all the hoopla about the 1969 dodge charger daytona and the 1970 plymouth superbird and there areo advantages. Pearson won the 1969 nascar champoinship for ford with the 429 boss race engine.

The Daytona didn't debut until Sept 69, it won it's first race. In qualifing it ran 199 and change.

[Truckedup]

Keeping the big beasts tuned!

I knew of a '64, 2x4, 425hp/427 Galaxie 500 XL that almost got beat by a '64, 300hp/327, "equipped", Chevy II . The guy went back home and installed a set of new plugs and pounded the Nova in the dirt!

pdq67

What I read in the books and saw at the track back then, those heavy Fords with open rear ends were not that fast in the 1/4 and I bet a well driven 300/327 stick car could beat it, new plugs or not....

[SupStk]

Back in the early 70s a real street car that could run 12 s was almost unheard of around here. My '57 Custom 300 with a warmed up 390 could do it. Before racing, it got a plug change too.