Best Engine you have owned/worked on?

[Evilgoat]

Just curious as a result of reading the other bit of twaddle, What engines have you owned in a car or worked on and sat back and thought 'Well thats a pretty well designed lump'

Think not just power, but reliability, access for repairs. I realise that mentioning fuel economy is goign to be pointless as most of the answers are going to be big engines :) I can think of 3

2.3e Straight 5 Audi NG Engine from the 100 springs to mind for one of mine. Nice, simple layout, loads of space and bomproof, 9K and counting singe the oil pump gave out and was still running flawlessly when sold as spares. Smoothe and torquey.

2.0 (I think) Volvo 240 engine. Take air filter off and you could stand IN the engine bay and work on it! Never ever missed a beat in the 19 years dad had it.

Senator 3.0 Straight 6 Vhauxhall engine. Again, reliable and pulled like a train, felt like it would never stop pulling and given how heaver the Senators were, damn fast!

[lambert]

Any of the subaru boxers if for no other reason than the oil filter is mounted vertically under the motor so you don't get covered when you change it. That said the one in Bigbluemaverick has loads of space round it which makes quite a difference.

[Kaneda]

Best has to be the Rover V8 - quite a small engine and most parts easily accesible, especially since the advent of the serpentine front.

Worst has to be the Montego 2.0 engine. What a joke. Rushed out to compete with the Ford Sierra. Never ever ever try and replace the alternator unless you have pits :(

[glaggs]

Best has to be the Suzuki GSX-R 1100 and all its derivatives. So much power from such a simple lump  :clap:

[V8MoneyPit]

Citroen 2CV. It's a stunning design, using exceptional quality parts. There aren't any gaskets and the faces are so good they never leak. There aren't even any head gaskets.

As for access, 4 bolts hold on each front wing and the bonnet slides sideways off it's hinge.

Most parts have more than one function, which is good design by my reckoning. The main fan not only aids cooling (the oil is the main coolant), but provided air to cool the alternator and passes air over the exhaust manifolds and into the cabin. It was the quickest demisting car I've ever owned. There is no distributor, it simply fires both plugs on every revolution.

It was quite an efficient unit too. It produced 33bhp from 602cc in 2 cylinders. It took 850cc in 4 cylinders for a Mini to produce the same.

The more I worked on that car, the more impressed I got with it. They are not to everyones taste, but you have to own one to fully appreciate just how advanced they were for their time.

[Evilgoat]

Ahh Worst

Volvo 340GL 1.7 Carb. Cooling issues warped the intake manifold on a weekly basis. Idle problems could be fixed, but for no more than a week. Engine was a Renault Design, very early hydryalic followers that didnt work that well. Was desiged as a transverse engine and fitted in the volvo longtiutinally meaning EVERYTHING was a pig to work on. Even doing a dizzy cap required major acts of contortion and 'modified' screwdrivers.

Gearbox in the rear meaning that propshaft running at full engine speed all the time and no support bearings.

[Kaneda]

There is no distributor, it simply fires both plugs on every revolution.

Ah .. not a perfomance car then  ;)

[Wolfie]

Best, in terms of access at least, has to be any of the Triumph engines when fitted into the Herald based vehicles. Open bonnet, sit on wheel and do any work needed  :D There's many that woud say that good access was a necessity  :lol: My favorite of the bunch has to be the 1600cc straight six in my Vitesse, with fairly wild cam and straight through exhaust that would sing at high revs, and I'm told the foot long flames it produced out of the exhaust on Italian mountain roads were impressive.

Current favorite engine has to be the Mitsubishi S4L, just because it works and wasn't too much of a problem to fit into the space recently vacated by the K4D.

[V8MoneyPit]

There is no distributor, it simply fires both plugs on every revolution.

Ah .. not a perfomance car then  ;)

It would do 70mph all day long if you wanted it to  :D Totally unburstable!

[Range Rover Blues]

For ease of working on, the Ford Crossflow, as fitted to my old Escort.  900c, 1.1, 1.3 and 1.6 though these could be bored out to 1760cc.

Only need a few spanners, part were always cheap and there's not much to go wrong with them.  I blew one up driving to Hull and I only really noticed when I dropped below 70 when it wouldn't accelerate again, it had dropped onto 2 cylinders.  Still got me to work though :)

I could swap an engine on my own in about 4 hours too.

[Drift]

A mini 1.3 

[Disco Matt]

Be grateful you didn't have one of the later Portugese-made 2CVs - if ours was anything to go by they were made from disused Kitkat wrappers! All the bolts in the engine stripped their threads and the gearbox broke a selector fork.

The card and foam tubes that take warm air to the cabin have a distressing habit of working loose and catching fire too.

My old 1.9D ZX wasn't too bad, Disco is a lot easier to work underneath though as you don't need to lift it off the ground.

Worst would have to be a Fiat-based Hymer A class motorhome. The engine access is via a hatch about 8in deep and running the width of the front end. Ok for filling washer bottles and checking levels, but I don't see how you could do an engine swap without destroying the whole front end. Why Hymer couldn't make the whole lower front end hinge up onto the windscreen (like the APT nosecone did) is beyond me - it'd be easy to do and would make them a lot easier to work on!

[Boggert]

A mini 1.3 

I'll go with that, any old Mini engine were great to work on, simple and seemed to go on for ever no matter what abuse you gave it.

And also a old VW beetle engine, simple strong and held on with four bolts. Once lost a barrel and piston... I mean it fell off on the A1... then the piston and other bits came off and oil came out, but it still made it the 5 miles home and even started the next day :shock:

[Tommo]

The main fan not only aids cooling (the oil is the main coolant), but provided air to cool the alternator and passes air over the exhaust manifolds and into the cabin. .

the 2cv is not even close to the fiat 126!





The great advantage of the heater system in aircooled cars such as the 126, beetle and 2CV is that if the exhaust leaks it pumps carbon monoxide into the car and you die.

[Tommo]

oh and as for best engine its the 2.5 transit Di.

[Silvery Thing]

For ease of working on, the Ford Crossflow, as fitted to my old Escort.  900c, 1.1, 1.3 and 1.6 though these could be bored out to 1760cc.

Only need a few spanners, part were always cheap and there's not much to go wrong with them.  I blew one up driving to Hull and I only really noticed when I dropped below 70 when it wouldn't accelerate again, it had dropped onto 2 cylinders.  Still got me to work though :)

I could swap an engine on my own in about 4 hours too.

I agree.... I always used to work on my earliest cars (all Fords) from the 60's and 70's. A few spanners, sockets if we were rich, and a screwdriver could generally fix most things :)

I once owned a 2.3 V6 Ford and although easy to work on the water pump was a design disaster, stupid impellar shaft was under so much tension that water pumps tended not to last too long

[richo]

Don't laugh but i cut my teeth on bedford cf engines.Use to remember that they where a doodle to work with[long time ago now]

[waveydavey]

B&W 58/64

[SWEETY]

For ease of working on, the Ford Crossflow, as fitted to my old Escort.  900c, 1.1, 1.3 and 1.6 though these could be bored out to 1760cc.

Only need a few spanners, part were always cheap and there's not much to go wrong with them.  I blew one up driving to Hull and I only really noticed when I dropped below 70 when it wouldn't accelerate again, it had dropped onto 2 cylinders.  Still got me to work though :)

I could swap an engine on my own in about 4 hours too.

I will second that they were bomb proof the Ford Pinto is also a fav of mine dead easy to work on & you could stap the timimg belts all day long & the egine was fine Did kill a pinto once but it had done 180K & I had tuned it to the max & then stuck Nos into the mix :roll: at 74mph in second gear number 2 con rod gave up & popped the piston through the bonnet of my capri :shock: :'( :'(

[bilge rat]

me old sierra, 1.8 cvh.  had 3 of them but me best 110,000 mile before the head gasket went. did that sold with about 120.000 on the clock was spotless.  alan......

[vaz]

For ease of working on, the Ford Crossflow, as fitted to my old Escort.  900c, 1.1, 1.3 and 1.6 though these could be bored out to 1760cc.

Only need a few spanners, part were always cheap and there's not much to go wrong with them.  I blew one up driving to Hull and I only really noticed when I dropped below 70 when it wouldn't accelerate again, it had dropped onto 2 cylinders.  Still got me to work though :)

I could swap an engine on my own in about 4 hours too.

yes the x flow we could change it in less than an hour ,they did also run with no oil or water for quite awhile ,took us in our childhood days at least an hour to spot the rod lol  :roll:

[Drift]

me old sierra, 1.8 cvh.  had 3 of them but me best 110,000 mile before the head gasket went. did that sold with about 120.000 on the clock was spotless.  alan......

Loads of room to work on them and as long as you changed the oil more often than recommended they kept going, also had a very early orion 16i ghia cvh and the later 16i ghia efi , loved the earlier one best tuned it best ... oooooo I want it back, it was ace  :(

Had a 1.4 cvh unbelievably different for the same engine, soooo tight and slow  :lol: still I was skint at the time and could fix it for pennies  :lol:

[carbore]

Not quite on topic but.

My old Toyota MR2 was the best engine I NEVER worked on and nor did anyone else, never missed a beat! despite appaling abuse.

Subaru Impreza Turbo - Err take the engine out to change the spark plugs!!!!!!!

[Silvery Thing]

.... the Ford Pinto is also a fav of mine dead easy to work on & you could stap the timimg belts all day long....

If you mean 'snap' the timing belts then you are wrong [-X The Pinto engine could frequently be damaged by the belts breaking and the valves and pistons making contact. I know the standard 1600cc rarely ever did this but the 2000cc was prone to trouble of this kind :(

[V8MoneyPit]

The great advantage of the heater system in aircooled cars such as the 126, beetle and 2CV is that if the exhaust leaks it pumps carbon monoxide into the car and you die.

Pah! That's what opening windows are for  :lol:

A mini 1.3 

 :shock: You've obviously never tried changing a fuel pump in situ..... or a speedo cable....... or a bottom rad hose...... etc....
All easy with the engine/box out, but a right pig in the car!

[dreadnought110]

on about Fiat 126 this is brilliant!!!   http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6205431752555389410&q=backwards+car&total=523&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0