Website design By BotEap.comWhen the hot rod was invented, one of the first steps in the process was ripping off the hood and throwing it behind the barn. Easy and open access to the power plant was required at all times. And of course there was also a need to show the engine to everyone else on the street. You don’t need a doctorate in psychology to figure this out:

From day one, hot rodders have focused on the engines and go fast.

Website design By BotEap.comWith our roots firmly planted in horsepower, Hot Rod thought it important to acknowledge some of the great engines in hot rodding history.

Website design By BotEap.comWhat defines a great hot rod engine?

Website design By BotEap.comHere are some criteria that founded the facts: First, it must contain American parts, then it must show ingenuity and can-do attitude which was how Americans naturally take the American spirit as. And except in the rarest of circumstances, it should be a V-8. So here are 10 of the best hot rod engines ever. No doubt some readers will yell that we left their favorites off the list. We look forward to that, so if you are one of them, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Website design By BotEap.com(# 1) Grumpy’s Small-Block Pro Stock: In the ’70s, Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins was the reigning guru of the small-block Chevy V-8 in drag racing. The runners were aware of his every word; when he took off his hood in the meadow, a crowd formed. But there was no heads-up professional category for the small block in the NHRA until 1972, when the Pro Stock rules were rewritten to allow small-displacement engines in short-wheelbase cars, giving them a weight break against the Chrysler Hemis that later the show sucks. Seeing its opening, Jenkins entered with Grumpy’s Toy IX, a Vega hatchback with a small block of 331ci.

Website design By BotEap.com(# 2) Richard Petty’s ’64 Plymouth Race Hemi: Just so you know, this may not be the full story of the Chrysler 426 Race Hemi’s debut at the ’64 Daytona 500. Development of the 426 Hemi: The Engine That Turned Bill France Purple was assembled in the last week of November 1963.

Website design By BotEap.com(# 3) Swamp Rat’s 200-Mph 392 Hemi: Chris Karamesines clocked 204.54 mph in Alton, Illinois, in April 1960. In these days of Ticket Fuel Hemis, the engine in Swamp Rat VI is staggering to behold. In 1964, runners couldn’t just assemble pieces from the shelf; Engineering and ad-hoc experimentation were required. Big’s 200 engine was built around a cast iron 392 Hemi block and heads.

Website design By BotEap.com(# 4) Ford ’67 Lemans-Winning 427 V-8: The 427 had a 4.23-inch bore and a 3.78-inch stroke, its actual displacement was 424.9.But Ford decided to call it 427.

Website design By BotEap.com(# 5) Repco-Brabham V-8: Did you know that the Oldsmobile won the Formula One World Championship? Built around a 215ci, the Brabham 620 was an ingenious job of blacksmithing.

Website design By BotEap.com(# 6) Ron Main FlatFire V-8 – An original ’46 Ford 59AB block with three main bearings, the engine was almost completely redesigned by Mike Landy and the late Dick Landy of Dick Landy Industries. With almost 700 horsepower, the FlatHead reaches 7,000 rpm on the dyno. “The FlatHead is just a little engine.”

Website design By BotEap.com(# 7) Eddie Hill’s Four-Second Hemi: Eddi Hill made the first four-second pass in endurance racing history – a 4,990, raising the speed record to 288.55 mph in the process.

Website design By BotEap.com(# 8) Bill Kuhlman’s 200 Mph Big Block Chevy: With the juice flowing, it produced over 1,000 lb.-ft. of torque at 6,500 rpm, and at 7,000 rpm it produced 1,379 hp. Pretty good for a kit engine, especially in 1987.

Website design By BotEap.com(# 9) Reher, Morrison and Shepherd’s 83 Pro Stock Chevy: A fabricated sheet metal intake manifold and a pair of 4500-Holeys completed the setup. There, the 605 engine took the IHRA title in 1983 along with the third consecutive NHRA championship in the same year. Simply put, this was a faulty engine.

Website design By BotEap.com(# 10) Smokey Yunick 427 Mk II Mystery Engine – The Mk II’s short block used the same 4.84-inch bore spacing as the 348/409, and its 4.31-inch bore and 3.65-inch stroke were identical to those of the 427ci ZII version of the 409. Smokey believed the engine was good for 600 hp or more.

Website design By BotEap.comBuy it, build it, drive it, love it … of course, there are many more great engines in our history that were not covered here. The tough get going, and those who go get faster.

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