[stangstrip]

Its more of an opinion... what is better, when ford went modular sohc dohc or the pushroded motors. Im speaking in all aspects as far as power and efficiency.

[HMUSN]

thats a big can your opining.

[stangstrip]

well just in terms of effiency.

[HMUSN]

each has their ups and downs.
and everyone has a diff opinion. stock for stock the doch mod trumps in power and effiency. mod for mod is when it gets difficult

[ReverendDexter]

it also depends on how you're defining efficiency. hp/displacement? hp/mpg? hp/cost?

[Eagle2000GT]

My vote is for the modular motor. It's a pretty efficient little motor. I think it's biggest drawback is its 3.552" bore. Most of the old pushrod motors had a 4" bore. That of course has nothing at all to do with the location of the cams.

[07stanggt]

it depends on what car company too. but in ford's case they could not get the power out of the pushrod 302, while maintaining emmision standards and gas milaege standards. so from that stand point, OVC wins. If you think in terms of hp per CI the mod motors are pretty impressive. Its not impossible to see 380 at the wheels on a n/a 3 vavle, which translates to, i say about 430 at that crank. thats pretty impressive, its a 1.53 hp per cubic inch. not bad for a production engine that cost about $6900 to start off at.

EDIT: On the flip side of that GM has never been able to get good power reliably out of there 4.6 lt ovc nothstar v8.

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by 07stanggt On the flip side of that GM has never been able to get good power reliably out of there 4.6 lt ovc nothstar v8.

Well, look at all of the non-American automakers. Can you name one that still makes a pushrod gas motor in a production car? I can't.

GM may fail with the Northstar DOHC V8, but look at the Mercury-Marine built DOHC for the original Corvette ZR-1. Look at the new M3, and their 4L V8: 414 hp from 244 cubic inches is 1.69 hp/ci.

The most efficient pushrod motors I know of are the LSx series motors, and the LS7 only makes 1.18 hp/ci in factory trim. Of course, when you have 427 of those 1.18hp's, it becomes a little bit more impressive than only having 244 1.69hps. Plus, with displacement comes torque.

[futureMACH1racer]

This thread delivers, I love this technical shit.

[killerSVTcobra]

i will have to say that i like the 4.6 modulars, i think they are under rated for what they are. they are reliable, get good mpg, and they respond well to bolt-ons, most of the other american v8's that they are compaired to are 350+ cubic inches, and for only being 281 cubic inch i think they hold their own very well....there is that old saying "there is no replacement for displacement". but if you were to take a 5.4 (330ci) and punch it out to around 350ci or so, you have a mean little motor

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by killerSVTcobra i will have to say that i like the 4.6 modulars, i think they are under rated for what they are. they are reliable, get good mpg, and they respond well to bolt-ons, most of the other american v8's that they are compaired to are 350+ cubic inches, and for only being 281 cubic inch i think they hold their own very well....there is that old saying "there is no replacement for displacement". but if you were to take a 5.4 (330ci) and punch it out to around 350ci or so, you have a mean little motor

Agreed. If you could keep equal efficiency to a 2v 4.6L, a 5.7L would push 325hp, and a conservative estimate with 4v heads would push 375hp, over 400hp if the head flow was as good as a 2000 Cobra R.

Toyota would actually be a good example to follow: I'm not sure what the DOHC 4.7L Tundra motor made, but I know the 5.7L Tundra motor makes all of 380hp out of the box (which is right in line with my estimates). I've heard that the 5.7L 'yota motor in TRD trim (supercharged) is *well* in excess of 500hp, and knowing Toyota, they're only pushing 6-8 lbs.

[killerSVTcobra]

Originally Posted by ReverendDexter Agreed. If you could keep equal efficiency to a 2v 4.6L, a 5.7L would push 325hp, and a conservative estimate with 4v heads would push 375hp, over 400hp if the head flow was as good as a 2000 Cobra R. Toyota would actually be a good example to follow: I'm not sure what the DOHC 4.7L Tundra motor made, but I know the 5.7L Tundra motor makes all of 380hp out of the box (which is right in line with my estimates). I've heard that the 5.7L 'yota motor in TRD trim (supercharged) is *well* in excess of 500hp, and knowing Toyota, they're only pushing 6-8 lbs.

toyota has it going on...i also have a 07 tacoma with the 4.0 V6 dohc that makes 245 hp and 285tq which is great for a v6...and it gets 19 mpg in town...whats not to like

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by killerSVTcobra toyota has it going on...i also have a 07 tacoma with the 4.0 V6 dohc that makes 245 hp and 285tq which is great for a v6...and it gets 19 mpg in town...whats not to like

I really like Toyota drivetrains. It's too bad that they have to put them in such boring cars. The last interesting cars they made were the prior-gen Corolla XRS and the MR2 Spyder. The current Corolla XRS is just a 4-door tC. It's pretty bad when a Honda Accord is more interesting than your sport model (those new coupes are sexy, if wrong-wheel drive).

[01GT4.6]

pushrod stangs are cheaper to mod than modular stangs. A pushrod car with a cam and carb will also sound a lot nastier than a cammed modular. I've had both (93 LX notch 5.0 and my current 2001GT) and I know that with a fraction of the money I put into my '01 I could have had my 93 running faster.

[killerSVTcobra]

pushrod cars are alot cheaper to build, and easier to get, and i will admit they go faster...but only sometimes, but people have been dinkin with them for alot longer...give the modular performance industry another 10 years and see what happens...another thing to think about is look at the performance differance in the 93gt and the 94gt...same motor for the most part but the fox bodies are what 500-700+lbs lighter, you put a 4.6 dohc and the car should move pretty good with a smaller engine

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by 01GT4.6 A pushrod car with a cam and carb will also sound a lot nastier than a cammed modular.

Very true... unless you go to ITBs.

Of course, I've never seen ITBs on a modular, outside of the concept shelby cobra from a few years ago with the ITB'd DOHC V10 that made over 600hp N/A.

[zers]

I think it really depends on what you want to do as well, at least it seems in my observations, if you want to make a high power naturally aspirated engine, you go with pushrod, cause there's decades of r&d behind it, if you want to make big power with a blower, the ohc engines seem to be better, and get more benifit out of it.

In terms of fuel efficiency, ohc hands down though. Which is why all the new companies use it .. easier to change a cam, and more efficient.