Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

thinking of a top ten list...worst automotive engines engineering feats that should of never got off the ground...worse yet, put into production

1)Datsun 4 bangers

raynorshine wrote:thinking of a top ten list...worst automotive engines engineering feats that should of never got off the ground...worse yet, put into production

1)Datsun 4 bangers

The few AMCs that I saw apart looked terrible.

The wierdest thing I ever saw was a Mercedes V8 with some of the head bolts at an angle, no other way to fit them I guess.

Chrysler, 2.7, 3.7 and 4.7. Each one of those has special "features" that can cause catastrophic failure in an otherwise good design. Timing chain tensioner, water pump, rods that break.

Almost every engine ever designed and made in the UK from the 50's to the 90's with rare exceptions.

Even in recent times companies like TVR got massive press for very fast and great sounding V8's but owners were always blowing them up or suffering break downs, just like the older Triumph *cough* 3 liter V8 . Total crap

I disagree about the Datsun 4 banger, their 2000 was a fail, but the 1800 was a perfected version of a BMC UK POS and they performed ok and lived well over 100,000 miles... unlike the BMC engines


The king though is the 16 valve Lada. 8 valves in the engine and 8 in the radio

The datsun B210 what was it 1200, ran forever
Ford 300 6 gets steam pockets in the head- never fixed- they crack if you are not very careful with cooling fill
AMC 6 has the strongest bottom end of any similar passenger car motor ford 240-300, chevy 230-250-292
easily holds 1,000 horsepower just put some straps on the mains and go
we even used stock 1/2 inch head bolts for the mains
VW waterboxer?

The 70's grab bag of of junk....

Cadillac 8-6-4
Ford flathead v8 (aftermarket saved it)
ford 3.8 v6
ford 2.8 v6
Cadillac 4100(early)
Olds diesel
MItsubishi 2.4
Toyota

Truckedup wrote:The 70's grab bag of of junk....

.... which brings to mind the Vega 2.3 engine. Die cast aluminum block with an iron head.
Don't get me started on the aluminum bores. Yes, I know they are still being used with success to this day but 40 years ago the technology was still in it's infancy. For the money GM spent the engine should have been more revolutionary, not a boat anchor.

Ken

tsanchez wrote:Cadillac 8-6-4
Ford flathead v8 (aftermarket saved it)
ford 3.8 v6
ford 2.8 v6
Cadillac 4100(early)
Olds diesel
MItsubishi 2.4
Toyota

don't forget the 2.2 Mitsubishi what a piece of shyt! easily the worst engine i have personally owned

Gas wise - Ford 4 cylinder in the 80's Tempo, I can't think of a bigger piece of junk than that one though the Cadillac 8-6-4 might give it a running.

Overall - the GM passenger car diesels might be the the king of crap.

1970s Triumph TR-7.
Worst ever.

Bazman wrote:Almost every engine ever designed and made in the UK from the 50's to the 90's with rare exceptions.

Even in recent times companies like TVR got massive press for very fast and great sounding V8's but owners were always blowing them up or suffering break downs, just like the older Triumph *cough* 3 liter V8 . Total crap

I disagree about the Datsun 4 banger, their 2000 was a fail, but the 1800 was a perfected version of a BMC UK POS and they performed ok and lived well over 100,000 miles... unlike the BMC engines


The king though is the 16 valve Lada. 8 valves in the engine and 8 in the radio

ford 6.0 diesel trumps all. You know an engine is bad when there are law firms that specialize in nothimg but customer lawsuits over that specific engine.

This one might surprise a few - but the Rolls Royce 6.7 V8.

Yes it is a detuned Chrysler 400 BUT in an effort to maintain a silly pompous WW2 boast that RR engines were so precise they did not need gaskets - they all leaked like a sieve and that led to all sorts of problems if they ran out. Add in electronics from the Prince of Darkness himself - Sir Joseph Lucas - nothing worked for long.

A buddy of mine has had around 10 Rolls before he finally gave up - and estimates he has broken down on every intersection around the LA coast or Beverly Hills at some point. The old 6.7 RR is a complete turd

One can only hope that the later BMW powered puppies are better.

dieselgeek wrote:ford 6.0 diesel trumps all. You know an engine is bad when there are law firms that specialize in nothing but customer lawsuits over that specific engine.

I'll take a 6.0 over a lot of other engines. They're just maintenance whores.

The 5.7 diesel definetly takes the prize.