I'm only 37, but I've owned at least one example of almost every old school engine you can think of. There simply is no comparison between any engine designed when Eisenhower was still living in the White House and the modern powerplants. Our knowledge of metallurgy, airflow dynamics, porting, camshaft design, etc. are lightyears ahead of the state-of-the-art in the 60's. We all have our favorites; I like small block Fords, but there just isn't any way to effectively argue the point. Sure, the aftermarket closes the gap considerably. I could go out tomorrow and build a Ford 302 that makes 13 or 14 hundred horsepower on the motor, but it would be 99% (or more) aftermarket and cost 25 grand.
Think about this alternative: I can go to the junkyard, find a 6.2 LS or a 5.0 Coyote, put it in a lightened Fox body and, if I have an effective suspension and driveline set-up, run low 10's <span style="font-style: italic">without a power adder</span>. Put that in context, guys. If I could take that car back in time to Pomona in 1970, I could finish in the top 5 in Pro Stock with a junkyard engine that runs on 87 octane pump swill and idles like a Cadillac. NMRA Factory Stock guys are running high-10's in pushrod 5.0 Fox bodies using stock heads, intakes, blocks, etc. at 308-310 cubes and that's certainly impressive, but those engines are scienced out like you wouldn't believe. A stock LS in the same chassis would lop 7-8 tenths off their best time without cracking a valve cover.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I am just short of 70 years old and have had more BBC than I can count. IMHO the Loose Squirrel (read LS) engines are for those that need a computer to tune for them. Also, they go to a junk yard, drop it in and bolt on a bunch of gee-gaw crap to hide the fact they have bolted in an LS -- and their happy.
Bottom line -- to each their own ... TAZ</div></div>
I respect your opinion, but consider this for a minute. John Mihovitz at Accufab has been campaigning the Ford 4.6 DOHC Modulars in various heads up classes for years. He uses assembly line blocks, cylinder heads, even cam drives, mostly sourced from the junkyard. Last I heard, he had hit <span style="font-style: italic">2600 horsepower</span> on the engine dyno. Since that was almost two years ago, and he's currently running his 4.6 powered Pro Mod in the high-5 second range, I can only assume that he's awfully close to the 3000 horsepower threshold, if he hasn't crossed it already. I want to say again, that's with junkyard hard parts (Hell, he was still using production 96-98 Cobra crankshafts until he crossed the 2,000 horsepower barrier.) So how does he make that much power from 281 cubes? Lots of boost (60+ PSI) and lots of compression (somewhere around 14.5:1 is my understanding). Seems easy, but how do you make that live in an assembly line block?
He does because he's an artist with the tune-up. Forget the computer, tuning an engine is an art form, no matter what tools you use to do it. I can rebuild a Holley, but I can't tune a pair of Dominators like Grumpy. It's the same with electronics. Hand me a laptop and I'll get your XFI'd LS swap up and running, but there's no way in hell I could do what Mihovitz does.