Blashphemy! (Or what engine do you like best?)

[Dualfuel]

 I am still poking around the site, like all forums there isn't any real good way to seperate the wheat from the chaff. So I read, and read. The thing that occurs to me about this forum, is that I am in my wheelhouse here. I live completely off grid. I have three battery banks to charge. I build things offgrid too, welding, cutting, machining, all offgrid.
I want to preface any more remarks by giving you some background first...
I didn't come by being offgrid by choice. I was forced into being off grid because I could not pay my electric bill and the man came and shut it off. So I started making electricity from scratch.
My first system was a $40 inverter from menards, hooked to a car battery, which gave one CFL bulb enough juice to get by for about three days. I make biodiesel so the next step was to start charging batteries with the alternator on the truck. Next came a one ton chevy with a 6.2 and a thousand pounds of used carbatteries  being charged between the house and the woodlot 50 miles away.
Things have progressed and improved since then. I went through a phase where I had desulfators singing at a 1000hz, polluting the airwaves, with their long lead/antennas. We lugged carbatteries to each room to power individual 600wat inverters. Then the whole exciting phase of turning induction motors with capacitors in parallel to make AC power! What a great day that was, when we got our washing machine running (although it was odd that the wash cycle only took about 5 minutes. Which was a lesson in controlling frequency!)
All this stuff happened with no cash, no job, no food, no nothing, except a very generous owner of a small junkyard who was intrigued by our shenanigans, and the internet.
I want the reader to understand that I have bootstrapped my offgrid experience with junk. Only the modified sine wave inverters were bought new. Because of this origin, I have great skepticism and jealousy of purpose built, big money, off-grid systems. Always the question remains, what do you do if it fails? You cannot call anybody. You have to diagnose, secure parts, and repair these systems yourself. If you have enough money to have someone else do this for you, then thats a different realm from mine with different goals entirely (not to mention, incomprehensible).
Presently, I sit upon a lofty tower of experience, and wealth of equipment that my former self could only drool at. We have T105s, a magnum full sinewave inverter, a Honda EU3000i, gasoline to burn, Kyrocera 140dxs, Xantrex charge controllers, and a warm basement to work on the small engines. We pump our own water, make our own fuel, garden, mill our own wood, mix our own concrete. We are doing good and its still cheaper then living in town. Probably by half.
The Blashphemy:
I want to pontificate about engines. I am an engine guy. I joined the forum to learn more about alternators and generators. I also joined to discuss, argue, vent, and otherwise communicate about engines. It just so happens that right now in my life I am at the phase where a sexy engine is one that powers my drip coffee maker, and not so much, one that powers a tire spinning mud bogging 4X4 (although, such a thing, still gets a look).
What is your favorite engine? Why? Justify it?
I totally understand simply liking an engine for itself, after all isn't that the point of all those old engine shows?
This post will make you mad, just understand I am not attacking anyone pesonally, but good debate causes feelings.

I was stationed in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq for 10 months, I was also stationed in FOB Anaconda for 2 months. During that time I witnessed the run-to-destruction of several generator light sets. I saw Listers, indian lister clones, Changfas, Lambordini (sp?), Onan, white, military standard, continental, wisconsin, Briggs and Stratton, Yanmar, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Kubota, and the big boys, Fairbanks Morse, Cummins, and Hercules.
The gensets that lasted the longest were Kubotas. Then Mitsubishi and Isuzu. Yanmar too. The rest were garbage. The chinese engines were the worst. The indian listers were hilariously horrible (I saw a flywheel break off a generator and roll across the compound and put a hole in a concrete block wall, looked like a bowling ball getting a strike!) Onan diesels were another piteous machine, all of them dead. Italian diesels didn't live too long over there either. Briggs and stratton were the same there as here, dead due to lack of oil.
By being allowed to test all these engines, in 150F working conditions (and dust, never forget the talcum powder dust), I formed an opinion about which engines should go home in the conex box.
We were so impressed with the Kubotas that we called marathon electric in WI and asked for a quote for a 6kw light set gen delivered to MI ($8000, at the time).  I realized that the Kubota was the answer. I worked through 75 different light set generators preparing 17 for shipment back to the US. Each was either a Kubota, mitsubishi or Isuzu. Each set had over 10000 hours. This was in 2005 and the generators were all 2003 models. In other words, these generator engines ran continously for 10000hrs. When they quit, they were thrown away. We got them, and rinsed out the lubricating oil with diesel fuel then kept changing the oil until they would run again. That was all that was wrong, they simply quit because the oil got too sooty for the injector pump to operate.
http://www.m-p-llc.com/products/lighttowers/series3000/mlt3060.html
I also shipped one of these....

It was badged as a Cummins. The genhead was junk but the engine was cool so I boxed it up. Its what powers the Homelite model 41A now. Great engine and I would buy one if I ever found one.
So from my desert experience I would say the small japanese diesels are the best, then there was a surprising second place winner, the implications of which are ominous.

Meet the LDS 465 Military Standard Multifuel engine. For 8 months this engine charged my battery bank daily and burned nothing but 10micron filtered used motor oil. Yes, it wet stacked like a bitch. It never missed a beat, sometimes running all night to power my AC unit. This is a good design if its allowed to operate within its original specifications. Bump the pump and they explode fast.

That was then, this is now.

I live on an island, with a large industrial base and heritage, yet we cannot get parts here. Its a lot like Abu. So I would not want an engine like an LDS 465. I would use a Cummins big cam or a Detroit Diesel two stroke, because they are cheap and parts are availible down in wisconsin. I would not want a Lister at all. Might as well get a Honda because the parts availibilty is the better.
Would you believe the all around work horse on this property falls onto these brands, Briggs and Stratton (never blew one up yet!), Tecumseh (blew lots of 5hp and 7hp models up), General Motors, BB 366,  IH 392, 335cid, 150cid gasoline, Ford FE 330, 360, and 390 Detroit Diesel 371, and 6.2.
Discoveries recently, is how good an engine Kohler K series singles were.
So what are your favorites and why? What is your favorite sounding engine. Mine is the sound of an idling 303cc Wankel

another fav....

Neither of the above are as practical as Kubota or Yanmar but they sound cool.
Come I showed you mine, now pony up, what gets youse going?
DualFuel BPJ

(the REAL DualFuel)

[mobile_bob]

kohler k series, because they run forever, and are easy to rebuild, cheap to do
a budget rebuild and then they run forever again.

continental flathead 4 and 6cylinder (f225 iirc is the 6cyl) because they can take horrible abuse and keep right on running.

changfa 195 and 175's "if" they are properly prepared,  not a bad design at all
and tough as nails (again if prepped properly)

lots of others for very specific duty,  but few are suitable for a wide range of duty in
my opinion, at least not without special care.

while i have historically had reasonable luck with briggs and stratton engine's, i don't think i would trust one to mission critical work. don't care for tecumseh engines, wisconsin engine's are pretty good too.

as for diesels,   the c201 isuzu/thermoking is a rugged little 4 cylinder, that just goes and goes.

most of my experience is with larger diesel engine's most of which are quite good, all of which are too big for offgrid use in my opinion, and all of which have their individual quirks and problems... you pick your poison and live with it.

bob g

[TimSR2]

Ok, here goes. Here are my picks for gasoline or ng/ propane.  Kohler K181, run at reasonable rpm ( not 3600) Get the good valve seats and later model valves. Great standby engine, but will use a lot of fuel compared to modern engines. 

All Honda ohv singles. These are the true benchmark small engines for durability. Kohler, Briggs are also good if you pay for the quality level that you need. 

Car /Truck engines known to be indestructible:   Ford 2.3 . Jeep 2.5,  Jeep 4.0.   318 chrysler, in a truck or a boat, also 360. These are 'the' superior hard service v8's, especially if you get the police or marine duty engines. Also Chevy 350 4 bolt main truck or marine engine.( Built cheaper than a Chrysler, and almost as good, if rpm's are kept down to reasonable levels)  Also newer 4.7 Chrysler; I see lots of them with 250,000 miles and still oil tight and pull like hell on original heads and timing chains. 

Toyota 20r, and 22r 4cylinder.  All Honda 4 bangers.     Dodge 2.5  K car engine.   Chevy 2.5 'Power tech' from the 1980's. Chevy 230, 250. Ford 240, 300 six. Chevy cavalier 2.2 liter pushrod engine. (pre ecotech) Mitsubishi (dodge/plymouth/hyundai)  3.0 liter. All these car engines are capable of 250,000 miles with ease.



For diesel:  With the high cost of diesel service parts, I could not justify building on any other engines  than  Japanese built and most 'commonly available'   Kubota, Isuzu, Mitsubishi,  Yanmar. If you can't get parts for it, you cannot rely on it. For small working diesels there is really no alternative to Japanese engines.   For a truck or boat:  Cummins 4bt or 6bt, or pretty much any Cummins built before epa regulations. Leave them stock!  I'm not a Cat fan, unless you have an excavator or a backhoe and are stuck with them.  Detroits are just too obsolete now, and stink too much.  If you have ever been out on a boat a in a following sea with Detroit power,  you know what I mean.

Favorite engine sound: 1) 273cu v8 chrysler in a lightweight car, 6500 rpm shifts  on  open pipes. 2) Johnson/Evinrude 2 and 3 cylinder loopers (45/65/70 hp)  3) KZ900/1000 at full wail.

[Dualfuel]

Hey,
I know this is an aside but I felt it extremely ominous that the LDS 465, and for that matter, the whole M35 truck family survived so well over there. While I was there the US Army worked diligently to ship the entire fleet of M35s to Iraq, rebuild them to new specs, and then turn them over to the Iraqis military. So....the next time we go over to fight in Babylon, we will be fighting our own trucks. I am afraid we'll get our butts handed to us.

BPJ

[mobile_bob]

i forgot all about the honda gas engine's,  i have had excellent luck with the gx series engines, particularly the gx160... like a timex they just seem to keep right on ticking.

bob g

[deeiche]

I always liked Ford V-4 1.5 & 1.7 engines.  Used in SAAB 95/96/97 and as a stationary engine.

[Henry W]

My pick for a four cylinder engine that will be able to put out 25 Kw when needed, run on propane or natural gas, take lots of abuse and is easy to get parts cheap is the ford 2.3 and 2.5 OHC engines. There are many aftermarket parts available for these engines. There are industrial versions available at times on Ebay and Craigslist like the LRG-425 I purchased. http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=2670.0

Henry

[Dualfuel]

Yes, the Pinto engine! I loved those. Didnt they start out at 1600cc or something small like that? I have a Hoof belt drive governor for one of those engines. It ran a hydraulic pump for something on the oilfield.

What about the engine in the Avatar picture? I have no experience with those.....what is it?

Four cylinder, hands down the Continental Red Seal. Case 200cid combine engine. IH 335cid four.
DF

[Henry W]

The first pinto standard engine was an overhead valve pushrod engine. I believe it was 1600cc.

The LRG-425 industrial engine is a great engine. It is light years ahead of the first OHC pinto engines. Lots of refinements like belt driven oil pump that can be replaced without pulling the engine or dropping the oil pan, roller cam followers, computerized ignition, high nickel content block with updated main bearings, hardened valve seats, longer stroke crankshaft, better designed combustion chamber.

The engine in the Avatar picture is a Kubota EA330, 7hp, singile cylinder, liqiud cooled diesel engine. They are a high quality engine and are very expensive for what they put out. The last time I looked they cost around $3,800.00.

Henry

[Derb]

Favourite small "El-Cheapo" engine would have to be the Briggs and Stratton Quantum 40 unit. Great carb & ign system, economical, quiet, start easily and when serviced well will go forever with no tinkering. A lot of the other more basic B & S units are pretty ordinary. For mid to large engines - hard to beat a Toyota particularly the 3Y and 4Y pushrod petrol units. The 3L 2.8 litre diesels are a fine tool as well as the 1HD-FT 24 valve 4.2.

[Dualfuel]

Dear Derb,
I did an image search for the Briggs and Statton Quantum 40 and got the B&S bomb with everything. Could you post a picture of one. The thing about B&S or any of them for that matter, is that they kind of lost me when they started in with the plastic non adjustable carburetors.
I can't imagine the gasoline in New Zealand containing alcohol. The gasoline products here all do, and you must hunt for premium without EtOH. Consequently, if you cannot adjust the mixture, they tend not to run. I do a lot of retro fitting on push mowers in the summer here.  What they did to our gas, is now the main reason I am heading off in the woodgas direction. At least those carburetors can be adjusted!
DualFuel

[SteveU.]

Hi All
Interesting selections so far.
I've been making IC piston engines run and work for working purposes for neigh onto 50 years now so . . . yeah, have opinions based on busted knuckles  and flattened pocket book experiences.
The useable life of any IC pistion engine is solely tied to the condition of the cylinder bore, piston fitting. Rings are repaceable. Valves replaceable/regrindable. Once the bore to piston fit is gone it is unuseable burnt toast. ONLY on the old heavy cast iron blocks can this be restored readily without special machining distortion preventing bolt on stiffening deck plates and anymore even lower block stiffening girdle plates. It was Never cheap to quality rebore and re-pistion fit for a full new service life. Done on the cheap and you only get a percent of the original life on the 2nd go around. Repaceable wet cyclinder sleeves with matching pistons/rings are great . . IF it was originally designed for them . . IF you can actually get them . . IF you can afford them.
The orginal manufacturers material selections and machining specs is only one factor on the actual service life of the cylinder bore, pistion fit.
OIL quality, and the average maintained oil condition is just as important.
Cleanliness of air and fuel into this area is just as important.
The engine load, RPM and temperature just as inportant.
These last three areas ARE directly operator/user areas of responsibilities.

Every single brand of engine manufacturer has had real duds they would like to disavow and hope we will forget. Every single manufacture has had winners too.
Heres how I choose:

ALL valve-in-block/flathead/sidevalve engines were designs for thier times of expensive all by hand directed machining, cheap cheap gasoline fuels with LOTS of depositing lead in it. They had/have very torturous pocketed cold spotted combustion chambers prone to carboning up requiring periodic easy cylinder head off de-cabonizing  (AND toxic grey lead cleaning!) so they made some sence way back then. Hands down across the whole power range of 3 HP to 100 HP when you compare the same HP of engines flathead, versus overhead valve, often from the same manufacturer; the overhead valve will burn much cleaner with 15-25% greater fuel efficiency. Period.
So for me out with  all flat heads even some mighty fine ones like the Kohler K's, flat two cylinder opposed Onans and others. I have only ONE fairly new ~200 hours flathead B&S still in service. Bought it new on a wheeled string trimmer. Even EPA certified it unburned hydrocarbon fuel exhaust stinks and is a fuel hog.

On overhead valve designs for me the in-the-block camshafts with pushrod actuaion is just fine KISS good enough. I run my 4-stokes engines now by choice power loaded down at 1500 to 2400 RPM. 3600 RPM make me to cranky and murderous anymore. Only manual transmission shift points ever really needed a higher RPM. Pushrods are just fine easily low tech up to 4500 RPM for this. I have no need for OHC capabilities. OHC was a solution for bigger valve porting on inline cylinder placement. Then it became selling sexy. Only really needed with some artificial imposed engine displcement, engine weight, or emmisions multi-valve demand.
I've high mile/high hour owned quite a few overhead cam engines now going clear back to a 1967 BMW 1600 (still 6 volt!) sedan and last personally a 2000cc Honda SOHC in a CRV. Even as a finatical oil changer I cannot get  the cylinder bore life out of any OHC that I can out of an in-the-block cam design. Cam bearings, cam lobes and followers want the best of lubrication even if roller type. High up on top of the cylinder head  it does not get this at cold start ups. Drowning the cam up there in hot engine oil means drowning the valve stem seals TOO! Wifes "new" 2007 DOHC Hyundai V-6 now at only 135k miles is already exhaust valve stem seal blue oil smoking on cold starts! So It begins. Now burnt oil stinks on grade pulling! The 15 degree canted BMW OHC was only good for 30-50K miles between needing exhaust valve seal change outs. Some progress ,eh? Follow around old Chrysler minivans - the ones with the puffing, thick blue oil exhaust smoke will be the excellent metallurgic and machined Mitsubushi SOHC V-6's from worn exhaust valve stem seals drowned in camshaft drainback oil. The ones that do NOT smoke will be the Amercan/Canadian production"crude", "old-style" "soft casting" cam-in block 3.3 and 3.8L pushrod V-6's! Wifes previous vehicle the 3.3L Plymouth with 250K+ miles I still drive with NO SMOKE, No gross oil consupmtion and never had to R&R for leakage the non-existent front and rear camS seals and timing chains/chain guides/gears and/or timing beltS yet. Short internal chain sytem still good with my oil changes. Lousy oil changes and they need R&R chain and gears ~every 115K.  for chain rattle. A 2 hour nut and bolt job.

Think about it. Every metal to metal moving contact including chain pins without constant supeior lubrication will wear. These cumulative worn off metal particles WILL cause bore/piston and ring wear until oilfilter removed from circulation. An old clogged oilfilter will bypass and not filter at all.

So specifically my favorites  in the 3 to ~10 hp range would be four stroke, simple single overhead valve engines not needing ANY internal moving counter balancing. In the past this has been a lot of Tecumseh's for the adjustable float carburetors and durable pull starter systems. Now that B&S has finally ditched the absolutly pukey mount on the metal gas tank diapharm carburetors and the imposible to maintain stamped metal cover pull starters I now happily use the too.  Easy local Parts availabilty. I'd like, to like the Honda's but Expensive parts. Chinese clone stuff there is NO parts at all. I refuse anymore to buy into the cheap throw-a-way mentality.
Needed for weight 2-strokes in this power range I ONLY will buy new, and they must say STHIL on them. Parts availability again. Only ONE tank of bad fuel, cheap fuel lube oil will turn a 2-stroke into a hard to start low, low power nightmare. Parts availability puts an new cylinder and piston assembly on it bolt on.

12-14 hp to 40 HP hands down for me are Kohler, Kawasaki and the higher line B&S 90 degree V-twins in that order. The first two even have watercooled versions. I'd like, to like the Hondas but again expensive parts prices, they are smaller displacement for thier hp and much less flexible and forgiving for downfrom max speed power running.
NONE of theses 90 degree V-twins need any complex internal moving active piston counter weighting metal wear shedding systems like almost ALL of the "Anti-Vibe" 10.5 to 20 hp singles have now. I have three of these I still use, a 10.5 OHV Briggs came with the woodsplitter, and an inherited 17.5 hp OHV Kohler rider mower. Ha! Ha! Kohler Commands are great. I had to buy a used parts mower for axles and deck part trying to wear this engine out on this mower. Must be the 5W-50 Castrol oil I use in all of my four-stroke air cooled.

Above 40 hp continuos with gasoline and gasious fuels you have to question if you really can afford to fuel anything for home/farm self power unless it is an actual automobile or pick up truck. And these are all burst power - only really 15-30 hp continuos up to 70 MPH. Above 40 hp pulling continuos you should really be using a compression ignition heavy fuel engine. And you will want this to be an inline four or six cylinder as DuelFuel recommeded.

Anyhow I  really do like all of the 60's/70's North American inline hydraulic valve pushrod gasoline based engines. Used them all. Used to be the Best in Class, with a 3 speed slush box tranny to put the new driver young ones in (almost) impossible for them to break - the valves would pump up and float cutting engine power.  Easy to work on. Cheap parts. All really old now, and hard to find.
The one I'd use 1st choice for a self-fueled power souce would be the Chysler 225 CID slant six. Fewer main bearinings means less oil drag. Less displacement means less ring drag. Tough, tough engine. Last used 1978? Never FI converted.
2nd chioce in 40 hp would be the 2.2 SOHC non-turbo TB Chrysler 4 cylinder. Simple, cheap, easy to work on for all systems. An engine you CAN pull the cylinder head on without dropping the timing belt. Production up to 1994 in now junker cars and minivans. Skip the larger 2.5L with the again to complex metal particle shedding chain driven lower counterrotating balancer assemble. IT NEED THIS  to keep from over 2000cc four cyclinder hopping up and down at RPM - you do not need this.
3rd choice would be the Honda 2000cc SOHC. easy no leak manual valve adjustments good for 20-30,000 miles/1000 hours. Lots of folk ran this with good low tech 30 weight detergent motor oil thier while lives here.

All V-6's and V-8's are really just engine compartment packaging solutions. And sex sellers. Read Henry Ford. They WILL cost you more to fuel and maintain than a four cylinder.
All straght eights, V-10's, V-12's are pure bragging rights sex sellers.
Five cylinder inline engine is strictly a packaging for the space engine or a stepping stone in-between a 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder choice. Needs special motor mounting. Pass on five cylinders. Go down or up one cylinder.
Been too few really good 3 cylinder inline engines out there. These WIll save you ~15-20 fuel economy over a four cylinder. I have an excellant (expensive) 3 cylinder Yanmar diesel in a tractor. Have used expensive Kubota DG972's.
I do not personally like anybodies two cylinder inlines. Always a severe power stroke/balance compromise. Opposed two cylinders no also for me since a 90 degree V-twin does it in a stiffer, smaller and quieter package.

Regards
Steve Unruh

[Dualfuel]

Steve I am glad you chimed in...
The other day I was down south to the VA hospital in Iron Mountain, I stopped into the Tractor Supply store and found they had horizontal shaft Honda engines for about $200. Perhaps they were GX160s, not sure and I didn't stare too long. I was actually amazed to see something like that available to the public.
I don't see much stuff like that here. Its just not available here.
I do agree with most of the things you wrote about. Some things I don't know enough about to have an opinion...
Most of the engines I work with daily are 40 or 50 years old. Some are older then the Hindenburg.
I have a caveat about the big diesels...if you don't have a block heater here, then they are useless. Presently I have John Deere Skidder with a big diesel sixcylinder, parked in the front yard, that isn't going anywhere until we fire a propane block heater for a few hours. I would use it to push back the banks but the gasoline fueled Waukesha 190GLB in the old loader starts instantly...so for winter operations, off-grid, I will take all the fuel sucking gasoline/gas engines you can send me, cause the diesels need too much life support in the winter. This has been a thorn in my side for years because I make biodiesel and run nothing but diesels until October through April, then its Arrgh!
So for winter starters I have two FE Ford V-8s powering the snowblower truck, the Waukesha, a fourclyinder IH 335cid in the T-9 (which starts insanely quickly, even though its a fuel gobbler), and a smb Chevy plow engine. The cost of fuel is breathtaking, but the cost of a heated structure to keep a diesel warm in, has been, so far, out of reach. I'll get there though, starting this spring.

I have a 1980 Dodge half ton truck I refused to let the junk yard crush. I opened the hood and found a 225 six sitting in the engine bay with nothing encumbering it other then a power steering system. I had it running in five minutes and drove it home. The thing that captivated me besides the simplicity under the hood, was the concept that everything of any importance could worked on from above or under the hood. Starter, fuel pump, wires, everything. What a great winter ride. No crawling under to monkey with salted down starter wires, bad fuel lines, or stripped out starters. That really was an eye catcher for me, now if it was only a FWD!

I am not sure this is really on topic but, I have been using an Evinrude Skeeter, the last two winters. It has a 437cc opposed twin cylinder two stroke. The pistons fire at the same time so its balanced very nicely. Its a twin that sounds like a really big single. Everyone looks when we go to town for the mail. I like to kick my feet out and ride it down mainstreet like I have highway pegs. I think of the thing as the Harley of Snowmobiles. I mention this because, the absolute best starting engines here in the winter, are these two strokes. Suzuki has some wonderful engines in the Arctic Cat snowmobiles. The Sachs Wankel, Rotax singles, and that OMC twin, are always welcome engines powering escape pods here in the winter.

Anyhow, this a fun and educational discussion....
BPJ/DualFuel

[Henry W]

Hi Steve,

You mention that you cannot get  the cylinder bore life out of any OHC that you can out of an in-the-block cam design. In lots of cases that is true. I been around lots of Ford 2.3 and 2.5 OHC engines. They are an exception to the rule.
The later year 2.3 OHC engines and the 2.5 OHC engines have many updates that will outlive lots of overhead valve engines.

The engine blocks are very hard because of the high nickel content and I seen them with over 300,000 miles. The head has replaceable cam bearings. The cam followers are roller type on the later 2.3 and all 2.5 engines. External oil pump on later years. distributerless ignition on the later years.

I seen these engines turn 8000 rpm's and handle 400 hp with the stock block and rods but we don't need that type of an engine. The great thing about these engines is there so many differant type of cam options available that you can make these engines run efficently at low speeds like 1800 rpm as well with very little work. by installing a ford ranger roller cam and advancing the cam a few degrees with an adjustable cam sprocket. These engines are all over the place. Parts are cheap. And they can take more abuse than most modern four cylinder automotive gas engines.

I did a Turbo Ranger conversion years ago with a 1988 thunderbird turbo coup engine. It was the best driving ranger I ever had. It had enough Hp and torque to go up any grade comfortably. It sure startled lots of people in there suped up rice burners back then. After driving it over 110,000 miles the transmission let loose so I pulled the engine and built it up for a friend for his pinto. That engine had over 180,000 miles and it still had cross scratch patterns on the cylinders. For stock use the block could of used a honning and it would of been fine for some time.

Like I said there are exceptions. These are some of the reasons why I picked up the LRG-425. I just could not pass it up for the price. Plus they are so easy to work on.

Henry

[SteveU.]

Hey Henry I do not disagree with you at all on the 2.3L SOHC Fords.
Had three in the family. The early 84 Ranger PU of the wifes bought new got ~175K miles before needing a different engine valve burnt by a too lean of freeback carburetor system (before my time with her) enduring terrible oil changes maybe only once a year every 15K miles. The 80 Fairmount SW went even farther at 180K before the lead foot B-I-L owner piston separated #4 with even worse oil changes of never changing, just leaking cam cover low oil top ups. My later 80 Pinto SW died at 90K before  could find out good oil change life nosed dived under the front of an illegal left turning 3/4 ton Ford PU. State Farm owned it then.
I think one of the guides to a truly outstanding engine family is how well it can stand up to owner/operator nelgect and abuse.

I owned and horribly abused one of Mr deelchi's Euro/Ford V-4's in a 1969 Saab I street racing Volvo friends. (Ugly duckling Saab had a lighter chassis, stickier Italian tires, mountain river roads and a driver willing to row the four speed column shift and hang it out with zee hand brake) Still real strong at 125K when I needed to then moved on to a better stealth street car. 'Nother fellow at the time did real good with a Ford/Capri 2000cc? V-6 back then  into the high hundred K's too. No hydraulic lifters allowed straight weight oils helped life on these.

I am surprized no one has supported the Suburu water cooled flat four engines. I really, really liked the DL and GL pushrod engines. I was just too damn big to fit the Japanese sized seating.

Nobodies yet mentiond the FI 4.0L I-6 Jeep ex-AMC engines. Real durable and strong too.

Rgards
Steve Unruh