Mopar better than Chevy

[DeltaV]

The Fastest Vehicle In America In 1978​

The Dodge pick-up could also cover the 1/4 mile in 14.71 seconds at 93 mph. To put this time into perspective, the Li'l Red Truck was faster than the Porsche 928 (15.31 seconds), faster than the Porsche 911/SC (14.81 seconds), and would have the edge on the Ferrari 308/GTS (15.08 seconds).

https://www.hotcars.com/this-forgot...th a 5.9-liter,virtually anything on the road.

 

[Randy Wilson]

Chevy blocks are weak. The crankshaft hangsdown below the block that’s -why they need four bolt mains- even with four bolt mains a two bolt Mopar block is still stronger- then there’s the obvious valve train, rocker stud issues. My Chevy friends will admit the weakness weaknesses I’ve talked about. Why do you think the aftermarket caters to all their problems? Forgot to mention that many racers needed the Mopar four speed behind the munchies could not hold up

 

[Fran Blacker]

I've read if you leave a Chevy block on a engine stand for an extended time it will distort. You need to support the front end. T/F?

 

[Randy Wilson]

I've read if you leave a Chevy block on an engine stand for an extended time it will distort. You need to support the front end. T/F?

I’ve heard that too

 

[RemCharger]

True. That's where the old phrase " woblee bolcks" came from. Ironically it turned into " woblee pops".

 

[forphorty]

Chevy blocks are weak. The crankshaft hangsdown below the block that’s -why they need four bolt mains- even with four bolt mains a two bolt Mopar block is still stronger- then there’s the obvious valve train, rocker stud issues. My Chevy friends will admit the weakness weaknesses I’ve talked about. Why do you think the aftermarket caters to all their problems? Forgot to mention that many racers needed the Mopar four speed behind the munchies could not hold up

If only that were true. The factory BB Chevy block is sturdier than the BB Mopar block.

 

[Russ Hood]

If only that were true. The factory BB Chevy block is sturdier than the BB Mopar block.

Worked on both and this is not true. Actually Ford has the best block followed by Mopar.

 

[Gunner1]

I remember ol’ Sneaky Pete Jackson running Top Fuel with a little 327 Chevy 2 bolt and doing pretty well. Yup he did girdle it but still. If I remember right he was guestimating 900 hp. There all fun. But it is a rush to beat more genetically blessed motor with your own hard worked hot rod.

 

[Randy Wilson]

I remember ol’ Sneaky Pete Jackson running Top Fuel with a little 327 Chevy 2 bolt and doing pretty well. Yup he did girdle it but still. If I remember right he was guestimating 900 hp. There all fun. But it is a rush to beat more genetically blessed motor with your own hard worked hot rod.

Years ago I used to work on ia demolition car pit crew -me, and my friends and others ran many models and brands of engines. In the old classic “beat out the glass - chain the doors situation” nothing matched the big block Mopar and FE series Fords for engine durability under high heat and duress. No GMmotor would run half as long as them -they would throw rods, crack main webs, rocker studs would pull out of their bores, motors lock up and starters would fail under the heat
Nowadays, many demolition people run small block Chevys that are custom built to the tune of $12-$15,000 and come with the very best of the best plus loose piston clearances and crankshaft bearing clearances, air gap intake manifolds, ect
I asked why they run the Chevy motors and simply economics. He concurs that any BB Mopar would probably have more power and durability but would add too much cost

 

[GTX MATT]

Both great engines for what they were designed to do and for high performance and hot rodding. But the wedge RB was originally designed to motor big Chryslers down the highway in 1958, and the Big Block Chevy was updated in 1964 to power big cars AND race in NASCAR. Just like the Hemi, but Chevy’s approach allowed utilization of the same block. The Mopar wedge is under-headed because the standard port sizing was set for 350 and 361 cubic inch versions.

Chrysler was well aware of this fact. The appropriate size head for an RB for performance applications is the Max Wedge port.

Rec port Big Block Chevy offers a good compromise between the head flow of a Hemi and cost (just like the Chrysler Poly it shares similarities with). The Big block Chevy block is more durable than an OEM B/RB block. There is simply not enough beef between the main saddles and the cam journals in a stock B/RB. The block was designed with weight savings in mind no doubt, and not expected to easily make the power they are capable of now.

Besides the fact that the OEM block is stronger and there was much more availability of OEM castings that will support a higher HP ceiling, I think an often overlooked factor is also longevity, similar to the small block Chevy. GM manufactured big block blocks through the early 2000s, and because of that also kept offering very affordable crate engines, blocks, etc through GM Performance. Chrysler stopped putting big blocks in stuff in ‘78.

 

[Randy Wilson]

You do make some good points, especially about the head port configuration originally being designed for the small cubic inch B engine
Chrysler did get lucky in the fact that they’re big block heads of the 60s and 70s flow just enough for the task at hand, if not, they would not have been competitive in the muscle car wars.
But I go back to the durability of a Chevy engine and I just don’t see it and this is not just looking at cam journal or bearing webbing. This is simply people just building them up putting the ephos to them and have them blow up and scatter -I’ve seen that way more proportionally on the Chevy engines than anything else. I do respect the interchangeability of components, that is second to none. Chrysler tended to over engineer a part for an application, which may have sometimes worked, but creates very much havoc in the parts department.
Back to the discussion about the demolition derby engines, I feel that is the ultimate torture test, extreme RPMs,bone stock engines, super excessive heat. You have to see it to believe it and most people avoided the Chevrolet motors, in fact most GM cars- in fact they did just not perform as well and that’s not including weak bodies and frames which made them even more undesirable. The Chrysler 413 is a legend in that world.

 

[DanielSlocum]

With medium 3.23-3.55 gearing ON THE STREET the B/RB heads are nearly perfect. Race cars are few compared to street musclecars. Big ports are better for racing [street or track] with 4.10 or more rear gears and high stall torque converters. Big ports suck with medium street gearing. Another example of great smaller port performance on the streets is the Buick Stage 1 455. Its ports dont flow quite as much as the much maligned [here] B/RB ports. Such relatively small ports generate very high velocity which creates long fat torque curves. Big ports dont generate as much torque down low [where a street car launches] and thus require more rear gear torque multiplication and/or looser torque converters which did not come in most street musclecars. Nowdays... we have overdrive transmissions making 4.10 or more gears highway friendly and we have far superior large or small port aluminum heads available which were hardly thought of when these musclecars and their engines were designed.