We've talked about the best Ford V8
engines and the best Japanese V8 engines, and then we even took it a step further and
looked at the best German V8 engines ever. But, we can't discuss the best V8 engines ever without
first looking at Mopar. From the 340ci small block all the way up to the 6.2 liter Hellcat engine,
there have been a lot of great Mopar V8 engines over the last few decades. And while they're
not as active in Motorsports as they once were, Mopar is still a huge name in the drag
racing world, where power and consistency are absolutely key to winning. So, let's dive on
in and look at the best Mopar V8 engines ever. And when I say Mopar, I'm referring to more than
just Dodge. Mopar encompasses Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and Plymouth, and for this video we're
really only looking at street engines, so we're not going to include anything like their Nascar
or Motorsports engines. And to kick this off, we're going to start with the smallest engine on
the list, which is the 340ci small block. This engine was introduced in the 1968 model year for
vehicles such as the Plymouth Duster, Dodge Dart GTS, the Road Runner, and so on. At that time, the
318ci V8 really wasn't offering much performance, which was fine because the big block engines
of the time did offer good performance. But, that meant that there was one big category of
Mopar engines missing at the time, which was a very high performance version of their small
block engines. And that's exactly where the 340ci slots into place. Right off the bat, it offered
an impressive 275 horsepower and 340 pound-feet of torque, but many Mopar enthusiasts say this is
underrated and the real power figure is closer to 325 horsepower. Uou might be wondering why they
would knowingly under advertise the power output for a road going car, considering advertised power
is going to help sell the car, and the answer is actually really simple: NHRA. The advertised 275
horsepower was for NHRA stock classification to make it more competitive. You might consider this
cheating to some degree, but that's just how the automotive world works. Compared to the existing
318ci engine, the 340ci not only got that extra 22 cc's (CI) of displacement, but a dual timing
chain system, larger intake and exhaust valves inside of higher flowing heads, a high-rise dual
plane intake, larger carburetors, larger camshaft, improved oil pump, different crankshaft, and much
more. Plain and simple, the 340ci was miles ahead of the 318ci in terms of performance. It was ready
to go straight out of the box. And by 1970 we saw the advertised power bumped to 290 horsepower and
345 pound-feet of torque and the Challenger T/A. But, this is where things started to go south
for 340ci, as emissions requirements basically killed it in 1972. To meet these new emissions
requirements, the compression ratio was reduced, the valve size was reduced, and much more, which
resulted in a massive power decrease down to 230 horsepower and 290 pound-feet of torque, and by
1973 the 340ci was retired entirely from use. Now, you might think that power level sounds
pretty bad for a 340ci engine, but just for reference, the 360ci engine from the same time
frame output 175 horsepower and 285 pound-feet of torque, so that power level out of a 340ci
it's not too bad at all. And the interesting part about the 340ci is that it is the only small
block engine from this time frame that was offered as a performance only engine. Other small block
engines, such as the 273ci, the 318ci, and the 360ci, had high performance versions, but they
were all based on a low performance version. Where the 340ci never had a low performance version,
it was a high performance version right out of the gate. It's sad to know that the 340ci had
such a short lifespan due to emissions, but the bright side is that a lot of the high performance
340ci parts were then used on a high performance version of the 360ci later on, which helped bump
the power on that application from 175 horsepower to 245 horsepower. Now, that takes us back in time
to 1958, when Mopar introduced the new 413ci Max Wedge engine, which I have to say is kind of a
weird name for an engine, but I'll explain it in a bit. What makes this engine interesting is that
this is the first version of Chrysler's raised block or RB design, and for a short time the 413ci
was the most powerful engine in the entire lineup. It made its initial appearance in Chrysler's
New Yorker, Imperial, and 300 Series, where it stayed until 1964. The unique wedge-shaped
combustion chambers are what gives this engine the aforementioned and kind of strange Max Wedge name.
Overall though, the 413ci Max wedge had quite a few different components as compared to the normal
413ci and offered quite a bit more performance. More specifically, the Max Wedge uses completely
different cylinder heads with 25 percent larger ports and bigger valves, it also comes equipped
with a unique high lift 300 degree camshaft, double valve springs, a new intake manifold with
very long intake runners for improved performance, twin Carter 650CFM carburetors, inside the 413ci
Max Wedge you'll find forged connecting rods, 11 to 1 or 13.5 to 1 forged pistons depending on
the specific version of the engine, and a baffled oil pan. Strangely enough, when it was equipped
in Dodge cars it was known as the Ram Charger 413ci and when it was equipped in Plymouth cars
it was known as the Super Stock 413ci. Depending on the compression ratio of the engine, the year,
and application, power ranged from 390 horsepower up to 415 horsepower, and more importantly the 415
horsepower version offers an even more impressive 470 pound-feet of torque. And I know modern
engines might make that power figure seem bad, but you have to remember this engine was developed
and offered in the 1960s, and that takes us to the even larger and even better version of the
Max Wedge 413ci, which is the Max Wedge 426ci. And as the name implies, it is the bigger engine,
this larger version was introduced in 1963. And it used a larger 4.25 inch bore to help reach that
larger displacement and was offered with three compression ratios of 11 to 1, 12 to 1, or 12 and
a half to one, depending on the configuration. While the performance of the larger 426ci Max
Wedge was marginally better than the 413ci Max Wedge at 425 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of
torque, it served as Mopar's main performance engine until the introduction of the 426ci Hemi.
And what's crazy about these Max Wedge engines is that from 1962 to 1964 you could equip them in
quite literally any Chrysler b-body car. The 413ci and 426ci Max wedge engines remain competitive
to this day in stock drag racing classes, which really just goes to show how impressive
these engines were at the time and what Mopar engines were capable of when performance was put
above all else. And that takes us to arguably the most important Mopar engine of all time and that's
the 426ci Hemi. This is the engine that helps them become such an iconic muscle car producer
in the United States and more importantly, helped solidify them as a powerhouse in American
Motorsports. The 426ci Hemi was the backbone of Plymouth and Dodge Motorsports efforts in
the 1960s and helped them dominate NASCAR and NHRA from the second the 426ci arrived.
The key to the 426ci Hemi's success? Well, it was the new hemispherical cylinder head but
they weren't really new. In fact, this was really a rendition of some work that Chrysler had done in
the previous decade. The new 426ci Hemi maintained the 58.5 degree valve positioning of the
aforementioned earlier work, but with massively increased displacement, different deck height, and
different bore spacing. The unfortunate downside to making an engine this big and this badass,
is that it was really heavy. In fact, it was one of the heaviest engines that you could get at the
time and what's even crazier about the 426ci Hemi, is that it was introduced in 1964 as a competition
only engine and we didn't see the street version of this engine until 1965. But, between the street
engine and the competition only engine, they share the same rotating assembly. So, that means your
street car is quite literally getting the same rotating assembly of a race car. The biggest thing
that separates the street engines from the race engines is just a more mild camshaft that's a
little bit more streetable. On top of the motor we saw dual quad carbs and inside was a 10.25 to 1
compression ratio. All of this paired with really any lack of emissions components or regulations
allowed the 426ci Hemi to produce 425hp power and 490 pound-feet of torque, although again, many
Mopar enthusiasts say this is underrated and the real number is closer to 450 horsepower. This time
around they supposedly kept the advertised power a little bit lower than what the car actually
made in order to keep insurance companies happy, as advertising a 450 horsepower car in the 1960s
would have been a little bit crazy. Unfortunately, this wasn't exactly a cheap option, so it's a
pretty rare thing to find and it's certainly the most sought after Mopar V8 and understandably so.
It was produced until 1971 and it's hard to argue that it isn't one of the most important American
engines of all time. All right, enough with the dinosaur engines. Sure, they're cool they make
a ton of power and they're very interesting, but let's take a look at something that was built this
century, and we could start with the 5.7L Hemi. When Chrysler decided to revive the Hemi name for
improved marketability with their newest V8 engine that they were developing in the early 2000s,
they ended up kind of messing up the details. It has the Hemi name on it, but the combustion
chambers in the 5.7 liter heads aren't nearly anything like the Hemi heads found in the 1950s
and 1960s Mopar Hemi engines. This engine was released in 2003 and it was meant to complement
the existing 5.9 liter Magnum engine and it was initially offered in Ram trucks. Despite the
Hemi badge on it being kind of a gimmick, this has been one of their most successful engines
to date. Initially outputting 345 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of torque, it is a pretty decent
engine right off the bat, but it was then modified heavily in 2009 with the addition of revised
cylinder heads, intake, variable camshaft timing, and multi-displacement system, which offered
improved mileage by utilizing cylinder deactivation at cruising speed. Interestingly
enough, the new modified 5.7 liter Hemi was known as Eagle internally amongst Chrysler and this
rendition of the engine outputs 395 horsepower and 410 pound-feet of torque. The 5.7 liter
Hemi is most notable for its dual plug setup, as well as the introduction of variable camshaft
timing and variable displacement technology. It's since been proven as a very versatile and long
lasting engine that's been used in the Charger, the Challenger, Ram trucks, Jeep SUVs, and so
on. That takes us to the elephant in the room, or the there's a cat in the room? I don't really
know. Either way, the Hellcat engine was Mopar's last attempt to take back share from GM and Ford
with their muscle cars, and the Hellcat motor will go down as their last performance V8 engine
as they begin moving towards electrification of their lineups. And this truly is the ultimate
evolution of the modern Hemi engine; it's the peak of it all. And while it's easy to hate on Hellcat
engines for seemingly being overrated and slow, that's simply because modern Mopar platforms
are very heavy. The motor itself, though, is a very impressive feat of performance.
Outputting anywhere from 707 horsepower all the way up to 840 horsepower, over its near
decade run on the market. The design for the Hellcat motor actually comes from the
6.4 liter hemi and not the 5.7 liter Hemi, with a decrease in displacement and a lower
compression ratio, they are able to construct an engine that safely survives 11.6 PSI of boost
pressure from a pretty large 2.4 liter twin screw supercharger. The demon variant features
quite a few major modifications including a much larger 2.7 liter supercharger that allows
it to output 840 horsepower on 100 octane fuel, and then there's also the Red Eye Edition,
which uses the Demon's larger supercharger, but at a lower 797 horsepower. At this point, it's
been used nearly across the entire Fiat/Chrysler lineup, finding a home not just in the Challenger
and the Charger, but also the Jeep Trackhawk, the Ram TRX, the Durango SRT Hellcat, and
hopefully one day a Hellcat Pacifica, but that's a long shot. Some honorable mentions that I wanted
to include in this video but didn't have time to actually add to the video include the 360ci small
block, the 383ci B engine, the 440ci RB engine, and the 6.4 liter hemi. Mopar has put together
quite a few very impressive V8 engines dating all the way back to the 1950s, but that won't
last much longer as they move towards smaller motors and electrification. If you think there's
anything I forgot to add to this video or anything you want to add, be sure to drop it down in the
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