Is it the sticker on the air cleaner????

what makes an engine a HP engine?

  • Horsepower rating

    Votes: 5 45.5%

  • any go fast piece added from the factory

    Votes: 3 27.3%

  • some sort of sticker someplace from the factory

    Votes: 3 27.3%
  • Total voters
    11
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318willrun

318willrun

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What constitutes an engine to be "Hi Performance" ? ? ?
  • Is it a horsepower rating??
  • Is it because it has a performance piece added to the typical run of the mill ??
  • Or is it the label on the air cleaner ???
If it's HP rating, then today's run of the mill 4 banger in a honda is just as much of a hi performance is many labeled "HP" engines from back in the day. And the 3.6 PentaStar is more of a HP engine than the legend 340. The 318 2bbl is a factory HP engine because it boast more horsepower than some of the "HP" engines.

If it's a performance piece, then the super six (225 with a 2bbl) is a HP engine. Yeah, floor that and feel the excitement!

I think it's sold to us by a sticker on the air cleaner. :) That makes the 283 2bbl "turbo fire" an HP engine. I've driven them, and I beg to differ.
 
I guess it depends on what era you're talking about. Nowadays, an EFI 4cyl could be HP. I guess if you're talkin about the muscle car era, I'd say a good induction system, "a little more" cam, better cylinder heads, decent exhaust, maybe more compression than grandmaw's car, maybe a looser ignition curve.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I guess it depends on what era you're talking about. Nowadays, an EFI 4cyl could be HP. I guess if you're talkin about the muscle car era, I'd say a good induction system, "a little more" cam, better cylinder heads, decent exhaust, maybe more compression than grandmaw's car, maybe a looser ignition curve.
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It's claimed and famed they never made a "HP" version of the LA318. But, they added a 4bbl and 360 heads, so by your description then they did make a HP LA318. I could agree with this.
 
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No bullshit, for me it’s the premium fuel requirement. You gotta put “good” gas in it, that is HP. The need for premium fuel indicates high compression or forced induction.

But just because the motor is HP, doesn’t mean the car is. Most (newer)Volvos have turbos and require premium fuel. Not what I consider a HP line of vehicles, but most of them have HP engines, which is commonplace in Luxury vehicles.
 
Don't bring 283 and power glide chevies onto this. No way to explain the screwing they gave the driving public with those in a full size car. What a turd and a waste of fuel in a hilly area.
 
318willrun said:
It's claimed and famed they never made a "HP" version of the LA318. But, they added a 4bbl and 360 heads, so by your description then they did make a HP LA318. I could agree with this.
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The hell they didn't. Ask Mexicans and South Americans. We had the 318 police package engines. Like you said.
 
MidnightSwinger said:
No bullshit, for me it’s the premium fuel requirement. You gotta put “good” gas in it, that is HP. The need for premium fuel indicates high compression or forced induction.

But just because the motor is HP, doesn’t mean the car is. Most (newer)Volvos have turbos and require premium fuel. Not what I consider a HP line of vehicles, but most of them have HP engines, which is commonplace in Luxury vehicles.
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So then you're saying the 73 340 and every 360 four barrel ever made were not HP engines?
 
My 2 cents...



so to the question....

the run of the mill engine is designed for reliability and economy.
the HP engine is designed for MORE!


Take a stock 2bbl and add a 4bbl, its an HP engine

Add a more free flowing exhaust, its MORE

Change out the 2bbl cam with a 4bbl cam, its MORE MORE

Increase the compression either via compressor or compression ratio and its MORE MORE MORE

Put a cool decal on the intake and its MORE MORE MORE MORE!!!!!!



Back in the day HP and torque were good, but with modern machining, metallurgy and 50+ years of learning they have been able to best themselves several times over, get better gas mileage and be more reliable.
 
Technically any engine that makes more power than is needed to do basic driving on highway and city streets which ain't much. Anything over that would technically be extra, more than needed would be extra performance which would be most engines. I guess high performance would be even extra over what is generally standard performance of the time, 0-60, 1/4, 1/8 mile etc.. Obviously most don't want to drive cars that are slower than 17's now day's like they would in the past. A lot of average family cars can do muscle car times now days, they just don't have that rowdy vibe to them.
 
I believe they labeled them HP when they have 2+ versions of the same cubic inch engine.

68-71 383
66-74ish 440's

340 4bbl and 426 street Hemi only came one way in each model year so it didn't say HP on it, but they all were.
 
When you have an engine that has a cr of 10.5 to 1 then that's high performance. Also, the more stickers you have on the car, the higher the horsepower.:steering:
 
413 said:
I believe they labeled them HP when they have 2+ versions of the same cubic inch engine.

68-71 383
66-74ish 440's

340 4bbl and 426 street Hemi only came one way in each model year so it didn't say HP on it, but they all were.
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Right! Even the 73 340. It was an HP engine, just HP within the gubmint regulations.
 
It has to be at least 383ci with a 4 barrel, dual exhaust and stickers. :D
 
Too much gray to make this much of anything beyond opinion. Add that I think the factory played the "HP" card too loosely and it isn't much more than a marketing label.

But a fun discussion regardless.

My opinion is that anything that has upgrades to add horsepower beyond what is necessary makes it worthy of the HP stamp. It also means that doing things like adding more carb (1bbl -> 2bbl) doesn't necessarily mean "HP" if the intent was efficiency and not performance (e.g. Super Six). Was it designed to be faster or did it get faster because it was designed to be more efficient?

I would lump the 383 4 bbl with the standard cam in the non-HP listings. And anything else the factory put a 4 bbl on but didn't do anything else to. I would also lump the 5.7 G3 in the non-HP category.

383 with the 440 cam? 360 with 340 heads/intake/exhaust? Absolutely HP. Even the 318 Police special (IMO) is worthy of the label even if the results weren't exactly spectacular as it's what they had to work with. 426 G2? 6.4/6.2 G3? 440 SixPack? I can't imagine anyone would argue with those.

I think this applies holistically to the vehicle as well. In some cases the motor wasn't really messed with, but by offering it in a vehicle you couldn't get it in before and isn't needed beyond more speed, it makes it worthy of the HP label. An example was the R/T Dakota's of the late 90's. The 5.9 wasn't changed, but because it was in the lighter 2WD Dakota and had beefed suspension and such, I think it worthy of the label. Another example might be the Ram's that could get an R/T badge by selecting the correct options to spec out a truck that was more speed orientated rather than tow/haul.

Bottom line? My opinion is horsepower rating and/or a sticker/label are marketing and only the parts added make it "HP". Sometimes the parts are in the motor, and sometimes it is a motor and/or suspension added to a vehicle.
 
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