The Best V8 Engines By Horsepower, Torque, Displacement, And Power Density Are All American Made (2024)

V8 engines are synonymous with the idea of unbridled power and torque, a poignant example being the supercharged power plant in Dominic Toretto's Dodge Charger in the 2001 film, The Fast and the Furious. It had so much torque "the chassis twisted coming off the line". Many renditions of the eight-cylinder V-angle engine are also known for consistently possessing more liters of displacement than there are tires attached to the cars that these engines power. The first iteration of the V8 engine platform was developed and produced by Frenchman, Léon Levavasseur. The first working prototype of this ancestral V8 was brought to life in 1903. However, it wouldn't be until 1906 that the engine would be used in the core of an automobile instead of in an airplane or speedboat, where the engine initially served before the V8-powered motorcar, displayed at the 1906 Paris Motor Show.

A few years later, another Frenchman named De Dion-Bouton would produce three variations of the V8 engine: a 4.0-liter V8, 6.1-liter V8, and 7.8-liter V8. At the tail-end of 1914, Cadillac would debut the Type 51, which was a rear-wheel-drive luxury car powered by one of the first mass-produced V8 engines, the Cadillac L-head V8. The 90-degree 5.1-liter V8 was characterized by its side-valve configuration, with a bore and stroke of 3.125 inches x 5.125 inches. The engine was the main motivator for Cadillac's 1915 models, producing a peak output of 70 hp.

So, in the modern era, more than 100 years since the first V8-powered car was displayed to the world, which V8 engine has the most power? The most torque? The largest displacement? Which V8 engine is the most power-dense? Well, unlike the first V8s to ever exist, they're all American-made engines and all are at the core of ludicrously overpowered hypercars, except for one entry.

4 The V8 With The Most Power

Hennessey Fury 6.6-liter twin-turbo V8 - 1,817 hp

Fury is a fitting name for an engine that has more horsepower than any other V8 around today. First appearing at the core of Hennessey's power-laden hypercar, the Venom F5, with sights set on clawing at the likes of Bugatti. The Hennessey Fury engine consists of a cast iron engine block attached to an aluminum cylinder head, characterized by its canted titanium intake valves.

Housed within the 6.6-liter V8 is a pushrod and rocker valve train featuring inconel exhaust valves with dual valve springs, and a billet steel crankshaft. Forged pistons are housed in cylinders featuring a bore and stroke of 4.1 inches x 3.8 inches. A large billet intake manifold with an integrated air-to-water intercooler is one of the visual highlights of the engine.

One, or rather two, of the most important components of the Fury engine are the twin-turbochargers, which are precision ball-bearing units with Herculean 76 mm aluminum billet compressor wheels. The cumulative efforts of these high-end components, alongside operating with a 10.0:1 compression ratio, allow the Fury to command a staggering 1,817 hp, meaning it has a power density of 277 hp/liter and 1,193 lb-ft of torque.

The configuration for the Fury engine that lives at the core of Hennessey's Venom F5 Revolution weighs 617 lbs, resulting in a power-to-weight ratio of 1,298 hp per ton. The rev range ends at 8,500 rpm while the top speed will likely exceed 300 mph in the near future.

3 The V8 With The Most Torque

SSC Tuatara 5.9-liter twin-turbo V8 - 1,280 lb-ft

Developed by Nelson Racing, the SSC Tuatara sources its power from a visually striking 5.9-liter V8. The Tuatara has been one of the leading monikers striving to shatter the 300 mph mark and the full weight of that expectation is placed on the powerhouse shrouded beneath the Tuatara's sultry physique. The 5.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 draws inspiration from the Chevy LS engine platform, going as far as sharing designs similar to those of the American V8 family. However, several specially designed innovations make it bespoke to SSC, which developed the engine in collaboration with Nelson Racing. A cast aluminum block is the foundation of the engine, housing a flat-plane crankshaft, and aluminum pistons attached to titanium connecting rods.

SSC credits a lot of the performance of the twin-turbo V8 to the custom intake system. The system dominates the engine's frame and introduces dense oxygenated air, aiding in the production of higher horsepower numbers. The intake system also features dual heat exchangers that are independently dedicated to the water and air cooling systems. The two 76mm turbochargers are positioned on the flanks of the engine connected to the Tuatara's intake system and are one of the key factors in the Tuatara engine's ability to muster 1,750 hp and an astonishing 1,280 lb-ft of torque.

2 The V8 With The Largest Displacement

Ford 7.3-liter PFI V8

Going against the trend of engine downsizing, Ford still offers its 7.3-liter naturally-aspirated V8. This muscular power plant serves as the motivator of Ford's F-250 Super Duty and consists of a 90-degree cast iron engine block paired with aluminum cylinder heads. Featuring a compression ratio of 10.5:1, the petrol V8 is equipped with a forged steel in-block camshaft, a pushrod/ rocker arm valve train, Ford's Duel Equal Variable Camshaft Timing (DEVCT) system, overhead valves (2 valves per cylinder), and a silent chain drive camshaft system. Powering the F-250 Super Duty, the NA engine produces 430 hp @ 5,500 rpm and 485 lb-ft @ 4,000 rpm. Although the Ford-250's 7.3-liter V8 takes the crown for the V8 engine with the most displacement, there exists an engine much larger than it but is ineligible for the title due to it being strictly offered as a crate engine. It's Chevy's ZZ632 naturally-aspirated V8 engine.

1,004 hp @ 6,000 rpm and 876 lb-ft @ 5,600 rpm are the end products produced by the 10.3-liter eight-cylinder Big-Block V8. The engine block is a tall-deck iron bowtie block with 4-bolt main caps matched to aluminum spread-port cylinder heads with 70cc chambers and a bore and stroke of 4.6 inches x 4.7 inches. The ZZ632 utilizes a billet steel camshaft with hydraulic rollers, forged aluminum rocker arms, forged steel H-beam connecting rods, forged aluminum alloy pistons, and an aluminum high-rise single-plane intake manifold. Unlike the 7.3-liter Ford V87, Chevy's behemoth V8 operates using a 12.0:1 compression ratio instead of 10.5:1.

1 The V8 With The Highest Power Density

Czinger 21C 2.88-liter twin-turbo V8 - 329.86 hp/liter

In 2021, Czinger debuted its first creation, the 21C, which is lauded as a representation of the next era of automotive engineering. The Czinger 21C is the result of the utilization of Human-AI design, along with 3D printing technology, culminating in a road-legal hypercar with the capability and skillset to also act as an indispensable track weapon.

A mid-mounted twin-turbocharged flat-plane V8 is at the center of the 21C's powertrain alongside an 800-volt electric drive system. The 2.88-liter produces 950 hp and 550 lb-ft of torque by itself, besting models like the Koenigsegg Jesko, Ferrari 296 GTB, and McLaren 720's power units in terms of power density.

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When paired with the two e-motors powering each of the front wheels, the small-but-mighty V8, with its 11,000 rpm redline, produces a total output of 1,250 hp, but in its most powerful configuration, emits a total of 1,350 hp.

It's worth noting that the sublime balance between high horsepower outputs packaged in a low-displacement engine is the key to "winning" a contest for power density. Hennessey's Fury engine produces just shy of double the output of the 21C's 2.88-liter V8 and has more than twice the amount of displacement.