I read this thread with amusement. A pushrod engine is antiquated? Good one! Someone needs to tell the Buick Grand National guys, Here that they're running antiquated motors. I don't want to be the one though. Let's see, they're pushing low 7's in the quarter with a 3500# car, (and a Buick V6 pushrod block), what do you have? On another note, maybe you're old enough to remember in 1975 when Smokey Yunick ran a 207 cube small block Chevrolet at Indy. 3.4L at 1200 horsepower. Indy changed the rules so he couldn't run the next year. Maybe you also remember Gale Banks, in the early 80's drove a twin turbo 350 Chevrolet small block in a Pontiac Firebird to the Utah Salt Flats to set a land speed record in a doorslammer. 240 mph with 1300 hp as I recall. Then he drove it home. What did you say you had? OHC, what's that? Let's not forget NASCAR, those guys are running ~6 liters at about 770 horsepower, all day long. 130 horsepower/liter NA isn't too bad on a restricted motor, wouldn't you say? If you want to see what a street pushrod motor will do, visit Lingenfelter's site. And hey, remember, his cars are street cars and very refined (read driveable for the mucky mucks). I remember reading about the new Ford V8 when it came out several years ago. Being a small block Chevrolet nut for the past 26 or 27 years, I recall that the Ford SOHC and DOHC's weigh more than a small Chevy. And they are WIDE.

Even though you may not like pushrod motors, there is a design aspect of them that makes them desirable in certain applications. They make for a small, lightweight and rigid package. With the sloping hoodlines of some cars, (Corvette), an overhead cam isn't an option when you mount the engine longitudinally. When Chevrolet redesigned the small block several years ago, they found that there wasn't a benefit to going with OHC's on a production car. This is the exact same conclusion Smokey came to in the late 60's when Chevrolet started playing with multivalves and cams atop the heads. (remember the Moser heads? arrgh!) Smokey advocated port refinement. That's the direction the small block has gone. You will find some of the best flowing intake/exhaust port configurations in the world on the latest small block heads. In case you haven't noticed, I am a small block Chevrolet man. I like my Datsun, but there's just something about the music of a V8 winding up through the gears, no need for a radio or cd player. And yes Dodgeman, one of these days I will be building a "Reynolds Wrap Hemi trap" and I will go Hemi hunting. A good retirement project. Have a good day.