Why do Mopar Engines Have a Different Sound From Chevys and Fords??

-
70Dart499

70Dart499

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2012
Messages
87
Reaction score
2
Location
Plant City
I have noticed that Mopar Big Blocks have a different sound to them compared to Chevys and Fords. I don't know how to describe it, but there is just some sort of tone difference, maybe it's just me I dont know, but it seems like with open headers there is a real noticeable difference. They all sound good bit MOPARS just sound different, has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me, and if so what causes the difference?
 
Believe it or not, there actually can be a specific sound to each engine design. Most of the differences are pretty minor, ie, most folks can't really tell the difference. But if you listen to a lot of engines I could see how you might be able to tell.

Harley went so far as to patent the "Harley sound". They even went after one of the Japanese manufacturers (I forget which one), when they changed their valve layout after doing some homework. The result was an engine that sounded an awful lot like a Harley engine, and a lot less like the Japanese metric cruiser that it was.

Anyway, the sound will be tied to the valve positioning, exhaust port design, even the piston and chamber design. And using an aftermarket cam or heads would change that sound a lot. Of course, most of what you hear has to do with the exhaust system and not the engine itself. Size of the exhaust, headers, type of muffler etc. But, each engine can have some subtle differences because of its design.
 
No doubt that each engine has it's own distinct sound, although they all sound very similar, just seems like there is a general difference with MOPARS I hear.
 
Any differences will be simply in engine build, IE compression ratio, intake n carb, cam, headers, AND HEADER OUTLET

EXAMPLE take a good hi comp. engine with some "thump" in the cam, and remove the intake, install an intake using individual carbs for each cylinder, like on a Cobra/ Weber 4 x 2 bbl setup - 1 bbl for each cylinder.

Like so

289WithWebers.jpg


or Glenn Bunch's hemi

24164910411_large.jpg


This one change will COMPLETELY change the sound and characteristics of the engine. Same deal with the old Hilborn, etc stack type injection setups.

(Did you know that the older 289/302/ 390/ etc Fords ACTUALLY HAVE the same firing order as GM/ Mopar? It's all in the numbering of the cylinders)

Headers with torque extensions, especially when brought out to the side make a car sound MUCH different.

I can remember at Miramar, someone had an old Tempest --the early one originally with rear transaxle ---

He'd put in a Chiv 350 with big Holley 2BB and velocity stacks on the 2bbl, and a weird set of homemade headers. I don't think they even had collectors

WHEN YOU REVVED THAT THING UP it had a sort of "scream" like an Indy engine!!!!

A friend removed that engine, installed in a 66 Chevelle with conventional chassis headers, and swapped the intake for a Edelbrock 4bbl and big holley AND IT SUDDENLY SOUNDED like "any other" built V8

I once won a sizeable bet because of a 426 Dodge. My friend says "yep, YA KIN ALWAYS TELL the sound o' them HEMIS"

I bet him 40 bucks, "not a hemi." I KNEW what was in the car.

So later we went to the pits. "That the car?" "YUP." 426 wedge. Pay up, pal.

I used to hang out with a guy "who could tell" a BB from a SB "just by listening." Well we'd just got through swapping a 440 into my friends 74 Dodge 4x4 shortie, for the factory 360. Both had dual exhaust and mild cams. THEY SOUNDED EXACTLY THE SAME at low idle and low street speeds, and my friend HAD SAID SO.

I pointed out this statement he'd made, so THEN he tried to tell me "well I can tell on FORDS"

I'm tellin ya. You CANNOT tell.

Even my mild lo comp. 360 has a little solid tappet camshaft. I've had a couple of guys "YOU have a BIG BLOCK in that??"
 
Compared to what?

All the later Mustangs that blast up and down my street sound exactly the same, I don't even have to look. :banghead:

And then there's the different engine designs. Old Ford flathead V8's have a very particular sound. So do the FE block Fords for that matter, thanks to the 390 in my g/f's '71 F100 I can tell when something has an FE in it just by listening. And of course NOTHING sounds like a Hemi. :D.

And if you want to leave V8's behind, all those pancake 4 Volkswagon engines have a VERY distinct sound, regardless of what's been done to them. Same with the new Subaru "boxer" design engines.

Differences in the V8 designs are more subtle (except for the hemi's and flatheads), so the differences in sound are too. But its my experience that any family of engines, LA, B/RB, etc will have its own distinct sound. And that can carry over to the entire make, since its usually all the same folks designing the engines. It would make sense that old mopars would sound like old mopars, old fords like old fords etc.
 
67Dart273 said:
I'm tellin ya. You CANNOT tell.

Even my mild lo comp. 360 has a little solid tappet camshaft. I've had a couple of guys "YOU have a BIG BLOCK in that??"
Click to expand...

Just because people that don't know anything can't tell doesn't mean you can't tell.

I get people asking me all the time if I have a big block in my Challenger. It has a nearly stock 318 with a 4 barrel, headers and glasspacks.

It's definitely loud, but it doesn't sound like a big block. They just don't have the foggiest idea what they're talking about. :D

V8's are hard to tell apart, especially if they've had a lot of work. But they don't all sound the same.
 
X2 on the Mustangs blu....lol.

Stock or close to stock Pontiac V8's always had a wierd sound to me, when under heavy throttle.
 
Harley went so far as to patent the "Harley sound". They even went after one of the Japanese manufacturers (I forget which one), when they changed their valve layout after doing some homework. The result was an engine that sounded an awful lot like a Harley engine, and a lot less like the Japanese metric cruiser that it was.

Anyway, the sound will be tied to the valve positioning, exhaust port design

It was Honda with the a.c.e. American classic edition. What they changed was the crank timing. The sound is created by the 45 degree V twin with a 360 degree crank or common crank pin.

I definitely can tell when a 4.6L Ford mod motor is coming. The new Corvette has a destinct sound too but more from the exhaust arrangement. V8's with a 180 degree cranks or headers have a unique sound too.
 
factory mopar v8s DEFINATELY have a distinctive tone all their own. even mopar factory starters sound like no other. i have ran around with brand x cars long enough know any brand x sound from a mopar V8. i am talking about dual exhaust cars up to open headers in basic factory configurations.
 
72bluNblu said:
Compared to what?

All the later Mustangs

And then there's the different engine designs. Old Ford flathead V8's have a very particular sound.

. And of course NOTHING sounds like a Hemi.
Click to expand...

"Later Mustang?" So now you are comparing a factory engineered PACKAGE of many changes, perhaps EFI, factory exhaust, etc

IF you were to take a LEGACY Ford 302, Mopar 318, and Chev 302, and build 'em as close as you can to the same, IE cam, intake, headers, you would lose a lot of money betting on which was which

"Hemis sound different?" Not a chance. Take a legacy 426, built to the same general cam, carburetion as a 440, with about the same size headers, and nobody will ever know

Flatheads? Completely different engine DESIGN, I "assumed" we would at least stick to typical modern overhead V8s and leave the 3, 4, 5 and 6 cylinder, as well as 12 and 16 cylinder engines out of the mix

BUT HERE'S the THING

Many of you have heard a couple of engines, and they SOUND DIFFERENT.

FINE. Do you know that they were built on the same level? Hell no!!!

All it will take for that BB huge ba BOOM Bah out those huge pipes to go away is "less pipes", less cam, less compression.

Ever heard the "Flying Yellow Brick" run? Doesn't sound like any Y block I ever saw phut-pha-phutting around town

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fctwQghNPu0"]Y-Block Ford '57 F-100 Bonneville Nationals 2010 - YouTube[/ame]


Remember the "factory" sound of the 68-70 Super Bees, Road Runners, and GTX's?

Guess what?

You take those SAME mufflers, move them up under the car toward the headers, and bring the exhaust out in front of the rear tires, and they sound NOTHING alt all like the factory system.

On the factory muscle cars, it's mostly exhaust system design (with a stock engine build) and the design of the air cleaner. Snorkle, smogged up air filters will affect the overall sound opposed to an aftermarket open filter.
 
The head design has a lot to do with it but Mopar small blocks are a long rod motor. Put a 6 inch rod in a small block Chevy and it sounds different. tmm
 
I believe deck heighth,rod length,and piston dwell time @T.D.C. gives them that sound.
 
I always used to say a B block Mopar sounded like two Harleys running.
Chevies and Fords definitly DO NOT sound like that.

Also the small block Magnums (92-03) also have a very distinctive sound.
It's very easy to tell when one of those starts up.
Even my wife can tell and routinely comments that they sound "bad ***".

I love them both.
 
Billy Brennens Hemi Powered big block Dirt Modified had a beautiful pitch half way down the back stretch on the Syracuse Mile. Left a big smile on your face!!!!
 
Abodybomber said:
I believe deck heighth,rod length,and piston dwell time @T.D.C. gives them that sound.
Click to expand...

I agree with this, I also think the orientation of the valves makes a difference. Mopar SBs have the same valve angle (23*???) as the "racing" Chevy wedge V8s and they also open on the center of the cylinder; I believe this is what gives Mopar engines that extra "crackle" which makes them sound more intense than comparable Ford/Chevy engines. And Mopar BBs have really long connecting rods compared to the others so the piston dwell time is pretty long; this gives them the extra deep "chunky" sound at lower speed.

IMO I'd have to disagree with the Hemi sound, I think they do sound noticeably different from wedge engines when the RPMs are brought up. Both new and old Hemi engines get much louder and make a deep BOOM-BOOM-BOOM sound when the revs start to climb whereas a wedge engine stays more constant in tone throughout the rev range. I feel like this is due to the increased breathing efficiency at higher speed but it could all be in my head LOL
 
67Dart273 said:
IF you were to take a LEGACY Ford 302, Mopar 318, and Chev 302, and build 'em as close as you can to the same, IE cam, intake, headers, you would lose a lot of money betting on which was which
Click to expand...

Maybe you'd lose a lot of money. Those engines STILL have a lot of differences. Bore, stroke, valve configuration and size, piston shape, port size and length. Maybe to the average person on the street they'd sound the same, but not to everyone.

And of course, all of that STILL assumes you've spent a lot of time and money trying to make those engines sound the same. Most people don't go through that much effort.

67Dart273 said:
"Hemis sound different?" Not a chance. Take a legacy 426, built to the same general cam, carburetion as a 440, with about the same size headers, and nobody will ever know
Click to expand...

What, at idle maybe? When that 426 hits its power band, it doesn't sound ANYTHING like a 440. Not when those heads start flowing.

I'd take that bet with a wedge 426, forget the 440. Just let it rip, wide open throttle. Even with all other things equal, the hemi sounds different at full song.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I know I can tell the difference. And not just because I think I can tell, but because I have.
 
Well, there's two design elements that BB chevy and ford share, that mopars don't. The first, Mopar Big Blocks are a wedge head, While ford and Chevy are both Canted-valve designs. And second, Everything mopar makes uses comparatively ENORMOUS connecting rods to the equivalent ford and chevy designs. Which translates to higher piston speeds and a different "hit"

And the hemi just plain can't compare to anything else. It's as different from other canted-valve motors as the wedge motors are.

I'd also like to point out, the Ford modular motors have a distinctive sound too, that is unmistakable, I'd say to an even greater degree than Mopar motors.
 
It's easy to tell different makes from engine sounds... But honestly Every make has their same style set ups that people build over and over and thats what everyone hears. I can sit outside my work and tell when a honda/DSM/Subie is flying past or a chevy or a new mustang or some old pos phutt phuttphutting down the road. They are distinct sounds.
 
I had 3 Mazda RX3 rotary cars. I do not think many cars are louder than a rotary at full song. Almost painful
 
My Dart had the "Hemi tick".. sounds completely different than the others around me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top