assignment for today: compare and contrast
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 11,096
Likes: 990
From: Sierra Foothills CA
Boss 429 was made for racing like the L88 & Hemi but its ports were too big for the street & it didn't run that well there.
Hemi was a great motor & made BIG power when tuned right but the dual quads fell out of tune easily.
L88 only required valve adjustment to keep it on top of its game & was a screamer as we've seen proven by Chuck Harmon. The big cam made street manners a bit iffy at low RPMs.
The latter two were great motors no matter how you slice it. It'd be a tough choice but I'd have to go w/ the L88 for street use due to the tunability issues of the Hemi.
Hemi was a great motor & made BIG power when tuned right but the dual quads fell out of tune easily.
L88 only required valve adjustment to keep it on top of its game & was a screamer as we've seen proven by Chuck Harmon. The big cam made street manners a bit iffy at low RPMs.
The latter two were great motors no matter how you slice it. It'd be a tough choice but I'd have to go w/ the L88 for street use due to the tunability issues of the Hemi.
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Race Director
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 12,142
Likes: 54
From: Taylor Michigan
Boy, you guys are right up my alley. My kind of engines except the slug Ford. With the L88, there was basically only one with a single 4 bore Holley carb not counting the identical ZL1 which was the same except a full aluminum engine instead of only the heads. Both were around 550 HP+ or whatever. The 426 Hemi as street configuration {street Hemi} was unfortunately hydraulic cammed and rated at 425 HP with in line dual Carters. Basically almost as good as a L72 but not quite. The hydraulic cam limited the available HP and is and was no match for a 12.5-1 L88. However Chrysler did have the "A990" 426 aluminum head race hemi also at 12.5-1 with the mag cross ram and dual holleys producing 600+ HP. Here the L88 ran into it`s stiffest competition and more often that not was not the winner. The Ford Boss 429 looked great, dual quads and fancy mag valve covers but has huge main bearings good for usage pulling stumps, or in pickups, and big Marks, but not for racing in Mustangs. The best of the lot? The A990 Race Hemi! Hands down. 