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The most badass engine you probably don’t know about

by Gregson Mathe 6 February, 2022, 8:00 pm 3.4k Views 12 Comments

It is hard to imagine the world without the Chevy V8. It is unquestionably one of the greatest engines ever built.

They put the engine in everything, it is the go-to engine for hot rods, and Hennesey puts one in the insanely fast Venom GT. Hell, people even put LS’s into MX-5 Miatas.

The formula is simple, Chevy V8’s are strong, simple, parts are cheap and you can cram a ton of power into them. So trying to re-engineer one is a brave undertaking, to say the least.

That didn’t stop the good folks over at Mercury Marine from trying. In 2014, they launched their concept, a dual overhead cam, 4 valves per cylinder, LS. You read that correctly.

Dual overhead cams, in an LS. This is insanity. There are 3 constants in the universe, death, taxes and that all LS based motors are pushrod V8’s with 2 valves per cylinder. So why bother? The Quad Cam setup allows the engine to breathe significantly better, resulting in more horsepower. Eventually That Engine Evolved into the QC4V.

So who is Mercury Marine? Only one of the most well-known boat engine builders in the industry. So how in the world did they make their way into an automotive enthusiast’s website?

When you build a Quad Cam LS, you get my undivided attention. They started with an LS7 and increased displacement to a massive 9 liters.

They then added their special sauce, the new heads pictured above. Oh, they also added 2 turbos. Why? Because why the hell not? Because ‘Merica, that’s why. This beast makes 1650 Horsepower. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Bugatti.

That’s a little over 206 horsepower per cylinder. That’s 1000 more horsepower than a C7 Corvette Z06. This monster can go in anything you want: a boat, a car, an incredibly over powered but totally awesome Cuisinart. Anything. In all seriousness, is anyone else thinking Mr. Hennesy should give these guys a phone call?

Do you want the specs? Of course you do, straight from Mercury Marine themselves for your nerdfest viewing pleasure.
DISPLACEMENT (LITER/CU IN): 9.0/552
BORE (MM/IN): 116/4.567
STROKE (MM/IN): 107/4.213
COMPRESSION RATIO: 7.8:1
CYLINDER ARRANGEMENT: V-8
ALTERNATOR (AMP/WATT): 105/1481
CONTROLLER: PCM
FUEL SYSTEM: Sequential Fuel Injection
LENGTH (MM/IN): 785/30.90 (From Back of Block to Front of Engine – Crank Pulley)
WIDTH (MM/IN): 822/32.35 (Across Timing Drive Cover)
WEIGHT (LBS/KG): 699/317