The SUV I’m looking at has a:
4.7L V8 SFI OHV
and I know that’s a 4.7 liter V8 (8-valve) engine, and I’m betting OHV is Overhead Valve, but I have no clue what “SFI” means. Can anyone enlighten me? Thanks
Sequential fuel injection
M’kay, thanks! 
V8 does not mean 8 valves, it means 8 cylinders/pistons arranged in a V configuration: four cylinders in the left bank, four in the right bank.
of valves per cylinder is not indicated in that nomenclature; likely it’s either 2 or 4 valves per cyl.
The SFI/OHV descriptors are kind of redundant: these days I’d be very surprised if there are any automotive engines out there that are not sequential fuel injection and not overhead-valved.
Sounds like a Dodge engine (Chrysler).
It’s an overhead cam V8. Many V8’s are pushrod engines, which are less efficient and less precise. The 4.7 is OHC (overhead cam).
The 4.7 has one cam over each engine back. Ergo, it’s a 2 valve per cylinder engine. Makes sense for SUVs that want low-end torque.
Good engine. Four valves per cylinder is harder to tune and more expensive to manufacture for something aimed at trucks. So, an OHC V8 with two valves per cylinder is a very well-balanced approach to torque, power, drive-ability and cost of manufacturing.
Unless the OP mistyped, it’s an OHV (over head valve) engine. This means a centrally located single camshaft and valves actuated by pushrods.
@Joe: OHV and SFI are not redundant. Plenty of SFI engines are single or double over head cam (SOHC/DOHC). And plenty of OHV engine are not SFI, which means they would usually be batch-fire injection (or even TBI, Throttle Body Injection).