Engines - the legendary one of each type?

[Pat H]

Single - Manx Norton
Twin - Bevel drive 900 Ducati
Triple - Triumph T160 Trident
I4 - Lotus 1600 TC
Flat 4 - Alfa 1500
5 cylinder - Fiat 20v Coupe
I6 - 3.8 XK/E Type
V6 - Alfa Romeo "Busso" V6
Flat 6 - 1980s air cooled Porsche 911
I8 - Dunno
V8 - Alfa Montreal
V10 - Dunno
V12 - RR Merlin
Flat 12 - Ferrari "Colombo" 12-cylinder
W12 - Dunno
V16 - BRM V16
W16 - Dunno

[williamp]

single cylinder? Surely the 954cc single from the Benz patent Motorwagen. The first car.
Lancia for the V4
McLaren BMW for the V12
I6: Also nominate the jaguar XK engine. A le mans winning engine you could drive in your saloon in the 1980s
V8: Cosworth DFV
V16 BRM a great noise, but a failure. Maybe the Cadillac V16 is a more worthy engine

[RizzoTheRat]

Single cylinder has got to be something by Briggs and Stratton hasn't it?

Not wanting to sound like train spotter, but the original list misses off opposed piston engines like the Napier Deltic which is a impressive design, and still used today in the Hunt class minesweepers.

ETA: And only one twin? Don't forget they can come as flat, V and parallel just like the bigger engines.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Wednesday 20th May 16:30

[Turkish91]

In my opinion...

Single - Husqvarna 577cc as found in 2000ish-2006ish "570" badged bikes. Either that or the Minarelli AM6 for it's unbelievable ability to cope with abuse from 16 year olds across Europe.
Twin - BMW 1085cc Boxer - again, so maintenance free and bucket loads of torque from almost any rpm.
Triple - Ford 1.0 Ecoboost. What a motor for the size!
i4 N/A- Honda K20a2 / Vauxhall C20XE
i4 Turbo - Mitsubishi 4G63 / Cosworth YB
5cyl - Ford 5cyl as found in ST & RS
i6 - Toyota 2JZ
V6 - Jaguar AJ126
V8 - Cheverolet LS7
V10 - BMW 5.0 V10
V12 - Lamborghini V12 (as found in the Aventador)

Flat engines I didn't bother mentioning as the only ones I can quickly think of are Porsches, Subarus and Beetles... And I'm not a fan of any of them really.

[Zato]

For a three I would say the 993cc in the Daihatsu Charade GTTi

Was a marvel for its day.

[DJP]

OK then,

Single – Manx Norton (or BSA Goldstar)
Twin – Triumph or Harley
Triple – Laverda Jota
I4 - Honda F20C
Flat 4 - Subaru EJ
5 cylinder – Volvo T5
I6 – Jaguar XJ
V6 – Ford “Essex”
Flat 6 - Porsche (various types)
I8 - Bugatti DOHC Grand Prix engine
V8 - Chevy Smallblock
V10 - Dodge "Viper" V10
V12 - Rolls Royce Merlin
Flat 12 - Ferrari "Colombo" 12-cylinder
W12 - Volkswagen W12
V16 - BRM V16 (also the best sounding engine. Ever. No arguments please)
W16 - Volkswagen W16

For me "Legendary" implies a substantial history therefore, for example, engines like the Ford Ecoboost cannot be legendary (although they may become so one day).

Edited by DJP on Wednesday 20th May 16:40

[shalmaneser]

boz1 said:

ChemicalChaos said:

I6 - Nissan RB26

Shurely shome mistake?

There are many very uninteresting versions of that engine in uninteresting cars; only the highly tuned versions like in the Skyline can be considered 'legendary'.

I think that one of the BMW straight-sixes that was at least a bit special in all cars where it was fitted has to be more deserving.

Can I jointly nominate the S38 and the S54?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_S38
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M54#S54

Has to be the S54 surely?

Engine of the year 6 times in a row wasn't it?

[Cactussed]

Ive owned or driven most of them.
2JZ, RB26, S54, S50.
S54 is a cracking N/A motor.
RB26 is an utter corker though. Gets my vote.

[eldar]

3 cyl Kawasaki 2 strokes for their sheer lunacy. Huge performance, huger thirst and a minuscule power band in the early ones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_triple

[Hol]

Zato said:

For a three I would say the 993cc in the Daihatsu Charade GTTi

Was a marvel for its day.

Agreed. The charade was a pokey little turbo charged car for its time, long before the Fiesta ecoboost was conceived.

For pure mass production, the 65bhp Aygo/C1/107 3pot has the production numbers to also be considered.

[Hol]

Hasbeen said:

You have forgotten, or are too young to remember, the most versatile engine of them all, the Buick/Rover V8.

It's powered luxury saloons, bush bashing 4 wheel drives, a host of sports cars which give it some claim, but it also won 2 F1 world championships in it's Brabham Repco form. What engine can claim so much.

This is a definite. Even period touring cars used it.

[feef]

Single : KTM LC4 690
V-twin : Flying Millyard 5.0 : beautiful piece of engineering and sounds like an aircraft
Parallel twin : Yamaha TRX850
Flat twin : BMW R1200R
Triple : Kawasaki H1 500
Inline 4 : Alfa 4C
V4 : Honda RVF
Flat 4: Subaru
Inline 5 : Audi RS3 2.5 TFSI
V5 : Honda RC211V
Inline 6 : BMW S54
flat 6 : Porsche 996 GT3 RSR
V6 : Alfa 3.0 V6
Inline 8 : Bugatti Type 35
V8 : Cobra 427
V10 : Toyota 1LR-GUE
V12 : MC12 sports OR TVR Speed 12 (can't decide)
Flat 12 : Ferrari 512 BB NART
16 : Can only be the Bugatti Veyron really.

[ChemicalChaos]

Hol said:

Hasbeen said:

You have forgotten, or are too young to remember, the most versatile engine of them all, the Buick/Rover V8.

It's powered luxury saloons, bush bashing 4 wheel drives, a host of sports cars which give it some claim, but it also won 2 F1 world championships in it's Brabham Repco form. What engine can claim so much.

This is a definite. Even period touring cars used it.

I certainly didn't forget it - in fact I was going to put it. However, whilst the RV8 is revered over here, in the rest of the world it is the Chevy that is the go-to engine whenever someone thinks of a V8

[alangla]

I've yet to hear a 3 pot that sounded as good as the 675cc MV Agusta F3 that ran in the 2013 Isle of Man TT. Sounded great going down Bray Hill...

[Gary C]

Think I would vote RR griffon for V12

[rb5er]

COSWORTH YB surely the most iconic i4 engine by quite some margin.

[Alicatt1]

feef said:

Single : KTM LC4 690
V-twin : Flying Millyard 5.0 : beautiful piece of engineering and sounds like an aircraft
Parallel twin : Yamaha TRX850
Flat twin : BMW R1200R
Triple : Kawasaki H1 500
Inline 4 : Alfa 4C
V4 : Honda RVF
Flat 4: Subaru
Inline 5 : Audi RS3 2.5 TFSI
V5 : Honda RC211V
Inline 6 : BMW S54
flat 6 : Porsche 996 GT3 RSR
V6 : Alfa 3.0 V6
Inline 8 : Bugatti Type 35
V8 : Cobra 427
V10 : Toyota 1LR-GUE
V12 : MC12 sports OR TVR Speed 12 (can't decide)
Flat 12 : Ferrari 512 BB NART
16 : Can only be the Bugatti Veyron really.

So glad someone mentioned the Kawasaki 2stroke triple

To add:
Square 4, 4stroke: Ariel with various sizes up to 997cc
Square 4, 2 stroke: Suzuki RG 500

Of course there is also the 1961 Honda CB77 305cc twin and capable of about 105mph, the first modern Japanese motorbike and that lead the charge that lead to the demise of the British motorcycle industry. Great little engine and could rev to over 9,000rpm , I had a 1964 version.

Edited by Alicatt1 on Wednesday 20th May 18:03

[Willy Nilly]

The best single, by some margin is the one in a Honda C90.

[Pete317]

Suzuki made a 750cc water-cooled triple back in the '70s IIRC.
Also, IIRC, Moto Guzzi made a large single-cylinder thumper, also long ago.

[Leins]

Cactussed said:

Ive owned or driven most of them.
2JZ, RB26, S54, S50.
S54 is a cracking N/A motor.
RB26 is an utter corker though. Gets my vote.

It is, but the S38B38 is better still IMO