Most powerful n/a 4 cylinder car petrol engine?

[300bhp/ton]

Just wondering what:


a) is the most powerful standard production engine with 4 cylinders and no power adders (nitrous, turbo, etc.)

At a guess I suspect something like a 250hp Caterham.


b) How much power can you get from a n/a 4 cylinder engine and keep it legal for road use in the UK?




Please add bhp (and torque if known) figures as well as some engine details if poss, cheers

Edited by 300bhp/ton on Thursday 30th June 15:45

[Defcon5]

S2000 engine maybe?

[hairy]

porsche 968?

[Justayellowbadge]

Porsche 3.0 was 240ish IIRC.

Edited by Justayellowbadge on Thursday 30th June 15:46

[Lefty]

I would imagine it was the 1.8k from the first r500 Caterham (the one with the roller barrel throttles). Sure it was claimed 250bhp.

[Gad-Westy]

The Caterham R500 is 263 bhp. There was also the XE based JPE at about 250 bhp. How powerful was Porsche 968?

I know of at least one road legal Vauxhall 2.0 XE engine running 330 bhp +

[Prof Prolapse]

Gad-Westy said:

I know of at least one road legal Vauxhall 2.0 XE engine running 330 bhp +

Surely that's a bit like trigger's broom?

[Zwoelf]

I would have thought 280-300bhp would be doable from one of these, remaining NA.

ETA: Sorry you said standard. No better than an S2000 then.

2,467cc, 16 valves.
238 PS @ 7,000rpm
177 lb ft @ 4,750rpm

600 built.

Edited by Zwoelf on Thursday 30th June 15:57

[otolith]

How's this?

http://carfolio.com/search/results/?s=p&o=d&am...

[zaphod42]

968 used a 16v 3.0 inline 4 for about 240PS/236bhp

The 1950s Ferraris - some had 3.4, 4 cylinder engines at over 250hp, but I guess they are a little expensive

The Ariel Atom with the Honda block for 245hp?

[Lefty]

Ferrari Monza

3.4 280bhp

[Grovsie26]

The new Ariel Atom Mugen has a claimed 275bhp from it's K20. Thats a bit special, imagine it suits the car or should i say go cart perfectly.

[otolith]

Lefty said:

Ferrari Monza

3.4 280bhp

If we're including racing cars, weren't the two litre NA BTCC cars making about 300bhp?

[AbarthChris]

surely it depends on whether you're talking BHP per litre or overall power?

[Nedz]

I would say this is a bit of a grey area.Sure the engines in caterhams may be 'standard' as far as caterham are concerned but you are forgeting that these are standard ford or rover units which are 'heavily tuned' before they are put in a caterham so i wouldn't really call them standard engines.

Cant think of many standard production four pots that produce more than around 250bhp.Porsche 968 and honda s2000 are ones that spring to mind!

[Nedz]

Prof Prolapse said:

Gad-Westy said:

I know of at least one road legal Vauxhall 2.0 XE engine running 330 bhp +

Surely that's a bit like trigger's broom?

That wont be a standard production engine out of the factory though will it?

[Zwoelf]

Nedz said:

I would say this is a bit of a grey area.Sure the engines in caterhams may be 'standard' as far as caterham are concerned but you are forgeting that these are standard ford or rover units which are 'heavily tuned' before they are put in a caterham so i wouldn't really call them standard engines.

Cant think of many standard production four pots that produce more than around 250bhp.Porsche 968 and honda s2000 are ones that spring to mind!

"Standard production" = as you buy it from the showroom floor in that particular model when new, i.e. as homologated for production by the manufacturer of that model of vehicle.

[Gad-Westy]

Nedz said:

Prof Prolapse said:

Gad-Westy said:

I know of at least one road legal Vauxhall 2.0 XE engine running 330 bhp +

Surely that's a bit like trigger's broom?

That wont be a standard production engine out of the factory though will it?

No, I was answering this question from the OP.

"b) How much power can you get from a n/a 4 cylinder engine and keep it legal for road use in the UK?"

The XE is a pretty robust engine so it may be less of a trigger's broom than some highly modded engines, but I'm pretty sure most stuff that moved was non-standard. Forged pistons, crank, rods etc... Different cams, enormous throttle bodies etc... 160 bhp per litre take some doing!

[SteveS Cup]

I don't count caterhams as "standard production engines".

I always thought the S2000's were the most powerful NA four cylinder.

And road legal? Surely a 260bhp caterham lump runs a de cat???

[rt106]

300bhp/ton said:

b) How much power can you get from a n/a 4 cylinder engine and keep it legal for road use in the UK?

The Millington Diamond (a 2.5 litre Cosworth YB based rally special used in lots of top-spec Mk2 Escorts) develops 350bhp and 245 lbft. Not too shoddy, but does cost ~£20k.

Colin McRae's Millington Mk2