RE: Six of the best | Four-cylinder engines

[velocemitch]

yes Diamonds look and sound brilliant, they even have a name not a number.
I'm totally clueless about all these damned number letter combinations people come up with.

I do understand names though.... Busso Nord, Lampredi, Lotus, Diamond..... Merlin... opps got carried away

[AER]

You've all missed the Holden Starfire four! A work of true genius!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSMFzKSe1_8

[Yav69]

Odd the famous 3SGTE wasn’t included. Seen it revered elsewhere as Toyotas best engine ever. Certainly the most successful in rally terms. Oh and it’s powered my GT Four for the last 26 years,,,,

[Oilchange]

SidewaysSi said:

John_S4x4 said:

I should mention the Diamond Millingtom 4-pot.


I bet there won't be another comment about this engine in the thread.

Yep they seem like stunning things. Good call.

The Millington 'Diamond' engine is one serious lump, all 20 thousand quids worth

2.5L (2499cc)
•Maximum BHP: 325-355 (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Maximum Torque: 245-255 LB-FTs (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Weight: 83KGs (undressed)

2.7L (2663cc)
•Maximum BHP: 335-365 (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Maximum Torque: 255-268 LB-FTs (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Weight: 83KGs (undressed)

2.8L (2808cc)
•Maximum BHP: 340-370 (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Maximum Torque: 285-300 LB-FTs (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Weight: 85KGs (undressed)

[mick265]

Hi, all. Mick the 'Aussie' agrees with excellent choices. But the winner for me will always be Renault F4RM874. What a burbble and the torque feel of a V8.
To me, new one is a disaster.

All the best from down under.

Mick265

[jet_noise]

Oilchange said:

SidewaysSi said:

John_S4x4 said:

I should mention the Diamond Millingtom 4-pot.


I bet there won't be another comment about this engine in the thread.

Yep they seem like stunning things. Good call.

The Millington 'Diamond' engine is one serious lump, all 20 thousand quids worth

2.5L (2499cc)
•Maximum BHP: 325-355 (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Maximum Torque: 245-255 LB-FTs (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Weight: 83KGs (undressed)

2.7L (2663cc)
•Maximum BHP: 335-365 (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Maximum Torque: 255-268 LB-FTs (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Weight: 83KGs (undressed)

2.8L (2808cc)
•Maximum BHP: 340-370 (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Maximum Torque: 285-300 LB-FTs (depending on rolling road and installation)
•Weight: 85KGs (undressed)

In Frank Kelly's Escort I believe.
Get Youtubing for Fast, Sideways & Mental.
It will not be wasted time

Also McKinley's white Escort Warrior for more Pinto-loaded fun.

[aeropilot]

V8fan said:

Zag_a_muffin said:

Lotus 910 and versions of it was used in Jenson Healy, Lotus Sunbeam and the Elite, Eclat and Excel. Is that sufficient front engine applications?

I've had 3 x Lotus Excels so I know what I'm on about. They may all be from the 900 series, but all those engines are the 912 including the N/A Esprit.

Actually, you don't know what you're on about....as the engine in the Lotus-Sunbeam was the 911.

[braddo]

AER said:

You've all missed the Holden Starfire four! A work of true genius!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSMFzKSe1_8

Indeed, for the antipode of this thread the Holden Starfire from the Antipodes would be in the top 6!!

I lived with one for a while and what a pathetic lump of pig iron it was.

[braddo]

John_S4x4 said:

I should mention the Diamond Millingtom 4-pot.


I bet there won't be another comment about this engine in the thread.

An extremely expensive, extremely low volume, race engine. Perhaps more suited for a top 6 of race engines where it would up be against 90s BTCC and the DTM engines like the Cossie Merc at the beginning of the article?

[vanschpunk]

You can certainly see this thread is defo split into the categories of "jap fans", "Motorsport fans", "German fans" et Al.

Even though I'm a deep down Ford fan and the Cosworth YB is probably the best 4cyl Ford ever had, it was also unreliable. But better than the BDA/BDG mentioned above. The 4g63 is probably the best 4cyl ever hands down. Everything it's been in: road car or race car, it sounds OK, performs real well and does it all reliably enough. The EJ20s where also as scrap as YB. Renault F7R was a nicer engine all round than an F4R imo. And everything else mentioned is a bit meh

[100 OCTANE]

This car is made by a British company, Jowett, they invented the boxter engine, I think they deserve some credit here!

[coppice]

The term is boxer engine -not boxter , or even Boxster, as in Porsche . The Jupiter pictured had a flat four , Lots of much older cars had flat fours , going back to pre WW1 and obviously including VW . But I do know that not all flat engines were boxers - the Ferrari flat 12 wasn't , but was the Jowett ? Anybody know ?

[JohnnyF2]

Suzuki M16A in the Mk1 and Mk2 Suzuki Swift Sport.

I think for an engine to be considered great, it needs to be powerful, characterful, and reliable. Some people in the thread have suggested BMC A-Series - I ran several of these in the 80's in 1275GT's... they could certainly be made to have some power and they also had character - but even then they seemed archaic to what my mates were running at the time... the A-Series' 1948 technology was already nearly 40 years old even back then!

A-Series : Heavy, poor oil control (even when new!), inefficient heads with siamesed ports etc, OHV, poorly/cheaply made... I only ran these because I loved the Mini's handling so much and the cars were cheap, though I ended up spending what was for me a fortune at the time on rebuilds and decent heads etc.

M16A shows how it should be done in a small, sporty car... bulletproof reliability, chain driven timing, forged pistons - oil spray cooled, variable valve timing (feels like a smaller Honda VTEC), great sound, fuel efficient. I have covered approx 100k miles now in my mk1 SSS, (enthusiastically driven!) and the engine & ancilliaries have been 100% reliable and I get 40 mpg even when thrashing it. I enjoy the throttle response with it being N/A - and it always brings a smile in the upper reaches of the rev range when the valve timing switches. All I've done is fitted a stainless Piper exhaust and a decent panel filter & that's all I need. These cars are a future classic I think.

[geo1905]

What about the Prince engine as used in the R56 Mini Cooper S, John Cooper Works and the GP. Ok, the earlier (N14) version might be a bit iffy but the later (N18) engine was much better. 211 bhp from 1.6 litres (218 for the GP) is not to be sniffed at !

[viggyp]

Mr Tidy said:

BFleming said:

virgilio said:

fiat lampredi dohc (124 spider to lancia integrale)

For me, this. I grew up with Supermirafiori's, 124's, 132's, Ritmo's, and they had one thing in common.

I'd vote for that too after having a Fiat 125 and a 132 1800ES in the 70s - a fantastic engine!

Shame I never got a Strada 130TC or a Tipo Sedicivalvole, but by then I had discovered Fords were cheaper to fix.

The Strada Abarth was, to me the best iteration of the Lampredi lump. Long stroke and twin 40's for low end grunt, which did like to rev, good mid range cams and large valves for the top end. Easy to work on also. Only ran out of puff at about 6.2K rev range.

[flashbang]

Yav69 said:

Odd the famous 3SGTE wasn’t included. Seen it revered elsewhere as Toyotas best engine ever. Certainly the most successful in rally terms. Oh and it’s powered my GT Four for the last 26 years,,,,

I agree.

[Leins]

geo1905 said:

What about the Prince engine as used in the R56 Mini Cooper S, John Cooper Works and the GP. Ok, the earlier (N14) version might be a bit iffy but the later (N18) engine was much better. 211 bhp from 1.6 litres (218 for the GP) is not to be sniffed at !

I prefer the supercharged R53 lump. Similar power in GP-form too

Still wouldn’t have it in my top six though

[BFleming]

Leins said:

geo1905 said:

What about the Prince engine as used in the R56 Mini Cooper S, John Cooper Works and the GP. Ok, the earlier (N14) version might be a bit iffy but the later (N18) engine was much better. 211 bhp from 1.6 litres (218 for the GP) is not to be sniffed at !

I prefer the supercharged R53 lump. Similar power in GP-form too

Still wouldn’t have it in my top six though

The Prince engine will go down in time as the worst engine ever, not the best. Oil thirst, timing chain stretch & snap... just.... No.

[CABC]

BFleming said:

Leins said:

geo1905 said:

What about the Prince engine as used in the R56 Mini Cooper S, John Cooper Works and the GP. Ok, the earlier (N14) version might be a bit iffy but the later (N18) engine was much better. 211 bhp from 1.6 litres (218 for the GP) is not to be sniffed at !

I prefer the supercharged R53 lump. Similar power in GP-form too

Still wouldn’t have it in my top six though

The Prince engine will go down in time as the worst engine ever, not the best. Oil thirst, timing chain stretch & snap... just.... No.

those points ignored, it wasn't even loveable. just a pu.
not sure the r53 was loveable either. just because the sc gave it some character, the lump was still rudimentary.

[coppice]

I must admit I had assumed that it was just one of a very long and tedious series of turbo fours which every single manufacturer now seems to make . Parps and pops guaranteed , and decent power - but isn't this just generic now?