The engine configurations thread
The engine configurations thread
Author
Discussion

Greg_D

Original Poster:

6,542 posts

266 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
cars, bikes, planes, you name it!!!

what internal combustion engine configurations are there, i will start off with the well known ones, what i am really interested in is the more obscure ones, and if possible, insert pictures and a quick resume of the vehicle and any insight you may have into why they thought it was a good idea...

This is probably car nerdery of the highest order, but i like this sort of stuff.

single - motoX bikes
inline 3 - little corsa
inline 4 - everything
inline 5 - volvo
inline 6 - bmw
v2 - harley engine
v6 - loads
v8 - loads
v10 - quite a few
v12 - loads
v16 - BRM F1 car
flat 4 - subaru
flat 6 - 911
wankel - rx8
rotary - planes

there are others i know, but you get the idea
over to you lot, release your inner nerd....

DanDC5

19,703 posts

187 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
V5 - Golf/Beetle
W8 - Passat
W12 - Bentley's and the Phaeton
W16 - Veyron

PanzerCommander

5,026 posts

238 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Flat 12 Ferrari Testarosa

And if were doing aircraft too (don't call them planes - thats something you smooth wood with)

The X24 engines fitted to the Avro Manchester
Hawker Typhoon had a 24H napier sabre engine
Deltic 18cylender Diesel as used in ships and trains

Edited by PanzerCommander on Wednesday 4th July 13:05

Disco You

3,717 posts

200 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
3cyls are increasingly available in cars other than corsas. But historically also in bikes (Triumph speed triple) and also VW cars.

VW also do some V5s no?

rhinochopig

17,932 posts

218 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
NS400R V3

RWD cossie wil

4,379 posts

193 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
V5- Honda GP bikes.
V4- Honda bike favourite.
Inline 8 - Old Bentley, the name escapes me.
Radial engine- lots of older aircraft, magnificent things.
Parallel twin- laverda/ Yamaha and other bikes

Alfanatic

9,339 posts

239 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
V4, Lancia and Ford. I believe at least one of those was a narrow angle with a single cylinder head, a precursor to the VR6.

Did you have the Caddie / Cizeta V16?

Also inline 8s, which were very popular before the war.

EDIT: I also don't know of any planes with a rotary, though I'm sure someone made one somewhere. If you're thinking of the old circular engines popular on biplanes, Focke Wulfs and American WW2 planes, they were radials.

The Hawker Typhoon and Tempest often sported an H16 (some versions had a radial), as did a BRM F1 car.

The Messerschmitt BF109 had a V12, but it was upside down, so it could possibly be called an A12?

Edited by Alfanatic on Wednesday 4th July 13:02


Edited by Alfanatic on Wednesday 4th July 13:04

vit4

3,507 posts

190 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
V4: Ford (Corsair & Transit) and Lancia (Fulvia, maybe more??)

Whitean3

2,194 posts

218 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Greg_D said:
cars, bikes, planes, you name it!!!

what internal combustion engine configurations are there, i will start off with the well known ones, what i am really interested in is the more obscure ones, and if possible, insert pictures and a quick resume of the vehicle and any insight you may have into why they thought it was a good idea...

This is probably car nerdery of the highest order, but i like this sort of stuff.

single - motoX bikes, Lawnmowers
inline 3 - Smart, little corsa
inline 4 - everything
inline 5 - volvo, Audi
inline 6 - BMW
inline 8 - Bugatti
v2 - harley engine
V4- Saab/Ford
V5- VW
v6 - loads
v8 - loads
v10 - quite a few
v12 - loads
v16 - BRM F1 car, Cizeta, Rolls Royce (Johnny English prototype)
Flat2- Citroen
flat 4 - VW, Porsche, Subaru
flat 6 - 911
Flat 12- Ferrari, Porsche
Flat 16- Porsche (917 race engine development)
wankel - RX7, RX8
rotary - planes
W8 - Passat
W12 - Bentley's and the Phaeton
W16 - Veyron

there are others i know, but you get the idea
over to you lot, release your inner nerd....
I've added a few more; no doubt there are plenty of others... And of course jet engines are also internal combustion engines...

FourWheelDrift

91,564 posts

304 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Car
H16 - BRM P83/P115/Lotus 43

Aircraft
H16 - Fairey Prince
H24 - Lycoming H-2470
H24 - Napier Sabre
H24 - Rolls-Royce Eagle

Leptons

5,479 posts

196 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Deltic 2 stroke diesel is one of my favourites.


Alfanatic

9,339 posts

239 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Sorry I screwed up my posts. I meant to say old planes often had radials, not rotaries.

thinfourth2

32,414 posts

224 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all


And there is weirder engines then that out in the real world

FourWheelDrift

91,564 posts

304 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Alfanatic said:
Sorry I screwed up my posts. I meant to say old planes often had radials, not rotaries.
Very old planes did like the Sopwith Camel, Triplane, Pup and others.

ManOpener

12,467 posts

189 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Flat 8- Porsche 908/909 Bergspider/some 910s?

kambites

70,290 posts

241 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Inline-2... Fiat 500?

mnkiboy

4,409 posts

186 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Twin - Fiat 500

Edit: Too slow

DrTre

12,957 posts

252 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Square 4

Captain Muppet

8,540 posts

285 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Whitean3 said:
Greg_D said:
wankel - RX7, RX8
wankel 2 rotor: RX7, RX8, NSU, Citroen
wankel 3 rotor: Cosmo

Edited by Captain Muppet on Wednesday 4th July 13:26

crofty1984

16,685 posts

224 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Ariel had a square four engine (And I belive a rare honda?) Designed by Edward Turner I believe, who is also responsible for the Triumph speed twin and subsequent Bonneville variants.

As said, there are Radial engined planes but also Rotary, as in it looks like a radial, but the cylinders rotate round a fixed crankshaft.

BMW should get a mention for the original K-engines. Straight 3 (and later 4) cylinder, mounted longitudinally in the bike, "on its side".

There is a rotary engined mazda bus in a collection somewhere.

Thrust SSC has two big jet engines
Thrust 2 has one jet engine
Bloodhound has a jet and rocket combination engine

Some range extender engines are 2 parallel cylinders on their side.

Some ships have up to 14-cylinder 2 stroke diesels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%A4rtsil%C3%A4-Su...

7,603,850 newton metres (5,608,310 lbf·ft) @ 102 rpm. Who said 2-strokes didn't have any torque!

Edited by crofty1984 on Wednesday 4th July 13:28