Big Engine Bay, Small Engine Challenge

[Welsh Pirate]

I happened to look in the engine bay of a Peugeot Partner Van that I had use of the other day. I was surprised to find (for a modern vehicle) a reasonable amount of space under the bonnet:





That got me thinking - most engine bays are now crammed full. Gone are the days of there being acres of space either side of a tiny engine.

My challenge to my fellow PH'ers is to post images of engine bays with tiny engines in them (either modern or classic). The more space the better!

What can you find?

[2xChevrons]

Definitely a classic, but the Morris Minor is always my benchmark in this department:



More empty space than actually mechanical parts, and you can virtually sit inside the engine bay while tinkering. Being designed for a flat-four later replaced by a tiny inline-4 will do that, I guess.

[sunnyb13]

quite common in vans like transits.

[Dieci]

I don't have a pic handy but I own a tiny car with tiny engine and there is room under the bonnet for the full size spare wheel too .

[Welsh Pirate]

2xChevrons said:

Definitely a classic, but the Morris Minor is always my benchmark in this department:



More empty space than actually mechanical parts, and you can virtually sit inside the engine bay while tinkering. Being designed for a flat-four later replaced by a tiny inline-4 will do that, I guess.

You could hold a small party in there! And a Minor is hardly a big car either!

[mikeyr]

A little sneaky but the Mazda MX-30 has room for a range extender but currently doesn't have one so you get acres of space in here...


You could stand in that space to the right!

[Krikkit]

mikeyr said:

A little sneaky but the Mazda MX-30 has room for a range extender but currently doesn't have one so you get acres of space in here...


You could stand in that space to the right!

Surprised they haven't engineering in a storage frunk for that space in the end.

[SteBrown91]

Top candidate for this has to be the 1.3 capri doesnt it?

[Welsh Pirate]

I reckon there'll be something eastern European or Russian with a tiny, tiny engine.

[Pieman68]

1.3 Sierra was pretty impressive

[Draxindustries1]

I don't have a picture to hand but the 1.0 ecoboost 3 pot looks lost in a Mondeo engine bay..

[Rotary Potato]

SteBrown91 said:

Top candidate for this has to be the 1.3 capri doesnt it?

My first thought too.

The 1.6 crossflow engine is externally the same size though (I believe!).

Here's a random picture off the internet.

Edited by Rotary Potato on Tuesday 20th December 16:57

[anonymous-user]

Pieman68 said:

1.3 Sierra was pretty impressive

You learn something new every day.
I didn't know the pinto came in a 1.3 variant

[Welsh Pirate]

Pieman68 said:

1.3 Sierra was pretty impressive

That air intake pipe doesn't look particularly efficient!

[Granadier]

Ford Zodiac Mk 4 springs to mind. They designed a massive bonnet for style reasons and then fitted a V4 engine leaving the front half of the bay basically empty... bunged the spare wheel in there to take up some of the space.

[Glosphil]

The Ford Zodiac 'flight desk bonnet' model with the V4 engine tucked up against the scuttle must be a contender.

[kambites]

Obviously it's hidden under a big plastic cover, but I always thought the four-pot S-class Mercs must have a huge amount of spare room given that the engine bay is designed to take a V12.

[Veryoldbear]

The good old Triumph Herald / Spitfire / Vitesse / GT6 with the walk-in engine room.

[VS02]

My old Polo while a small car still had quite a lot of space in the bay..

[Bonefish Blues]

Pieman68 said:

1.3 Sierra was pretty impressive

Probably the only context in which you could use those words!