How to choose your engine for any vehicle

[ALFAitalia]

Yikes.....not a lot a space to wheelie a bike like that!!!

 

[SpikyMikey]

Can't beat a Deltic!

They certaiy make an impressive noise in railway locomotive form
No particulate filter though.

 

[PRSboy]

The V16 supercharged in the BRM is utter aural majesty, even if hopeless in competition. But just listen to it… the first 2.5 mins or so of this.

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[johnsco]

You can't beat a petrol V8.
I've been blessed to run two:
- a 1974 Chevy 350 cid small-block V8
- a 2002 MB W210 E430 facelift

Both were legendary motors.

 

[Wolfie1]

I work with a guy that has a twin cylinder fiat car, is a weird sounding thing

 

[ChrisHGTV]

I work with a guy that has a twin cylinder fiat car, is a weird sounding thing

A twin air Fiat 500? I rented one on holiday once. Fantastic fun as the engine is so responsive but you really have to rev them and change gear a lot.

 

[philnewmerc]

A twin air Fiat 500? I rented one on holiday once. Fantastic fun as the engine is so responsive but you really have to rev them and change gear a lot.

Small Italian = perfectly acceptable

NB:
V16. Forgot about that, very acceptable in any form
VR5 and VR6 were what I wrongly referred to as W5 and W6 at the start

 

[ALFAitalia]

The V16 supercharged in the BRM is utter aural majesty, even if hopeless in competition. But just listen to it… the first 2.5 mins or so of this.

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The V16 Auto Union that was at Goodwood FOS sounded just as good.


You can buy your own V16 if you can find one, A V16 Cezeta....

 

[Londonscottish]

You can't beat a petrol V8.
I've been blessed to run two:
- a 1974 Chevy 350 cid small-block V8
- a 2002 MB W210 E430 facelift

Both were legendary motors.

I decided to have a dabble in V8s in 2003. 21 years and four cars later, I'm still in one.

The 1.2 4 pot petrol in my OH's Fiat 500 is surprisingly good. It's basically the FIRE engine launched in the Uno 40+ years ago. It's numbers are rubbish but it spins away effortlessly. Italians putting a bit of character into the most humdrum day to day engine. I liked the Milano 2.0 in the Spider project I briefly had but can't say I had a soft spot for any of the many I4s I've had over the years - including those in the standard and modified 200SXs I had - powerful, tuneable and tough but drone-y like most of them.

Loved the flat 4s in the Sud, Sprint and 33 I had.

Never had a 6 although nearly bought a VR6 once (and a 323 V6 another time). Always had a hankering after a BMW 16 but never scratched that itch. Same with the 911 flat 6.

Favourite engine of all time (that I've tried) would be the Busso in a GTV6 back in the 80's. As Ian Tyrrell puts it, "An internal combustion engine is basically a wind instrument". I rest my case.

 

[philnewmerc]

That V16 noise is amazing... almost sounds computer generated as a perfect engine note.
I agree all small Italian 4 pots (or 2 pots) are very acceptable (320d, not so much).
Flat 4 Alfasud is perfection in hot hatch form...

 

[ALFAitalia]

My last V8 was an Audi A8 4.2 V8. Smooth and powerful (ish).....but to be honest it could have been anything making that 300 hp (non turbo version)....the engine was so over quiet and insulated from the body that it was to all intents and purpose, silent....not what I want from a V8......but I guess just what someone, who might be comparing it with an S Class or 7 Series, would want!!

 

[johnsco]

I ran a straight-6 in the mid 1970s ..... An Austin A110 Mk II Westminster.
This was a 3 litre motor.
I bought it for £100 with a nackered engine, which I refitted and made a good runner out of it.
It was comfortable with a fair bit of grunt, and it looked good.
The handling was poor, as was the fuel consumption.
By today's standards it was pretty low-tech.
It was a bit of fun and you could do all the jobs yourself without having to plug it in to a scanner.

An odd-ball car that I owned for a couple of years was a Vauxhall FD series victor estate.
This was a straight-4 ........ one of those "half-a-V8" engines that General Motors used to produce for the Chevy Vega and other US models.
It was a work-horse.
It would slog away all day - But it wasn't much fun.
It died on the M1, when it blew a core-plug at about 90 miles per hour.
By the time I stopped, the engine was well-and-truly cooked (or similar words that rhyme).

Happy days !

 

[ALFAitalia]

Don't forget the Peel P50 "car".....just the one cylinder!!!

 

[ChrisHGTV]

Thinking about it we have quite a few different engine types in our household - single (technically x3), V twin, inline 4 turbo transverse, inline 4 twin turbo longitudinal, V6. Without exception they are all remarkably different in character which i like. Ive also had a couple of flat 4's, parallel twin, inline 5 turbo and straight 6. Nothing with more cylinders unfortunately.

However, personally i think any engine's character can be enhanced by fitment of carburettors rather than injection! I do love carbs. A Busso V6 on carburettors is to me just the perfect engine sound.

 

[SmartAmg]

Don't forget the Peel P50 "car".....just the one cylinder!!!

View attachment 152000

And you can drive into a building, straight into the lift.

 

[Bellow]

The 1.2 4 pot petrol in my OH's Fiat 500 is surprisingly good. It's basically the FIRE engine launched in the Uno 40+ years ago. It's numbers are rubbish but it spins away effortlessly. Italians putting a bit of character into the most humdrum day to day engine. that I've tried) would be the Busso in a GTV6 back in the 80's. As Ian Tyrrell puts it, "An internal combustion engine is basically a wind instrument". I rest my case.

When the all singing all dancing Twin Air appeared I checked the numbers of it and the FIRE engine in either the Panda or 500 (I forget which) and the Twin Air only beat the FIRE if driven oh so sedately - more sedately than anyone actually would drive on the road. It was hard to justify the gain against the increased purchase cost - which wasn't only marketing driven but a reflection of the much increased build cost of the Twin Air.

However, personally i think any engine's character can be enhanced by fitment of carburettors rather than injection! I do love carbs. A Busso V6 on carburettors is to me just the perfect engine sound.

Induction noise is so much more alive than exhaust noise - but sadly lost with fuel injection and associated plenums.
A post on another forum that caught my attention was from a guy talking about a mid 1980s van with a SBC and Quadrajet (4 barrel carb) and how good (relatively that is) it was on fuel. A carbed low compression engine but despite - or because - of that it was still relatively frugal because being low compression it did not need the detonation suppressing fuel enrichment under load that is a feature of high compression engines.

Neither the FIRE or SBC offered up class leading specific fuel consumption figures. But off the dyno and on the road, they delivered better than could be reasonably expected after a quick perusal of their stats. Both are/were cheap to build - and within build cost is a CO2 emissions cost. A fact too often overlooked - and only acceptable if the cost is amortised with greater on-road efficiency. Debatable in many instances if that actually occurs.

 

[Londonscottish]

Thinking about it we have quite a few different engine types in our household - single (technically x3), V twin, inline 4 turbo transverse, inline 4 twin turbo longitudinal, V6. Without exception they are all remarkably different in character which i like. Ive also had a couple of flat 4's, parallel twin, inline 5 turbo and straight 6. Nothing with more cylinders unfortunately.

However, personally i think any engine's character can be enhanced by fitment of carburettors rather than injection! I do love carbs. A Busso V6 on carburettors is to me just the perfect engine sound.

Occasionally, I'd take the airbox off my 33 just so I could hear the sound track of the twin 40's more clearly. Childish but fun.

When I built a stage 2 Mini I stuck a Dellorto 40 on it. I ran that open, quite literally; there was no filter and, to make the carb fit, I took a small panel out of the bulkhead. It was running a hot cam and a high compression head with big valves and the sound track was epic.

Helped by the exhaust which was a long centre branch 3 into 2 into 1 mated to a Janspeed pipe and OEM Cooper back box. I think what really helped was BL's bodgy engineering where exhaust ports 2 and 3 were siamesed - you had a raucous four pot induction noise playing at the same time a wild three pot-like exhaust note. The combination was utterly epic.

Yes, carbs. Nom nom.

 

[Bellow]

Helped by the exhaust which was a long centre branch 3 into 2 into 1 mated to a Janspeed pipe and OEM Cooper back box. I think what really helped was BL's bodgy engineering where exhaust ports 2 and 3 were siamesed - you had a raucous four pot induction noise playing at the same time a wild three pot-like exhaust note. The combination was utterly epic.

BMW aimed to emulate that siamesed port sound with its mini and succeeded in that it is similar to a stock A-Series. But nowhere close to one with an LCB. Nothing is.

 

[st13phil]

When I built a stage 2 Mini I stuck a Dellorto 40 on it. I ran that open, quite literally; there was no filter and, to make the carb fit, I took a small panel out of the bulkhead.

A friend of mine used to run a Mini in Rallycross back in the late 70's / early 80's and also a Mini as a road car. Most years at the end of the Rallycross season he would build a new, higher spec, motor for the competition car and put the end-of-season competition motor in his road Mini.

The Rallycross car had a box let into the bulkhead to provide room for the intake side of the split Weber (45 DCOE, from memory), but for a few months after installing a similarly equipped motor in his road car he simply moved the central speedo and removed the panel in the bulkhead thus allowing the engine to breath its inlet air from the car interior. You had to drive it with the windows open

 

[ChrisHGTV]

Occasionally, I'd take the airbox off my 33 just so I could hear the sound track of the twin 40's more clearly. Childish but fun.

When I built a stage 2 Mini I stuck a Dellorto 40 on it. I ran that open, quite literally; there was no filter and, to make the carb fit, I took a small panel out of the bulkhead. It was running a hot cam and a high compression head with big valves and the sound track was epic.

Helped by the exhaust which was a long centre branch 3 into 2 into 1 mated to a Janspeed pipe and OEM Cooper back box. I think what really helped was BL's bodgy engineering where exhaust ports 2 and 3 were siamesed - you had a raucous four pot induction noise playing at the same time a wild three pot-like exhaust note. The combination was utterly epic.

Yes, carbs. Nom nom.

I remember running my Sprint sans airbox - the sound was intoxicating! I remember opening the bonnet once though to be met with a cloud of white fuel vapour! Oh how we laughed (and stood far back)!

Ive got a CDA induction feed on the Alfa V6 and that has improved the induction sound no end. I was debating whether to swap out the Alfaholics downpipes for equal length ones as they sound glorious - but ground clearance is reduced even more and i have to reverse onto the drive as it is or it grounds out.

Tuned Minis (Proper A series ones) are one of those things that make those living in this time period the luckiest there has ever been.