Flat-4 vs Inline-4 post on the FP reminded me of this

Kinja'd!!! by "Saracen" (manualdoucheelitist)
Published 08/03/2017 at 17:05

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Read this (three pages total) and you will have all the knowledge on engine balance.

http://www.autozine.org/technical_school/engine/Smoothness1.html


Replies (6)

Kinja'd!!! "Bytemite" (bytemite)
08/03/2017 at 17:23, STARS: 0

So...we have to buy Subarus or Porsches or BMWs now?

Kinja'd!!! "RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire" (ricerocketeer2)
08/03/2017 at 17:43, STARS: 0

or an old Lexus IS300, Supra, or import a GTR pre-R35.

Kinja'd!!! "fourvalleys" (fourvalleys)
08/03/2017 at 17:55, STARS: 0

Mmm, this is good stuff. Needs more sweet, sweet animations though!

Kinja'd!!! "Saracen" (manualdoucheelitist)
08/03/2017 at 18:15, STARS: 0

Or Mercedes soon, after they switch back to straight sixes.

Or anything with a V8 really.

Kinja'd!!! "Saracen" (manualdoucheelitist)
08/03/2017 at 18:19, STARS: 0

My favorite part of this is the last section, about why the W8 is not very good:

“For installing to smaller cars, W8 was a logical development from W12.

However, W8 does not balance inherently , unlike W12.

Although its crankshaft has 5 main bearings and 4 crank throws like a conventional V8, its short length means no space to fit large counter weights like a conventional cross-plane V8.

Therefore, it employs a flat-plane crankshaft (probably the first for a non-exotic V8). Its crank throws are machined extremely thin. The flat-plane crankshaft also means it does not generate the “rumble bumble” noise like conventional V8s.

You might remember, flat-plane V8 generates second order vibration like inline-4 engines.

While high-performance V8s like Ferrari’s or Lotus’ can reduce such vibrations with shorter stroke, lightweight pistons and con-rods, the W8 could use neither because it was designed for Volkswagen Passat, which needed torque and reasonable costs.

Moreover, while exotic sports car could put up with a certain level of vibration, a premium sedan like Passat W8 was not supposed to show anything regarded as unrefined.

As a result, the only solution was to add counter-rotating twin-balancer shafts like inline-4 engines. This explains why the W8 was costly to build, and it was soon phased out.”

In summary, the W8 was a crap engine, an amalgamation of engineering compromises that exists merely to cram 8 cylinders into the space meant for a V6.

Kinja'd!!! "Captain of the Enterprise" (justanotherdayinparadise)
08/03/2017 at 18:25, STARS: 0

A lot of Jalopnik recently has been covering other people who created the content and copying what they did and selling it as Jalopnik news. Not all of it but it keeps popping up.