Muscle cars

Oh, come on. Even my P6 3500S could muster 150bhp.

Richard

My Cadillac 4100 HTi had a claimed output of 125bhp IIRC.

Richard

PMSL. Just got home from from the pub and I'm pissed, please tell me you're joking.

What the hell are you talking about, you need a big block V8 to even qualify and a hemi to stamp it's authority.

I gave him frasers list but after looking myself I find myself having a perverse attraction to the 1970-80 Trans Am... I would really love run at the very least a cheap & nasty american V8 for a while at some point in my life before we run out of oil of course!

Problem with my list is that you are talking way more than 5k.

Fraser

But I was talking about the injection ones. You can get less powerful Capris than the 2.8 too. ;-)

It's not true anyway. It was 155bhp at 5250 rpm and 198ft.lb at 2500.

There are lower powered versions around however for truck etc use.

The net output of the HC P6 engine was 160bhp when measured in the same way as the SD1.

There is a nugget of truth in Conor's comment. The sd1 engine, as refettled by BL into the American market TR8, thoroughly stifled by federal emission law equipment, was so detuned and hindered that it only reached 135, and the injection one only got up to 150, come to that.

As we all know, though, the same engine typically pumps out 200+ in modern guises with decent manifolds and things. I played with one that has carb rather than injection, is still only 3500 cc, has a few extra tweaks like a strong cam, porting and so forth. That particular one produces 230 BHP as measured at the wheels of a rolling road. It does 14 second quarter miles, too. And tons of torque, of course. So I wouldn't call the engine gutless, it is just an old design which if not modernised a bit reflects the sort of figures typical of the period.

What it also underlines is that the British straight sixes that competed with the Buick engine were more modern, putting out more power. That was a reason why nobody much now tries to tune a 2.3 or 2.6 engine. They were deliberately detuned to favour the v8 model.

What the v8 has always been about, though, is torque. There, it competed favourably with the straight six even though the headline power figures were not so impressive. But then, you didn't find that to be a shortfall in practice. It was only marketing who saw a problem, and people who only consider the peak power figure, not realising that they're usually getting a car with less actual power when they are driving it about (modern fallacy, IME).

Do you even know what big block means?

Try the military-spec RV8 in my mates cab-forward Landy, 98hp.... Bet it'd run on used turps though.....

Yes, the big and small blocks are different designs there are no major components that are shared between ford (for example) big and small blocks. Small blocks have smaller cylinder bores and shorter strokes than big blocks. Big blocks generally create more torque due to their longer stroke but of course that means they cannot rev as high as its little brother. The overall dimensions and weights of small blocks is less than that of big blocks you ass.

Reminds me of a program I was watching recently where they were getting all excited about a 5.7L V8 and the 250bhp it put out. Don't you just love American engines.

lool

15 degs IIRC, the intention was to simply save a bit of space over an inline 6 without the extra costs of a V arrangement. The VR is about the length of a 4 cyl engine so can fit into a small hatch transversely and thanks to using a single cylinder head is cheaper and narrower than most Vs yet manages to be quite a strong unit.

For a rough idea of the cylinder layout.

exhaust ports in 2-2-2 configuration Inlet ports 1-2-2-1

You can sort your van out nicely.

I didn't say the Mk2 Golf is a shitty car, I said yours is, here's a clue, when you have a 'bright' idea, before rushing onto the net to tell everybody take a 5 min break and think about it first.

Its a weird mixed up engine but very smooth, and revvy. I have seen that turbo upgrade before but theres a german belt driven turbo compressor TUV approved "supercharger" kit I have been looking at instead. Cheap easy to fit, and not quite as powerful. But its a van, and have you seen the fuel prices!

[...VR6...]

Very interesting...

That obviously needed a lot of computational grunt.

I'd like to see a photo of the cam/rocker side though, that has to be real brain-sprain. 8)

A

Ive had it in bits, it gives me a headache and I understand motors lots.

The real part that bothers me is that the ports and inlet paths are all different lengths.

How they work out the firing interval degrees, and the power pulse degrees, as well as the exhaust / inlet pulses and both primary and secondary balance I have no idea. I understand totally 90 v engines, (ideal) and twins (both v and parralell 360 and 180) 3s 4s, and straight sixes, but this load of problems hurts my brain almost as much as hondas v5 gp bike engines and I have actually examined one of those closely!