So, to minorly hi-jack this I have a question...

SilverSeven, what design (I4,I5, I6, V6, V8, V10, or V12)will potentially give the best results in regards to horsepower/torque and displacement?

And a supplementary question - Is horsepower or torque more important or are they both equally important?

 

Any based on the design.

 

Any design based on their design willyield the best potential results?

I hate to be a smart @$$, but I don't get it.

 

I think you just don’t know much about cars or engines for that matter. Don’t you think a better merit for judging an engine’s performance would be how much horse power it makes to fuel it uses? I mean at the end of the day isn’t the engine the makes the most horse power with the least amount of fuel the best performer? So let’s go down your list of great engines

BMW 3.2l: 16 city 23 highway @333hp & 262 torque
Audi rs4: 14 city 21 highway @420hp & 317 torque
Porsche GT3: 17 city 24 highway @420hp & 298 torque

Now let’s compare that to the z06

2006 Z06: 16 city 26 highway @505 hp & 470 torque

Isn’t that strange? The z06 make more horsepower and over 150 more lb/ft of torque than any of the others yet gets the same or better gas mileage.

And before you give me the weight argument, let’s compare 2 cars with the same engine (the Ls1) but different weight, the 2001 vette and 2001 z28, the z28 weighs more than 3600 lbs.

2001 vette: 19 city 28 highway @350 hp & 375 torque
2001 z28: 19 city 27 highway @350 hp & 340 torque

all data came from and can be confirmed at http://autos.msn.com/

Look when it comes to older v8s, I agree with you. It almost seemed like they didn’t care about performance before 1997. But modern day engines are an entirely different story, especially when you are talking about any Gen III Chevy small block. It a complete redesign from the older v8’s and shares NOTHING with them except similar displacement numbers.

Now, to take this agreement one more step forward, lets take the engines I’ve listed above and see which one is capable of the most horsepower with after market parts…you will find right away any of gm LsX engines will net you the most power. I’ve seen ls1’s put out over 3000 horsepower to the wheels! Can’t say the same for any of the other engines. You want to talk power to displacement ratios…that’s like ...526 horsepower per liter... Hell gm just released a 6.0l block that is factory rated at 2500 horse power and god only knows how much torque. this is due to the fact that all gen 3 small blocks are 6 bolt main engines (you likely dont know what the even means).

So why don’t you cool it before saying all American car companies can’t make good engines without knowing the facts. Look I love Audi’s, BMW’s and Porsches but I would never say these companies make crappie engines because they get cruddy gas mileage. They just go about it in different ways. GM choose large displacement, Audi choose larger injectors and higher flowing head…its all about the same at the end of the day.

 

The engine that will give the best hp/tq will always be the one which most efficiently burns the fuel and flows the most fuel and air.Cylinder configuration has little to do with peak hp/tq.

In theory, if you had a five liter single cylinder engine and a five liter V-16 engine, with all other things beingequal, they should make the same power, in fact, if they are flowing identical quantities of fuel and air, then they will make the same power. But there are variables. More cylinders means more parasitic drag from various engine components, namelyrodand crank journals andvalve train parts.However, piston speed is very important, and to make a five liter single cylinder engine you would either have a square engine with a huge stroke and an excessively high piston speed, or you make a seriously over square engine with a short stroke and huge bore requiring a lot of space and a lot of extra weight.

With more cylinders, you can have a shorter stroke andyou can increase the rev limit, and revs mean horsepower. I know that sounds counterintiutive when you think of high revving fours and low speed torque monster V-8s, but that conception is due to displacement, or more accurately, stroke size. Regardless of the number of cylinders, a shorter stroke means more revs. If you think a two liter four banger revs high, you should see a two liter V-8 with half the stroke length.


Build for horsepower, gear for torque. More on that later.

 

pwnd [sm=americanasmiley.gif]
ok but no seriously, i think i learned more reading like 3 of the posts on this thread than i did in school

and great points!

 

everything also depends on your perspective of sound, if you like the high pitched lawnmower like sound or the gator growl, then MPG and then hp and torque.....different cyl provide all these options, but like silverseven said, it depends how its built

 

I stated my opinion, and backed it with factual numbers. I said that what I appreciate in an engine is power/displacement ratio, then listed examples to show that, off the production line, America doesn't quite measure up to the Germans. Again, all you did is try to refute arguments I didn't make in a futile attempt to change my opinion.

 

the only facts you gave me were factory horsepower vs diplacement. that harrrrrrdly sums up the the quality, design, and level of engineering that goes into an engine. im not gunna lie, i was once like you until i realized this.

 

EXTREMELY GOOD POINT!!!! like how some engines blew because the blocks were different metals than then the cylinder heads(heated up at different speeds) and like the DSM GSX and GST mitsu eclipses it was there (7 bolt?) engines that the oil squirters werent good, so it did the bearings bad and caused crankwalk