Your 3 Favorite Engines (of all time)

[jediali]

tricky one for me, in no particular order:

2.0TFSI - not very glamerous but the bread and butter of contemporary mainstream engine technology, such technology making it into other VAG engines (hence i wont add say the RS4 engine), no doubt VAG have best 4 cylinder german petrols IMO. Yes others sound better, are cheaper etc but this for me is more about leading particular markets.

BMW R6 straight 6

another benchmark ->

BMW's M54 inline-6 engine won praises all over the world. But the new R6 engine is better in every way, no matter power, weight or fuel consumption. In 2.5 and 3.0-litre form, it produces 218hp and 258hp respectively, compare with the old engine's 192hp and 231hp. This translate to 86-87hp per litre, the highest specific output of the class – we talk about mass production naturally aspirated engines of course.

The outstanding efficiency is contributed by several technologies. Like the outgoing engine, it has double Vanos continuously variable valve timing at all camshafts. What's new to the inline-6 is Valvetronic system, which eliminates throttle butterflies by varying valve lift according to throttle pedal. This reduces pumping loss at partial throttle, thus allows the R6 to drink 12% less fuel than the old engine.

In the past, the first generation Valvetronic used in BMW's V8 and inline-4 engines were seen as a fuel-reducing means rather than a power-enhancing design, although it is actually a variable valve lift system (think of Honda's VTEC). This was because the Valvetronic mechanism was heavy, limiting the revability of the engine. In the new R6 engine, the second generation Valvetronic employs aluminum parts to reduce moving mass. The camshafts are also converted to hollow type to save some 1.2 kg. This allow its variable lift function to excel at high rev, pushing maximum rev from 6500 rpm to 7000 rpm. This account for most of the power gain.

The R6 produces no more maximum torque than M54, but the torque curve is improved by using a 3-stage resonance variable intake system instead of the outgoing 2-stage system. For example, the 3.0 engine used to produce its maximum torque at 3500-4750 rpm. The new engine becomes 2500-4000 rpm.

Another advance is the use of electric water pump instead of engine-driven pump. It can save up to 2kW or 2.7 horsepower.

However, the biggest advance over M54 is weight reduction. Weighing 161kg only, it is claimed to be the world's lightest 6-cylinder engine, although Audi's 3.2 V6 is not far away at 169.5 kg. Contributing to the weight saving is the use of magnesium cam cover and the world's first magnesium-aluminum hybrid crankcase. The crankcase consists of 2 parts: magnesium housing and aluminum insert. The magnesium housing contains the oil channels and provides mountings for peripherals such as gearbox and alternator. The aluminum insert is employed to handle the high temperature and mechanical stress that magnesium cannot cope with. Despite of the addition of Valvetronic, the R6 is 10 kg lighter than M54.

The only weakness of R6 is the lack of space for enlargement. The 3.0 engine has a 85mm bore and 88mm stroke, while distance between bore center is just 91mm. That nearly rule out the possibility for enlargement. Most of its competitors now employ V6 engines displacing between 3.2 and 3.5 litres. Can the R6 find ways to increase power and, more crucially, torque in the future? or switch to turbocharging? I will be very interested to see.

This was obviously written before the direct injection version or TT DI version so I cant help but be impressed. This NA version was updated as you know to 272hp (called N52 now) and then they made N54:

The N54 engine employs a pair of small turbochargers to boost a very light pressure - only 0.4 bar. Therefore it produces "only" 34 more horsepower than the updated normally aspirated version, or a total of 306 horsepower at 5800 rpm. However, the small turbos in addition to the most sophisticated piezo direct gasoline injection (faster response than regular solenoid injectors) allows a normally aspirated-like compression ratio of 10.2:1 and a very strong torque curve, with a peak of 295 lbft (up 63 lbft) running continuously from 1300 rpm all the way to 5000 rpm. This made the variable intake manifolds and Valvetronic redundant, therefore discarded. The higher mechanical and thermal stress called for a negative change though: the magnesium outer crankcase is replaced by a conventional aluminum block with cast iron liners. At 190 kilograms the twin-turbo N54 is 28 kg heavier than the magnesium normally aspirated engine. Audi S4's 344hp 4.2-liter V8 is only 5 kilos heavier. Nevertheless, sticking with 6 cylinders allow the BMW engine to return remarkable frugality - 29.7 mpg according to EU combine cycle. Audi manages only 21.2 mpg.

Last but not least, and for a different perspective.

The engine as fitted to the Honda S600 /(also good in S800 form) for various interesting reasons. Jay Leno has a nice video on his garage web site detailing a restoration and technical overview.

[Fleet 500]

Wow... you sure gave a detailed answer!
Nothing wrong with that, though.

[jediali]

Originally Posted by Fleet 500

Wow... you sure gave a detailed answer!
Nothing wrong with that, though.

sorry, got carried away....just copied someone elses words though.

[-What-]

The Carrera GT's 5.7 liter V10
The lightest internals of any engine I can think of.

New AMG 6.3 Liter V8 Engine
THE BEST OUT-OF-THE-BOX NATURALLY ASPIRATED V8 MADE TODAY...

BMW's twin-turbo Inline 6 (with oil coolers)
Better than the V8 they put in the M3.

[jcp123]

Me:

Ford Flathead V8
GM 292ci I6
Olds 303/Cad 331 (the 1949 motors which sparked the OHV era)

[fisetdavid26]

1. The Ferrari Colombo Tipo 128 V12 engine that powered most 250's.

2. The Mazda R26B 4-rotor. That thing screams like hell, and apparently it was still up for another 24-hour race when it crossed the finish line onboard the 787B at Le Mans 1991. Or so I've heard.

3. The Chevrolet 572 Big Block V8 because it's just insane. It roars!

[key1710]

Rolls-Royce Merlin II
My favourite engine of all time!

[Kitdy]

Originally Posted by fisetdavid26

1. The Ferrari Colombo Tipo 128 V12 engine that powered most 250's.

What other engine(s) powered 250s?

[fisetdavid26]

Originally Posted by Kitdy

What other engine(s) powered 250s?

Tipo 168. Used mostly in racing models.

[CdocZ]

In general, the last air-cooled 911 Carrera engine from the 993 (specific model number of this engine known?). For brute strength, the SRT-10, and for every day use, the VQ35 engines (I LOVE the engine in my dad's G35 so much)

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by fisetdavid26

Tipo 168. Used mostly in racing models.

There was also the early Tipo 112 from the Colombo family.

And the 3-litre Lampredi V12 as fitted to the earliest 250 Europas.

[MRR]

Old 3.2 liter straight six from E46 M3

S70/2 V12 from McLaren F1 (another BMW engine)

New Mercedes 6.2 Liter - old school in the most brutal kind of way

[roosterjuicer]

as far as my favorite motors go its pretty much the old small block 327 in the 69 z28, the ls1, and the ls7. but below are what i believe are some of the most important motors...

1. the gm small block in its many iterations. just the fact that its been competitive for over 50 years should land it on everyones list!

2. The Cummins Diesel. this was the first big time pickup diesel motor and really pushed diesels to the forefront of pickup truck towing. before the cummins TD gas motors were more powerful than diesels. also, the cummins forced ford to release a much much more powerful powerstroke and made gm/isuzu develop the duramax.

3. B18c. The b18 in the farious integra gs-r's and type-r's of the world made a generation of ricers. these motors were high revving, and had more power than their competition, and were relatively easy to work on and had a rediculous ammounts of aftermarket parts for them.

[Badams]

1# Fiat 2L twin cam, i love mine. she screams at 8000rpm

2# The V8 out of the original le mans ford gt40

3# the 13b rotary, to this day i still want to stuff one of these suckers in my 01' mx-5

[jugga]

26b - 4 rotor > mental power and noise

Nsx V6 - best sounding V6

B16b with spoon blck mods > new rev limit 11k RPM