The World of Engine Configurations: A Journey Through Motorcycle and Car Engines

The Harley-Davidson motorcycle is known for its V-twin engine, which has become an iconic symbol of the brand. However, the hogs have experimented with other configurations, such as inline-four engines found in some street bikes. In contrast to the typical motorcycle engine layout, some manufacturers have adopted the V3 configuration, where two cylinders are located on one bank and one cylinder is situated on the other side. This rare setup was used in MotoGP bikes, most notably Honda's NS500.

Moving on to car engines, the V4 configuration has become a staple in MotoGP racing. However, this engine layout is relatively rare in production cars. The Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 car, which competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2014 to 2017, utilized a two-liter turbocharged V4 engine. This innovative design was specifically tailored for endurance racing and provided exceptional performance.

The V5 configuration has also been explored in motorcycle engineering, although it remains an uncommon layout in production cars. A notable example is the Honda RC211V, which employed this setup to achieve impressive performance on the track. In contrast, some car manufacturers have opted for more conventional engine layouts, such as the inline-six (also known as the straight-six).

One of the most beloved engine configurations among car enthusiasts is the V6, often associated with high-performance vehicles. The Honda RC211V's V6 engine is a prime example of this layout, which provides exceptional power and agility. The Nissan VQ engine, found in various sports cars, is another popular variant of the V6 configuration.

The V8 engine has become synonymous with American muscle cars and high-performance vehicles. The iconic Hemi engine, made famous by Dodge's 426 Hemi, remains a beloved icon in the automotive world. More recent examples of V8 engines can be found in modern sports cars, such as the Ferrari F136 and the Toyota 1UZ-FE.

In contrast to the more conventional V8 configuration, some car manufacturers have opted for unusual engine layouts, such as the flathead or overhead valve designs. The Porsche 911, for example, features a flat-six engine layout that is both iconic and highly desirable. More recently, some manufacturers have explored alternative configurations, such as the crossplane crankshaft found in certain V8 engines.

The V10 engine has become increasingly popular among high-performance car manufacturers, particularly those specializing in exotic or supercar vehicles. The Dodge Viper's V10 engine is a prime example of this layout, which provides exceptional power and agility. More recent examples include the Lamborghini Aventador's V12 engine configuration.

One of the most iconic engine configurations in the automotive world is the V12. This layout has been employed by various manufacturers, including Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Rolls-Royce. The V12 engine configuration offers several advantages over more conventional layouts, such as improved balance and reduced vibrations. This setup is particularly well-suited for high-performance vehicles that require exceptional power and agility.

In addition to the V12 configuration, some car manufacturers have opted for even more extreme engine layouts, such as the V14, V16, V18, and V20 configurations. The Cadillac V16, used in the 1930s, was one of the first production cars to feature this unusual layout. More recent examples include the BelAZ 75600 hauler truck's V18 engine configuration, which produces an astonishing 3,424 horsepower.

Lastly, some manufacturers have experimented with unconventional engine layouts, such as the VR (R) reihenmotor, which combines elements of both inline and V engines. The Volkswagen Group's W8 engine, found in the Passat, is a notable example of this configuration, which features three or four cylinder banks running off the same crankshaft. This layout provides exceptional performance and efficiency, making it an attractive option for manufacturers seeking to differentiate their vehicles.

In conclusion, the world of engine configurations is vast and diverse, with each layout offering unique advantages and disadvantages. From the iconic V-twin motorcycle engine to the more unusual VR reihenmotor configuration, there are countless options available to car enthusiasts and manufacturers alike. Whether it's a high-performance sports car or a luxury sedan, the choice of engine configuration can significantly impact the driving experience and overall performance of the vehicle.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- You know about inlineengines, V engines.You maybe even have heardof a VR engine layout.But what do you knowabout W, H, or U engines?Since cars have been on theroad getting our human buttsfrom divorced-dad's houseto step-mom's house,engineers have been putting all sortsof wild engine configurations in them.And today, we are going togo through every single one.Let's go.(upbeat music)Thanks to Keeps forsponsoring today's video.Any moment now, the loveof my life is gonna walkthrough those doors.Her name is Gerry with a G.I know, talk about exotic, huh?We dated years ago, butDave scared her away.So, I locked him in thebasement hoping she'd come back.She never did.And then, I found heron this new dating app,just for bird friends.- Jerry?- Gerry?You look beautiful.- You look different.- Ever since you left,I became one of the twoout of three guys to experience some sortof male pattern baldnessby the time they were 35.- Oh my sweet, sweet Jerry.You should have used Keeps.- You know about Keeps?- Who doesn't, Jerry?They help prevent hairloss by connecting youto a doctor online for yourhair loss consultation,and they'll even ship yourhair loss medication directlyto your door every three months.- That's what I've been telling them.I always say, when you'reready to take action,go to Keeps.com/B2B or click the linkin the description belowand you get 50% off your first order.- All this talk of Keeps makes me realizehow much I miss you.- Wow, brains and beauty.(hawk crowing)Dave, what are you doing here?Get out of here, Dave.David, get.David, I'm using your full nameso that means I'm really mad at you.- I hate birds.- No Gerry, stay.Dave, get out of here!No Gerry, no!Now, the first rule when watchingany type of YouTubelist video is that one,there are no rules.Okay, now that we'veestablished that we're goingto go through every engineconfiguration that I could findthat's been put in a car.Now, if I happen to miss anyby the end of this video,just go ahead and write them down.You can mail them to me.We have a PO box.I'm going to take all of themand then I'm going toput them in the trash.Okay, so let's startoff with inline engines.All of the cylindersare in a straight line,hence their name.And the straight cylinderdesign seems pretty intuitiveif you were to start from scratchin building your own engine,but it's also a verymechanically smart design.With only one cylinder head,there are fewer moving partsthan the engines withmultiple cylinder heads.So, you have less stuff means less chancefor other stuff failing.This allows for a lessmechanically complex layout.They're simple engines.And because they aresimple, they're cheaper.And for the most part,they're easier to maintain.So, let's start off with theleast number of cylindersin this inline configuration.And in all honesty, I was goingto start with an inline two,but there are some cars outthere with single-cylinderinline engines, one cylinder, one piston,one connecting rod, one crank,one balancer, two valves,the 1903 Oldsmobile Curved Dash,which is documented actuallyas being the first mass-producedcar, well-known fact.From there, we can go to ourinline two or straight twin.The Fiat 500 sportedthis two-cylinder setup.Of course, of all the inline engines,the coolest is the Koenigseggtwin-turbo inline three.Inline fours, we have every enginein the majority of cars on the road.My first car, 1990Toyota pickup had a 22RE.You guys know the story.My sister freaking stole itfrom me and then sold it.So if you have it, I want it back.There's the Mitsubishi 4G63T,the S14 B25, and BMW's E30 M3.Honda, they got the F20C, S2000.Now, they're small so youcan put them anywhere.There's front engine,mid engine, rear engine.The four-banger is a worldwide staple.The only downside to an inline fouris that it needs a counterbalancer.The secondary forces aren't balanced,which ultimately limitsthe size of the engine.And because of that, theyoften need balancing shaftsto cancel out those vibrations.Okay, that's inline fours.So now, let's get to inline fives.But why would you want that?Well, they're smoother than an inline fourand smaller than an inline six.To help me explain why thefive-cylinder's smoother,we need to look at thetiming of the power strokes.Now, four-stroke enginesoperate in four cycles,suck, squeeze, bang, blow.Every cylinder firesonce every 720 degrees,two rotations of the crank.If we divide 720 degreesby the number of cylinders,we get how often a power stroke occurs.Your power stroke can'tlast longer than 180 degreesof crankshaft rotation.So a three cylinder engine,there's a gap in the power delivery.So, if you take 720 degreesdivided by 3 minus 180,there's 60 degrees of silencewhen no power strokes take place.So, for a four-cylinder,it takes 720 divided by 4,that's 180.You subtract 180, you get zero.So at the end of onecylinder's power stroke,another cylinder fires.Now with a five-cylinder,there's a 36 degree overlap,meaning another power stroke has occurredbefore the crank shaft rotatesto the 180 degree mark.This results in a verysmooth power deliveryinstead of this kind ofrelatively jolting actionof an inline four.And you can use this equationfor any type of cylinder configurationto see when they're firing.So, who uses inline fives?Well, my favorite is theSwedish American built 2.5 literin the Focus RS 500.Also GM, they have a 3.7liter in the Hummer H3.And the RS2 Avant got one,but we never got in the US, so whatever.Next, we have the sexy sixes,the perfectly balanced, sexy sixer.Now, there are so many greatexamples of this engine.Our favorites are the RB26and the 2JZ of course.But there are, like I said,there's a ton of them out there.They're long and strong, andthe smoothest engine out there.They're just a better inline four.From there, we go into inline eights,the hungry eights, the straight eights.And they were theperformance engine of choicein the late 20s.Bugatti, Duesenberg, AlfaRomeo, Mercedes-Benz,they all had a versionof the straight eight.The Alfa Romeo 159 Alfetta,it won 47 of 54 Gran Prixs in F1between 1938 and 1951.That little 1 1/2 liter,supercharged inline eightcould get all the way up to 10,500 RPM.That's screaming.Skip over the inline tens'cause there are none,go straight to inline twelves.Now, there are the fewthat were ever builtin the early 20s and with good reason.When you have a friggingcrank shaft that's super longand you have all thepistons kind of rocking,it creates this jump rope effects.So, you've got to have a crankthat is super, super stiff,really, really strong.That being said, therewere some made so they'reon the list, but there'renot a lot of them out there.(engine revving)The V type engines split thecylinders into two even bankswith a common crank shaftat the bottom of the V.Now, they're best broswith the inline engines.For the most part,as the cylinder number increasesV engines are more compactcompared to their inline bros.And they also have a shorter lengththan an inline engine withthe same number of cylinders,but they're wider.Inline engines, long and skinny,V engines, short and wide.If Nolan was an engine, he'd be a V.If I would be an engine, I'd be an inline.If James were an engine, a boxer.Good job.Twin cylinder Vs, the V twins,so obviously there are a ton of Harleys.The hogs, they have V twins.Which actually some in street bikes.I am obsessed withtwin-cylinder sport bikes.I have an Aprilia Mille, a Honda RC51.I've owned a Suzuki TLR9.Ducati 1199, I want one of those.Volkswagen actually tooka Ducati twin engineand stuffed it in their XL Sport.Mazda's first car, the R360rear engine kei car was poweredby a V twin engine.We go to V3s.There are no cars thatI could find with a V3,but they are in some motorcycles.The V3 engine, it's gottwo cylinders on one bankand one cylinder on the other.It's a pretty rare configuration,but they did have some MotoGP bikesthat supported this setup,most famously Honda's NS500.Next, we go to V4, a MotoGP staple.But while they're thego-to motor in MotoGP,there's not a ton in cars.The Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1car used a two-liter turbo V4from 2014 to 2017.V5, no cars, but again,got some rare motorcycles,the Honda RC211V.V6, the most belovedhere at the Donut Shop.We've blown up two Nissan VQ.Right, two?- Yeah.- I have an EcoBoost that's a V6.You probably have one in your NSX.You own an NSX, right?Yeah. Cool, cool. Yeah.V8, the classic, Hemi, LS1, Ferrari F106,the Toyota 1UZ-FE.They can be a flathead, overhead valve.They can be a push rod with a crossplaneor flatplane crank.The most iconic engine out therewith boys who like tobrag, unless you have a V10like in the Viper, orunless you have a V12like in an Aston Martin.Now, the V12 is a neat enginebecause each bank operateslike a straight six.Remember,the straight six is alreadya well-balanced engine.So, if you use correct Vangle between the two banks,a V12 engine can achieve perfect balance.Now, what wouldn't bebalanced would be a V14.Which there are no instancesof them being in cars,but we do have V16 engines.Cadillac made a V16 in the 30s.There's also a V18 in theBelAZ 75600 hauler trucks,one of those big ass mining trucks.There's a V20 in theCaterpillar 797 dump truck,and a V24 in a custom-built 359 Peterbilt.It makes 3,424 horsepower and is insane.(engine revving)You've probably heardof VR engines before.The VR6 badges are on the backof Gulfs, Passats, Jettas,and they're all in the Volkswagen lineup.Now, VR engines are theresults of taking the bestof both worlds from theinline and V engine layout.The word R in VR comes fromthe German word inline,which is reihenmotor.Did I do good?You get all the benefits of a V enginein terms of performance, but package itin a way which would allowthem to fit into compact carswithout having to compromiseon their size and weight.Also, you need only a single cylinder headfor both banks of cylinders,which means only two camshafts are needed.Most common is the VR6,but there are also a fewother versions of theV reihenmotor, starting withthe not-very-well-known VR4.This engine was used in the Lancia Lambda.Now, it had a 20 degreenarrow-angle single-head VR layout.Volkswagen built a 2.3-literVR5 engine from '97 to 2006.Just take a VR6 and takeone of the cylinders off.Why would you want that?Well, when a VR6 is too big.So is there anything biggerthan a VR6, maybe a VR8?Well, there's no single VR8,but there is an engine outthere that smashes two VR8stogether to make a double-Vor W configuration.The W engine uses three orfour cylinder banks runningoff the same crank shaft,and it makes that W shape.Starting with thesmallest, we have the W3.You can actually buy 150cubic-inch Feuling W3 enginefor your motorcycle for a cool $100,000.We have the W6 that was inthe Rambler Tropin Wagon.If you put two VR4stogether, you have a W8.The sole W8 engine to reach productionwas the Volkswagen Group W8 engine,which was in the Passat.You slam two VR6 togetherand you get the W12.We actually did a wholeentire episode on "B2B"about this engine.Click, click here if youwant to watch and learn more.Put two VR8s together and you get a W16.The first car that comes to mindin the 16-cylinder configuration isof course the Bugatti Veyron.But, the earliest prototypes incorporatedan 18-cylinder engine, the W18.There are two ways you can make a W.You can have two banks of twoor you can have three banks have one.The W18 is three sets of six-cylinders.But, there is a flaw in this design.With a standard V layout,you've got your cool intake airon one side, you've got yourhot exhaust on the other.But with the three-bank Wengine, you can't do this.The way the geometry worksout means that you're goingto have exhaust next to your intake air.Hot exhaust doesn't mixyour cold intake here.So, by the time theVeyron reached production,it had ditched a couple of cylinders,added four turbochargers,and got their W16,which was a pretty smart idea.Boxer engine.(upbeat music)Sometimes called the horizontallyopposed or flat engine.Subi boys and girls, you guysare having fun right now.You're like, yeah, that's my engine.Yeah, woo.Now, they have a central crank shaftwith two banks of cylinders.But unlike these, boxerengines have cylinders laidout horizontally with thepistons moving left and right,rather than up and down.Now, that horizontal arrangementgives them a low centerof gravity, which helpsgive you power to the wheelsand improves handling ofwhatever car this engine is in.Power delivery, oh, it'ssuper smooth throughout.And the engines are easier to coolbecause of this spread out design.Now for a long time, theseengines were air-cooled.But there are some negatives.Boxer engines, they're large, okay?And because they're big and spread out,it's a pain to do some simple jobs.Now, I'm not saying it's harder to workon them than any other crampedV engine or inline engine.I'm not saying that. Sodon't yell at me, okay?The cylinder heads, they can be pushed upagainst the sidewalls of the car.Stuff like changing sparkplugs is pretty hard to do.They're also a little bit moreexpensive to manufacturer.Don't hate me, boxer fans,I'm just giving you the facts,Jerry facts.So of the boxer engines,we have a flat twin.The French companyPanhard used a flat twinto win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.There's the flat fourwhich the OG Beetle sportedand the beloved or hated Subi EJ.There's a flat six in a Porsche 911,a flat eight in the Porsche 908.And Subaru has even built a flat 12to try their hand inbuilding engines for F1.There's was also aFerrari flat 12 out there,but it's really not technically a flat 12.There's some, like, technicalitiesbecause they share crank pins.A true flat 12 wouldhave separate crank pins.But, it's there.Actually in 1971, Porschedeveloped a flat 16 prototypefor their 917 that racedin the Can-Am series.But instead, they ditched it and wentwith a flat 12 that was turbocharged.Opposing piston engines often get confusedwith boxer engines,but they are different.While the flat layout is similar,opposing piston engineshave pistons that meetin the middle.They don't have a cylinder head.And because of this, theseengines have the potentialto lower emissions comparedto a more standard layout.Achates Power has beenbuilding diesel versionsof these engines for some time now,but the opposing pistondesign have been aroundsince the early-1900s.The Commer TS3, Commer Knocker,was an opposing pistonengine put in Commer trucksin the 50s and 60s.It uses two pistons percylinder, three cylinders total,unlike an opposing cylinderengine like the Napier Deltic.It used only one central crank.And it's voted the most uniqueengine on this list by me.(tape beeping)(engine revving)And when I think of theWankel or rotary engine,gotta think of Mazda, spinning Dorito.In a Wankel-type engine,there are no piston rodsand no valve train components.There's a single piston thatrevolves around a gear shaft.The inside of this engine is shapedso that the triangular piston turns,it goes through all four cycles thata standard internal combustionengine would go through.That's the suck, squeeze, bang, and blow.If you want a rotary to make more power,you only have a few ways to do it.You can use force inductionor you can add more rotors.We have single rotors like the 40A,the good old 13B.Or even better, 13B-REW andthe RX-7 FD sported two rotors.Mazda also use a three-rotorin the Le Mans racecar, the 757.The R26B used a four-rotor.And some Wankel lovers out there even havebuilt their own six-rotorand even 12-rotor design.That is a lot of spinning Doritos.The U engine, also knownas the square four.These engines are twoseparate straight enginesplaced side by side and coupledat a shared output shaft.Look at them from thefront and they look like,guess what letters, guys, a U.The Ariel Square Four motorcycleand the Suzuki RD500 use this U engine.The benefit is that it'sable to share common partswith a straight engine,which it was based off.Also, if there's two crankshafts rotatingin opposite directions,the gyroscopic effectof those rotating components cancel out.So you have a naturallyvery, very smooth engine.Now, the H engine alsouses a similar comp set,but they're stacked vertically.And H engine or H block is a configurationin which the cylinders are aligned so thatwhen you view it from the front,guess what letter it looks like, guys?That's right, an H.So, flat fours often looklike drunken Hs from above,but an H block looks like an actual Hwhen staring straight down the pipe.So, an H engine can beviewed as two flat engines,either one on top of eachother or side by side.They have their own crank,but are geared togetherto power the transmission.The British Racing MotorH16 Formula One enginewon the 1966 US GrandPrix in the Lotus 43.There's even 1,000 cc H4in the Brough Superior Golden Dream.You know what my golden dream is?To shoot an episode of "Bumper 2 Bumper"in a Las Vegas hotel room.We had to come out hereand shoot some episodes,and so there's no downtime.It's a Saturday.We could be out hitting the slots.Instead, we're in afreaking hotel room shootingan episode of "B2B".I hope you guys enjoyed this.This was fun making.There's a lot of crazy engines out there.I know I skipped over some.There's some technicalities.So if you're yellingat me in the comments,I don't want to hear it.Put them down there anyways.I'd like to see what I missed, if I did.But I don't know if I did.Follow us here on Instagram @DonutMedia.Follow me @JeremiahBurton.'Til next week, bye for now.