i dont know much about cars. what are the pros and cons of inline engines vs. V engines?

Answer 1

ahh, good question....
In a word, smoothness.....
I once had the chance to drive an "inline 12" Cadillac.
Simply unbelievable, you could take off in 3rd from a dead stop and the car never bucked, rumbled, or even coughed.
Cons, their huge!!!
Sometime look down the hood of an early 30's Caddy.
Oh yes, was it fast??? UH huh................

Answer 2

Wow. This forum was apparently created to solicit uninformed answers. Here's the scoop.

1) Smoothness. An inlinesix is a smooth motor. But a V6 can be equally smooth with the addition of counter rotating balance shafts, sometimes called "silent shafts". These are integral to just about all modern V6 designs. A 90 degree V8 is naturally a smooth engine. There's no such thing as an inline 12, someone was hallucinating. (Cadillac had V12 and V16 engines in the 30's) A V12 is also naturally balanced.

2) Compactness. This is a big factor. A transverse inline 6 would require a car about six feet wide, just about impossible. So getting a poweful engine into a small car requires the compact form factor of a V engine.

3) Thermal efficiency. V engines are slightly more efficient than inline engines, due to better heat distribution. This is an important factor in maximizing fuel economy and performance.

4) Wear. The pistons don't wear unevenly because of the slant. In fact, Mercedes and Chrysler at various times have installed inline sixes at an off-perpendicular slant to make the engines fit under a low hoodline. Many manufacturers, including Subaru, Porsche, and VW, have built horizontal engines of various configuration, with great success. However, a V engine has fewer main bearings, and this can contribute to premature engine failure if the design isn't thought through. This is why many Diesel truck motors are inline 6's.

Answer 3

By design the straight six and 8 cylinder motors are great designd for their intended use. Most all of them incorporate a near square bore and stroke. That means the bore and stroke is very close to the same measurment. When ever you have a long stroke motor you get instant torque at under 1,000 rpm. A perfect design for trucks that carry loads.

A great example of stump pulling torque and power was the the famous WW-2 Allison Aircraft 1,710 cubic inch V-12 motor. A quick peak under the valve covers show 4 valves per cylinder. It's top rpm was only 2,300 rpm but with the addition of a supercharger later in the war high altitude war games became more even with the German fighters.

Straight 6 or 8 cyl. engines have a long crankshaft which can cause breakage in racing applications do to the torsional twist of the crankshaft. Improvements have been made in later years By Ford, Chevrolet and others by adding two extra main bearing caps bringing the total to 7. That means more counterweights to cancel vibration harmonics.

There are other things to be concerned with. The cylinder head is long and prone to head gasket leeks do to warping caused by uneven heat. The stock intake manifold on a straight 6 with a carburetor is pron to poor air fuel / distribution

The advent of the V-6 with a gear driven counter weight shaft cancels vibration quite well some have off-set wrist pins (.001 -.003) to prevent piston skirt and bore thrust wear. The crankshaft is shorter thus less twist. Nowadays with fuel injection and improved intake manifolding air / fuel management is not a problem. The cylinder heads are shorter which means better clamping forces around the bores. Ford of course is still married to the idea that 4 head bolts around bores are sufficient. In this case GM has a better idea. Although the head bolts are smaller a fifth bolt is used to spread clamping forces more evenly. The new NASCAR Chevy LSX block has 6 bolts around the cylinders.

Answer 4

I think that this is a great question, and what this forum was created for.

I think that smoothness of operation was certainly an issue, but as engine compartments became more and more compact and more and more filled with stuff that were hung on them, the V-design saves a tremendous amount of space. If you think about it, a "straight 8" takes up a tremendous amount of room under the hood, not to even bring up a "straight 12." The V-design allows you to have 8, 10, or even 12 cylinders for half of the space taken up, leaving more room for other stuff, as well as allowing the engine compartments to become trimmer and probably more aerodynamic, as well. The FWD compacted that space even more by turning the engine sideways and putting the transmission beside the engine, and now you have engine compartments that you can stretch your arms across from front to back.

I hope that this helps at least in answering your question.

Answer 5

Either engine design is going to work well for you. However, V engines are much more compact and with today's aerodynamics and low hood lines are the most popular. Inline engines are known for their increased torque and they're ease to work on. Big diesels in many trucks are still inline engines. Hope this helps!

Answer 6

The cylinders of in-line engines are lined in a straight row and the pistons move up and down and the amount of wear to the cylinder walls tends to be equal all the way around the piston and cylinder wall which can improve piston/engine life.

In a V8 or V6 the pistons lay on their sides at an angle and as time goes on the pistons will not wear the same and the cylinder walls will tend to wear on the top and bottom of the walls more which creates a out of round cylinder.

Lots of different scenarios have been uses depending on room and car design.