Inline 8 cylinder (1 Viewer)

[CascoBay]

Does (did) anyone make an inline 8cylinder. Sitting at a stop light recently, I wondered why no one makes a straight 8.

Would it have to do with weight or space? Is the v-8 design so superior and refined that no manufacturer would want to make one? I could only imagine the camshaft on an inline 8...

 

[SeanAndHis80]

Buick used to have a stright 8 in the 40s.

 

[robbie]

Big long V-8's had big long head gaskets that would blow easy. The block was hard to stablize with out lots of weight. Thus the block would twist and warp. Heads would be hard to keep flat, very long surface to stablize, they were easy to warp. Also they were long stroke engines, low reving.

 

[lagwagon]

Here is a link to GMs V16 http://www.c5registry.com/caddy16/

 

[Gumby]

I-6s are great engines because they are well balanced. They are also heavy, tall, and long. All bad for packaging in an aerodynamic vehicle. BMW and MB, however, use them with great success.
I-8s have all the same bad stuff, only worse, and don't balance as well
v-8s are short in heigth and length, weigh less and can be externally balanced. They are much more like two I-4s than an I-8.
V-6s are even shorter in length, but are hard to balance well like 2 I-3s.

 

[SeanAndHis80]

[quote author=turbocruiser link=board=2;threadid=11247;start=msg101877#msg101877 date=1076338385]
Yea! I bet it was beautiful and had a beautiful loooonnnng hood and lots of chrome! What was/were the model/s that engine was in?
[/quote]

Found on the web: http://home.no.net/ayla/Buick/pages/1947 BUICK STRAIGHT 8.htm

 

[cary]

Inline 6 is an inherently balanced design. The only other ones are a flat six (porsche), v-12 and flat 12.

An inline 8 suffers from excessive crank flex, block weight and they vibrate like a broken magic fingers bed. They are also very long and hard to package. In fact one reason Mercedes went from a straight 6 to a v-6 was for crash performance (other was so it was modular with the v-8's and would save on costs).

The last straight 8 made as used in the 1950's Mercedes SLR race cars. They solved the crank flex issue by taking the power from the center of engine using a gear drive. This engine also used a Desmotronic valve system so there was no valve float. Instead they would rev well past redline until the motor grenaded.

 

[denis]

Bugatti

 

[bkgiii]

See 'Rainman'

"......Dad let's me drive it in the driveway" "FIreball 8...."

Buick's Fireball straight-8 was in production from around the time the
straight 6 was dropped up until the mid-50's, when it was replaced by a
V-8 in the models that hadn't already been switched over to the more
compact engine.

 

[landtank]

This was a while ago, but I remember a proto-type Ford that had an I8 mounted traversely mid ship. Guess the design never went anywhere.

 

[ppc]

Packard still had a straight eight in the 50's that was a good motor.

 

[IdahoDoug]

With a good chunk (perhaps 75%) of all engines destined for transverse mounting in a FWD vehicle, the packaging issues of a long engine make this design impractical. Unless someone can correct me, GM's inline six for the TrailBlazer/Envoy SUVs was the first all new straight six engine in some 30 years and I give them kudus for doing it. An engine costs a cool $1,000,000,000 to tool up for these days including the plant to build and assemble it, so that's quite a statement. It also happily means GM is intent on refining the traditional full frame longitudinal mounted chassis for a long time to come, rather than selling out and building front wheel drive "crossover" SUVs. I'm no GM fan, but this was quite a statement.

DougM

 

[Gumby]

The Solstice Gamma platform looks very promising as well, at least from a design point of view. Too bad they traded the F body peice of crap for the GTO/ Holden peice of crap instead of actually building a Mustang beater. Their build quality is rivialing Chrysler's too. I wouldn't buy another GM product if you put a gun to my head. It's hard to believe anyone buys their products anymore.