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I keep looking @ combustion motor theory on the web & I’m asking to myself.
Why not a radial piston set in a modern car (excluding the wankel)?
Why is it that the boxer engine is “obsolete” for big truck & plane, but stil in use for race cars?
Why use a V6 (or T6) pistons engine when it’s offset by design (the same way a V10 & T10 is)? Since handling is so important shouldn’t we look for smoother desing?
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Radials are bulky compared to other engines with the same number of cylinders. They also have a high crankshaft center line, so you’d have to incorporate a gear or chain drive to drop the output closer to the height of the wheel hubs. And then you have the complication of trying to design an overhead camshaft valve gear for a series of cylinders arranged in a circle.
I don’t consider the boxer engine to be obsolete, and I’m surprised that they aren’t used by more manufacturers. They provide the best internal balancing of any piston engine configuration I’m aware of. I have an old BMW motorcycle which runs as smooth as silk, especially when compared to my lumpy old Harley.
Sorry, but I don’t know what you mean by T6 and T10 engines.
[quote=”Evil-i” post=189567]Sorry, but I don’t know what you mean by T6 and T10 engines.[/quote]
Sometime I saw the boxer engine refered as T4 or T6.I see. That might be the names of certain engine families from a particular manufacturer.
One thing the boxer engine has going against it is that it’s a wider engine than a V or inline engine of the same number of cylinders. Things are shrinkwrapped pretty tightly in modern engine compartments, so it’s probably an engineering choice to use the smallest overall package and balance considerations take a back seat. To be fair, today’s engines are pretty smooth, and vibration and harshness isn’t much of an issue.
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