Weird engines

[Missy Charm]

Is a V10 engine weird?  Probably not, but the following is a great story:

https://www.mobilityengineeringtech.com/component/content/article/44453-sae-ma-03773

It concerns events circa 2001-2, which culminated in the manufacture of a one-off, high-performance Ford V10 and its fitment in a condemned-to-be-crushed, engineless Mustang Cobra.  Said car still exists and runs, apparently.  

It's possible to see the oddly dual nature of something that was, effectively, home-made on a shoestring by experts with vast resources at their disposal (Ford's Romeo engine plant and advanced casting facilities out of Windsor, Ontario).  

The Boss 351 itself, the V10 Mustang, looks perfectly normal:

What might have been, eh?  It was supposed to have been a production car.  A variant of the same engine could also have powered the Ford GT. 

[big_al_granvia]

sulzer 12lda, 2x 6 cylinder units side by side with their own crankshaft then geared together with a single output shaft https://www.derbysulzers.com/12LDA28C.html

[Snipes]

4 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Big brother of that is the Leyland L60.  

Which while problematic in the field, still sounds bloody awesome.

Or bolt three of the buggers together in a triangle, scale it up a bunch and you have the Deltic.

Apparently the Chieftan was a very well regarded tank, assuming it happened to conk out in a tactically useful position...

[Asimo]

5 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Big brother of that is the Leyland L60.  

Which while problematic in the field, still sounds bloody awesome.

Or bolt three of the buggers together in a triangle, scale it up a bunch and you have the Deltic.

Or cut one in half, miniaturise it and you have the CoventryClimax H30. Also found in the Chieftain.

https://eics-products.co.uk/shop/military-vehicle-spare-parts/6115998056847-h30-apu-gen-set-for-chieftain-tank-fv600408/

[rob88h]

The absurd U8 prototype in a Matra Simca.

Read about it here:

https://driventowrite.com/2021/09/15/matra-simca-bagheera-u8-profile-history/

 

[Mrs6C]

The combined petrol/diesel engine in this International TD6 crawler from 1942. This example and the wider explanation are on show at the fantastic North Ings Farm Museum in Lincolnshire:
https://northingsfarmmuseum.co.uk/

 

[artdjones]

The Gobron opposed piston engine with overhead yoke, used in Gobron-Brillié cars until 1925.

[Richard_FM]

17 minutes ago, artdjones said:

The Gobron opposed piston engine with overhead yoke, used in Gobron-Brillié cars until 1925.

Some British Motorbikes had 2 cylinder engines like this, with both cylinders firing at the same time.

[grogee]

Have we had Orbital two-stroke yet? 

https://driventowrite.com/2018/03/02/what-happened-to-orbital-two-stroke-engine-analysis/

LKJS pictured...

[Richard_FM]

Has there ever been a W9 engine, with 3 banks of 3 cylinders?

I remember puzzling over the possibility of one in my teenage years.

[hairnet]

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2024/november/honda-v3/

norton rotary

 

[Supernaut]

 

[rusty_vw_man]

Well this has opened up an evening of reading about all sorts of weird engines - this one is wild:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZmd7k33JWE

about 3:40 in its running - the Adam’s Farwell rotary engine, where the crank stays where it is, but the pistons go flying round instead. Genuinely terrifying! 

[D.E]

Ford X8:

https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/henry-fords-incredible-x-8-engine/#:~:text=As many as two dozen,conventional 200.5 CID inline four.

 

[DodgeRover]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

The combined petrol/diesel engine in this International TD6 crawler from 1942. This example and the wider explanation are on show at the fantastic North Ings Farm Museum in Lincolnshire:
https://northingsfarmmuseum.co.uk/

 

I was looking at the one the king of obsolete has and thinking just how odd that arrangement was.

[sheffcortinacentre]

3 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

Is a V10 engine weird?  Probably not, but the following is a great story:

https://www.mobilityengineeringtech.com/component/content/article/44453-sae-ma-03773

It concerns events circa 2001-2, which culminated in the manufacture of a one-off, high-performance Ford V10 and its fitment in a condemned-to-be-crushed, engineless Mustang Cobra.  Said car still exists and runs, apparently.  

It's possible to see the oddly dual nature of something that was, effectively, home-made on a shoestring by experts with vast resources at their disposal (Ford's Romeo engine plant and advanced casting facilities out of Windsor, Ontario).  

The Boss 351 itself, the V10 Mustang, looks perfectly normal:

What might have been, eh?  It was supposed to have been a production car.  A variant of the same engine could also have powered the Ford GT. 

Love reading about this sorta stuff, there's always hope while people like this work in big companies.

[DodgeRover]

How about the Detroit diesels big 2 stroke with a blower? 

Nothing else sounds like one of those, even the little ones that we sometimes got in plant over here sound good.

[flat4alfa]

Has the BRM H-16 been mentioned yet?

 

[Metal Guru]

Reading about all these incredibly complex engines, just makes it even more frustrating that I can’t get a poxy single cylinder strimmer to start.

[Pieman]

Life Racing Engines' 1990 W12 "broad arrow" with three banks of four DOHC cylinders.



It powered (in a loose sense of the word) the Life L190, which is widely regarded to be probably the worst Formula One car ever.  It was so totally slow and unreliable that at some events Bruno Giacomelli would probably have done quicker laps on a bicycle!

 

[RayMK]

2 hours ago, Richard_FM said:

Has there ever been a W9 engine, with 3 banks of 3 cylinders?

I remember puzzling over the possibility of one in my teenage years.

Nothing comes to mind or pops out of the interweb on W9s, but although I was aware of the Napier Lion broad arrow (=W) 12 cylinder aero engine with three banks of 4. I did not realise it first ran in 1917!

[Datsuncog]

I've mentioned it before on other threads, but I reckon the Dawb 6 engine is worth showcasing again:

You're looking at an air-cooled transverse inline 6 cylinder engine with a dry sump, displacing 1.4 litres and with three twin-choke Weber carbs fitted.

All completely designed from scratch by its creators, Davy Woods and Artie Bell.

The car and engine both survive as an exhibit at the Ulster Transport Museum just outside Belfast.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

11 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

The combined petrol/diesel engine in this International TD6 crawler from 1942. This example and the wider explanation are on show at the fantastic North Ings Farm Museum in Lincolnshire:
https://northingsfarmmuseum.co.uk/

 

Hesselman engine?

 

https://www.wehs.net/hesselman.html

[MiniMinorMk3]

Suzuki RE-5

[flat4alfa]

9 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I've mentioned it before on other threads, but I reckon the Dawb 6 engine is worth showcasing again:

You're looking at an air-cooled transverse inline 6 cylinder engine with a dry sump, displacing 1.4 litres and with three twin-choke Weber carbs fitted.

Classic Cars Oct 1988

[flat4alfa]

15 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Suzuki RE-5

The 1975 Suzuki RE-5 was pipped at the Wankel production post, by the 1974 Hercules/DKW W2000

Fichtel & Sachs had purchased the Hercules motorcycle marque in 1963, around the same time they had bought a license to build Wankel rotary engines with a view to using them in stationary motors and in vehicles like the 1969 Arctic Cat Panther 295 snowmobile

Sales of the motorcycles were hurt due to insurance companies of the period's inexperience of Wankel engines, e.g. classing the Hercules as having a capacity of 882cc rather than 294cc. As a result of this, insurance costs in many countries was on par with the most powerful superbikes of the era, despite the far lower power output.

[castros_bro]

Valveless Pulsejet, no moving parts (not a ramjet)

 

[big_al_granvia]

35 minutes ago, castros_bro said:

Valveless Pulsejet, no moving parts (not a ramjet)

 

is posting that on here wise sir

[castros_bro]

5 minutes ago, big_al_granvia said:

is posting that on here wise sir

That one was just a toy, here's mine. 

 

 

[Spiny Norman]

Cizeta V16T, a transversely mounted V16 64 valve engine based on two Lamborghini Urraco V8s superglued together with the power taken from the middle of the crank.