Clutchless gearshifts

[big J]

A friend used to have a Hudson with a straight 8,smooth as silk. Christ,I loved that car,it had that early 50's streamlined look and a mint green interior which sounds crap but was actually really nice. WIIIIIDE whitewalls too.

[DeBenGuzzi]

Wait a tick, If the straight 8's were so smooth and I'm not too green(more like a lite olive) when it comes to motors, then why haven't I ever Seen, heard, or heard of a straight 8? did they run like silk to thier graves and why no keep it around if its so robust. Chevy had been using the same engine with newer fuel delivery for 25 years. a lil something called the 350 sb.

[Martin Barrett]

Wait a tick, If the straight 8's were so smooth and I'm not too green(more like a lite olive) when it comes to motors, then why haven't I ever Seen, heard, or heard of a straight 8?  did they run like silk to thier graves and why no keep it around if its so robust. Chevy had been using the same engine with newer fuel delivery for 25 years. a lil something called the 350 sb.

68365[/snapback]

Aren't Bentleys Straight 8s , well theres a garage in the New Forest called Straight Eight anyway

 

 

I think it will be a size thing, a V will be more compact.

[mike wilson]

Aren't Bentleys Straight 8s , well theres a garage in the New Forest called Straight Eight anyway

I think it will be a size thing, a V will be more compact.

68404[/snapback]

 

Not only. Once you get you to about a straight 6 (and, technically, even before) the twisting forces in the long spindly things like cam and crank shafts start to do weird things to timing and long term reliability. You have to go in for split cams, quill construction and all sorts of other stuff to keep them working well for any length of time, or put up with quite severe limitations in power output. That's why many engines have the cam driven from the middle - it reduces twisting in the free parts because they are shorter.

 

The V configuration has so much more going for it than a nice exhaust sound.

 

Bugatti made a straight twelve once. Once.

[big J]

Quill construction? They made bits out of porcupines?

[Guest Nogbad]

Not a very good shape for efficient packaging being as the engine is so long and thin, as well as the problems of twisting mentioned before. As the number of cylinders goes up it starts to make sense to use a "V" configuration, then a "W". Eventually you get to radial engines with staggered cylinders as used on aircraft before the gas turbine. Don't VW have a "W" configured engine?

[DeBenGuzzi]

Not a very good shape for efficient packaging being as the engine is so long and thin, as well as the problems of twisting mentioned before. As the number of cylinders goes up it starts to make sense to use a "V" configuration, then a "W". Eventually you get to radial engines with staggered cylinders as used on aircraft before the gas turbine. Don't VW have a "W" configured engine?

68455[/snapback]

They do have a Dubbya engine a W8 and either a W10 or W12 or I think actually both but I think the W12 is only in the race car they're "workin" on. I've heard they have had trouble with lots of failures on the cam shafts but its a new design who knows itll come along

[big J]

Didnt they fit a w16 in the Bugatti Veyron?

[DeBenGuzzi]

Didnt they fit a w16 in the Bugatti Veyron?

68468[/snapback]

I believe youre right but I wonder how many ppl bought one? I know for a cool Mill US $$$ I should have seen at least half a dozen on the roads by now.