Was there such a thing as a V-4 engine? Examples? When was it last used?
Also, I was behind an older Saturn the other day and on the back panel it said “Twin Cam”. How would you fit two cams in a inline four engine?
The old air cooled VW’s were flat 4’s, i.e., had you bent them up, you’d’ve had a V configuration. I think a true V wouldn’t balance too easily, though.
On top of the cylinder head. All dual cam designs I know of are overhead cam.
Like this.
Saab and Triumph used a V4 in the late sixties and through the seventies.
Ford had a V4 in the early sixties - I worked with a guy had a V4 Corvair. At the time it was qquite impressive. I have a vague recollection of the Zephyr and Zodiac saloons having a V4 option too.
My Accord has a twin OHC on an inline 4. Never had a look though, open the bonnet periodically and close it PDQ again.
I believe most midget racing cars use cutdown Chevy V8 engines as V4s.
Yes.
Google on “V4 engine” for lots of them.
Now.
Beat me to it. I was going to mention Saab. I’ll just add a little more info. They introduced it in 1967 on the Saab 95 and 96. The engine was designed and built by Ford. It replaced the 3 cylinder two-stroke that Saab had been using. It was a 60 degree V:
Oh, and it was used on the Sonett, too.
Haven’t any cites for this but the original Saab V4 was a Triumph engine, and Saab were so pissed off with Triumphs internal problems and inability to deliver engines on time that thay dropped them and designed their own, striaght 4.
I happened to be living in Sweden at the time and learned this from a V4 owner.
The V-4 setup is everywhere. Outboard engines with a V-4 config number in the millions.
I have a book on the history of Saab (they sent it to me when I bought one in '87. It was the 50th anniversary of the company). This mentions that the v4 engine introduced in 1967 for the 95 and 96 was designed and built by Ford. It appears that they got an engine from Triumph for the 99, which was a slant 4:
I’ll defer to your greater knowledge, Yabob
Inspired by this thread, I was looking at Dolomite Sprint, as I had one for a short while in 1979, seems to have the engine you mention being in the 99.
This must be the one tha SAAB folks were so disgusted with.
Yeah, that seems to be the case. They quickly went to their own engine in the 99’s. Here’s the Wikipedia writeup on the Ford V4 they used:
It was used by Ford in their own cars in Germany. It also appears that you can pick nits. That article says:
There are lots of them in “industrial” applications.
The V-4 is rare. Wisconsin and Ford made them; Ford’s found its way into Saabs. Honda used to make a LOT of them for fast motorcycles, but Honda is Honda and they follow nobody.
V-4s are almost impossible to dynamically balance. There is no way to get 4 pistons with a 90-degree bank between pairs to fire at 180 degrees without going to a 2-plane crank, which presents vibration problems of its own.
You also need two cylinder heads. A relatively long head with four combustion chambers and sixteen valve holes is not twice as expensive as a short head with two and eight. The block has to be flat on two planes rather than just one; this involves extra expense.
It also requires two exhaust manifolds rather than one. This isn’t as big a disadvantage as it sounds because at least you don’t get the endless 4-into-1 versus 4-into-2-into-1 debate. You also get a relatively easy layout to tune.
For motorcycles, Yamaha V-Maxs and touring bikes; Honda Magnas and Interceptors and the Harley V-Rod all use or have used V-4 engines. It’s a fairly compact engine configuration, and the relatively short length of the crankshaft reduces the gyroscopic effect (which can make it a little harder to lean the bike over.)
The engine is called a Beast V-4 and is built by a guy named Bob East. He has also campaigned midget cars for many years, his drivers have included Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Kasey Kahne. East’s son Bobby was the 2004 USAC midget car champion.
They are hardly rare.
Yahama marine, Evinrude, Johnson, Honda, etc.
Well, that certainly fights my ignorance.
Thanks guys!