Unusual/Interesting Engines/Motors

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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by Paul-R »

Yes, there's one in the BM Heritage museum in Gaydon. I saw it there some 25 years ago and thought what a missed opportunity it was.
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by Peter.N. »

Mine was at the motor show.

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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by Paul-R »

Probably the same one!
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by CitroJim »

Chris, thanks for all the information on Project Iceberg - very interesting :)
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by Paul-R »

CitroJim wrote: 15 Oct 2018, 07:52Is there any significance in the name 'Iceberg'? Seems an odd name for an engine...
The lead engineer like iceberg lettuce on his BLT?
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by xantia_v6 »

I think I was told by someone who worked at BL at the time that there was also a design done for a turbo diesel version of the Jaguar V12, which was a stronger engine, but the project was stopped before a prototype was completed.

There was at the same time a project to make a 4 overhead cam (petrol) version of the Rover V8 to be fitted to the Jaguar XJ 40, but that was scuppered by the Jaguar engineers who didn't want a V8.
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

xantia_v6 wrote: 15 Oct 2018, 21:02 I think I was told by someone who worked at BL at the time that there was also a design done for a turbo diesel version of the Jaguar V12, which was a stronger engine, but the project was stopped before a prototype was completed.

There was at the same time a project to make a 4 overhead cam (petrol) version of the Rover V8 to be fitted to the Jaguar XJ 40, but that was scuppered by the Jaguar engineers who didn't want a V8.

I seem to recall that, when Rover wanted Jaguar to use the Rover V8, the engine bay dimensions would not accept a V style of engine, and it would take a lot of time and effort to come up with a suitable design. The strange thing was that, not long after Jaguar escaped from the clutches of Rover, somebody found a complete set of designs for a V12 engine bay. Funny, that.
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by CitroJim »

xantia_v6 wrote: 15 Oct 2018, 21:02 I think I was told by someone who worked at BL at the time that there was also a design done for a turbo diesel version of the Jaguar V12, which was a stronger engine, but the project was stopped before a prototype was completed.



Shame it was stopped - that would have been one heck of a lovely engine :D

Would have loved to have seen (and heard) a V12 Turbo Diesel E-Type!!!
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

A 2-Stroke Kettle :-D
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by xantia_v6 »

I remember when those first came out. They were considered to be quite exotic, but I believe they had terrible handling characteristics.

Back to the subject of V8s, can anyone (without going to wikipedia) name the only (I think) French-designed V8 engine to go into a production car? The American designed engines used by Ford and Simca don't count.

I think that there were at least 5 different V8 engines designed in France, but the others all got cancelled due to corporate financial troubles.
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

There was some kind of celebration of all things French when Jackie stewart won the world F1 Championship driving a Matra, so something from Matra would be my guess without looking anything up, and probably giving a really daft answer!

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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by CitroJim »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 17 Oct 2018, 15:49 A 2-Stroke Kettle :-D

temp3.jpg

Regards Neil

Image


I used to lust after those... Loved them and still do :) The nearest i got to one was its smaller sister, the GT550... A very similar bike but air-cooled (Suzuki Ram-Air). They had two bad features... Disc brakes that failed to work in the wet and hard chrome plated light alloy cylinder bores :twisted:

And...
xantia_v6 wrote: 17 Oct 2018, 16:03 I remember when those first came out. They were considered to be quite exotic, but I believe they had terrible handling characteristics.
Yes, all Suzuki GT series bikes of the period were rubbish handlers... Very smooth and delightful bikes but corners were not their forte...

Frame flex was the problem - it made for a comfy ride but not a cornering one

We used to call them 'Access Cards' after the Access credit card strapline - 'Access - Your Flexible Friend' :lol:
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by xantia_v6 »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 17 Oct 2018, 16:08 There was some kind of celebration of all things French when Jackie stewart won the world F1 Championship driving a Matra, so something from Matra would be my guess without looking anything up, and probably giving a really daft answer!

Regards Neil

Oops... I just went back to my source and find that I had misread it. There has never been a French-designed V8 go into a production car.

The De Dion-Bouton motorcar firm did produce a V8 engine for sale in a car in 1910, but it is not clear that it was used in volume production.
The 1934 Citroen Traction Avant 22CV V8 was cancelled due to the bankruptcy of Citroen (it might also have been a pig to drive).
The 1975 Maserati Quattroporte had a V8 version of the Citroen SM engine, but was cancelled due (again) to the bankruptcy of Citroen.
In the 1970s. Gordini also developed a 3 L V8 for the Alpine A310, but the production car had a 4 cylinder engine.
In the 1980s the PRV engine was designed as a 4 litre V8, but only the 6 cylinder version went into production (I doubt that the V8 would fit in a transverse configuration).

And the Matra racing car used a BRM engine
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by white exec »

Although a good V8 produces wonderful smoothness of power delivery (in Rover's case, from a little above idle speed), I have been amazed just how smooth the (twin balancer-shaft) 4-pot DK5 is in the XM. Unless you deliberately ask for lots of power below about 1400rpm, it's really smooth. From 2000rpm, it just doesn't seem like a four at all.

Having driven a P6 3500S manual for years, I'm hard pushed now to say which engine I prefer. Both ex-factory knock out about 130 bhp, although the XM has a little extra these days. Rover returned 27mpg long-distance touring (24 average); XM comes back at 43 and 35. On the other hand, the V8 exhaust note was music; XM is just virtual silence.
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Re: Unusual/Interesting Engines

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

xantia_v6 wrote: 17 Oct 2018, 17:23
NewcastleFalcon wrote: 17 Oct 2018, 16:08 There was some kind of celebration of all things French when Jackie stewart won the world F1 Championship driving a Matra, so something from Matra would be my guess without looking anything up, and probably giving a really daft answer!


And the Matra racing car used a BRM engine
Yes drew a blank on the V8 question...but Matra did do a V12! Successful at Le-Mans but not so much in F1.

Jackie Stewart delivered the first and only F1 World Championship for Matra in 1969 Driving a MS80. Wiki and elsewhere has this powered by a Ford Cosworth V8.

Matra did have their "own" V12 which powered the MS11 in 1968 driven by Jean-Pierre Beltoise and its best finish was 2nd to Stewart's M10 (Ford Cosworth) in the 1968 Holland Grand Prix.

Image

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