There was an Aussie who flipped a 2 stroke, put it on top of first a Honda then a Ducati 4 stroke bottom end and created a '3 stroke' engine. I can't find a link now but at the time (~1997) it generated quite a furor.
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June 7, 2009 7:47 p.m. Jensenman MegaDork
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June 8, 2009 1:25 a.m. Appleseed HalfDork
Chrysler Turbine. If it ain't a jet, you ain't e36 m3!
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June 8, 2009 2:56 a.m. ScottRA21 New Reader
Surprised no one else came out with the Polimotor yet!
Plastic Block, Con-rods, head, piston skirts, etc. Only things NOT plastic, were basically what formed the combustion area, and other high-friction/wear areas.
Shaved weight down to 168 lbs.
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June 8, 2009 6:25 a.m. 4cylndrfury HalfDork
ScottRA21 wrote:
Plastic Block, Con-rods, head, piston skirts, etc. Only things NOT plastic, were basically what formed the combustion area, and other high-friction/wear areas.
I thought you meant on eof these
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June 8, 2009 9:26 a.m. jimbbski New Reader
porksboy wrote:
OH! I just remembered anotherone. There was a radial aircraft engine that the cylinder jugs rotated instead of the crank shaft. Unfortunately I dont remember what it was called.
http://www.enginehistory.org/index.htm http://www.enginehistory.org/rotaries.htm Go here to find out more about this type of engine. A number of manufacturers designed this type of engine for aircraft in the early days of aviation.
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June 8, 2009 10:34 a.m. aircooled SuperDork
How about turbo compound engines, like the Napier Nomad:
Insanely complex. Basically a two stroke diesel with a exhaust power recovery turbine (kind of like a turbo, but connected directly to the crank instead of the intake)
Or how about the Napier Deltic:
Of course you can always go big, like the Prat and Whitney Major, also called the "corn cob" engine. 28 cylinders, 4 rows, air cooled, 4360 cubic inches, over 4000hp in some models:
Or maybe the Napier Sabre H engine. 24 cylinder, two sets of opposed cylinder rows, sleeve valve:
They made some pretty crazy engines in late WWII and soon after.
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June 8, 2009 10:45 a.m. Jensenman MegaDork
At one time, both Toyota and International Harvester were experimenting with a ceramic engine. It was supposed to be able to withstand temperatures of 6000 deg F and so needed no cooling system.
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June 8, 2009 11:01 a.m. Jay_W HalfDork
Here's one of my favorite sites, the museum of retrotechnology!
http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/museum.htmThis lil corner of intarweb awesomeness (no I ain't clever enough to have made this site meself) has gems like the toroidal internal-combustion engine. You can see the animated gif showing the Michel cam engine, where the text says "If you find the drawings less than clear (and they seem to have defeated the the original author of the document) this should make all plain." You can see the difference between a wobble plate engine and a swash plate engine. You can freak the berkely out...
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June 8, 2009 12:01 p.m. curtis Reader
mazda miller cycle engine. From the Millenia S.
roots type supercharged 2.3 v6 that mostly under boost will keep the intake valves open a little at all times i believe. Not really all that crazy just a lil cool.
And another wierd one is the i believe its either a saab or volvo engine that had variable displacment by way of a rubber bellows sandwiched between the block and the head that would expand and change compression ratios, cubic inches etc etc.
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June 8, 2009 3:34 p.m. RexSeven HalfDork
Atkinson-cycle Rotary. I can't make heads or tails of how the internals work- it's like watching the insides of a mechanical Swiss watch- but it's claimed to be "only half the size of a conventional engine yet produce 30% more power and use 10% less fuel."
Dave Colman wrote about funky engines often when he used to do editorials for SCC. The one that sticks out most in my mind is a three-cylinder diesel. Two of the cylinders worked like a conventional four-cycle, while the third shoved tons of air into the main pistons- like over 300psi's worth.
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June 8, 2009 3:47 p.m. spdracer315 New Reader
Ford Boss 351 V10.
not really a radical design, or anything ground breaking, but definatly a cool story how it came to be. Pretty much a secret project built after hours with whatever money the engineers could find between the break room seat cushions. Proof that there are still some car people in detroit...
http://www.mustang50magazine.com/featuredvehicles/138_0402_boss_351_v10_mustang/in...
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June 8, 2009 4:42 p.m. mel_horn HalfDork
aircooled wrote:
How about turbo compound engines, like the Napier Nomad:
Insanely complex. Basically a two stroke diesel with a exhaust power recovery turbine (kind of like a turbo, but connected directly to the crank instead of the intake)
Or maybe the Napier Sabre H engine. 24 cylinder, two sets of opposed cylinder rows, sleeve valve:
They made some pretty crazy engines in late WWII and soon after.
Further explanation of the Nomad: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Nomad
And the Napier Sabres were used on the Hawker (not Pontiac!)Tempests and Typhoons...
We could probably call Napier the winner. A close second would be Fairbanks-Morse...
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June 8, 2009 7:51 p.m. Trans_Maro Reader
Bristol Centaurus was the engine in the Hawker Tempest. The Typhoon got the Naiper Sabre.
That's what makes them different models. It's the same airframe for both planes.
It's a sleeve valve radial. Sounds like a Harley only bigger :)
One of the local bush operations flew a Bristol Freighter that used to blow them up on a regular basis. I think they ran out of spares a year or two ago.
Shawn
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June 8, 2009 7:58 p.m. Luke Dork
Jay_W wrote:
Here's one of my favorite sites, the museum of retrotechnology!
http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/museum.htmLots of cool stuff on that site.
If I was an eccentric millionaire, I'd drive a Helica:
This Helica is owned by Jean Francois Bouzanquet of Paris. It was bought new by his grandfather in 1922, and it has been in the family ever since. The engine is a British two-cylinder ABC of 1203 cc, driving a 4.5 foot diameter wooden propeller; maximum speed is about 60mph...
60mph! With wire-operated rear wheel steering
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June 8, 2009 8:25 p.m. thedude New Reader
Luke wrote:
Lots of cool stuff on that site.
If I was an eccentric millionaire, I'd drive a Helica:
60mph! With wire-operated rear wheel steering
This is the antithesis of pedestrian safety. And I feel like you would have to laugh maniacally a lot driving this.
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June 8, 2009 8:52 p.m. Jensenman MegaDork
Malcolm Bricklin was hot for this freaky looking engine:
http://www.saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca/Heritage/bricklin/Rotary.htm
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June 8, 2009 9:10 p.m. mel_horn HalfDork
Luke wrote:
<
This Helica is owned by Jean Francois Bouzanquet of Paris. It was bought new by his grandfather in 1922, and it has been in the family ever since. The engine is a British two-cylinder ABC of 1203 cc, driving a 4.5 foot diameter wooden propeller; maximum speed is about 60mph...
60mph! With wire-operated rear wheel steering
And it looks like there MIGHT be brakes on the front wheels?
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June 8, 2009 9:47 p.m. RossD Reader
If you made a locost version of the Helica, do you think the DMV/DOT would make you put bumpers on it?
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June 8, 2009 11:35 p.m. Bennythekopp New Reader
How about this one? Not really and engine replacement... but a head replacement. They claim that the rotary valves will last well over 150k miles. No oil req'd in the head.
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June 9, 2009 9:09 a.m. 4cylndrfury HalfDork
spdracer315 wrote:
Ford Boss 351 V10.
http://www.mustang50magazine.com/featuredvehicles/138_0402_boss_351_v10_mustang/in...
There is a good reason why ford isnt dying a slow and public death like the other 2/3rds of detroit.
Bennythekopp wrote:
How about this one? Not really and engine replacement... but a head replacement. They claim that the rotary valves will last well over 150k miles. No oil req'd in the head.
thats pretty cool actually...makes sense...its what would happen if cams and valves made whoopie, and contraception = fail. Probably less overall rotational mass...whats not to love about that?
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June 9, 2009 11:06 a.m. Keith UberDork
spdracer315 wrote:
Ford Boss 351 V10.
not really a radical design, or anything ground breaking, but definatly a cool story how it came to be. Pretty much a secret project built after hours with whatever money the engineers could find between the break room seat cushions. Proof that there are still some car people in detroit...
http://www.mustang50magazine.com/featuredvehicles/138_0402_boss_351_v10_mustang/in...
AWESOME. This is what you can do when you can sneak into the factory at night and grab some of the sand casting cores. I love it.
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June 10, 2009 8:36 a.m. Rusty_Rabbit84 Reader
here is one unusual engine for you guys...
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June 10, 2009 8:51 a.m. Jensenman MegaDork
That 'skunk works' V10 is great! That's what I mean by having the bean counters turn the engineers loose. No telling what they might come up with.
Then there was the Knight 'sleeve valve' engine. It was unusual in that the cylinder for the piston fit inside a sleeve, both the 'cylinder' and the 'valve' sleeves had holes which matched and thus opened ports at the correct time in the engine's cycle. No valve springs, etc.
Detail picture:
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June 10, 2009 9:01 a.m. 4cylndrfury HalfDork
Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote:
at first I thought: "Theres no way theres an internal combustion engine as big as my house.here is one unusual engine for you guys...
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then I dug a little..I cant believe my eyes!!!that thing is freaky big!!!!
www.greenawaymotoryachts.co.uk and look at the new engines link
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June 10, 2009 9:07 a.m. Jay_W HalfDork
Photos might be better on this page.
