Interesting and unusual engines

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.

Chrysler Turbine. If it ain't a jet, you ain't e36 m3!

Surprised no one else came out with the Polimotor yet!

Pop Sci article

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Here's one of my favorite sites, the museum of retrotechnology!
http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/museum.htm

This 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...

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.

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.

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/index.html

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...

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

Jay_W wrote: Here's one of my favorite sites, the museum of retrotechnology! http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/museum.htm

Lots 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

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.

Malcolm Bricklin was hot for this freaky looking engine:

http://www.saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca/Heritage/bricklin/Rotary.htm

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?

If you made a locost version of the Helica, do you think the DMV/DOT would make you put bumpers on it?

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.

Coates Rotary Valve Engine

spdracer315 wrote: Ford Boss 351 V10. http://www.mustang50magazine.com/featuredvehicles/138_0402_boss_351_v10_mustang/index.html

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.

Coates Rotary Valve Engine

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?

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/index.html

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.

here is one unusual engine for you guys...

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:

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: here is one unusual engine for you guys...

at first I thought: "Theres no way theres an internal combustion engine as big as my house."

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

Photos might be better on this page.

http://www.bath.ac.uk/~ccsshb/12cyl/