![]() Crank journals or crankpins, whatever you want to call them, these small devices attached to the crankshaft's big end bearings make the difference between a boxer and a flat motor. ![]() Boxer engines should not be mistaken with flat V engines. But despite it being with us since the mid-1800s, most people and even petrolheads still don't know that there's a very small but important difference between one of the most acclaimed engine architectures ever produced. It has become one of the most important utilities of modern living together with electricity and hot water. Since that seminal moment in 1862, the internal combustion engine slowly but surely catched on. ![]() If you're a motorcycle guy, BMW manufactures a truly remarkable and potent water-cooled boxer engine that propels the off-road/on-road GS series of bikes. Alfa Romeo made some very creamy boxer motors in its golden era, but that's not the case anymore under Fiat Chrysler Group's rule. But if you are that type of purist that cannot go with anything other than a true boxer, then the only way to go is Porsche or Subaru. At any given moment during the combustion cycle, an inline-six boasts with two pistons going down, two going up and two in the middle so there's no inbetween to unbalance the operation. All V12 powerplants are inherently balanced regardless of bank angle because it employs two straight-six cylinder banks. The second is an animation of a flat V12 engine, in which horizontally opposed cylinders share a common crankpin.ĭon't get us wrong, a flat engine is a mechanical masterpiece that makes proper gearheads go gaga. The first one shows you what's basically a Porsche 911 engine. If you still didn't quite get the difference between boxers and flat V motors, then take a look at the videos attached below. Of course, there are other more hi-tech methods to offset the imbalance, but on a cheap and cheerful econobox that's not the case. Vibrations that could shake the engine apart are dealt with things like a balance shaft or special flywheels that don't follow a perfectly circular path. What about more common engine configurations such as the inline four-pot pretty much evey supermini, compact hatchback or sedan uses nowadays? This design is inherently unbalaced, but worry not. That design wasn't without fault, but Nikolaus Otto did manage to invent a better mill that could burn fuel more efficiently. However, the internal combustion engine's genesis comes courtesy of Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir, a Belgian that developed a gas-fired engine with connecting rods, pistons, cylinders and flywheel in 1860. ![]() The earliest mechanism known to use a connecting rod and a crank is a device called the Hierapolis sawmill, a contraption that dates to the 3rd century AD. Internal combustion engines work in mysterious ways for the uninitiated. There's a Big Difference Between a Boxer and a Flat Engine ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |