Hagen Brothers farms,Goodrich ND | Detroit's obsession with V type engines is that they can be quite compact for the displacement and number of cylinders, so they fit between the wheels of a car/truck without having a terribly long or tall hood.
Problem is that they go beyond just mounting two correctly designed inline 3 or inline 4 cyl engines side by side at a 60 or 90 degree angle to a common crankshaft and crankcase to create a V6 or V8 engine. They also do things to make each cylinder bank as short as possible to keep the engine quite narrow with minimum height.
Things like a big cylinder bore with a short stroke and far shorter than ideal rod length, keep the engine compact and works fairly well on a high speed,low torque gasoline engine. Problem is that those same shortcuts that cause not a lot of problems on a high rpm/ low torque gasoline engine, are a disaster for a low rpm / high torque diesel.
A large piston tied to a short rod has so much rod angle at half stroke that it exerts terrific side loads to the cylinder walls and piston skirt which causes a lot of stress/ friction / wear. A smaller bore piston in a long cylinder with a long rod tied to a long stroke crankshaft can make low rpm diesel torque for a lot longer than the stubby little over square design that Detroit loves so much.
Edited by Jon Hagen 4/12/2007 19:13
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Edmunds F450 Powerstroke test....
