PhillipM wrote:Fenris wrote:Given that that engine barely creept over 100 horses in its most potent form, one can hardly say it was pushing the envelope...
For an engine designed based in the 80's and from 1300cc, without the aid of boost?
There's nothing to suggest the smaller engines will suddenly blow up just because they are smaller. You've only got to look at the amount of turbo failures on big VNT diesels from merc, bmw and VAG to see that size isn't always a help
I was mainly referring to forced induction engines in my rant against small engines with high hp per liter. This is an arument between small FI engines and bigger NA engines.
It's simple math really, when one push a small engine to do lot of work, it's not going to be as reliable as something that's bigger but turn over a lot slower, generating roughly the same peak horsepower. There's a reason industrial, naval and heavy-duty commercial engines tend to have rather dismal power figures compared to their displacement, because they last forever compared to car engines. Low compression hurts power, but reduces the strain put on the engine. It all comes down to compromise, finding the right balance of reliability, power, economy and weight.
Oh, and regarding the original topic, anyone care to name a DOHC engine that's run over 4,000,000 miles?
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 11:05 am