Engine bay dimensions (volume supplement) in car designer.

[Junny]

I have read a few recent threads about engine dimension problems and the current arrows in the engine designer work excellently for this.
However my problem is that if I were to make a replica engine with odd dimensions (my replica toyota 2jz inline 6 example is 720mm long) I would not know what car body it would fit into.
I have tried to fit my example into both the 500 litre engine bays both transverse and longitudinally and also into any body that looks long or wide(on cars that have a wide track measurement and using the most compact features).
I think engine bay dimensions would be a good feature instead/including volume in the car designer.

[Killrob]

Indeed we need to find some better way of displaying size, but it is not as easy as you might think it is. Showing the numbers can be horribly confusing because they change depending on engine orientation and drive type. That is why the campaign workflow will be Platform -> Drive Type -> Engine -> Rest of Model, because only then do you really know what engine will fit or not.

[maffc]

On a sort of related note (it affects engine size), Has any thought been given to alternative gearbox mounting arrangements?
Some older small cars used gear boxes mounted underneath the engine (PSA-x) or even in the sump (BMC A) to reduce overall space requirements. I know these arrangements in the real world have largely fallen out of favour but mostly because equivalently powered engines can be much smaller.

[RobtheFiend]

The SAAB 99/900, had the engine at a 45 degree slant and the upper side of the gearbox was the oilsump. Must be one of the more compact 2 liter engine/gearbox units done.

[maffc]

Initially it was a 1.7 triumph engine, ironically Saab used it in production on the 99 before triumph started using it themselves in the dolomite.
I think later on both companies took diverging routes in it subsequent development with Saab taking time to address weaknesses, so much so that triumph owners would often retrofit their engines with these improvements