The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world
Blog

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

Open the hood of the car and there is a 90% chance of colliding with a four-cylinder engine. Its design is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, compact, and provides features sufficient for most vehicles.

However, please note: most of these engines have a working volume of 1,5-2 liters, i.e. the volume of each cylinder does not exceed 0,5 liters. Rarely a four-cylinder engine has a larger displacement. And even then, the figures are only slightly higher: 2,3-2,5 liters. A typical example is the Ford-Mazda Duratec family, which has an older 2,5-liter engine (found in the Ford Mondeo and Mazda CX-7). Or, say, a 2,4-liter, which is equipped with Kia Sportage or Hyundai Santa Fe crossovers.

Why don't designers increase the workload even more? There are several obstacles. Firstly, due to vibration: in a 4-cylinder engine, the inertial forces of the second row are not balanced, and an increase in volume sharply increases the vibration level (and this leads to a decrease not only in comfort but also in reliability). The solution is possible, but not easy - usually with a complex shaft balancing system.

There are also serious design problems - a large increase in piston stroke is prevented by an increase in inertial loads, and if the cylinder diameter is significantly increased, normal combustion of the fuel is hampered and the risk of detonation increases. In addition, there are difficulties with the installation itself - for example, due to the height of the front cover.

Yet there is a long list of exceptions in the history of the automotive industry. Diesel engines were deliberately not included in the Motor selection - especially for heavy vehicles, among which the volume is up to 8,5 liters. Such motors are relatively slow, so the increase in inertial loads is not so terrible for them - in the end they are associated with the speed of a quadratic dependence. In addition, the combustion process in diesel engines is completely different.

Similarly, various experiments from the early 20th century are not included, such as the Daimler-Benz 21,5-liter four-cylinder petrol engine. Then the creation of engines is still in its infancy, and engineers are not aware of the many effects that occur inside it. For this reason, the gallery below only features four-cylinder giants born in the last 60 years.

Toyota 3RZ-FE - 2693 cc

The engine was developed in the late 80s specifically for the HiAce van, Prado SUVs and Hilux pickups. The requirements for such engines are clear: for off-road driving or with a heavy load, you need good torque at low rpm and high elasticity (albeit at the expense of maximum power). Plus low cost, which is especially important for commercial vehicles.

The 2,7-liter engine is the oldest in the line of gasoline "fours" of the RZ series. From the very beginning, they were designed with the prospect of increasing the volume, so that the durable cast-iron block was assembled very spaciously: the distance between the cylinders was as much as 102,5 millimeters. To increase the volume to 2,7 liters, the cylinder diameter and piston stroke are 95 millimeters. Unlike the younger RZ series engines, this one is equipped with balance shafts to reduce vibration.

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

For its time, the engine has a very modern design, but without exoticism: the cast-iron block is covered with a 16-valve head, has a timing chain, no hydraulic lifters. Power is only 152 horsepower, but maximum torque of 240 Nm is available at 4000 rpm.

In 2004, an upgraded version of the engine with the 2TR-FE index was released, which received a new cylinder head with hydraulic compensators and a phase switch at the inlet (and since 2015 - at the outlet). Its power has been symbolically increased to 163 horsepower, but the maximum torque of 245 Nm is now available at 3800 rpm.

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

GM L3B – 2727 cc

Here's what downsizing in America looks like: As an alternative to naturally aspirated 8-cylinder engines, General Motors is developing a huge turbocharged four-cylinder engine with more than 2,7 liters.

From the very beginning, the engine was developed for full-size pickups. For more torque at low revs, it is made with a very long stroke: the bore is 92,25 millimeters and the piston stroke is 102 millimeters.

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

At the same time, the engine is designed according to the most modern models: direct fuel injection (with lateral injectors), phase switches, a cylinder shutdown system at partial load is used, an electric pump of the cooling system is used. The cylinder block and head are made of aluminum alloy, and the exhaust manifold is integrated into the head, the BorgWarner turbocharger is two-channel and with an unconventional winding geometry.

The power of this turbo engine reaches 314 horsepower, and the torque is 473 Nm at just 1500 rpm. It is installed on the base versions of the large Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck (the brother of the Chevrolet Tahoe SUV), but from next year it will be installed under the hood ... on the Cadillac CT4 compact rear-wheel drive sedan - or rather, on its “honed” version of the CT4-V. For him, the power will be increased to 325 horsepower, and the maximum torque - up to 515 Nm.

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

GM LLV

At the turn of the century, General Motors launched an entire family of Atlas unified engines for midsize crossovers, SUVs and pickups. All of them have modern four-valve heads, the same piston stroke (102 millimeters), two cylinder diameters (93 or 95,5 millimeters) and a different number of cylinders (four, five or six).

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

Four-cylinders have indices LK5 and LLV, their working volume is 2,8 and 2,9 liters, and their power is 175 and 185 horsepower. Like pickup engines, they have a "powerful" character - maximum torque (251 and 258 Nm) is reached at 2800 rpm. They can spin up to 6300 rpm. The 4-cylinder engines in question were installed in the first generation of Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size pickups and were discontinued along with two models (the first generation in question) in 2012.

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

Porsche M44/41, M44/43 and M44/60 - 2990cc cm

Most of the engines in this selection are simple units designed for pickups, vans, or SUVs. But this is a different case: this engine was created for the Porsche 944 sports car.

The less expensive coupe with a front-mounted Porsche 924 engine from the late 1970s was often criticized for its weak 2-liter four-cylinder Audi engine. That is why, after deeply modernizing the sports car, the designers of Porsche are making it with a completely different engine. True, a significant limitation is the size of the engine compartment, which from the very beginning was designed for the installation of "four".

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

The Porsche 944, released in 1983, actually has the right half of the aluminum V8 from the big Porsche 928 coupe. The resulting 2,5 liter engine has a rather short stroke and a huge bore of 100 millimeters: with 4 cylinders this gives extremely uneven performance, therefore it is necessary to use Mitsubishi's patented system with a pair of balancing shafts. But the engine turns out to be very maneuverable - the car starts up in second gear without any problems.

Then the engine displacement was increased first to 2,7 liters, resulting in a cylinder diameter increased to 104 millimeters. Then the piston stroke was increased to 87,8 millimeters, resulting in a volume of 3 liters - one of the largest "fours" in the history of the automotive industry! In addition, there are both atmospheric and turbocharged versions.

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

Several versions of the three-liter engine have been released: the Porsche 944 S2 develops 208 horsepower, while the Porsche 968 already has 240 horsepower. All three-liter naturally aspirated engines are equipped with a 16-valve cylinder head.

The most powerful version of the series is an 8-valve turbo engine that develops 309 horsepower. However, you are unlikely to ever see it live, because it is equipped only with the Porsche 968 Carrera S, of which only 14 units were produced. In the racing version of the Turbo RS, produced in just three copies, this engine is boosted to 350 horsepower. By the way, a 16-valve turbo engine was developed, but only as a prototype.

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

Pontiac

As you can see, a volume of three liters for a four-cylinder engine is not the limit! This mark was crossed by the 4 Pontiac Trophy 1961 engine with a displacement of 3,2 liters.

This engine was one of the fruits of the labor of John DeLorean, who at that time headed the Pontiac division of General Motors. The new compact model Pontiac Tempest (compact by American standards - length 4,8 m) requires a cheap base engine, but the company does not have the funds to develop it.

At DeLorean's request, the engine was designed from the ground up by legendary racing mechanic Henry "Smokey" Unique. It literally cuts in half the 6,4-liter Big Eight from the Trophy V8 family.

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

The resulting engine is very heavy (240 kg), but extremely cheap to manufacture - after all, it has everything like a V8. Both engines have the same bore and stroke, and have a total of 120 components in the design. They are also produced in one place, resulting in significant cost savings.

The four-cylinder engine develops between 110 and 166 horsepower, depending on the carburetor version. The engine was stopped in 1964, in parallel with the development of the second generation Tempest.

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

IHC Comanche - 3212 cu. cm

Likewise, the V8 in the early 1960s became the Comanche family's four-cylinder engine for the International Harvester Scout SUV. Now this brand has been completely forgotten, but then it produced agricultural machinery, trucks, pickups, and in 1961 it released a small off-road vehicle Scout.

The Comanche four-cylinder series was developed for the base engine. International Harvester is a small company with limited resources, so the new engine was designed as economically as possible: the designers cut out a five-liter one intended for stationary installation (for example, to drive a generator), the designers cut it in half.

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

And by 1968, the company was building a giant in the same way: the 3,2-liter four-cylinder engine was obtained after cutting in half the 6,2-liter V8 intended for heavy equipment. The new engine developed only 111 horsepower, and by the end of the 70s, due to stricter requirements for toxicity, its power dropped to 93 horsepower.

However, long before that, its share in the production program collapsed when more powerful and smooth V8 engines began to be installed on the Scout SUV. However, that doesn't matter anymore - after all, this engine goes down in history as the largest 4-cylinder ever installed in a car!

The largest 4-cylinder engines in the world

6 comments

Add a comment