V16 engine
A
V16 engine is a
V engine with 16
cylinders. Engines of this number of cylinders are not common.
A V16 engine is perfectly balanced regardless of the V angle without requiring counter-rotating
balancing shafts which are necessary on large
Straight-4 or couterweighted cankshaft like the 90°
V8 engine configuration. In addition angles of 45° and 135° Vs optimal solutions, for even firing and non split crankshaft journals.
V16 engines have been used in certain luxury and high-performance
automobiles, mostly for their smoothness (low vibration) since it is possible to make a V8 or
V12 engine as large and powerful as one could possibly want in an automotive application. Greater numbers of cylinders are also perceived as a
status symbol.
Consumer automobiles
Howard Marmon had begun working on the world's first V16 engine in
1927, but was unable to complete the production
Sixteen model until
1931. By that time,
Cadillac had already introduced their
Cadillac V-16, designed by ex-Marmon engineer,
Owen Nacker.
Peerless, too, was developing a V16 with help from an ex-Marmon engineer,
James Bohannon.
The Cadillac V-16 was the most exclusive model of the marque from January
1930 until
1940, with the
Cadillac V16 engine. Two types of the V16 were built. From 1930 to
1937, this was a 425 in³ (7.0 L) with a 45° V. For
1938, a new design was introduced with 431 in³ (7.1 L) and an angle of 135°; this resulted in a much lower car profile.
By contrast, the
Marmon Sixteen was a 45° engine made almost entirely out of
aluminum. Like modern engines, it used pressed steel cylinder liners. Just 400 Marmon Sixteens were produced between 1931 and
1933.
In
1988, a joint business venture between
Claudio Zampolli and musician
Giorgio Moroder produced the
Cizeta-Moroder V16T which featured a 16 cylinder engine in a unique configuration, but which was not a true V16. Rather, the engine was made up of two
flat plane V8s, mounted
transversely, with
gearing between the two providing a single output from the center of the engine assembly to the
longitudinal transmission. It began production in
1991 but only a few cars were produced before the company closed its doors for good.
Cadillac revived the V16 concept in
2003 with a
General Motors concept car, the
Cadillac Sixteen. This car used a 1000
hp (750
kW)
Northstar V16.
The
Rolls-Royce 100EX has also a V16, but it is not clear whether or not
BMW intends to put it into production.
Racing
|
Cover of Road & Track magazine showing Auto Union V16 engine in chassis |
In
auto racing, the V16 was used in
Grand Prix by the mid-engined
Auto Unions that rivalled the
Mercedes from 1933 to
1938.
It has only been used once in the post WWII era, by
BRM. Most unusually, this was a 135° V 1.5 L
supercharged powerplant. This engine was a failure despite being powerfulâ€"officially, it produced 550 hp (410.1 kW) but likely delivered around 500 hp (372.8 kW). With such a small
displacement per cylinder it delivered this power in a narrow RPM range. This made the car difficult to handle, but the sound made by the small 16 cylinders has been described as 'unforgettable.'
Another use for the V16 powerplant is in large
diesel engines. Here, manufacturers tend to work with a common
cylinder size across a wide range of engines, and size the engine by the number of cylinders for different power requirements. Thus, many users of large diesel engines such as railroad
locomotives use V16 powerplants, including many
General Motors Electro-Motive Division locomotives. In
1939 Chrysler was contractedby the US government to create a new engine for use in fighter aircraft. Chrysler respondedby designing an inverted V16. They tried many designs before choosing a design with a hemispherical combustion chambered
OHV head. The big V16 was rated at 2500hp. it was finallytested in June of
1945. It was installed in the
P-47 Thunderbolt in place of a
radial eingine. This airplane was designated the XP47H. The change in engine and aerodynamics increased the top speed from 439mph to 504mph. The war ended shortly, and the hemi V16 was never
mass-produced, although the basic design and
valvetrain setup live on in today's
Hemi V8s.
