Re: Re:2003 Viper R/T Roadster

From: Alex Harris (jetcity@swbell.net)
Date: Wed Jan 10 2001 - 19:49:53 EST


Well, I may be wrong, but I would think mass would have a lot to do with
selecting a displacement in regard to the performance of an engine, given
that the larger you make the displacement of a cylinder the more mass you'll
have to move (and/or the farther you'll have to move it). This seems like it
would have a significant effect on how an engine performs for a specified
task, in our case an engine with a reasonable degree of what we'll loosely
call 'performance' (that stuff that shows up on your timeslip).

Even assuming you use the lightest possible material to build your engine,
you can't just keep making cylinder dimensions bigger and bigger and still
get increased results in the area you want (say 1/4 mile times), can you?
Obviously you can build huge engines with enormous amounts of power (like a
train engine), but my question is basically when we're talking about fast
cars, where do you get to the point where you just aren't going to gain more
'performance' by increasing individual cylinder displacement?

I realize this is way oversimplified and there are a whole lot of variables
involved, but it all started because I thought >1L per cylinder was a lot,
and made me think that there had to be some point where it would just not be
efficient to make the cylinders larger, that it would in effect begin make a
car slower off the line... just an interesting subject (at least to me, all
the rest of you just go about your regularly scheduled business) :-)

Thanks for the response!

- Alex

> From: Viper450hpGTS@aol.com
>
>
> "Mass" as you put it has very little to do with the displacement of an
> engine. You could build an all aluminum V-12 that could be lighter than a
> V-10. Only the length of the rod and the size of the bore makes up the
> displacement. Depending on the materials used and the bore spacing, you could
> design an engine that would be lightweight yet have big displacement....
>
> James
> '99 Flame Red RC Dakota R/T (ATI Procharged)
> '01 Black 4.7L RC Dakota Sport (5-speed & 3.92 gear)



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