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Date:         Sun, 24 Mar 2002 13:47:54 -0800
Reply-To:     Dan Snow <dieselvanagon@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dan Snow <dieselvanagon@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Comments on displacement (Frank?)
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Howdy all- cubes=hp is not that tough, lots of corvettes and mopars did that. hp=cc/10 is hard, but the BMW M3, some Honda VTECs, and perhaps a few others do it. Old cars like Ferraris and Porsche 911s were close, but that was before emissions controls.

Formula one cars during the turbo era (until ~1990) could get ~1200 hp out of 1.5 liter engines. And I think that top fuel dragsters get something like 5000hp out of ~7 liters. Two-stroke gp bikes get ~200 hp out of 500cc.

You just need high revs, good breathing, and lots of gas. I drove a friend's Honda s2000 with a 2.4L and 240hp. It redlines at 9000rpm, and it really doesn't feel all that strong until you go past 6000rpm(!!). But honda engines are bad candidates for swaps, as they rotate the wrong way.

Parenthetically, there is nothing sacrosanct about small displacement engines. The key is to convert gasoline and oxygen into motive power, and a small engine doesn't necessarily have an inherent advantage, even in fuel consumption, other than that the reciprocating masses are lighter and thus more able to be revved higher. Our obsession with small engines is an artifact of european tax laws that are concerned with displacement, and since European cars are the better (VC), we aficionados tend to think that small engines are better.

>From: Raimund Feussner <rfeussner@GMX.DE> >Reply-To: Raimund Feussner <rfeussner@GMX.DE> >To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM >Subject: Re: Using American engines for Vanagon swap - why the heck not? >Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 18:34:15 +0100 > > > >426 cubes? > > >426 horse's? > > > > > >I am not aware of any road worthy, available to the public, standard > > >import that cranks out as much horspower as it's displacement. > >BMW M3. 321hp, 3.2litre, without turbo or anything. The new M3 around >340hp, >also form 3.2litres. >More than 100hp per litre > >Raimund

Daniel Snow

'82 Vanagon Diesel '78 Puch Maxi Luxe Moped '01 Xootr Scooter http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/snow/vanagon/vanagon.html

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