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Auto Union racing car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Germans made a serious effort to develop V24 aircraft engines. Why not a V16 aircraft engine? That would build on extensive experience with V16 engines which powered Auto Union race cars.
Hi,
Didn't the Americans have a V16 Liberty engine? Not sure if it was ever used, but IIRC the Liberty program was to have a common design that could be used from 2 to 24 cylinders.
river
I think there was an experimental V-16 that was put into a P-47 very late or after the war. It's in one of my Jug books. I honestly cannot remember if it was a Liberty or not.
Would a V14 work? Was there a 14 cylinder inline engine, thinking that there were 14 cylinder radials?
Would be possible to make a V-14 the same size as the V-12, smaller cylinders?[/QUOTE}
It would be possiable but what is the point?
The V-14 would be more expensive to manufacture (more parts even if they are smaller) more expensive to service, spark plug changes and valve adjsutment.
Depending on the exact bore and stroke it is likely to have more internal friction (approximately 80% of the friction in an engine comes from piston scrubbing in the cylinders) meaning poorer fuel economy.
On the plus side you might get better breathing with the smaller cylinders and you might better cooling. A larger cylinder wall to cylinder volume ratio. So you are trading better peak HP for worse fuel consumption at all speeds.
Throw that in with the odd ball firing order and/or strange V angle and crankshaft journal spacing and it just seems to offer a lot more headaches than advantages.