Deep Dive: Inline 4 vs. V4 vs. Boxer 4 - What's the Difference? Engine Balance Explained in Detail
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ค. 2024
- In today's video we're doing a very in-depth exploration and comparison of the inline 4, the v4 and the boxer 4 engine. We're exploring and comparing everything from primary and secondary engine balance to firing intervals and rocking couples. We will also see how a boxer 4 is different from a flat non-boxer engine in terms of anatomy and balance. But our deep dive is structured and gradual instead of overwhelming so that you can enjoy the video regardless of your background or prior knowledge. There's also skip points included so that viewers familiar with my engine balance series don't have to watch things that have already been explained in previous videos.
As you might already know, primary engine balance has to do with the mass and thus the inertia of the piston when it changes direction. Now to have an engine with good primary balance we have to balance out the forces associated with the piston's inertia.
The inline four achieves a perfect primary balance by balancing it out piston inertial forces using the inertial forces of other pistons. So when two pistons go up, two pistons go down. This means we have two forces pointing up and two forces pointing down and so they cancel each other out leading to an elimination of primary vibrations.
The boxer 4 also achieves perfect primary balance by using piston masses to balance out other piston masses, it just does it a bit differently compared to the inline four. Instead of having all the pistons in one line, the boxer four splits them into two different banks which are directly opposed to each other which means that the pistons are also opposed to each other
The v4 has perfect primary balance too, but it doesn't rely on piston masses to cancel out other piston masses. Instead it uses the crankshaft counterweight to cancel out the mass of a piston. The reason why a V4 engine can do this is precisely because it's a V engine. If it weren't a V engine than the crank counterweight couldn't be used for this purpose.
The V4 is a lot more „modular“ compared to inline four and boxer four engines. In fact you could say that inline four and boxer four engines are in a way all the same in terms of their basic anatomy. It's modular in the sense that it's essentially two V-twin engines stuck together. This allows you to have any angle between the two crank pins. The angle can be zero like in the Honda RC30, or 180 degrees like in the Honda VFR800, or 70 degrees like in the Ducati Panigale V4. You can also play around with the degree between the cylinder banks. You can go 90 degrees like Ducati, or 70 degrees like the Yamaha Vmax or 65 degrees like the Aprilia RSV4. But no matter what you do, because of the V configuration anatomy, you can't have two pistons be at top dead center at the same time if you put two connecting rods on one crank pin. This means that you're always going to have an uneven firing interval.
Now in the case of the inline four 4 the firing interval is regular or even....but the downside to this is that it can't be anything else. In the case of the v4 the firing interval may always be uneven, but the upside is that we can play with it and create different firing intervals resulting in different engine character, sound and power delivery which can be tailored to match different applications.
When it comes to secondary balance the inline four obviously has the most problems because all the forces point upwards all the time leading to noticeable secondary vibrations. But there's good news and there's bad news when it comes to secondary balance. The good news is that the magnitude is only about one quarter that of primary balance but the bad news is that secondary vibrations occur twice per engine revolution compared to only once for primary vibrations.
The v4 and the boxer 4 have better secondary balance than the inline four but it's still not perfect. In the v4 the pistons don't oppose each other so the secondary forces can't cancel out, but they also can't stack up like in the inline four. The separation between the two bank angles means that the secondary forces from each piston merge into a single resultant force. The magnitude is about 1.4 times that of a single cylinder, and then playing with the offset between the crank pins the v4 essentially "dilutes" secondary vibrations which means that it doesn't need a balance shaft.
Now the boxer 4 seems like it might have a perfect secondary balance because we have forces of equal magnitude but opposite direction. But due to the offset between cylinders the boxer four has a secondary rocking couple. But at least it's better than a flat 4 engine which has a massive primary rocking couple.
A special thank you to my patrons:
Daniel
Daniel Morgan
Pepe
Brian Alvarez
Jack H
Dave Westwood
Joe C
Zwoa Meda Beda
Toma Marini
Nelson
00:00 Primary balance
04:53 Firing interval
10:59 Secondary balance
15:02 Rocking couples
20:20 Which is best?
#d4a #enginebalance - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
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In Aviation the Aircooled Boxer Engine is the obvious Choice, as cooling Channels in the Cowling are easier to design the fewer Cylinders are in a Row.
A Boxer Engine also has:
-half the amount of Crank Case, saving weight and space
-half the Length of Camshaft, saving weight
-3 instead of 5 Main Bearings (or 4 instead of 7 in a 6 cyl.), saving weight and space
-Flat Shape reducing Drag
-Updraft Carbutators for increased Safety
-OHV Valve Drive and Singular Cylinder Heads
Hey man. In the early part of the primary balance bit, I think you mean 90+90+90+450=720 not 90+450+90+450=720
It's just the graphic that needs updating
another car with v4 engine is the lancia fulvia but the v was about 12°
can you make a video about oposed piston engines ?
Starting to watch this video 40sec after the uploading... I'm obsessed XD
Brilliant explanations of each design, D4A! You really have the best automotive engineering & technology channel on TH-cam!
Unfortunately most people do not understand very much of what he's talking about....
Ask anyone what secondary forces are in there car engine, and you'll be run out of town, making them look like an idiot. LOL
@Throckmorton he honestly does I had to explain how fuel injection works and what each sensor does and I watched his video on them and it made explaining it to non mechanic so much easier.
@@vw4x4 Unfortunately, most people don't understand what anyone is talking about 😂
@@vw4x4 It was well explained. But parallel and perpendicular are confusing concepts. The issue comes in with rotation. It's a tertiary force. You can only balance rotation with centered counter rotation. You would need an infinite number of mirrored cylinder banks occupying the same physical space in opposite rotational directions. An engineering obstacle indeed 😂
Wow! Where were you when I was in school?!
The impact of firing interval on bike's grip was new to me and totally makes sense. Wonderfully and eloquently explained, thank you!
But it's not undisputed.
Michael Doohan used the Big Bang in the NSR500 but then switched back to the screamer with regular ignitiondistance.
So it is also a preference of the rider.
@@xyq384 also in mcdoohan era the 500 gp bike was truly 'analog' with carburetor. Losing traction in microseconds delivered by big bang order might be impossible to manage even by demigod racer.
Where as today gp bikes is also computer on 2 wheel that can manage smoothness for rider.
@@silentIm the advanced computer is the driver ❤
no square 4? :(
Just for those who might be wondering, the German Ford Taunus V4 was the same engine used by Saab for all 96 and Sonnet models from 1969 through the end of production. It was a 60° V, and did have a separate crank pin for each connecting rod (though I'm not sure why this would mean it is not a "true" V4). It also used a gear-driven balance shaft for secondary balance.
Also the Mustang I concept car, and Ford Transits built for the continental European market (West German built left hand drive). UK Ford had their own V4 for the British Isles version of the Transit .
Actually, I wasn't wondering, but your facts are interesting. Thank you....!!
I still want to cut down a GM 90 degree V6 with the balance shaft to make a V-twin.
Rather like two conjoined V twins, but not exactly. It's been *decades* since I've have a Euro-Ford V4 apart (high attrition rate here) so I can't exactly remember the crank layout, but I want to say it was a 2-journal type with split pins on it. But I may be confusing the Taunus V4 with the way older V4 outboard motors were laid out (2 journals, split pins on each journal for a total of 4 - it was for compact packaging reasons) and that was all before subcompact vertical inline 4's took over the role of 4cyl 4 stroke outboards with like twice the power and roughly the same size & weight of the old V4's. Thank you composite manifolds and MiM! Anyhow, my 2 cents. I'm getting old and can't remember sh*t anymore 😑
Sidenote I also kinda remember the Taunus being a Cologne V6 with 2 cylinders lopped off, both V4 & V6 accepted the exact same exhaust manifolds as I recall?? Like I said it's been more than 30 years so.. memory is quite fuzzy. Someone set me straight! It's making me crazy
You make the most technical aspects sound layman friendly. I enjoy the inner-workings of cars more than just how pretty they are on the outside. Thanks to your content, I can understand how things inside cars work without having to study complex theories. Very intuitive! Tell us more!
Pretty much what I was going to say, I love the details that teach visually.
@@volvo09 I look out for his content eagerly
I'm not an engineer, have an MBA in HR, possibly no use whatsoever of this video in my professional life.
But I care for my vehicles and do as much work as possible on my motorcycle with my own hands (valve clearance adjustments, front fork oil change etc.).
I'm glad there are people like you and content like this on YT. Thank you d4a for your time and effort in making these videos. The computerized animations were worth it 👌
This videos are pure gold by explaining the basics and then digging deep why there is no such thing like the best engine configuration. Thank you for the effort.
Actually inline 6 is almost perfect design as well as v8, v10 and v12. But it leads to higher cost.
I found this channel last night looking up stuff for the R1. I'm an electrical engineer and this is still some of the most fascinating and well explained stuff I've seen in a really long time.
The one v4 I can think of in cars is Lancia's old v4. It's a super narrow angine v4 with 1 head, but I don't think it has a split crank like the Ford v4. The Fulvia used it and that car was pretty successful in rally racing.
Iirc, the lancia engine was a VR4, since it only used1 cylinder head. (Its where vw got the idea for the vr6 engine, aledgedly)
On Soviet cars, ZAZ and LuAZ were installed V4 with a volume of 1.2 liters. Currently, some bikers in Russia remove the V4 from old ZAZ cars and install on a motorcycle ("zazocycle" called by them).
Saab considered the Lancia V4, or so I'm told, before selecting the Ford unit.
We had a drill rig at an engineering company where I worked many years ago that had, i believe it was a Wisconsin V4 air-cooled industrial engine.
This channel is "strange".
Most of the videos...
In the beggining we became to feel so "stupy" like "Man... I didnt have any idea about it."
Then... the explanations as so, soooooo good that you realize that you are understanding and getting smarter.
Man... its AWESOME.
I would love to be a student with a teacher like you.
GREAT JOB BUD!
...
GREAT JOB, thank you very very much.
May I ask you a question?
Are you a professor?
If no...
Have you think about it?
You will be a great one man.
we really appreciate the increase in quality and depth of the explanations. I come from the i6, v6, vr6 video and while I loved the other one this one is just much better, keep it up
Another excellent video! I especially liked your descriptions of the engine balance, even vs uneven firing order, and the usage of balance shafts vs engine mounts. Awesome!
Wow ! I am a 25+ year of experience mechanical engineer but still, I now feel more intelligent after listening to your video on I-4, V-4 and B-4 ! Your explanations are simple but so clear ! I am also an AW11 owner (SC for me) so you got my attention ! I subscribed to your channel and will be listening a lot more of your videos in the future !
Nice explanation of secondary balance, this is your best one so far 🙂
I just came across the video and I would like to say that this is the most fascinating, pure and fruitful explanation of all mentioned types of engines. Really appreciate the amazing work, keep it up 💪💪💪
The effort put into this video really shows. Reference grade stuff. Many thanks!
⭐
Your channel is the most underrated on YT, hands down!
Love to watch your videos, keep up your good work! 👏😊👍
9:06 Another car with a v4 is the Porsche 919 with a 90° crank offset. It has separate crank pin.
My first thought when I think of V4 engines
and there is also ZAZ Zaporozhets series soviet cars using v4 engines
There's also the Lancia v4
bro u don't stop to entertain me with these videos that are oozing and dripping with knowledge
Wow man. By far the best graphics + explanation of a complex, but beautifully simple comparison of physical laws. This is the video I share with people who have little to no understanding of IC engines.
Great video, brillant explanations.
Every arrangement has its pros and cons.
Excellent video as always. Underrated youtube channel! Being a motorcyclist as well as a car guy, I have to say I love this late turn to include motorcycle stuff in your channel. The V4 engine included. I'd love to see a deep dive in recent trends on motorcycle (and car) engine configurations such as the I3 - crossplane I2 "vs" the more traditional I4 - V4 - V2. Thank you!!
Already done in previous video.
Great video man! I love the animations to help show the concepts. 👍
Wow. Dude. This isn’t information. This is understanding. This is depth. I’m a very experienced engineer, but aero, not auto. I learn a metric ton from each one of your videos. You have the kind of grasp of all the corollaries of every design detail that I see in all my colleagues that I most admire. Thank you for doing these.
The reason why i like motorcycles a lot more is how relatively small aspects of the design greatly impact the performance. The rotational direction of the crank could make the difference in Braking and changing direction, in a car its usually negligible.
The Ducati "twin pulse" V4 is pretty cool. I don't know if its mainly down to the 70 degree crank &/or Desmodromic vales, but the straight line performance is very entertaining to watch.
Great Video!
Oh yeah, I just now thought about "Hey, if the engine rotates counter to the wheels, then wouldn't it have a slightly lower tendency to wheelie due to rotational inertia canceling out? And beyond that, I recently realized that transverse mounting of the engine is technically the ONLY sensible design, again, due to rotational inertia. This time though, it would literally rotate the bike into or out of lean angle depending on how you were turning. Couple that with a shaft drive (the only sensible drive with a longitudinally mounted engine) and then it begins to "walk" or "climb" the pinion up the ring gear in the rear axle.
I always bin a guy that understood how a motor/engine works by looking at it for the most part. But watching your video's throw the last year or so I've started watching, I've learnt a good amount of technical knowledge of how they work to a high level. And I love it !!!
I was JUST looking into super compact engine design. This video came at the perfect time
I learn a lot more from this channel than in school! Massive thanks D4A!
Always a Masterpiece ! Thanks for another great video and easy to understand explanations !
Thank you, this video is a nice refresh on what you presented before, but with enhanced explanations 🙂Keep it up!
Fantastic video - great comparisons and clear explanations. Subscribed!
Very COoL. You had four of my friends jumping up and down and another four going back and forth regarding your video's content. It was awesome! You RoCk!
This video is awesome and super useful for understanding primary and secondary forces. Since you made a video on rod ratio and how it affects engines, I think it would be interesting if you covered piston wrist pin offset and/or cylinder bore offset and how it affects power and torque. Keep up the great work!!
Thank you for an excellent video! You clearly explain some very subtle concepts. The diagrams and animations were well worth the time. I hope one day you could cover I6 and V8 configurations in a similar way.
He’s already got videos on both, although not directly compared to each other. One comparing I6 to different types of v6’s, and one comparing the different types of v8’s. The whole engine balance playlist is very good, definitely worth a watch.
If you mean more like this video, comparing specific applications, I agree. I know this channel is typically more car/racing focused and is not based in America but personally I’d love to see American truck engines compared, e.g. Cummins I6 vs the v8 diesels.
the explaination of the boxer engine limitations was really insightful. thanks ❤
As always, another banger. Thanks for another thorough video.
The Porsche LeMans 919 Hybrid also uses a V4 with split crank pin design to achieve 180 degrees per ignition.
Lancia Fulvia was also a V4 narrow angle (between 11°20' and 12°53) with a single head, making it essentially the first VR engine.
Lancia Fulvia V4 should always be mentioned when talking V4 engines!
The Ford V4 was also used in Saab models and the Ford Transit.
Someone who understands horses for courses. Application defines the "best" engine configuration.
Great timing!!!!! I JUST watched your 6 cylinder balance video
This is the best video on the internet, regardless of the desired application.
I love the sound the V4 makes. I wish they made that the entry level engine for the Mustang.
Amazing! The best part for me is learning more about my Panigale V4 engine. Thanks for all the info. Always learning something from all your videos.
Got here only 3 seconds after upload. D4A never disappoints!
Bravo mate, you described and explained that information so clearly, and simple that not only did I fully understand, but I've retained it too...👍
My understanding grows thanks to you my friend thank you for the great content
maybe there isn't the best engine but there is certainly the best yt channel
Excellently explained! Thank you!
Thank you very much i was waiting for a boxer engine balance explanation ❤️❤️
Great stuff. I love the complexity.
Excellent! That's a lot of information to digest, but you made it very accessible.
fantastic video. The graphics made it very intuitive to understand well.
Extraordinary presentation!!!
Wow man! Super informative and interesting video!
Thank you for the light . you do a great job ❤
I've been trying to design a little V8 engine in fusion and your videos have been a massive help!
You should check out the Connaught V10 - very cool stuff
@@jameshaulenbeek5931 dang, it looks really weird. I'll have to take a look at how it works.
I love this channel! It's like, "finally, explanations for all of the various design and engineering trade offs that get made in ICE!"
amazing explanation mate, thank you.
I've had an ST1100 and ST1300, and the torque from those V4 engines was just incredible. I haven't ridden a "normal"-mounted V4, like a Vmax or VFR to compare, but the ST's were awesome.
Thanks for that- well explained! I was taught a long time ago that secondary balance was caused by thecranks counterweights traveling to the side, at 90 degrees to the stroke, when there was no piston/conrod traveling in the opposite direction to counter its sideways force.
Thank you for your excellent skill of explanation.❤
I love the V4 in my VFR 800 VTEC. The vibrations are lower frequency than an inline 4. The inline 4 buzzes the handlebars and footpegs. My brother-in-law has GSX750F, a bike very similar in power, torque and power delivery on paper. While riding it's totally different feeling and character. I guess it's the higher secondary imbalance combined with even firing order giving it higher frequency vibrations.
Thank you again for this very good explanations. 😎👍
EXCELLENT VIDEO!
Thank you!
Thank you for the video. Great learning.
Wonderful explanation - thanks for sharing
Thank you for your very good videos. You make learning engine is so fun and I watched your videos again and again. Thanks.
My outboard engine on my boat is a 1.7l v4 positioned vertically with the shaft running down the the gearbox then to propellor. It's also a two stroke. Quite an interesting design by evinrude. It makes 115 hp, which is plenty in a fairly small boat. It's been very reliable, considering the environment in which it operates. Which is a good thing when you're out on the sea.
As a V6 owner (peugeot 407) I'm now better understand my engine - thank a lot! Great work 👏🏻
Great video as always
one belt/chain if it's not a VW product. Then you get a belt on the front driving the exhaust cam and a chain on the rear driving the exhaust cam to the intake cam. 😉 I absolutely love your videos too, keep doing what you're doing. I love watching you explain the balances!
Wonderful as always dude 🤌🏻
Wauw. Your knowledge is incredible. Thanks for your vids its really great. Up to the next. Regards from the Netherlands
Beautiful!
Thank you for your explaination.
You are very welcome.😁
I'm pretty obsessed with this channel
Thank you for sharing your intresting video's. 👍
Brilliant educational videos like this make the internet worthwhile. Thank you for making us smarter!
Damn hard to keep up but what an incredible explanation… Thanks so much for sharing this video !
eXellent work friend!!
So, if I understood this correctly, the four cylinder engine is just a large USB power bank. 🤔
J/K. Terrific and informative, as always!
🤣🤣🤣
You Just Scramble my brains man! I still LOVE my VFR!
GREAT video with lots of easy to understand information....
I've been working on a radical engine design for several years. It's an inverted V 12. Let me explain... using 2 inline 6 cylinder engines, each with their own cranks. Both cylinder banks are geared together and there is a center-line output shaft. The banks are inverted and form an upside down 90 degree V.
Left and right hand cylinders share a common head. The head has variable compression ratio where combustion chamber volume is adjustable. The magic is in the head. Using 2 inline 6 cylinder engines means there is perfect primary and secondary balance without needing anything else. The head has 4 valve per cylinder hemispherical combustion chamber with center spark plug. In addition to variable CR, it has variable lift, duration, and timing as well. The magic is truly in the head.
Variable compression ratio means engine is always at most efficient regardless of boost level. No boost, engine runs 10:1 CR. Add 3-4 Bars of boost and Static CR drops preventing pre-detonation problems. With high boost head is still at 10:1 CR or whatever is best for load. Lower static CR = higher amount of boost possible. You could have an engine with 5:1 CR and add a ton of boost. Problem is with no boost, engine would be very inefficient at 5:1 CR.
I have a 2 stroke version that works on paper. Cramming 720 degrees of rotation into 360 degrees is hard. But with full time mechanical forced induction and full time mechanical exhaust scavenging it works. Giant 2 stroke ship engines run at 100 RPM. Making a practical car 2 stroke gas engine is the challenge. 2 power strokes per 720 degrees means twice the power. 6,000 RPM in 2 stroke is same as 12,000 RPM with 4 stroke.
Your videos are amazing. Thank you.
I love you videos! It would be cool to see what engines you like specifically with all the in depth knowledge you have. Obviously there is no perfect anything, but what engines do you find to be good for different applications over others?
Great explanations!
Enjoyed so much, thank you. Could you please do a similar lecture about the balance in a three cylinders engine?
I've had all these engines. Obviously, inline 4s are quite common. I had a V4 in a Honda VF1000F back in the 80s. Recently, we bought a Subaru Forester with an H4 engine. I have to say, the smoothness of the boxer engine in the Subaru is very noticeable.
I bought a new Crosstrek 2-liter six-speed last year. After forty years with Nissan pick-ups, the boxer is a revelation.
Awesome tutorial!
Very thorough and interesting explanation. I have a Gen 2 Yamaha VMAX which has a 70 degree angle between cylinder pairs. A counterbalance shaft is used to reduce vibration. An interesting story I read was that during development the engine prototype was deemed to be too smooth for the character of the bike. It didn't deliver a muscle-bike sensation to the rider. Yamaha therefore intentionally introduced s small amount of low frequency vibration by modifying the counterbalance shaft. It now delivers a small amount of low frequency vibration to the rider. It is not annoying at all.
I am a Mechanical Engineer and I wish 45 years ago, when I was in second year of engineering , my dynamics Prof explained primary and secondary balances as eloquently as you have explained.
Nice work!!!
Hi driving 4 answers! I really appreciate and enjoy your videos. They grow my interest for cars and engineering in general. KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK! Also, I just wanted to task if it was possible for you to make a video explaining the fuel that we use in vehicles, like gasoline, diesel, etc and why we use these kinds of fuels exactly. Also, is it possible for you to provide us with a detailed explanation of synthetic fuel, like how they work and how they are produced?
Great Video🏁 I’m surprised that there’s not more V-4 cars produced!
Just to add a bit of info on the boxer. The block doesn't have to made from two identical halfes. The Alfa Romeo Boxer for example have a single piece cast iron block, with two aluminium lids at the back and the front, that doesn't have a load bearing function. Also, this cast iron block responds well to boost applications, even if it only have 3 main bearings.
Would love to see a series on tbe rotaary engine (explination on blalance and operation) love your vids very informatove and entertaining for the gear head 😁👏👍
If you are interested, Ryan did a great vid on the Rotary over at Fortnine: th-cam.com/video/-3HBAvkc4a0/w-d-xo.html
I learned. Thank you.
Lancia had a V4, a boxer 4 and an inline 4 all in production at the same time.
The SAAB Sonnet used a Ford V4 as well.
Great video!