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The angle between cylinder banks is called the 'bank angle'. Engines with multiple banks are shorter than straight engines of the same size, and will often have better engine balance characteristics, resulting in reduced engine vibration and potentially higher maximum engine speeds.
90° V angle: This design historically derives from chopping two cylinders off a 90° V8 engine, in order to reduce design and construction costs. An early example is the 3.3 L (200 cu in) and 3.8 L (229 cu in) Chevrolet 90° V6 engines, which have an 18° offset crankshaft resulting in an uneven firing interval.
1917 Liberty L-8— an aircraft engine with a V-angle of 45° Most engines use a V-angle (the angle between the two banks of cylinders) of 90 degrees. This angle results in good engine balance, which results in low vibrations. [5] However, the downside is the greater width of the engine compared to those that use a smaller V-angle.
V8 engine with cylinder numbering based on crankshaft position (instead of following each cylinder bank) In a V engine the frontmost cylinder is usually #1, however there are two common approaches: Numbering the cylinders in each bank sequentially (e.g. 1-2-3-4 along the left bank and 5-6-7-8 along the right bank).
Honda's first production V6 was the C series; it was produced in displacements from 2.0 to 3.5 liters.The C engine was produced in various forms for over 20 years (1985–2005), having first been used in the KA series Legend model, and its British sister car the Rover 800-series (and Sterling).
All V6 engines with even firing spacing—regardless of the V-angle between the cylinder banks—are subject to a primary imbalance caused by each bank consisting of an inline-three engine, due to the odd number of cylinders in each bank. Straight-six engines and flat-six engines do not experience this imbalance.
Some engines have used a V-angle of 180 degrees (the same angle as a flat engine), such as several Ferrari V12 engines. [7] [8] At the other end of the scale, the 1922-1976 Lancia V4 engine and the 1991–present Volkswagen VR6 engine use V-angles as small as 10 degrees, along with a single cylinder head used by both banks of cylinders.
The other configuration is effectively a V engine with a 180-degree angle between the cylinder banks: in this configuration each pair of cylinders shares a single crankpin, so that as one piston moves inward, the other moves outward. The first flat engine (Benz Contramotor) was built in 1897 by Karl Benz. Flat engines have been used in aviation ...