Bigblock

[NixVegaGT]

Might be a tight squeeze in an MG engine bay though.

[Bustedbuick]

I think any inline 10 might be too long, unless it's based on the Hayabusa.

[Dawie]

I think it's an in-line nine, actually, if it's the same as the photos I'd seen before. That was a Wartsila-Sulzer two-stroke diesel ship engine. It looks like ten cylinders: but count the big ends. There do seem to be nine of them.

I'd wondered if engines of more conventional size might be constructed in the same way, though. The only comparable example that springs to mind is the not entirely successful Crosley "CoBra" of the late '40's.

-D

[roverman]

I just hope it's got a "soft" rpm. limiter. Where's the shift light?    rm.

[Bustedbuick]

I was counting the pits that the journals dip into. Perhaps the one at the far end is for the "snout."

Like Dawie said, there aren't many inline engines anymore. The last couple that I can think of are the old Nash inline 6 that saw its last use in the 2006 Wrangler, and the Chevy and Ford i-6s. Chevy recently had theirs reappear in a midsize suv, and Ford may still be using them in trucks.

More in keeping with the engines we use and talk about here all the time, what about this one?
That looks like a flathead inline 8, and the site where I found it said it was a Buick with 4 carbs(!). Of course they made an ohv I-8 too, but that last picture looked too cool to not use.

For super-long inline engine, this car has to take the cake:
That's a Bugatti Type 41 Royale.

The engine
is a 700 cubic inch I-8 that makes 300 horsepower. The following blurb is from Jalopnik:

Let's get the size thing out of the way. The Bugatti Type 41 Royale is the largest production car ever built. The 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood, what most people think of when they think longest car, had a wheelbase of 157.5 inches. The Royale? 169 inches. At 236 inches long, the Bugatti is in fact 3 inches longer than the Caddy, however it weighs 3,000 pounds more, for an Excursion like total of 7,500 lbs. The drum brakes are 18 inches in diameter and the cast "Roue Royale" wheels are honest to goodness 24"s, the largest ever fit to a production car. Of course, the insane 12,763cc straight-8 is the most massive engine in any (production) car. Ever.

[Dawie]

That's an ohv Buick. Buick never made a flathead eight, as far as I know. Cool valve cover!

Far more Bugatti Royale engines were made than cars. They were used in French railway locomotives as well.

Speaking of T41s, is anyone familiar with this? http://sbiii.com/cyclops/cyclops.html#nightout (scroll down to "Cyclops' Night Out")

Or what these guys are doing with Hudson flathead sixes? http://www.uncommonengineering.com/

My dream would be an ioe conversion on one of the big American straight-eights of the '30's, with an overhead cam on the intakes and a blower to make best use of the long stroke and low static CR.

-D

[Bustedbuick]

You know, you're right! After staring at the cooling vanes on the valve cover of that engine, and looking at the shape, perhaps that was an overhead cam? Talk about a rare speed part.