[vipergg]

Seems Mazda is following in Chryslers footsteps. Maybe there is hope for ICE engines yet .

The 2024 Mazda CX-90 is a 'big' deal with an interesting new engine

The Mazda CX-90 is the largest vehicle the brand has ever built and it comes with the first straight-six-cylinder engine it's offered in one of its models.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Fast Eddie]

There will always be a market for ICE engines.

 

[1s1k]

The power is great for Mazda but for an all new engine it’s pretty embarrassing.

 

[Adventurer55]

It's probably tuned for fuel economy.

 

[npaladin2000]

I'm confused. The article says the 4-Cyl is performance oriented with the i6 being the hybrid, then it talks about sandwiching the hybrid system between the 4 cyl engine and transmission because of the extra length allowed under the hood. Which does make sense, an i6 is pretty long and this car is an RWD layout.

Might explain the (lack of) power difference if the I4 is actually the hybrid and the I6 is pure ICE.

 

[ImperialCrown]

In-line 6-cylinder engines make sense from a 'primary & secondary balance' perspective.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight-six_engine

"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. To reduce the vibrations caused by this imbalance, most V6 engines use a harmonic damper on the crankshaft and/or a counter-rotating balance shaft".

Vee engine were born for a packaging need. The V6 sweet-spot is a 120º Vee between the banks, which would be impractable for most packaging. 60º is an accepted compromise.

V6 engine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The V8 sweet spot is a 90º Vee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_engine

 

[Cleffy]

I don't know why they would insist on a V or flat pattern 6 on an SUV. Totally unnecessary, less reliable, harder to work on, and more difficult for accessories. The inline makes the most sense with the larger vehicle on a RWD layout. Take a page out of commercial trucking. There is a reason nearly all class A trucks have an Inline 6. With the exception being Euro Trucks that have packaging limitations.

 

[Dave Z]

Because most car and SUV buyers don't want an engine that intrudes into the cabin, or a long hood.
There are solutions. The staggered cylinder bores is one, and the Hurricane’s block is another, with even the cylinder sleeves taken out. The slant six was borne of the need to cut length; the slant made room for the (now obsolete) distributor and such. (I'm pretty sure it wasn't a height issue, Willem Weertman made it clear they'd only had room for a four cylinder. FOrtunately slanting the new straight six engine, by allowing for side-mounted distributor and such, was about that length.)

 

[LouJC]

Probably the worst example of V6 vibs was the old GM 90* V6s before they fitted the split journal crankshaft, (pre-1977) that made it better, but finally they added the balance shaft around '92-93 or so, that brought it up to a tolerable level for automotive use. I have a pre-balance shaft 4.3 in a boat with the split journal crank and the vibs aren't noticeable due to the soft engine mounts and fiberglass/wood composite structure but if you watch it you can see it trying to lift the front of the engine up & down. If I ever repower it I will get a late model 4.3 with the balance shaft and Vortec heads.
The old inline 6 in our Jeep on the other hand is very smooth.

 

[Dave Z]

I think the engineers at Dodge used the GM v6 as proof that they could make one out of the 318...

 

[LouJC]

here's the old 4.3 with the even fire crankshaft but no balance shaft, on the later models you'd see the balance shaft above the tin retainer for the roller lifters

 

[Adventurer55]

Because most car and SUV buyers don't want an engine that intrudes into the cabin, or a long hood.
There are solutions. The staggered cylinder bores is one, and the Hurricane’s block is another, with even the cylinder sleeves taken out. The slant six was borne of the need to cut length; the slant made room for the (now obsolete) distributor and such. (I'm pretty sure it wasn't a height issue, Willem Weertman made it clear they'd only had room for a four cylinder. FOrtunately slanting the new straight six engine, by allowing for side-mounted distributor and such, was about that length.)

Somewhere, long ago there was an article about the Valiant hoodline also necessitated the 30 degree slant. But I don't recall where I read that. It may have been at one of the WPC seminars at one of the Detroit meets years ago. I'm not sure about more room for the distributor, it was a pia to change points on if you had big hands and such, because of the motor slanting towards the side where the distributor was. At least on A bodies.

 

[LouJC]

The final chapter in the old cast iron GM 90* V6 design was written by of all companies, Mercruiser, what they did was design their own version of the latest GM 4.3 V6, with a bigger bore, same split journal crankshaft, same balance shaft, updated cylinder heads, and modern engine management, if you look at the parts breakdown you'd swear they bought the old tooling from GM when they stopped making the cast iron V6s. Still all cast iron, used in sterndrive applications. I guess they thought the old GM engineering was good enough!
GM version used by Mercruiser:
Genuine Mercury Marine parts, large inventory, fast shipping. CYLINDER BLOCK AND CAMSHAFT (mercruiserparts.com)

Mercruiser's own "new" V6:
Genuine Mercury Marine parts, large inventory, fast shipping. Cylinder Block, Camshaft, Crankshaft, and Balanceshaft (mercruiserparts.com)

the parts for this new engine from Mercruiser are MUCH more expensive than what GM charged for theirs!
Merc's price for a new long block is about 9 grand, you could buy GM's version brand new for less than half of that when it was still in production (I think 2014 was the last year they built them).

 

[68RT]

Because most car and SUV buyers don't want an engine that intrudes into the cabin, or a long hood.
There are solutions. The staggered cylinder bores is one, and the Hurricane’s block is another, with even the cylinder sleeves taken out. The slant six was borne of the need to cut length; the slant made room for the (now obsolete) distributor and such. (I'm pretty sure it wasn't a height issue, Willem Weertman made it clear they'd only had room for a four cylinder. FOrtunately slanting the new straight six engine, by allowing for side-mounted distributor and such, was about that length.)

/6 was slanted to accommodate low hood on the Valiant and Lancer first version. There is no way it was done for distributor need as it was well down the tight side but it was well adapted for its location there. Length was shortened by the offset water pump but it still was a front heavy arrangement in that body. Also runner lengths were much more equal with the carb moved away from the head.

 

[ImperialCrown]

The engine offset also allowed the use of long intake manifold runners for a ram-air effect.

 

[Dave Z]

There have been a lot of stories made up by the marketing people about the slant six, I'm going with Bill Weertman's since he was there...! There were side benefits for sure but not enough to slant the Aussie six.

 

[LeonB]

Somewhere, long ago there was an article about the Valiant hoodline also necessitated the 30 degree slant. But I don't recall where I read that. It may have been at one of the WPC seminars at one of the Detroit meets years ago. I'm not sure about more room for the distributor, it was a pia to change points on if you had big hands and such, because of the motor slanting towards the side where the distributor was. At least on A bodies.

Indeed, replacing the points, condenser on the A body even some midsized slant 6 mopars was a PITA. Sometimes it was easier to remove the distributor. They also had issues from getting wet easily due to their location.

 

[68RT]

Indeed, replacing the points, condenser on the A body even some midsized slant 6 mopars was a PITA. Sometimes it was easier to remove the distributor. They also had issues from getting wet easily due to their location.

It was so easy to pull, I always did that and bench set the points. Used a long extension to pull the retaining bolt and coil was easy access to disconnect the wire.

 

[Adventurer55]

My first car was a 63 Valiant V100 wagon. Originally a 170 with column shift 3 sp. It was tired when my dad got it around 1974, so we bought a 225 out of a wrecked 66 Dart. Rebuilt it and dropped it in. It was truly a different car. I put points in it a few times. The first was done on the car. After that, my 16 years on the planet said pull the distributor from now on. With the back seat down it was a nice place to hang out with my first real girlfriend. Good memories.

 

[Dave Z]

It was so easy to pull, I always did that and bench set the points. Used a long extension to pull the retaining bolt and coil was easy access to disconnect the wire.

That's a good tip, I need to lubricate mine and change the rotor, most likely.