Grant Fondo
Guru
- Location
- Cheshire
RIchard, when i lived in Shepherds Bush my next door neighbour had a TVR Tasmin V8S ..... it was like London was being bombed every morning at 7.30am.
I'm still not a fan.
V8 Debate
- Thread starter Richard A Thackeray
- Start date
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RIchard, when i lived in Shepherds Bush my next door neighbour had a TVR Tasmin V8S ..... it was like London was being bombed every morning at 7.30am.
I'm still not a fan.
Jameshow
Veteran
You had better correct it!
Developments of the L410 continued in production powering Rolls-Royces up to 1998 and Bentleys into the 21st century. Bentley, under Volkswagen ownership since 1998, continues to develop the L410 for its range of cars. Rolls-Royce ceased using the L410 with the switch to BMW ownership of that brand in March 1998 and introduction of a BMW sourced V12 engine in the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph.
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Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
In terms of how many various vehicles used it, be it from manufacturers, kit-cars/custom cars, it's got to be the most ubiquitous V8 in the UK?
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAj_O6wuYkc
BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
Kind of get the sonorous delight of a V8, but as an engineer I am slightly bugged by the imbalance implication, and therefore would regard a V12 (or straight 6) as not as exciting to listen to, but a much better engine solution than a V8. And an electric is even better than listening to wasted power coming out of the exhaust.
The ex-Buick V8 wins it for me for the range of fantastic cars it has powered, from the rural Land Rover and its posh cousin (Range Rovers) and the more wayward ones in between (e.g. Discovery), through the family Rovers (several generations) to varying degrees of mental sports cars (TVR and Morgan - I am looking at you lot in particular).
Rolls Royce was always a strange application of this configuration (go for a 6 or 12, please!), and the Triumph Stag (less said the better) and the flat plane Ferrari V8s (great, but poor relative of the V12) leads me to the conclusion that the three American imports we have suffered most under have been fast food, contaminated blood and imposition of the V8 as the performance engine configuration of choice, e.g. Jaguar's straight 6s were the right route to take, but got distracted by foreign markets.
The ex-Buick V8 wins it for me for the range of fantastic cars it has powered, from the rural Land Rover and its posh cousin (Range Rovers) and the more wayward ones in between (e.g. Discovery), through the family Rovers (several generations) to varying degrees of mental sports cars (TVR and Morgan - I am looking at you lot in particular).
Rolls Royce was always a strange application of this configuration (go for a 6 or 12, please!), and the Triumph Stag (less said the better) and the flat plane Ferrari V8s (great, but poor relative of the V12) leads me to the conclusion that the three American imports we have suffered most under have been fast food, contaminated blood and imposition of the V8 as the performance engine configuration of choice, e.g. Jaguar's straight 6s were the right route to take, but got distracted by foreign markets.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
Yet Carroll Shelby never wanted to fit the 427 in the Cobra, he reckoned the 289 was a better engine and lighter, the 'big block' tends to 'push' its front end
Jameshow
Veteran
Much like Audi V8s
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Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
Yes, but what a monster it turned out to be!!
Grant Fondo
Guru
- Location
- Cheshire
The straight six BMW M engines sound better at 8000rpm. I've had their V8 as well.
Pretty much sums up my thoughts too, electrics aside!
I think the Buick lump also deserves an honourable mention for its alloy block, in a time when all its yank contemporaries were still cast iron.
Flat plane stuff sounds fantastic; although I also like the idiosyncratic sound of the wonky firing order of the yank stuff.. even if not all the associated engineering shortcomings; which I guess to an extent plays into their generally imperfect nature. I suppose you do have to admire the longevity afforded by their heavy, basic build and unstressed state of tune too.
Ultimately I'd rather have a straight six or V12 too... I think for most the former is going to be the most achievable in an interesting state of tune; I'd very much like something with the 265bhp variant of the BMW N52 in it - no M-tax but still a six that revs to about seven grand
Yup; typically hung about ten feet ahead of the front axle it seems!
As much as I used to be a VAG fanboy it seems that the only thing Audi excels at is making flawed, complicated, expensive engines while missing all of the best formats (I guess it's hard to run a transaxle with the length of a six or twelve).
That said I'd not say no to an R8; even the povvo V8 version
Profpointy
Legendary Member
How about the Edward Turner designed Daimler v8 of the 50s and 60s? It came in a 2.5 litre version which was used in the Dart 2 seater sports car and the daimler version of the Mk2 Jag; the Jag version having the famous straight 6 XK engine. There was also a 4.5 litre version used in big Daimler limos and hearses. Apparently they didn't want to use the big engine in the Daimler badged Mk2 as it would have rather upstaged the top of the line 3.8 Jag six
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_V8_engines
Turner also designed the Triumph Bonneville engine I believe
I should add I have never owned nor even driven a Daimler V8 of any type, so no direct experience of these engines, but they are supposedly well regarded. Either the Dart or the big Daimler Majestic would be appealing though
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_V8_engines
Turner also designed the Triumph Bonneville engine I believe
I should add I have never owned nor even driven a Daimler V8 of any type, so no direct experience of these engines, but they are supposedly well regarded. Either the Dart or the big Daimler Majestic would be appealing though
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Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
Phil, one of our (now retired) Urology Consultants, had a SP250 as a 'toy'/weekend & sunny days car
EDIT @ 21:17
I had a search, this was at a Land Rover show, & Phil's is the last photograph
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/one-for-classic-car-fans.208154/page-110#post-6624877
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mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
I've never owned a V8 unfortunately, but I did once own half of a Ferrari 412i with a 5.0l V12. I've owned a couple of Volvo fives, loads of fours and now a three. But what I really came here to say is when I was 16 I had a 1963 Pontiac Tempest with half a V8. My step dad had dragged it out of a government yard where it had sat since the American embassy employee had abandoned it when he left the country. The slant four was the brainchild of that John DeLorian fellow, then head of engineering at GM division Pontiac. They wanted a 'compact' car but didn't want to use the six cyl rear engined Corvair platform. Chopping one bank off the existing V8 allowed them to produce a small(er) capacity motor which used all the same components and could be assembled on the same line, saving costs. Pontiac's development budget was tiny compared to parent GM. It had a 7/8th of an inch drive shaft running at engine rpm to a torque converter and transaxle. Lovely car. I never managed to get it running.
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rogerzilla
Legendary Member
The crossplane V8 is a brilliant piece of engineering. V8s are going the way of the dodo, of course, but the aim was always smoothness (because USians think nothing of driving 1,000 miles). I think the crossplane came a bit later, to perfect an already-smooth engine.
BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
V8s smooth? Cross plane V8s require ballancing weights, and flat plane a couple of balancing shafts. Straight 6s (and V12s) offer fundamental smoothness. Which is why our train diesel engines are mostly based on 6 cylinders (6, 12, 18, etc).
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Yebbut..., that was years ago when EVs didn't exist in their modern form. ( perhaps any notable form). The V8 was the pinnacle for most people. Performance, sound, smoothness etc etc.
Most of those attributes are overwhelmed 20, 30 years later, no surprise at all.
It's all a bit moot anyway, while as kids or aspiring petrol heads, the V8 was what turned heads, got peoples attention. But I suspect 98% of the population never owned one, never actually really expected to...its a really small sample of the population that actually experienced or owned one. The rest of it is just effectively folklore to people.
