What do you think is better? I personally like inline 6s because of sound and refinement. But there are benefits to each. What do you guys think?

Inline 6:
-inherently balanced
-smoother
-usually higher revving
-sound really cool
-simpler
-can be lighter because it doesn't need heavy counterweights
-not space efficient
-it is taller
-can almost never be mounted transversely

V6
-can fit anywhere an inline 4 can
-usable for front wheel drive applications where power is needed
-shorter height for lower center of gravity
-can have a shorter hood
-can be made in larger displacements while taking up not much more space
-design needs counterweights to be balanced
-difficult to work on in transverse applications
-2 banks of cylinders means it needs twice as many valvetrain parts in OHC engines
-not as smooth

I would say from an efficiency and practicality perspective the V6 would be better but as we can all agree cars are so much more than that.

Only inline I ever owned was in an old F-100....and DAAYYYMMM, ya wanna pull a house down, just chain it to the back bumper of that thing

I too had an inline 6 in my old 89E350. The thing got out of the hole like a rocket! But, by 20 mph, she fell flat.

Now, set me up with an old school Jag 6...

I really like the refinement of the Inline-6 BMW M3 Motor.

MEM- Are you referring to the Ford 300 Inline 6. Thats a beast of a Inline 6. My grandfather has a log splitter with a 300 on it.

Our Trailblazer has a 4.2 DOHC straight 6. Feels like a V8.

Non--Japanese Inline sixes and eights are antiques. Simple as that. There is a reason they don't make them anymore outside of Australia.

Especially American engines. OLD technology.

I am speaking from experience, don't bother with them. We build a Ford 300 I6, and while it is a great engine and in many ways the epitome of I6 engines, they do not make race cars.

The only exception is Australian and Jap engines. Australia developed the crossflow head for the 300, and it's derivatives are still used today. Japs do DOHC and all that jazz.

Also, high revving I6's are the exception, not the rule. In fact most are the opposite. If you revved our 300 past 4000 RPM's we would have MAJOR issues, but it is an absolute BEAST down low and will pull just about anything.

BUT all this is irrelevant. They don't use them now because they can't and never will be able to get the gas mileage out of them that a comparable V6 or even 4 cyl can get.

The inline 6 I had in mind was the older (90s) bmw engines. I love those things.

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: I really like the refinement of the Inline-6 BMW M3 Motor. MEM- Are you referring to the Ford 300 Inline 6. Thats a beast of a Inline 6. My grandfather has a log splitter with a 300 on it.

Whats he splitten, 15 foot diameter ? Yeh it was the 300. Great truck, right up until ya have to change king pins.

I had the straight 6 in my '97 f150, I have the v6 in my '04 f150.

The straight could take hills in 5th, the v6 falls flat on its face. I wish I had my '97, more torque, more power... I hate my '04 v6

[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 09-04-2013).]

quote Originally posted by MidEngineManiac: Whats he splitten, 15 foot diameter ? Yeh it was the 300. Great truck, right up until ya have to change king pins.

It will probably split that. It uses a Cat Hydraulic Pump and Ram from a Cat Bucket Loader. From what my grandfather tells me, it was one of those "You can't do that" Challenges. I will see if I can get my brother to text me a picture of it.

quote Originally posted by tbone42: I had the straight 6 in my '97 f150, I have the v6 in my '04 f150. The straight could take hills in 5th, the v6 falls flat on its face. I wish I had my '97, more torque, more power... I hate my '04 v6

Ive got the 4.3 in my 98 and it lists at 205hp and 220 ft lb....its falling apart and I gotta replace it before winter (probably going Dakota 4x4) but I am gonna miss that thing

quote Originally posted by Raydar: Our Trailblazer has a 4.2 DOHC straight 6. Feels like a V8.

Is THAT what they come with? Thats an interesting motor. I'll have to look into one of those.

I drove a 54 Chev Belair with the big Chevy straight 6 and it pulled pretty much as well as the 283's of the day.

Personally, I like the long hood look, but, those engines were all iron and pretty heavy for the power you got.

Arn

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: Is THAT what they come with? Thats an interesting motor. I'll have to look into one of those.

~270 HP, right out of the box. Variable exhaust timing.
It is thirsty, however.

Why not both?

[This message has been edited by Fiero_Fan_88 (edited 09-07-2013).]

How come nobody is posting about the 60* V6? The one that come in a Fiero? It is inherently balanced, compact, kinda lightweight (compared to a straight 6). Should be a contender.

quote Originally posted by Arns85GT: I drove a 54 Chev Belair with the big Chevy straight 6 and it pulled pretty much as well as the 283's of the day.

The last vehicle I was ever in with a straight six (and three on the tree) was the '55 Chev Belair that my parents had back in the early 60's. My memory of that engine was it was absolutely gutless. The '67 Chev Belair with a 283 (and two-speed powerglide) that replaced it had lots of power. That car (which I learned to drive on in the early 70's) actually went pretty damn good. No comparison.

quote Originally posted by ktthecarguy: How come nobody is posting about the 60* V6? The one that come in a Fiero? It is inherently balanced, compact, kinda lightweight (compared to a straight 6). Should be a contender.

Its even fire but it isn't inherently balanced as no V6 is. A V6 has 2 banks of 3 cylinders which are probably the most unbalanced design of any engine. The more cylinders you have in a row the more evenly you can distribute the force and vibrations of the firing pistons. That is why V12s are so smooth. A V16 would be like butter. Although now you have me thinking about sticking 2 fiero V6s together to make a Pontiac V12. Now THAT would be interesting.

quote Originally posted by RilesOfSmiles: Its even fire but it isn't inherently balanced as no V6 is. A V6 has 2 banks of 3 cylinders which are probably the most unbalanced design of any engine. The more cylinders you have in a row the more evenly you can distribute the force and vibrations of the firing pistons. That is why V12s are so smooth. A V16 would be like butter. Although now you have me thinking about sticking 2 fiero V6s together to make a Pontiac V12. Now THAT would be interesting.

Not in a 60* configuration. A piston fires on each 60* of revolution, so it fires an even number of times during one revolution. Not so with 90* V6s like the Chevy 4.3 V6; it needed a balance shaft to make it somewhat tolerable. The 60* V6 never needed a balance shaft. It may not be as smooth as an inline 6, but ALMOST as smooth! Not to mention more compact and lighter weight.

The straight 6's in the bimmers I've owned are some of the smoothest motors i've ever felt in any car I've owned.

I have a 250 I6 in my 70 Chevy truck and will not change it. There's a couple companies I will donate to to increase performance. Langdon's and Clifford are the two big ones.
I have never felt the engine is gutless. The problem I have is lack of gears and OD and that will be resolved when I install a 700R4.

There are lots of guys getting huge horsepower out of their Falcon XR6 turbos here. Hell I owned one. Loved it for power. A simple tuner box could get you 350 to 400 HP by simply pressing a button. Add a new turbo, new intercooler and a few other mods and guys are getting 800 HP out of them in streetable cars.

quote Originally posted by AusFiero: There are lots of guys getting huge horsepower out of their Falcon XR6 turbos here. Hell I owned one. Loved it for power. A simple tuner box could get you 350 to 400 HP by simply pressing a button. Add a new turbo, new intercooler and a few other mods and guys are getting 800 HP out of them in streetable cars.

I'm sure their torque numbers are huge too

All else being equal, cylinder head design, camshaft, etc. ( and they never are ), a V6 should rev more than a straight six. The I6 crankshaft is sooo long, that it will start to flex torsionally compared to the short V6 crank. Same thing happens to cams. that's why nobody builds Inline 8's anymore.

I haven't seen a pure, from the ground up race engine designed as an inline six or eight since, well, I was born. And with the increasing demands placed on packaging for aerodynamics, you'd think the skinny inline would be considered. Nope, the rigidity of the vee configuration wins out.

You can design an engine either as I6 or V6 to reach any desired goal. But if that goal is absolute max horsepower, V6 will have an edge.

While I can't speak for every inline 6 ever, I know the latest iteration of the Ford 300 has one of ths strongest crankshaft layouts ever produced, with 7 main bearings to eliminate almost all flex. Their bottom end is so strong, I have seen people running as much as 15-20 psi of boost through a stock (but new) bottom end.

The problem with all American inline engines has always been the head design. Intake and exhaust coming in and out of the same side of the head is a major restriction.

[This message has been edited by BlackEmrald (edited 09-05-2013).]

quote Originally posted by Patrick: The last vehicle I was ever in with a straight six (and three on the tree) was the '55 Chev Belair that my parents had back in the early 60's. My memory of that engine was it was absolutely gutless. The '67 Chev Belair with a 283 (and two-speed powerglide) that replaced it had lots of power. That car (which I learned to drive on in the early 70's) actually went pretty damn good. No comparison.

There were 2 straight six's. The 123 hp and the 136 hp with the 150 hp version in the Corvette. At the time the 283 I was thinking of was actually a 265 at 162 hp.

Neither of them were fast by later standards, due to the weight of the shoe box, however, the bigger 6 made for a good hotrod motor if you could lay your hands on the 3 carb intake which would bring it up to 150 hp

Arn

At least in the old days, inline 6s were pretty strong. I had an Impala race car that I ran the big GMC 6 cyl in instead of a V8. I did get a second place finish in it. The advantages I see of a V6 is its shorter both length and height and somewhat lighter. Inline 6 is much easier to work on. I had some Mopars with Slant 6, and you could change the starter from the top without barely bending over. Intake and exhaust work could be done with open end wrenches. Head removal was simple. One person could have the head off and on a bench in an hour or less. These days, taking heads off of a V6 takes half a day...most of which is taking off all the other crap covering them up. I can barely see the heads on my Sebring V6.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 09-05-2013).]

with an inline 6 block shape & size make it a crappy choice for alot of chassis

but, like inline 4's, it is a great platform to turbo & DOHC, which have always been clumsy on V's

I had a 91 Supra . That motor had balls. 3.0 inline. But my 85 Z with more miles was a 3.0 V and it blew it out of the water. Probably cuz the two seater weighed nothing

quote Originally posted by RilesOfSmiles: What do you think is better? .

Give me an application (what you're are going to do with and expect from it) and I'll tell you which engine design I would prefer for that application.

As an example, I personally think the Jeep 4.0L in line Six is one of the best engines ever designed but, it was designed for a particular application. I also think the Cummins in line diesel Six is one of the finest motors ever built but, I wouldn't try to inter-change the two. There are situations where the V6 is a better choice but, which V6, are we talk'n single over head cam or dual over head cam. These are two distinctly different engines that one would expect different things from.

Since this is a Fiero Forum, I will assume the question is applicable to which is better for a conversion into a FIero. Personally, I'll take the DOHC V6 and add a turbo. This also assumes you are paying for it. BTW, thanks, I really appreciate it. Let me know when it's done.

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Ron
Isn't it strange that after a bombing, everyone blames the bomber, his upbringing, his environment, his culture, his mental state but … after a shooting, the problem is the gun?

We have a inline six in our BMW and it's a very nice engine. Don't like the shiftable auto gearbox, though.

Old mopar slant 6's ran forever and would out pull my ol 318.

turbo 4.2
source...

the jeep 4.0 was my favorite, only reason its not being used now is because of the damned epa

quote Originally posted by Patrick: The last vehicle I was ever in with a straight six (and three on the tree) ...

I had a '71 Nova like that. 250 c.u. six with a 3-on-the-tree. Even back when I owned it (late 80s), it was like having some sort of antique technology. People would ride with me and be amazed by the weird shifting I was having to do constantly. No one I knew had ever seen a column-mounted stick-shift besides mine.

No AC and no emissions stuff left a lot of room under the hood though! It was spacious.

I6 or V6 which is better...ugh there isn't a clear answer. Both types of motors have their applications where one is clearly better than the other both forms of motors are still very common today just in different types of applications. V6's are better for automotive (car) applications....they fit in a smaller package, weigh less, and rev higher.

I6's are used today in heavier applications such as truck applications: SUV's, pickups, medium and heavy applications. Most, not all, I6's today are diesel. These engines generally produce large amounts of torque due to the fact that they are more square. By square I mean that the stroke is proportionally closer to the bore diameter than are the automotive engines


So wha tis better. If I need a sports car give me a V6, if I want a pulling truck give me an I6. One is not better than the other they are jsut different.

I've had the 4.9 in the f150, the 2.7 in a 325, and a 4.0 in a jeep. All are my favorites. tons of torque, easy to work on, very reliable. I never would class them against a v six. only eights.

I vote straight 6. Hard to fit one in anything anymore I guess.

quote Originally posted by Dodgerunner: Old mopar slant 6's ran forever and would out pull my ol 318.

Yep, used to be you couldnt ever find one in a junkyard because they never broke. A buddy of mine had a 66 Valiant with it he just drove to work. The hood release cable was broke so he never opened the hood in 2 years. It finally died and I cut the hood open (he was junking it anyway). It didnt have any oil in the crankcase. No one knows how long it had been running 2..3...or 4 quarts low.

quote Originally posted by sleevePAPA: turbo 4.2 source...

Awesome!
Thanks for posting that.

What about W6 and and a boxer 6?