What is a "Strong engine"

eidolon

eidolon

eidolon

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I was just wondering what exactly constitutes a "strong engine"?

As my Elise decided to burst a rad hose this weekend and empty my lovely orange coolant everywhere I got wondering what would've happened if I hadn't noticed. Would my engine have fried itself? Or is my Toyota engine "strong"?

Why is a say a Honda VTEC engine supposedly more reliable than say a TVR AJP-6? Is it just down to the tolerances when building or is there more than that?
 
IMO a strong engine is an engine you can beat on night and day and yet it never fails to deliver great power.
 
No car is strong without coolant lol :) Well newer ones. However ive seen a few old fords etc run on coolant for a while :eek: Id say in my opinion a strong engine is one which can take sheer abuse.
 
gurusan said:
IMO a strong engine is an engine you can beat on night and day and yet it never fails to deliver great power.
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Hmm i look for the same in a woman!

Yes agreed it is an engine that can br trashed on a reular basis and not break/overheat/etc.
 
I once drove a 1.6 CVH 20 miles without any coolent in it. I didn't actually realise this was the case until stopping

It probably helped it was a cold winters day but all the same I was impressed nothing came of it!
 
SgtTupac said:
No car is strong without coolant lol :)
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Think the designers of the Cadillac Northstar engine might have something to say about that....;)

One notable feature, advertised at the time, was the fail-safe cooling mode which allowed the engine to continue running for a limited time without any coolant at all. It alternated banks of cylinders to maintain cool temperatures, allowing a Northstar-equipped car to be driven with no coolant for about 100 mi (161 km) with no damage.
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Still doesnt make it a strong engine does it? :) It can drive 100 miles without any coolant. Still in my opinion make it stronger than a few other engines. Oh and before anyone says anything about water cooled engines, air cooled ones are different setup :p They are designed with that fact in mind :p
 
SgtTupac said:
No car is strong without coolant lol :) Well newer ones. However ive seen a few old fords etc run on coolant for a while :eek: Id say in my opinion a strong engine is one which can take sheer abuse.
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Well except ones that are air cooled by design :)
 
I ran a 1.1 pug 106 for over 2 years without a drop of coolant in it, it just crystalised, didnt seem to make any difference other than the fan came on more often whilst sitting.

A strong engine to me, would be an engine with a cast iron block, closed deck with cast iron cylinder liners and so on, i guess it depends how you define strong.
 
The B230E 2.3 litre engine in my volvo 740 is what i would call a strong one. Its bulletproof. Its 17 years old, done 145k miles, and i can still rely on it more than my mates 3 year old euroboxes. It starts day and night, in whatever temperatures, even in the pouring snow. It needs VERY little maintence apart from an oil change every now and then.

Stranely enough, my engine burst a rad hose the other day, seems to be a common occourance just of late.
 
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I guess its down mainly to how much stress it can take befor it gives up the ghost and something (like the big end) dies - the stress can be caused by several things, either the power output, ie due to modification, or the running environment, ie overheating, dirty fuel, air etc

the strength of the engine will be down to the manufacturing quality, ie how exact the parts tolerances are (afaik why honda engines are so relyable) material quality, workforce quality (the monkey that makes your engine can royally muck it up) and the design quality.

as the coolant stops working in the engine the parts will heat up, heating up =expantion which is never a good thing, if moving parts expand too much you start getting serious friction (regardless of lube) and you'll get even more heat and eventually thing melding themselfs together which equals dead engine. Chances are you'd get a warning of overheating pretty quickly, and hopefully before any serious damage was done, but yer, the toyota engine should be able to cope with the extra stresses better, ie longer, than say a tvr engine which is less stringently made and stressed allot more as stock
 
old VX 8 valve lumps are meant to be pretty solid. i once heard a tale of someone who tried to change the oil on one, only to undo the sump plug and have none come out. plus of course, they're a non-interference design.
 
HI there

I'd say the engine in my BMW is strong. 2.5l Straight 6, 203,000 miles and still counting yet the entire car drives like it had only covered 50,000. No squeaks/rattles, engine pulls very strongly, definetely got plenty of the original 192 horses left and its completely silent, no tappety noises and no smoking. That I count a strong engine, though the car has been well cared for which could be an argument against the engines strength.

Another engine I'd vote for been strong is the F20C in the S2000 and VTEC engines in general. I believe there has not been one failure and when you consider the amount of abuse VTEC engines get thats very good. I heard when Honda designed the F20C is was benchtested at a riduculous RPM for a stupid amount of time without failure. They then dropped the RPM massively and put it into production. :)

It is considered though that larger cylinder engines and diesels tend to last the longest as long as they are serviced appropiately. :)

I also like engines/manufacturers who play it safe with their engines and leave lots of tuning potential. For example Ford have done this on both the Mustang GT and Mustang GT500. On my car a simple CAI, re-tune to Octane 03 fuel will see a good 50-60BHP from the 4.6l ALU V8 engine without effecting reliability. Then with the GT500 it gets better, doing the same mods can yeild nearly an extra 100BHP from the engine, thats impressive. :)
 
Once drove a 318i for 3-4 weeks without a drop of oil in (drove it a lot). It went a bit barmey one day on the motorway and the tappets started to rattle like a machine gun. Stopped at the services, put a bit of oil in, evoila. I think that constitutes a 'strong engine'.
My 620Ti engine borked after 5-6 miles without coolant on the motorway, had to have a new engine fitted, that IMO is a fairly 'weak engine'.
 
Gibbo said:
HI there



Another engine I'd vote for been strong is the F20C in the S2000 and VTEC engines in general. I believe there has not been one failure and when you consider the amount of abuse VTEC engines get thats very good.
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I thought the bit that hadnt failed was the VTEC change over bit, not the engine as a whole. still though 9000 rpm and sturdy is impressive
 
Good question!
I reckon its a engine that like Gibbo says has headroom for tuning built in therefore at stock it should be uber reliable and thrashable, should be reliable and not prone to faults e.g. HGF or dropping a bearing so on and so forth.
I would say that the A+ engine if looked after a even a tiny bit was/is a strong engine :D
 
Fishman said:
I thought the bit that hadnt failed was the VTEC change over bit, not the engine as a whole. still though 9000 rpm and sturdy is impressive
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96k on mine. Still makes stock power, doesnt smoke and starts and runs perfectly. Japanese engines are awesome.
 
Simon said:
96k on mine. Still makes stock power, doesnt smoke and starts and runs perfectly. Japanese engines are awesome.
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And there's my engine... on 94k, needs new stem seals and leaks from both crank seals.

Great! :rolleyes: :(
 
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