engine sounds

A couple ,or more, years ago someone on this forum explained why a V8 engine sounds the way it does.I've tried to find the explanation without success....anyone recall this?...

 

wow, thats kinda... vague...

a flathead v8 is gonna sound different than an OHV 8... and a nailhead is gonna sound different from a rocket 8, is gonna sound different from a hemi

 

do you mean different from 4,6,10, 12,16 cylinder engines or differences between other V8 engines??

 

Could have been in a discussion about 180deg headers...

 

intersted? is there a difference?

 

depends upon the angle of the v as that terms the length between exhausts.

Plus the firing order , and the exhaust ports location.

Not to mention, as the get bigger, the cam specs.


traderjack

 

Yes, a big difference.

With 180deg headers you split up the exhaust pulses of a V8 into two 4Cyls with a evenly spaced firing order.

Completely changes the sound it makes.

You can get the same effect ( sound wise ) with a flat crank and headers that do not cross over...

 

oh yes of course. I was under the impression you were trying to say that the 180 degree bend makes a difference. any individual pipes like zoomies would sound different then say a 4 into 1 header

 

i THINK you're talking a 4-7 swap in effect?

 

From Wikipedia:

"The cross-plane or two-plane crankshaft is the configuration used in most V8 road cars. The first and last of the four crank pins are at 180° with respect to each other as are the second and third, with each pair at 90° to the other, so that viewed from the end the crankshaft forms a cross. The cross-plane can achieve very good balance but requires heavy counterweights on the crankshaft. This makes the cross-plane V8 a slow-revving engine that cannot speed up or slow down very quickly compared to other designs, because of the greater rotating m***. While the firing of the cross-plane V8 is regular overall, the firing of each bank is LRLLRLRR. In stock cars with dual exhausts, this results in the typical V8 burble sound that many people have come to ***ociate with American V8s, In all-out racing cars it leads to the need to connect exhaust pipes between the two banks to design an optimal exhaust system, resulting in an exhaust system that resembles a bundle of snakes as in the Ford GT40. This complex and en***bering exhaust system has been a major problem for single-seater racing car designers, so they tend to use flat-plane crankshafts instead."

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

But that doesn't explain why a cross-plane V8 with zoomies still sounds like a cross-plane V8.