Quote:
Originally Posted by 2010reddevil
The rules didn't limit displacement size, they had a minimum displacement of 400 cu in. That was how they tried to handicap the Mod Motor. They knew it would require some enginuity to make a Mod Motor with that many cubes. You also realize that despite having a ridiculous bore/stroke ratio and being handicapped with a very undersquare engine, the Mod Motor still mopped the floor with the LSx. There were plenty of LSx builds that were well over 400 cu in. The point is that both have their merits. You talk about power vs weight/size. OK, let's use that for arguments sake and compare any pushrod V6 to any similar displacement dohc V6. There is not one single pushrod V6 that will match or beat a dohc V6 in terms of power vs size/weight. Same goes for I6 and I4. Why do Superbikes use dohc when there are plenty of pushrod designs out there? It's like Harley Davidson, their real performance bike is a dohc v-twin. Even Victory motorcycles use a 4v sohc. Again, both deign have their merits with the pushrod engine being simpler in some ways and more compact, but not necessarily lighter. If you are truly trying to get the most power out of a given engine displacement, 4v>2v.
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That only matters if you are limited in engine displacement. The only limit on how big you can make a crossplane V8 is how much space you have in the engine bay. The compactness of an OHV engine compared to OHC means that you can fit more displacement into the same physical space. Thus, a particular car could fit either a medium sized DOHC engine or a large OHV engine with equal ease.
Generally speaking, any direct displacement limit placed on a V8 is artificial. Could be a governing body in racing or absurd taxation laws or someone setting 'rules' for a build-off or whatever. But remove those limits, and massive OHV engines suddenly make a lot of sense. Who cares about more hp/L when you can simply more outright power?