First of all this isnt third gen related. But Ive noticed theres alot of technically minded people on here, so I thought this would be a good place to ask...

It's something ive been kinda wondering about for a long time.


Say we have two similar engines. both are 2.0 liter displacement, but one has 4 cylinders and the other has 8. (I know 2.0L would be a small v8)

Now if they both have a similar fuel delivery system and comparable exhaust, which one would make more power? Would having more cylinders make more power or would the extra friction work against it? Are v8's only worthwhile on a larger scale?

Also would it work both ways? We all have seen 5.0L V8's, but how well would a 5.0L 4cyl work? That would be a big 4 banger, but how well would it compare to the v8, power wise, and efficiency wise?

Basicly (from an engineers view point) when designing an engine, is there any thing that could be gained by increasing the number of cylinders while keeping the displacement the same? The cylinders would have to be smaller but would having more of them make up for that?

This may be kind of a dumb question but its been something Ive been wondering about, ever since I heard of exotic super cars that have 5.0L V12's!

 

detonation maybe........ detonation in the cylinder is what drives momentum @ 4,000 rmp's a 4 cyl has 4,000 dotonations a minute where as a v8 would have 8,000 double the amount of energy a four cylinder creates and as far as friction goes with the kinds of lubricants available today i think the creation of additional friction would be nowhere near the amount of power gains available........ Now to wait for someone intelligent to aply