Honda I-4 smoothness

How smooth is the I4 in Fit vs Civic DX/LX/EX vs Accord vs Civic Si ?
No extolling of the virtues of the V6 anchors, please. Keep your V6
boats to yourselves.
Thanks.
P.S. Why there are no V-4 in Honda cars? No carbs - no pain. I4s are
more compact or what?

 

not sure about the fit or the new si's, but the accords have harmonic
balancers and are much smoother than the standard smaller engines.
theres no smoothness advantage to a v4, and considerable cost increase.
[two heads, two cams, etc., etc.]

if you want to know the deal on what affects smoothness, borrow a copy
of the bosch automotive handbook from your local library. if they don't
have it, they can get an inter-library transfer for you. it gives
analysis of all the main cylinder configurations, their vibration modes,
and what can be done to smooth them out. then you'll see why the
dynamic balancing employed by honda on the accord works. the book's got
a bunch of math in it, but even if that's not what you want, the
diagrams show the principles very well.

 

Probably due to costs. A V style engine means two heads, the need to
join the exhaust together, etc. Also a V-4 is not inherently more
balanced than a straight 4.

John

 

"> P.S. Why there are no V-4 in Honda cars? No carbs - no pain. I4s are

Pardon my ignorance as it's never crossed my mind, waht cars have V-4s?

 

Not any that I know of. In fact very few bikes have V-4 either.

 

Years ago Ford of England made a small V-4 which was also used in some
early Saabs. It was a cute little motor, almost looked like something
off a riding mower.

I don't know of any cars since 1970 or so which have used a V-4.

John

 

Some use a flat-4 though, which is like a V flattened out. My '82 Subaru had
one, it was an incredibly durable engine. Lowers the center of gravity a lot
too, for great stability. Dunno if Subaru is still using them

 

I'm pretty sure Subaru still uses flat-4's.

 

Can you say "boxer design" Subaru still uses it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontally-opposed_engine

 

According to this link Honda Land Yacht also uses a flat 6.

 

That's it.

Busted a rod in mine... it made an incredible clattering noise, but it just kept
on running. Sold it to a kid for a couple hundred bucks; he fixed it right up
and kept driving it for years.

 

V4s are rough and inherently unbalanced. Ford tried them in the '60s
Transit van, and SAAB used those V4s in some of their early models to
replace the triple that was formerly used.

 

I presume you are referring to the GoldWing. I understand it's quite a
motor, able to loft the front tire on that beast in the first three gears,
yet run quieter than a sewing machine.

I had an older 'Wing, an '84 model with the four-cylinder 1200 boxer engine.
That engine pulled strongly from idle to redline, no flat spots, tremendous
torque curve, great mileage, etc. - would love to have an engine like that,
albeit a 2400 boxer, in my Accord...

 

The Russian Zaporozhets. Now *that* one was an oddity.

This particular engine was originally designed for installation in a
military tank. It seems the diesel angine in the tank was too heavy for
a regular starter motor, so the Russians designed a compact air-cooled
V4 to start it instead. A regular electric starter motor started the V4,
the the V4 started the diesel engine.

Needless to say, there was zero expenditure of development time on NVH.
The engine was reportedly very harsh when used in the car.

 

Uhu. The I-4 that the rest of the lineup makes do are no louder
than the H-6 in the land yacht. Nevermind the aftermarket
motorcycle equivalents of fart
cans that invariably find their way on the sportier offerings.

 

How do you know all that stuff? %-}

 

I read a lot.

 

John Deere's larger two-cylinder diesel tractors from the 50's era (e.g. -
models 720, 730, etc.) had a small pony motor to start the diesel engine.
Same deal, electric start of a four-stroke gasser V-4, rev it up, then
clutch it to the big two-cylinder diesel to fire up the big motor. It's
really quite a show for the uninitiated. Check 'em out if you run across an
old tractor show in your neighborhood...

I don't recall the JD V-4 being rough-running, but it's hard to tell when
you're on one of those tractors. It sure sounded smooth, especially
compared to the big two-cylinder it fired up.

 

Who made that V4?

 

Not sure, but I think JD made it. You might do a google search for john
deere pony motor and see what you come up with... here's a couple to start
with:
http://petcaretips.net/history-john-deere.html
http://petcaretips.net/john-deere-720.html
http://www.tractordata.com/td/td44.html

I believe they also made some 2-cylinder (gasoline, opposed) pony motors for
some of their earlier diesel tractors.