V16 Flat Plane Crankshaft?

[Vakare]

Hey.

Just wondering if it'd make sense to implement the flat plane crankshaft on the V16, since the V8 90 degrees has it (it would be basically having 2 of those V8's bolted together).

[Arya]

That would probably shake itself apart. Even a small-displacement flat-plane crankshaft engine has some adverse vibration, Cosworth DFVs for example had their mileage limited by the engine vibrating itself to pieces. Doing that with an extra eight cylinders on a bigger scale seems a bad idea.

[Traceypup]

I believe that since a flatplane crank is used because the crossplane V8 has uneven exhaust pulses on each side of the engine, in a V16 it wouldnt be needed because the exhaust pulses are already even by the design of the engine.

Also a flatplane on anything but a 90 degree V8(or I4 since thats technically what a flatplane crank is in a V8 block and also why they dont balance well) would result in multiple cylinders firing at the same time or an oddfire pattern which is why the 60 degree V8 doesnt have one either.