# Inline vs. V?



## Revolvo (Oct 6, 2005)

Hey Guys,

Just curious, but what is the benefits of having an inline 6 like the skylines have verses the V6 format that the 350z's use?

Or is it just one of this "we have a unique engine that puts out lots of power" deals?

Revolvo


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## little240boy (Jan 13, 2004)

inline engines I believe is just a better design as a whole. The only reason for v6's is because of space. Inlines I find are a lot smoother powerband


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## XterraLou (Oct 4, 2005)

little240boy said:


> inline engines I believe is just a better design as a whole. The only reason for v6's is because of space. Inlines I find are a lot smoother powerband



nah its a motor, no better or worse. they are just different in design but have the same function. It doesnt save space because motors that are 3.0L take up the same amount of space whether they are inline, a V, or flat. Thats like saying a ton of bricks weighs more than a ton of feathers lol. 3 liters is 3 liters....... 
check this site out, it has tons of useful and useless info on car motors or anthing scientific in general....

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question366.htm


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## '71 Hakosuka (Dec 18, 2004)

Actually, there is an difference. When someone referrs to V motors being used for spare reasons it is accurate. While the number of cylinders is the same, a V motor will fit inside of a significantly shorter engine bay. An inline engine requires a lot of nose room. V motors are a bit more versatile as well. This is envidenced in the VG30. Nissan used this motor in the trucks, maxima, and 300ZX. They are doing the same thing with the VQ series now. Inline six cylinders are usually more specific. This makes V engines more cost effective for manufacturers. Now, as for performance, inline engines are superior. They are better balanced and spin much easier. They also seem to produce a much more linear torque band. My best evidence of these claims is this; three of the top sports car benchmarks from the last decade are inline six cylinders. The Supra, Skyline, and M3. Then, if you look at heavy trucks they all use turbosharged inline six cylinder engines. Just my observations of course.
Brian


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## Hydrolock (Feb 18, 2005)

[QUOTE='71 Hakosuka]Actually, there is an difference. When someone referrs to V motors being used for spare reasons it is accurate. While the number of cylinders is the same, a V motor will fit inside of a significantly shorter engine bay. An inline engine requires a lot of nose room. V motors are a bit more versatile as well. This is envidenced in the VG30. Nissan used this motor in the trucks, maxima, and 300ZX. They are doing the same thing with the VQ series now. Inline six cylinders are usually more specific. This makes V engines more cost effective for manufacturers. Now, as for performance, inline engines are superior. They are better balanced and spin much easier. They also seem to produce a much more linear torque band. My best evidence of these claims is this; three of the top sports car benchmarks from the last decade are inline six cylinders. The Supra, Skyline, and M3. Then, if you look at heavy trucks they all use turbosharged inline six cylinder engines. Just my observations of course.
Brian[/QUOTE]

Very well put, and to add one usually V motors weight more too.


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## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

Inline engines also creat better balance for cornering. One reason the M3 has it....  V engines are a heavier chunk of metal in a shorter wider space, so they are harder to balance the car to create the perfect 50/50 F/R ratio with.


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## Joel (Jun 11, 2003)

V6 has fewer main bearings but more valve/cam gears (quad cam as opposed to twin cam)
Straight sixes are big buggers though but have a simpler design for (single) turbo manifolds.


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## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

Joel said:


> V6 has fewer main bearings


Maybe fewer throw seperations, but just as many bearing pieces. Actually the I-6 seperations make for a stronger crank.


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## XterraLou (Oct 4, 2005)

[QUOTE='71 Hakosuka]Actually, there is an difference. When someone referrs to V motors being used for spare reasons it is accurate. While the number of cylinders is the same, a V motor will fit inside of a significantly shorter engine bay. An inline engine requires a lot of nose room. V motors are a bit more versatile as well. This is envidenced in the VG30. Nissan used this motor in the trucks, maxima, and 300ZX. They are doing the same thing with the VQ series now. Inline six cylinders are usually more specific. This makes V engines more cost effective for manufacturers. Now, as for performance, inline engines are superior. They are better balanced and spin much easier. They also seem to produce a much more linear torque band. My best evidence of these claims is this; three of the top sports car benchmarks from the last decade are inline six cylinders. The Supra, Skyline, and M3. Then, if you look at heavy trucks they all use turbosharged inline six cylinder engines. Just my observations of course.
Brian[/QUOTE]

not really accurate. If the engine displacement is the same they will take up the same amount of space, volume is volume. In an inline all this means is that all the supporting hardware will be around the motor rather than in front of it. BMW uses their inline 3.0L 6cyl in all sorts of applications, not just specific appplications as you state. It can be found in the Z4, 330, 530, and even in the x3 and x5, so that theory is shot. And the what about other sports cars that dont use inline motors? Did we forget about the viper, corvette, mustang, and WRX STi? Those use either a V or in the case of the subaru a boxer motor. Inlines are better balanced because of the way the pistons move insync unlike with a V motor, but v motors have harmonic dampeners that counteract that. The linear torque band really is the way the engine is tuned rather than the engines themselves. 2 of those cars you mentioned above the skyline and supra dont have linear torque bands. Their foced induction makes them have tons of torque down low. Same with the Subaru i used to own(boxer motor)


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## Camarok (Feb 10, 2005)

Well they obviously have their advantages and disadvantages, If you are to look at what has all been told... almost all (if not all) the cars meantioned so far are performance bassed cars. I agree with XterraLou... that they are not specific to cars generally. A few are/were yes, but not all. Seeing as majority of the cars meantioned are performanced bassed.... viper, corvette, mustang, M3, supra, skyline (if I missed any), they will tend to be designed to perform, which usually brings an aftermarket... Take a look at the older Jeep Cherokees... inline 6 4.0! NOT A FACTORY PERFORMANCE BEAST!

Just for instance, I have an ser with the sr20de motor.... not really performance, but with the same engine code with the "t" at the end, it looks much more appealing, the engine was used in higher performance cars, giving it a good look.

Take a look at some of GM's cars and trucks... if I'm not mistaken, you could get the LT1 in your caprice, f-body, and corvette... the corvette was meantoned... 

I am not trying to get at anyone, I just agree that it's all in the design in the engine, and what the design has in store for what it was designed to do. If it's for a truck, it'll ususally be designed to haul loads, a sports car will be buit for either speed, or acceleration. 

just my little $.02


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## '71 Hakosuka (Dec 18, 2004)

Forgive me here but, XterraLou, it looks as though you are just looking for a fight. Your comment on "volume is volume" is not at all applicable. Yes, displacement may be the same, but the amount of space required in the engine bay is certainly not. Look at any number of 510 swaps to see that. You can fit a 3.0 V6 in there, but there is no way to fit a 3.0 I6 without cutting. In this regard, an argument of limited space is completely accurate. I did not say that power can't be made with other types of engines. And I also did not say that I6 engines are not used in other types of cars. But from a technical standpoint, inline engines are smoother and typically seem to have longer longevity as well. If you are looking to knock down my arguments personally, then you forgot to adress the heavy trucks I mentioned. To my knowledge, all contemporary freight trucks use turbocharged inline six or inline 4 cylinder engines. These are vehicles that need to be able to produce vast torque bands and run for 500,000 miles. Let's try not to make this too personal here. It is, after all, just a philosophical discussion. In the 20's and 30's American manufacturers even had inline 8 cylinder engines. They were reporteded to be amazingly smooth. Word is that they were expensive to make and again, they required a very long engine bay to fit them. Listen, there are reasons for all types, that is why they are made. Someone believes it to be a good idea.


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## XterraLou (Oct 4, 2005)

[QUOTE='71 Hakosuka]Forgive me here but, XterraLou, it looks as though you are just looking for a fight. Your comment on "volume is volume" is not at all applicable. Yes, displacement may be the same, but the amount of space required in the engine bay is certainly not. Look at any number of 510 swaps to see that. You can fit a 3.0 V6 in there, but there is no way to fit a 3.0 I6 without cutting. In this regard, an argument of limited space is completely accurate. I did not say that power can't be made with other types of engines. And I also did not say that I6 engines are not used in other types of cars. But from a technical standpoint, inline engines are smoother and typically seem to have longer longevity as well. If you are looking to knock down my arguments personally, then you forgot to adress the heavy trucks I mentioned. To my knowledge, all contemporary freight trucks use turbocharged inline six or inline 4 cylinder engines. These are vehicles that need to be able to produce vast torque bands and run for 500,000 miles. Let's try not to make this too personal here. It is, after all, just a philosophical discussion. In the 20's and 30's American manufacturers even had inline 8 cylinder engines. They were reporteded to be amazingly smooth. Word is that they were expensive to make and again, they required a very long engine bay to fit them. Listen, there are reasons for all types, that is why they are made. Someone believes it to be a good idea.[/QUOTE]


no no no wasnt a knock on you personally i just found your conclusions didnt take into account the variability and versatility of all engines. The fact that you cant swap an I6 without cutting just means it is longer. It does not mean that the motors dont occupy the same space, understand my point? 3liters in a square or a rectangle is still 3liters. Yes the V will be smaller length wise, but will be wider. When you talk about freight trucks im assuming you mean 18 wheelers and such? If thats the case plenty of them still use big detroit desiels, as do many fire trucks.


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## Nissan300ZXZ31Turbo (Dec 9, 2004)

The whole reason the V-branched engines came into existence was for convience. During the '20s and '30s... American and international car companies produced inline-4s, 6s, and 8 cylinder engines. Think about it, a 5.0 litre inline-8? Yeah... that single crankshaft is stretched to the extent of the cylinder head, and one rotation takes forever... as well as takes a lot of work. While the inline-8s were smooth, reliable, and had great durability... they were not responsive in the least. Do not get me wrong, they had some kick to them... but compared to a 5.0 litre V-8, nothing close. As to which is better, in shorter engines (inline-4s, 6s) the inline is much better. In a V-branched engine, the pistons themselves are going against the flow of gravity, being angled, which produces resistance. In a straight inline-engine, it is a straight drop and rise, no resistance, in theory. Not that a V-branched engine is bad or anything... you can fit one of those in just about anything nowadays. The whole reason car companies used the V-branched was to fit larger displacement engines in small cars (i.e. muscle cars). Americans have this idea that the bigger the engine, the smaller the car, the better you are off. Hence why muscle cars became so popular in the '60s and '70s, and are gaining another lease on life in today's market. Europeans and Asians, however, determine the smaller the engine, the smaller the car, the better. Mainly because fuel costs a pretty penny for them. One reason European and Asian car companies produce inline-series engines for racing is because they are cheap to manufacture, easy to replace, easy to rebuild, and provide excellent durability and a great powerband. V-branched engines tend to be a bit trickier to replace and rebuild, which makes maintenance more difficult and time consuming. But, that is just my opinion. Some people love V-branched, others inline. No real reason to have a heated debate over it, since both have their strong points and weak points.


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## Joel (Jun 11, 2003)

XterraLou said:


> no no no wasnt a knock on you personally i just found your conclusions didnt take into account the variability and versatility of all engines. The fact that you cant swap an I6 without cutting just means it is longer. It does not mean that the motors dont occupy the same space, understand my point? 3liters in a square or a rectangle is still 3liters. Yes the V will be smaller length wise, but will be wider. When you talk about freight trucks im assuming you mean 18 wheelers and such? If thats the case plenty of them still use big detroit desiels, as do many fire trucks.


The main concern is its very hard to fit an inline 6 in a FWD due to the E-W config of the engine. All those straight 6 BMW applications are N-S RWD where the gearbox does not need to sit in the engine bay.

By nature small to medium FWD cars are targeted for a different market to sports orientated RWD so as a result there hasnt been much performance reseach and development gone into the v6 as the straight 6. I think its pretty much accepted that if you want a performance 6 you go a N-S RWD version.

There are some exceptions - like the nissan VG series.


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## XterraLou (Oct 4, 2005)

Joel said:


> The main concern is its very hard to fit an inline 6 in a FWD due to the E-W config of the engine. All those straight 6 BMW applications are N-S RWD where the gearbox does not need to sit in the engine bay.
> 
> By nature small to medium FWD cars are targeted for a different market to sports orientated RWD so as a result there hasnt been much performance reseach and development gone into the v6 as the straight 6. I think its pretty much accepted that if you want a performance 6 you go a N-S RWD version.
> 
> There are some exceptions - like the nissan VG series.


or all wheel drive versions of cars like the 330xi.


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## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

Inline engines were also used as race engines because they don't retain as much heat. The sides are longer and the engine itself is thinner than a V engine, so it doesn't build up as much heat, a big killer of race engines. This was the logic behind the RB26, which was the maximum size determined by Nissan to retain the least amount of heat while still capable of making excellent power.


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## mikewiebe1987 (Nov 3, 2005)

just peekin in, all i have to say is inline is more efficient, look at old v8 diesels
and diesels now, all i work on is diesel and believe me, inline is where its at, take this one caterpillar i rebuilt with my dad, inline 6 cylinder 948 cu, somthing like 234 moving parts, where as the same displacement v8 in a garbage compacter in the dump , has 350 or somthing, basically, less parts, less problems, thats my way of thinking


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## Shifter (May 25, 2005)

xterra, 3L is 3L, very true, but a inline takes a longer (larger) engin bay
a V6 would have 6 cyl, in 2 rows:

...........
\II II II/ like a 2.0 v6 KLZE in a MX3 
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but a I-6 would have:

...................
\II II II II II II/ like a 2.0 I6 rb20det
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## Yontrop (May 14, 2004)

______
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|O O O |

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| O O O O O O |

Compare.


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## mikewiebe1987 (Nov 3, 2005)

v config is fine, for shitty micky mouse automotive, for effieciency, inline is where its at


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