I woke up this morning after a restless night, and while sitting on the king's private throne, I had a miniscule epiphany.
The Luv truck has seen its' share of engine swaps and transmission combinations. That got me thinking about what OTHER engines have yet to be used or possibly even considered for use in our trucks.
I've been told that Inline engines are not high RPM engines in that they should not be operated at high revs for long periods of time. V-type engines are more suitable for this type of work, but the fact is that they are just not as efficient as other engines. Inlines produce more torque, while v-types do not, and while there are many advantages to BOTH engine types, it makes me wonder why there aren't more V-4 engines available.
Lets face it, while the wimpy little inline 4 that came with our trucks is a bit underpowered, but it does a good job of doing what it was intended to do: move us around; Get us from point A to point B and back again. I know alot of hondas and toyotas have inline 4s, but recently i've read and learned that they have begun offering these cars with V-4 engines.
Scat offered V4 engines that were tiny terrors. (i think they were putting out somewhere between 280 and 300+ HP) Ford made V4s for some of their european vehicles.
(sorry its been a long post, but bear with me im almost done. I'm also writing this at 3.30 in the morning and im running on 5 hours of sleep)
so my question comes down to this, where can i get my hands on a V4 to install in my truck, and would this be a good move? I want an engine that has decent power, can be used for longer trips at higher speeds and that is still more efficient than a v6.
Any thoughts?
Also, i thought this article was interesting :
http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/c ... 47885.html
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To the Oquirr hills for awesome thrills! Go-go 4wd, Activate!