what happened to taking pride in your work

laknox wrote:

westom wrote:

Jayco-noslide wrote:
I really think that V-8's are pretty much obsolete except for very high performance and race cars.

V-9 engines need extra pistons because they are low performance engines. Even Indy no longer races obsolete technology V-8s. So why are so many RVs still powered by V-8s? Some RV manufacturers fear innovation and change. That explains poor workmanship in other parts of that RV.

Cr@p. It's called "reliability". You get more performance, more easily and with less wear and tear, out of a V8; simple as that. When you have to use blowers or turbos to stuff air into an engine, that means extra stresses and, usually, much higher RPM, to make the same numbers. The =main= reason that race engines are only 4 cyl, is to =limit= performance to =limit= speeds. Just like NASCAR uses restrictor plates on the super-speedways. Yes, we =can= get huge numbers from small engines, but I'll put up my 350 hp Genesis Coupe against an older Corvette, with the same output, and that Corvette will simply leave my Genesis in the dust. People forget about torque, which lower-revving V8s have the lock on. Why do you not see pickups with V6s in them to tow anything more than about 8k lbs? Simple, you just need more torque and performance than a V6 can give.

Lyle

Have you counted the cylinders in Class 8 tractors lately? Almost all over-the-road diesels, all the way up to the 13 and 15 liter classes, are inline 6 cylinders (turbocharged and intercooled, of course). The 6.7L Cummins inline 6 cylinder in my truck (see signature) is sufficient to handle a 39,100 lb GCWR and 30,050 trailer tow rating - that's plenty for my 19,000 GVWR Mobile Suites 5th wheel.

Rusty