Four-bangers?

[1987cp]

I'm serious, anyone ever thought of a four-banger swap? Today's fours make more HP than yesterdays V8s, and are frequently used to consumer satisfaction in cars just as heavy as or heavier than early Boxes courtesy of deep gears. Case in point, my Mazda5 gets out of its own way just fine, at least around town, with a ~170hp 2.5L four-banger and weighs the same as my '81 tudor that *didn't* get out of its own way when stock. I foresee oilpan problems in swapping an inline-four intended for FWD use (as most seem to be), but it occurred to me that a 2.5L Subie flat-four, also rated at 170hp NA, might alleviate that concern somewhat. At least some relatively new fours might not even be that awful to use with a "calibrated vacuum leak" .....

IIRC, Hyundai's 2.4L four-banger is rated at 200hp.

[pantera77]

A few have pondered it, I think a 2.3T and a 5sp would be fun. 190hp and 240lbs.ft and the sky's the limit with them. My 85 Tudor only weighs less then 100lbs more then my 87 Turbo Coupe. It would actually be a relatively easy swap. I know mrltd has thought about it before.

I think an aero would be the best bet for the swap though. Lighter, and much more aerodynamic right off the bat.

[tjc78]

I wouldn't want to do a 4cyl, but would consider something like Ford's 3.5 V6 or similar. Much more power than the 4 without a significant FE penalty. My 2006 Avalon would pull 30 mpg at 70 and was a pretty quick car.

[VicCrownVic]

I think it would be cool.
Pull up in a box, which everyone already assumes is slow, then tell/show them that it has a 4 cylinder engine. People would get a pretty good laugh until they see it in action.

[79lincolnlover]

What about torque??

[Brown_Muscle]

The right modern gearbox=better torque multiplication. I agree a nice V6 would be better though...

[purplebomb302]

I'd like to see a four in a box. I also think it'd be interesting to see a straight 6.

[johnunit]

The trick would be finding a modern 4cyl that didn't take some massive amount of computer wizardry to integrate AND was rwd (ie. had the engine mounted lengthwise and a tranny behind it).

[grandpaslincoln]

If you are going to do a 4 cylinder, make it worth your time. Go diesel. 4BT or the like. No computer, plenty of torque, and they can get excellent fuel mileage. Also easy to squeeze more power out of. Extremely easy.

[packman]

Hard enough to get a modern V8 (new 5.0 or better yet 5.8L) into our cars without killing the wallet. It would be different though. At that point I would consider sansing the gas engine altogether and going electric.


Packman

[marquisman]

If you are going to do a 4 cylinder, make it worth your time. Go diesel. 4BT or the like. No computer, plenty of torque, and they can get excellent fuel mileage. Also easy to squeeze more power out of. Extremely easy.

Even though I think a 4-lunger would be silly in our cars, what jon said makes the only sense. The diesel would be the best bet and they lay down lots of power and TORQUE.

[1987cp]

Hard enough to get a modern V8 (new 5.0 or better yet 5.8L) into our cars without killing the wallet. It would be different though. At that point I would consider sansing the gas engine altogether and going electric.


Packman

torquelover had actually been considering this route with my late P72 shortly before he sold it to me. He spoke of an electric engine making something like 500hp.

[sly]

now running a 4 banger to turn a generator to drive a 400+HP electric motor is what I plan to do if I ever get the money to do so or that stuff gets cheap. The 150KW generator and 300KW motor and all the HV control stuffs is kinda spendy and the batteries are not cheap either.

[johnunit]

I had thrown this around in my head for an early FWD caddy, but if you wanted to get REALLY crazy you could do it with a FWD drivetrain in a Crown Vic:

Simplified hybrid.

Batteries and controller in the trunk, electric motor attached to rear differential powered by them, and a conventional FWD setup up front. Run short spurts in full electric, have no sacrifices when it runs out, and use it as a power boost at full throttle. And you totally avoid the issue of combining the electric and gas functions.

[sly]

I'd rather just use the 3.5L ecoboost and go. But that's a spendy bugger too.