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Blumlein 88

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VW Beetles in cold weather were strange - the heater put out hot air through a vent near my left ankle. I had a pair of Frye boots with little straps joined by a brass ring ... the ring would get practically red hot after about half an hour.
Some early Corvairs had gasoline fired heaters. Good immediate heat. When the system got old might leak carbon monoxide.
 

Sal1950

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VW Beetles in cold weather were strange - the heater put out hot air through a vent near my left ankle. I had a pair of Frye boots with little straps joined by a brass ring ... the ring would get practically red hot after about half an hour.
Only thing I remember about bugs was freezing my a-s off in the Chicago winters. Running full blast I could still see my breath. :eek:
 

Wes

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There's a good subject. Along with the air cooled Porsche's and their unique scream, BMW has some nice sounding motors. The NA V8 in my M3 as it goes over 8k RPM's is pretty hard not to want to hear over and over. Fortunately, I can. It's sound was absolutely one of the reasons I bought it.

I liked the sound of the inline 4 in my 2002 quite a bit, but in general SQ goes up if the engine is described as 'flat' - e.g. a flat 6, or a flat crank in a V-8 or V-12.
 

Blumlein 88

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Well I've mentioned before the best sounding exhaust to me is a straight 8 which you aren't going to find anymore. In motorcycles I like triples like Triumph uses. And of course an in line 4 in either car or bike.
 

Sal1950

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Please guys, everyone world wide knows that nothing stirs the soul like the sound of a big Harley Davidson V-Twin.
A major reason why they are the most coveted motorcycle in the world. ;)

And running a close second, the Italian V-Twins
 

Frank Dernie

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I liked the sound of the inline 4 in my 2002 quite a bit, but in general SQ goes up if the engine is described as 'flat' - e.g. a flat 6, or a flat crank in a V-8 or V-12.
A flat-6 is horizontally opposed cylinders not a crankshaft layout (and isn't a flat crank btw), and is naturally mechanically balanced whereas a flat crank V-8 is a method of getting more power (but higher vibration) from a V-8 layout.
AFAIK there has never been a flat crank V12 since both a straight 6 and V12 are both perfectly balanced and even firing without, the crank pins are at 120/60 degrees, like the flat-6.
Mass market V-8 normally has the crank pins at 90 degrees to get mechanical balance but that results in uneven firing, giving the classic burble but less power than the same engine would have with a flat plane crank.
Sporting V-8s thave a flat plane crank and don't burble (though of course there are loads of high capacity tuned V-8s with plenty of power that burble, they can only be taken so far though) for ultimate performance a flat plane crank has to be used to both even the firing and make proper exhaust tuning possible without pipes crossing over from one bank to the other. The price paid is that secondary out of balance is inherent in a 90 degree V8 with even firing layout (and all 4-cylinder engines too fwiw).
I am not sure how manufacturers deal with this. Very few production cars with V8 engines have a flat plane crank just because of harshness and vibration.
It needs 2 balancer shafts running at 2x engine speed to correct the vibration. Balancer shafts can make a 4-cylinder smooth too, like the Porsche 944 enigine.
Basically only straight 6, flat-6 and V12 layouts are inherently "good" from both a mechanical and thermodynamic pov but are not the easiest to package, or cheapest to make, so guess what? there aren't many about!
 

Frank Dernie

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Please guys, everyone world wide knows that nothing stirs the soul like the sound of a big Harley Davidson V-Twin.
A major reason why they are the most coveted motorcycle in the world USA. ;)

And running a close second, the Italian V-Twins
Corrected that for you :)
For me Harleys are too big and heavy, though I do have a Harley Davidson leather jacket.
Anything weighing more than 450lb is a 2 wheeled car IMO!
 

Blumlein 88

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Please guys, everyone world wide knows that nothing stirs the soul like the sound of a big Harley Davidson V-Twin.
A major reason why they are the most coveted motorcycle in the world. ;)

And running a close second, the Italian V-Twins
My lawnmower has a v twin. Probably more sophisticated than most Harley v twin engines. More hp per displacement anyway. I don't care for the exhaust note of either.
 

Sal1950

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Corrected that for you :)
For me Harleys are too big and heavy, though I do have a Harley Davidson leather jacket.
Anything weighing more than 450lb is a 2 wheeled car IMO!
Deny all you want.
The plain fact is H-D's are the ultimate 2 wheeled possession anywhere in the world.
I know, I sold them to Euros, Asians, and the rest of the 7 continents.
They come here begging to find ways to get them home, legal or not..
 

sergeauckland

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Deny all you want.
The plain fact is H-D's are the ultimate 2 wheeled possession anywhere in the world.
I know, I sold them to Euros, Asians, and the rest of the 7 continents.
They come here begging to find ways to get them home, legal or not..
The problem with H-Ds in the UK is that they're only available in Left-hand drive.

S.
 

Wes

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2011 Ferrari 599GTO had a flat crank, as did some Astons AFAIK
 

Wes

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H-Ds are not cars; use the M/C thread for the potatos
 

Wes

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too bad I can't find an FFT of these things
 

StefaanE

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My first car, back in 1975, was a Citroen 2CV like the one in this picture.
I don't have pictures of the thing itself because in those days I didn't have a camera.
It had a 602cc two-cylinder air-cooled boxer motor, giving it a death-defying top speed of 95km/h.
1595875970232.png

It was a cool car, especially in winter, when you'd have to cover the front grille with the plastic cover you see in the picture. If not, the engine never got hot enough to heat the cabin. And even with the cover, it was duffel coats and mittens or freeze :).
 
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Frank Dernie

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Deny all you want.
The plain fact is H-D's are the ultimate 2 wheeled possession anywhere in the world.
I know, I sold them to Euros, Asians, and the rest of the 7 continents.
They come here begging to find ways to get them home, legal or not..
I have a couple of friends with them but they are nowhere near the most popular ‘bikes here. Mostly fast Japanese and the most popular expensive bike here is by far Ducati.

Edit, I live on a popular bike run, I rarely hear a Harley. Not never but really not often, and bikers are out having fun all the time, the common sound is bikers ringing the neck of their bike round here.
 
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Frank Dernie

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2011 Ferrari 599GTO had a flat crank, as did some Astons AFAIK
My Ferrari has a flat plane crank as do all Ferrari V8s afaik.
Not sure Aston ever had a V8??? The originals are straight 6 and later some V12s as well.
 

Blumlein 88

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No Gold Wings either?

Google says they start at 787 lbs...
I remember seeing my first dressed out Goldwing, and thinking, "that is a motorcycle for people who don't want to be on a motorycycle". Couldn't get over the guy riding along on cruise control and smoking a cigarette as he went.

The only one I ever rode was one that had been "undressed". That made some more sense to me. Sort of like a sophisticated big chopper Harley for slow long cruises.
 
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