The End of V8 Engines in America

what's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about a v8 engine maybe you think speed and power or maybe you think first about that sound [Music] there's nothing quite like the sound of a v8 engine some people here hum some people hear a roar many hear music according to science focus there's a reason why the v8 sounds so appealing to people's ears cylinders are like wind instruments during each piston cycle air is sucked in and then forced out each cycle mix a tone obviously this happens with all engines but the v8 has an irregular firing sequence that gives it a distinctive pleasing sound then there is a speed and power humans are obsessed with going fast the moment one record is broken people are lining up to try and better it it's not just psychological either driving fast gives us a surge of adrenaline which causes our blood pressure and heart rate to jump so there are a lot of reasons why people love the v8 engine it also evokes nostalgia particularly in America the v8 is America's motor it was adopted in the u.s. more than other parts of the world it was suited to America's wide open spaces American manufacturers built some of the first and most influential v8 engines so why is a dying and will it ever really be gone completely v8 engines are mostly only being used to power cars that are too expensive for ordinary people it seems that the v8 story has come full circle what do we mean by this well in the beginning the v8 was an engine in cars only the rich could afford then Henry Ford made v8 engines accessible to the general public we'll talk more about this later but now it's only the rich you can afford v8 but why did this happen well there's a lot to do with the way a v8 engine works like the name says a v8 engine is an 8 cylinder piston engine where the cylinders are arranged in a V configuration like any engine air is pulled in when the piston moves downwards and compressed when it was up then the spark plug fires igniting the mixture which forces the piston down as the piston comes up it pushes out the exhaust gaters all of the cylinders are connected to a common crankshaft which converts the up-down motion of the pin than into rotary motion in the v8 engine each cylinder fires at different times this makes par delivery very smooth it's big advantage of a v8 engine another advantage is more combustion is created this means you get more power but there are disadvantages as well more combustion means more gasoline it also means more emissions they're also more moving parts which means more friction and more wasted energy so v8 engines are smoother and powerful but less efficient there are ways to improve power efficiency in a motor that's all car makers have been able to make four and six-cylinder motors that deliver the same performance as a v8 there's also aerodynamics the more aerodynamic the design the less resistance to more efficient but efficiency can be influenced by other things too what are these important things is how you drive top gear did this in the test of the Prius 4-cylinder hybrid and a number 92 chassis BMW v8 they drove the Prius as fast as they could around the track and the MIR just had to keep up turned out that the BMW v8 use less fuel than the hybrid which goes to show how the weight of cars driven will affect fuel economy the question of course is whether the people who drive the v8s will be driving in a fuel efficient manner the answer is probably no the v8 is about speed and power it's the reason that was created in the first place the first non-working v8 engine wasn't actually made for car it was designed to power an aircraft his name was Antoinette a 39 year old french engineer named leon level usher took out a patent for the engine in 1902 the engine was named after the daughter of elevators financier jules gassed him bid it was manufactured in 1904 its first appearance in a car was in the 1914 cadillac l head engine cadillac was led by Henry Leland Leland is a name you may not have heard but we must mention it when talking about v8 engines he found it not one but two of America's famous luxury car bands like in Lincoln those brands are both around today over a hundred years later the brands that used v8 engines way back then and still today Cadillac was originally the Henry Ford Company Henry Leland worked for Henry Ford when Henry Ford had an argument with his investors he left the company in 1902 he took many of his key partners with then the following year started a new company the Ford Motor Company back at the old company Henry Leland managed to convince investors not to liquidate instead they changed the name of the company to Cadillac that's why the first 1903 Cadillac is so similar to the original 1903 Ford a model you were both essential Eagle Henry Ford's designs it's also why Henry Ford had a lifelong grudge against Henry Leland Leland old Cadillac into a successful luxury car company he saw the company to William Durant General Motors 1909 but stayed on as an executive it was during this time that the 1914 v8 Cadillac was produced then during World War one Leland got a contract to produce v12 motors for the army this led to a dispute William Durant who was a pacifist saw Weyland left the company started the Lincoln Motor Company unfortunately the government didn't pay for his work in a company went insolvent in the economic downturn of the early 1920s it was Henry Ford's opportunity for revenge he purchased Lincoln and had Leyland and his son escorted out of the building in 1922 so Ford was building v8s in 1922 for the Lincoln line he was also looking at an X 8 engine this turned out to be too heavy and complicated and repeatedly failed he was trying to figure out a way to barring more horsepower those cars for less money the x8 engines were just too expensive for ordinary cars so it was only the rich who could afford to drive cars with v8 engines this all changed in the early 1930s but then the Ford Motor Company was in trouble Chevrolet had introduced a six-cylinder in 1929 they were also doing a good job marketing and promoting the six-cylinder model at the same price you pay for a force owner so by 1931 they were outselling Ford Henry Ford thought it was over for 4-cylinder cars because 25 of his 36 plants and laid off 75,000 men he had a secret operation in Greenfield Village working on an 8 cylinder engine it would be affordable for ordinary cars finally he was successful the v8 flathead was cast as a single black mold engine up until then v8 engines were made with multiple parts single engine reduces the pieces required in the cost in 1932 Ford when I released the first affordable car with a v8 engine cars were able to reach speeds of up to 75 miles per hour but it wasn't just ordinary people who go faster the car was also favored among American gangsters in 1934 Ford received a letter proposal II from Clyde Barrow endorsing the Ford v8 that's Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde the V I took off literally and figuratively after World War 2 especially in America the wider American cars were suited to bigger engines muscle cars became synonymous with American culture but even as far back as the 1940s there was a hint of the challenges that lay ahead for v8s the French introduced attacks on horsepower after World War one that was before many European companies had even brought out their first v8 engine BMW only made the first v8 1965 and then didn't bring out another one until 1992 then the oil crisis of the nineteen seventies led to tight emission standards in the u.s. in turn this led to less passenger cars manufactured with VX improvements led to better performances in the floor to six-cylinder engines v8s were phased out for more efficient designs the good news was at the four and six-cylinder engines that displace the v8 in many vehicles generally combined good performance and fuel economy let's look how car makers get more power out of a four or six cylinder engine first there's variable valve timing in an internal combustion engine air enters the cylinder chamber and exhaust gases exit the cylinder chamber the opening and closing of the intake and exhaust are controlled by valves variable valve timing allows these values to open and close at different rates that are dependent on the speed or driving variable valve controls when they open how much they open and for how long they open today's cars of sensors monitoring things like air flow and camshaft position these sensors send information to the variable valve timing telling it how to behave next fuel injection traditionally the carburetor controlled the mixture of fuel and air that was sent to the cylinders the problem with this is that it couldn't supply the same amount to all four cylinders as some were further away fuel injection improves this process by delivering the fuel and precise bursts which picks it more economical finally we'll mention turbochargers a turbocharger forces more air into the cylinders each second that means they burn fuel more quickly releasing more power this has enabled four cylinder engines to meet the power needs of average Americans you only have to look at this chart to see what it means for a v8 and even the v6 engine since 1999 the four cylinders have grown more and more popular fewer and fewer cars are manufactured with v8 engines and those with v8 engines are very expensive so only the wealthy can buy them even in that space though v8s aren't safe from competition electric vehicles are quickly coming up to speed BMWs all-electric I for is a top speed of 120 while Tesla's updated roadster is a top speed of 200 miles an hour at the same time fuel efficiency requirements are increasing so even at the top end of the market v8 stays may very well be numbered but here's something interesting related to sound and evey cars recently governments have issued laws that require car makers to include artificial motor sounds in electric cars this is only speeds it's to protect pedestrians automakers can choose the sounds they use it some are already selected there since Frank Welsh is responsible for the technical development of Volkswagen he told Reuters that the electric vehicle sound is its identity it cannot be too intrusive or annoying it has to be futuristic it cannot sound like anything we've heard in the past we cannot simply add the sound of a combustion engine I'm not sure I agree with them I think car makers should give us drivers options to choose from what sounds we want what sounds we don't just like we can choose the image we have on our desktop or the ringtone we have in our pony I know what I choose I choose a 2013 Shelby Cobra gt500 v8 Rumble that way when the VXR gone the spirit can still live on and sound what do you think we'd love to hear your comments if you liked our video subscribe to our Channel and ring that bell to get notified of our next episode [Music] you

Channel: Scotty Kilmer

Views: 419,300

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Keywords: v8 engines, v8 engine, where did all the v8 engine cars go, v8 engine cars, v8 cars, v8 car, v8 engine sound, chevy, ford, toyota, chrysler, dodge, car makers, car manufacturing, car manufacturers, engine, engines, v8 engine explained, how v8 engine works, the truth about v8 engines, the end of v8 engines, car, cars, v8 history, v8 engine exhaust, v8 engine exhaust sound, how v8 engine is made, how engines work, v8 vs v6, scotty, scotty kilmer, diy, how to, auto, automotive

Id: TslJT0Qcpr4

Length: 12min 13sec (733 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 12 2020