Old school cylinder deactivation
 

I often get visitors at MetroMPG.com

Maybe we should look for a 1000 cc Suzuki V-twin for the Metros...:D

How!??!?!?

The funny thing is, I have a perfectly good Suzuki 1.3L 4-cyl engine from the red Swift sitting in the back of a rusty truck in the bush. I also have WAY too many projects already :p

Question:

Which engine would get better gas mileage in an otherwise identical car?

1 liter 4 cylinder (i.e. four 250 cc cylinders)
1 liter 3 cylinder
1 liter 2 cylinder
1 liter 1 cylinder

????????????????

i think the 1 liter 1cylinder would, as it would create more torque (i think), but that's just me talking out of my ***.

more cylinders = more friction, and friction accounts for HUGE losses in the engine game, *shrug*

Years ago I was in a small-engine repair class and another student asked about a large, single-piston engine. The instructor said there would be too much lag time between cycles for the engine to be practical (or to possibly even stay running). He said you would basically get spurts of power during the combustion cycle. Sort of a BANG-pause-BANG-pause-BANG.

There are large, one cylinder engines in use out there. In glider school in Germany they used an old, average-sized agricultural tractor with a one cylinder diesel engine to set up their winch tow system and for other jobs around the airfield. You could easily hear the individual "pops" of ignition at normal operating RPM's and a slow chuga-chuga-chuga at idle.

So, say, around 2hp and 800 ft-lb of torque? :D

1-cyl motors (2-stroke & diesel) aren't uncommon on sailboats in the 25-30 foot range.

Sludgy, is this a test? Or just a question ;)