Has anyone else ever dreamed of an auto manufacturer making a modern straight 8?

What if it was transversely mounted in a mid-engine car?

Think of how many v8 engines are on themarket right now. Also think of how many i6 engines are on the market. Combine the bads of an i6 with the bads of the v8 and you got yourself the i8. The answer then is obvious.

You don't even need to worry about length.

The problem is they're fucking tall because they're built for long strokes.
Look at any RWD inline car these days, the engines are all mounted slanted.

There's no way.
Another problem is that the only way to limit torsional vibration is to make a low revving engine with expensive materials.

It would have to be a very wide car or a very small engine.

>The problem is they're fucking tall because they're built for long strokes.
So what if we just slant it thirty degrees or so?

modern i4 i5 and i6 turbos shit over the i8 in everything but raw torque and sound
This

Yes I know its extremely long and has inherent flaws in it that are costly to solve. But you've never just dreamed before? Just once? Imagine a modern, airstrip sized hood, two ton landyacht with a roaring, fuel injected, turbocharged straight 8 that pulled you through the Mojave or Autobahn at a smooth 140 mph. Dosnt that sound at least a little appealing? I guess I could be the only one here

this does sound amazing

youtube.com/watch?v=7TFm-2dYlDQ

rip i8

only makes 500hp though but the low end torque must be insane.

>So what if we just slant it thirty degrees or so?
Could work but it's still going to be fairly tall. you'd have to build it based on a slant, like the slant-6.

>But you've never just dreamed before?
i'ma let you in on a slick secret, Buick str8-8 engines are all over Ebay for less than a grand.

Modern technology can't fix the fact the engine is long as fuck and because of the length you get crank whip.

I'd be more worried about the camshaft than the crank.
The best method is to have a cam drive on both the front and back of the engine.

so under stress/boost the crank and cam would flex?

No wonder these died out as soon as the v8 came out

>so under stress/boost the crank and cam would flex?
Yes but material technology has advanced since then.

There are some Bonneville 8s out there that run to like 7k just fine.

also the Buick straight 8 (probably the most popular) only had 5 main bearings.

I'm not too knowledgeable but i imagine they could have cast more bearings into the block.

For comparison, the Flathead V8 only had 4 main bearings.

Listen guys, I think we got off on the wrong foot. Lets pretend, just for a second, this wasn't Veeky Forums and we can discuss our wildest car related dreams EVEN IF they aren't really that feasable. Fuck the fact checking, not every post y'all have to make needs to be verified and guarded. I want you guys to just dream for me, whatever it is. My dream is a modern str8-8 landyacht. Whats yours?

1905 here your i8 is shit

youtu.be/SgN1387v4sA

That's a start

so basically what you want is something like these but in a modern chassis?

youtu.be/PK7nI2EGulQ

bro i'm here to tell you it's not impossible.
I'm telling you this,
Here's a rebuildable straight 8.

ebay.com/itm/36-37-38-39-40-1936-1937-1938-1939-1940-BUICK-320-STRAIGHT-8-EIGHT-ENGINE-MOTOR-/131846978039

Lengthwise they will fit in an original Monte Carlo if you push the radiator forward.
If you want it, go get it done.

These buicks have so much room to make power.
They were making almost 100 hp in the 30s with 4.7:1 and updraft carburetors with siamesed intakes.
Imagine a custom, crossflow head with nonsiamesed intakes and 10:1 compression. You'd have torque for weeks.

So it was just down to inferior casting and metals of the era?

Has anyone done a modern ground up rebuild of a i8 bonneville ?

Seems like something Veeky Forumstists would love but nobody has done it.

>So it was just down to inferior casting and metals of the era?
most likely, even thin-wall casting wasn't perfected until the late 60's.

>Has anyone done a modern ground up rebuild of a i8 bonneville ?

yes
youtube.com/watch?v=PSjLZWm180I

THey roar like no other engine

Not only that, but modern engine internals, fuel injection, maybe even a turbocharger. I want a modern, str8-8 luxobarge. That would truely make me the happiest man alive.

>Imagine a custom, crossflow head with nonsiamesed intakes and 10:1 compression. You'd have torque for weeks.
All i can imagine is my wallet running away and never coming back.

Would be absolutely insane though in a mad max style rat rod
>Get two B16's and weld them togetther
>bam 400hp+ n/a and 800hp with VTAK

they where truely too good for this world

Why is the aut/o/ manufactuers so caught up in this i3 v6 turbo downsizing meme when all the packaging pita makes them no better than the bigger n/a motors they replace?

>All i can imagine is my wallet running away and never coming back.
Who gives a shit you'd be the only kid on the block with a straight 8 making peak torque at 2000 rpm, i'd bet you could pull a trailer at idle speed.

If you didn't manage to carve out your crankcase the blocks will probably outlive most engines.

They were indeed friendo.

Those headers