Exhaust Exit Side...
 

Hi guys, just having a thought...

I've only ever seen roadsters with their exhaust exit on the Left, with the obvious exception of V engines.
That is, all but the book roadster, which has it's exit on the Right... What's the reason for this? I thought most RWD engines have the same orientation, just thinking it's unusual to be the other way around!

I think it's because most roadster's are using pinto engines which exit on the right. I'm using a CVH which exits on the left.

That would make sense - I wonder why Ford changed the sides though?
Most other engines seem to also exit on the right, judging from what I've seen so far.

Thinking about it, my FWD car's have all exited at the front, which once rotated would become the left!

Probably just one of them old quirks, it's not really important more an oddity for me :P

Exhausts
 

Left hand side.
Toyota 4age, Mazda MX5, Ford pre-crossflow, kent crossflow, cvh, zetec. dohc.

Right hand side.
Ford pinto, duratec, Most BMW 4 and 6 pot.

It's normaly down to

A) The orignal vehicle the engine line was designed for and how it would fit.
B) The engine designer having no constraints and opting for either option.

You can get all combinations of inlet and exhaust being on the same side and on opposing sides.

On opposing sides the engine is termed a crossflow design, hence the original kent engine which had an "inlet over exhaust" design was redesigned with inlet on one side exhaust on the other and from then on was known as the X-Flow .

I-O-E are still quite common, many VW Big Block engines are like this, makes them a bit pants on side draught carbs as the suck in exhaust heat.

TT

See, now this is what I love about this community - I come up with a bit of a daft question based on some thoughts I had, and you guys manage to answer perfectly without ridiculing my thoughts! :)

Thanks guys, cleared up some stuff for me! :)

From a drivers point you want the exhaust as far away as possible from your lugholes, I had a twin side pipe system on a cobra (one each side) and it was a total ball ache driving on motorways. Ended up going under floor and out the back. Even on the roadster I will be doing my utmost to exit the exhausts from both sides of the v on the nearside.


Bob