V16

A V16 is an internal combustion engine in V configuration, having 16 cylinders. Engines of this number of cylinders are not common.

A V16 engine is perfecly balanced regardless of the V angle without having to resort to the use of counter-rotating balancing shafts which are necessary on medium and large I-4 and V-8 engine configurations. In addition, an angle that is a multiple of 45° will give even firing, this makes 45°, 90° and 135° Vs optimal solutions.

V16 engines have been used in certain luxury and high-performance automobiles, mostly for their smoothness (low vibration) since one can certainly make a V8 or V12 as large and powerful as one could possibly want in an automobile application. Greater numbers of cylinders are also perceived as a status symbol.

Automotive history

Consumer automobiles

Cadillac produced the Cadillac V-16 as their most exclusive model from January 1930 until 1940, with the Cadillac V16 engine. Two types of V16 were built. From 1930 to 1937 this was a 425 CID (7 L) with a 45° V. For 1938 a new design was introduced with 431 CID (7.1 L) and an angle of 135°; this resulted in a much lower car profile.

In 1931, Marmon introduced the Marmon Sixteen , powered by an aluminum-block V16; it was arguably more advanced than the Cadillac, but the Great Depression had taken hold and only a few were produced. Marmon went into receivership in 1933 and production ceased.

In 1988, a joint business venture between Claudio Zampolli and musician Giorgio Moroder produced the Cizeta-Moroder with the only modern V-16 engine. It began production in 1991 but only a few cars were produced before the company closed its doors for good.

Cadillac revived the V-16 concept in 2003 with a General Motors concept car, the Cadillac Sixteen . This car used a 1000 hp (750 kW) Northstar V16.

Racing

In auto racing the V16 was used in Grand Prix by the mid-engined Auto Unions that rivalled the Mercedes in the 1930s.

It has only been used one time in the post WWII era, by BRM. Most unusually, this was a 135° V 1.5 L supercharged powerplant. This engine was a failure despite being powerful—officially, it produced 550 hp (410.1 kW) but likely delivered around 500 hp (372.8 kW). With such a small displacement per cylinder it delivered this power in a narrow RPM range. This made the car difficult to handle, but the noise made by the 16 tiny cylinders has been described as 'unforgettable.'

Other applications

The other use for the V16 powerplant is in large diesel engines. Here, the manufacturers tend to work with a common cylinder size across a wide range of engines, and size the engine by the number of cylinders for different power requirements. Thus, many users of large diesel engines such as railroad locomotives use V16 powerplants, including many General Motors Electro-Motive Division locomotives.