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Back from the Dead: Inline 6

And none of the downsides to using a 6 including strangling high temps of the 1st and 6th cylinder's due to manifold design of I6's. Those long heads warp or crack. Cooling. The crank is very long... No, It's really just half of a V12.
 
It’s just hood height messing with aerodynamics and sleek design imo why it isn’t everywhere.

Way back in 70’s the slant six was a fix.

Slant 6 was great, lets not forget the Chevy inline 6's that we drove in the Chevy trucks, the 250 CI, with the 3 speed on the column, I learned to drive in a 1969 C-10, on the country roads of the Appalachian Mountains. In 2nd gear you could do one H$LL of a power slide through the curves on dirt, no wonder the driver instructor in drivers ed said, you really do well on these roads, I was 15 when I took drivers ed in High School.....:smuggrin::)
 
Just thought of another potential benefit to Mercedes' setup.

Some time ago I read where auto makers were concerned about electrical consumption from add-ons (ex: mobile phone, tablet, GPS, etc . . .) and there was commentary about looking into higher voltage. Recently I noticed that the reaction (excluding the hybrid community) was to increase the alternator amperage but it was still 12v. With the Merc system, am curious as to whether this is the start of a voltage increase as well in the ICE sector.
 
I know Banks is behind a couple others in the electric motor system that spools up big turbo but his first series are all 48volt. He said once they break even on the $ from that he will go back and do the “old 12 volt systems for classic rods”.

His biggest push right now is trying to mesh the 48 volt that all the normal mfrs are focused on vs military desire to stay at 24volt since they barely got that standardized. Him being the sole engine supplier of the duramax (he buys unfinished engines from GM) for the JLTV. Mid 50 thousand was last count I heard.

Anyways, he wants his electric turbo on them but is having issues of too many amps to contend with at 24 volts. There is 2 other turbo mfrs doing the 48 volt turbos also- names escape me at the moment- one is the big Italian outfit.

Too bad cant get him to go back to his roots of diesel turbo 6.2 and add 12volt units real quick- haha. He joked in an interview about how big his sidewinder would have been if he could have done electric spool assist on it saying we would measure turbos in cubic inches instead of centimeters.

The last I read from the auto mfrs is they are just wating for the li-on batts to get cheaper and going to drop lead acid. The weight savings of going to lithium instead of lead is huge. Keep in mind, they are not looking at using 4 each 12volt batteries like group 34 or anything. They batteries most are testing in the 48 volt systems are group 31- semi truck batteries.

Only a couple companies are trying to go to smaller battery size and have increased voltage in order to lower amperage.

The only reason the are stopping at 48 volt is 50 volt is cut off of low voltage vs high voltage which requires certified electricians in most of the US, Europe, Asia, etc.

There are someplaces that 30 volt is the cut off. On Wednesday One of the electricians at work that moved here from Detroit said that was their cut off point. So having the Union electricians requirement be the ones building cars on many assembly lines is an issue they are trying to work out. Funny this is where I took the conversation was 48 volt autos. Him and another electrician that worked out of halls back east just looked at each other laughing. Telling stories of how on so many job sites only they were allowed to plug in 110v power tools so other workers wouldn’t cross into others’ defined work. He said pointing at the wire strippers in my hand- “What, you think an assembly line worker is allowed to even touch those? Grievance! Don’t take my work.”

So yeah, they are all planning on 48 volts, but technology and cost of materials isn’t the only issues they have to work out.

Look into hybrid production assembly contracts. A lot of journeyman electricians at work these days doing more than maintenance.
 
Him being the sole engine supplier of the duramax (he buys unfinished engines from GM) for the JLTV. Mid 50 thousand was last count I heard.
Banks isn't buying unfinished engines from GM for the jltv. He had the foundry's shut down, cleaned, and retooled. Then they cast the blocks to his specs. I'm not sure who did the heads, Edelbrock I believe was a possibility. Next they shut down the DURAMAX assembly line in Morraine Ohio, brought in the blocks cast for him, and then they assembled the longblocks using parts supplied by Banks including his stroker crank's, billet rods, and I believe he said steel monotherm pistons. He had pictures of all of it posted on facebook last year. They did all this while they were retooling for the new L5P. Now he is buying L5P engines from GM for marine use and other lighter duty short duration appmications, but the JLTV is all his baby.
 
Wow cool! Didn’t know it was that far into them. I thought they were long blocks and he went from there.
Thanks!
 
Oh no, they are quite the piece of engineering. He has said that GM did better than him in several areas with the L5P, and would have liked to have incorporated alot of ot's design changes into his package, but they're locked in now with what they have.
 
Had a Ford F-100 (½ ton) pu with the "300 6" engine, Powerful, but, from stop and go traffic to freeway speeds, it got about 12-12 ½ mpg (sometimes less, never more). Combined with the 'twin I beam' front, a thoroughly miserable car, , , , , ,

-c-

(edit: 1975 model)
 
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