A brief report on engine mounting types and positions

Introduction

The proper mounting of engine plays a major role in reducing the instability of vehicle, and also improves

the dynamics of the vehicle

The types engines based on mounting

(a) Transverse engine

(b) Longitudinal engine

(a)Transverse:

A transverse engine is an engine mounted in a vehicle so that the engine's crankshaft axis is perpendicular

to the long axis of the vehicle. Many modern front wheel drive vehicles use this engine mounting

configuration.

The Land Rover LR2 Freelander, along with all Volvo models from 1998 on (including V8 models),

employ a transversely-mounted engine in order to increase passenger space inside the vehicle. This has

also allowed for improved safety in a frontal impact, due to more front to back engine compartment space

being created. The result is a larger front crumple zone.

Transverse engines have also been widely used in buses. In the United States they were offered in the

early 1930s by Twin Coach and used with limited success in Dwight Austin's Pickwick Nite-Coach.

Transverse bus engines first appeared widely in the Yellow Coach 719, using Dwight Austin's V-drive;

they continued in common use until the 1990s, though shorter V-configuration engines in a straight in "T-

drive" configuration became common in the 1960s. They were also used in the British Leyland Atlantean

and in many transit buses and nearly all modern double decker buses. They have also been widely used by

Scania, MAN, Volvo and Renault's bus divisions.

Position placement of transverse engines

Engines may be placed in two main positions within the motor car:

Front-engine transversely-mounted / Front-wheel drive

Rear mid-engine transversely-mounted / Rear-wheel drive

(b) Longitudinal engines:

In automotive engineering, a longitudinal engine is an internal combustion engine in which the crankshaft

is oriented along the long axis of the vehicle, front to back. An engine similarly mounted along the frame

of a motorcycle is called an in-line engine.

This type of engine configuration is generally used in the motorcycles.

The location of engine is at the following places

1) Front

2) Mid

3) Rear

1) Front:

The front engine mounting has the following divisions

Front wheel drive

Back wheel drive

All-wheel drive

The engine is mounted in front of the chassis, this improves the traction and helps in perfect cornering

with great acceleration, and the Centre of gravity is slightly in the forward part.

This type of engine placement helps in increased safety of passengers as the compartment of engine is

placed forward to that of passengers

This type of placement is commonly seen in the present sedans and the hatchbacks

2) Mid

This type of engine placement is seen in the commercial vehicles such as pickups and the Maruti

OMNI sort of vehicles. This placement increases the stability of vehicle as the Centre of gravity is

near to the Centre of body. But indeed the vehicle lags proper turnings

3) Rear

This type of placement is seen in the Lamborghini it generally uses the rear placement all-wheel drive

engines. The engine is placed at the back of compartments this increases the acceleration and traction but

heavily affects the cornering dynamics the vehicle becomes utterly uncontrollable during the turnings at

great acceleration

Inspite of these types of mountings there are mountings principles followed to reduce vibrations

They are:

3 point mounting

4 point mounting

5 point mounting

These indicate the number of points at which the engine is mounted inorder to reduce vibrations .