I've seen boxer engines and the Porsche flat 8 cylinder engine.  But this may be a REALLY stupid question.  Is there a custom flat 8 cylinder (4 cylinders on each side) block that takes stock small block Chevy parts?  The idea is to have a lower profile engine for a mid to rear engine custom car.  Maybe the idea has mechanically problems.  (Please don't fall off your chair laughing, I wouldn't want you to get hurt!)

I have been looking into the exact type of thing you ask about. The Flat 8 engine being used with common V-8 parts. Many years ago I designed on paper a 481ci flat 8 engine with 4 valves per cylinder to be used for many applications including Top Fuel racing. There is no mechanical problems with the design and it should run smoother than a typical V-8. The advantages of this engine design is not only superior in terms of lower center of mass, but it makes for a much more sturdy design that will hold greater loads. In a typical V-8, if one loads a lot of cylinder pressure on to the crank, at some point the crank will be thrown on to the pavement. The same forces in a flat engine will now drive the rod and piston on the opposite bank thereby allowing the engine to rev more quickly and transferring the load to the thick center of the engine. The only drawback I've identified is getting this relatively wide engine to fit between the suspension of a standard car. A Flat 8 would work very well in a mid engined car provided that the exhaust pipes run off the top of the engine rather than on the lower side of the head. This is necessary for ground clearance and has a nice benefit of the heat radiating into the atmosphere as opposed to radiating into the rest of the head. There is, however, many parts that need to be made from scratch. The block, camshaft, and pushrods. The block is of special note because, in a flat engine design, the block must be split at the crank centerline and held together with cross bolts. These cross bolts placement is a little dicey as they need to clear head bolts and other things that would get in the way of there optimal placement for holding the two haves of the engine together. It can be done, but I would definitely design it on some type of computer aided design software to avoid clearance pitfalls. I'm a machinist that makes all kinds of stuff on a CNC Mill. Someday I would like to put together a Flat 8 engine about 300 ci using overhead cam heads and turbochargers. I believe such a design would work quite well in racing as well as passenger vehicles that need to achieve better fuel mileage. I'm the last guy that would laugh at such a design. A Flat 8 is superior to a V-8. All the Best, Clay Romero

I think it is possible as mentioned by Clay. I have also read in another forum and found out that some car and truck owners create customized engines using small block chevy parts. The idea of creating a model is not bad as it is will lessen the risks of creating errors.

 

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