Hello All!

I'm going to attempt to design and build my own engine! I'm sort of new at this but hopefully I can get hints from you all to help me. I've played around with building some small single cylinder engines just to get the idea going. Well, First of all my thoughts were to build either a 4 cylinder, a V6 or a V8 engine.

My second thought is that I want to keep the cylinder bore diameter between 2.0000" and 4.0000", but I have no idea about what stroke length to use, and I figured if I used one of the .2500" or .5000" steps between 2" and 4", I would have a nice engine. I also don't know how far apart to keep the cylinders. I also would like the engine to operate nicely and efficently when the car is at around 85 MPH, though normal speeds would be 55-65 MPH.. I would like the RPM Limit to somewhere around 7,000 RPM.

I also figured on this being a fuel injected engine. I will either use a GM or Bosch computer (was thinking about the Jetronic series from a donor vehicle), and whatever injectors will work out fine. For spark plugs, I thought of several common ones I could use. I'll put together a list of the ones I thought of, with specs along with the next post after I get a reply or two.

I figured on having flat lifters, and the 7.8" pushrods. The valves would be 1.9400" and 1.5000" diameter, all 16 of them. A flat bottom lifter 2.0000" long x 0.8410 dia. might work also. As for fueling this engine, I'm not sure what I will use, but mainly gasoline, though I'm not sure what octane rating would be best but I will have a look at whats available in this area. I figured on using a 4 speed manual transmission, similar to a saginaw.

As for belts, I figured on using either a Serpentine Belt or a high strength durable V-Belt, and they would supply power transmission to the various accessories, A/C, Alternator, etc.

That being said, I also see that from the reading and research I have done
so far, that 4 cylinder engines from 2.0L to 3.0L are popular, and V-8 engines from 300 to 400 cu. in. are popular. I have no idea about V6 engines.

Well with that said, are there any suggestions? Any other information I need or missed here?

Greg