Question about 16v and 8v engines

[lusty v-tec]

Right an 8v engine has 1 inlet and 1 exhaust valve, and a 16v has 2 of each.

Im just wondering why do they give the 16v engine car more valves? Couldn't they just keep the same number of valves as an 8v engine, but make the valves bigger??

 

[DrR]

"Adding more valves improves the flow of intake and exhaust gases, potentially improving combustion efficiency, power, and performance. It is not practical to simply use two larger valves, for reasons of simple geometry (two smaller intake valves will fit side-by-side on one side of the combustion chamber, whereas a single one cannot be made much larger) and to keep the mass, and therefore inertia, of individual valves as low as possible."

 

[lusty v-tec]

cheers!

 

[MrMark]

s**t, lusty.... a serious question!.