Engine Tilting

Early September 2003

One of the most important aspect of the car's performance is the engine seating. On any car the engine is tilted somewhat. However mine isn't :( This is because this issue was not heard of from other internet resources. This issue was found from a Japanese Car Review VCD by Best Motoring episode ??

The car was jacked up high for servicing once. During browsing, the oil sump was noticed to be tilted instead of flat. The bad thing about the tilt is that it is opposite to the oil drain plug. This means not all oil is flowing out :(

The Japanese engineers would have known this and designed the oil sump with the engine originally tilted in mind. This simply proves that the engine needs to be tilted for whatever reasons???

It has been discussed that perhaps it could be benefited with the help of the gravity to pull the air fuel mixture into the engine and also let the gravity pull the combusted gasses out more easily then normal.

Another note is when the engine is being revved, it will move / tilt to the intake side. Assuming the engine needs to be tilted, then this counter tilt will reduce the effect even further.

After much nagging to my mechanic heheheh he finally insert a 5mm plat between the intake side's engine mounting and cross member. It tilted the engine very little. Not yet to the original factory spec. This will have to do for now, as further tilting requires the engine mounting bracket to be completely fabricated new. 

On my exhaust side, a lorry engine mounting (rubber) is used instead. This is guessed to be much harder than stock standard. Therefore a provision plan has been made to swap over the rubbers between intake and exhaust sides. It is hoped that it will reduce the engine from tilting during high rev.

Wow, talk about engine tilting....... so much...........

Aftermath

Believe it or not? The car actually feels a little more powerful. Second gear manage to transfer power and grip down to the road better than before. Third gear manage to transfer power and grip down to the road even more.

It is believed this has some relationship with tilting the front and rear suspension height experienced in Upgrade Rear Coil Again and Upgrade Rear Absorber Again.

Can't wait to get the engine properly tilt now.