page_title: Inline-four engine
section_title: Notable production inline-four engines
hierarchical_section_title: Inline-four engine / Automobile use / Notable production inline-four engines
caption_attribution_description: 1970 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV engine
context_page_description: The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is a four-cylinder internal combustion engine in which the cylinders are mounted in a straight line or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft. Where it is inclined, it is sometimes called a slant-four. In a specification chart or when an abbreviation is used, an inline-four engine is listed either as I4 or L4.
  The inline-four layout is in perfect primary balance and confers a degree of mechanical simplicity that makes it popular for economy cars. However, it suffers from a secondary imbalance that causes minor vibrations in smaller engines, and more powerful vibrations as engine size and power increase. So, the more powerful engines used in larger cars are generally more complex designs with more than four cylinders.
  Today almost all manufacturers of four-cylinder automobile engines produce the inline-four layout, with Subaru and Porsche 718 flat-four engines being notable exceptions, and so four-cylinder is usually synonymous with and a more widely used term than inline-four.
context_section_description: The smallest automobile production inline-four engine powered the 1962–1970 Mazda P360 Carol kei car. Displacing just 358 cc, the Mazda DA was a conventional but tiny pushrod engine. Honda produced, from 1963 to 1967, a 356 cc (21.7 cu in) inline-four engine for the T360 truck. Inline-four motorcycle engines are built down to 250 cc, e.g. in the Honda CBR250.
  Most inline-four engines, however, have been over 700 cc (43 cu in) displacement. A practical upper limit could be placed in the 2.5 L range for contemporary production cars. Larger engines (up to 6.1 L) have been seen in tractors (Kubota M135X) and medium duty truck use (Isuzu Forward, Hino Ranger), especially using diesel fuel (one of the strongest is the MAN D0834 engine with 220 hp (164 kW) and 627 lb⋅ft (850 N⋅m)). The use of balance shafts allowed Porsche to use a 3.0 L (2,990 cc) inline-four engine on road cars first in the 944 S2, but the largest modern non-diesel was the 3,186 cc (194.4 cu in) Pontiac inline-4 produced from one half of the Division's 6,373 cc (388.9 cu in) V8 for the debut of its 1961 Tempest.
  The largest mass-produced inline-four engine in a car has currently the Mitsubishi Pajero 3.2 DI-D, which has a 3,200 cc inline-four with 165 hp (123 kW) at 3,500 rpm (in Europe, 200 hp) and 381 N⋅m (281 lb⋅ft) at 2,000 rpm. The Engine has a bore of 98.5 mm (3.9 in) and a stroke of 105 mm (4.1 in).
  Currently, one of the largest straight-4 engines in production is General Motors' Vortec 2900 installed in the GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado small pickup trucks. It shares the same 95.5 mm (3.8 in) bore and 102 mm (4.0 in) stroke as the larger inline-five Vortec 3700. The latest version of the Vortec 2900, the LLV, displaces 2.9 L (2921 cc, 178 in³) and produces 185 hp (138 kW) at 5,600 rpm and 195 lb⋅ft (264 N⋅m) at 2,800 rpm. Engine redline is 6,300 rpm. Another example of a large inline-four engine is the Russian 2.89 L UMZ 421 series UMZ engine.
  In the early 20th century, bigger engines existed, both in road cars and sports cars. Due to the absence of displacement limit regulations, manufacturers took increasing liberties with engine size. In order to achieve power over 100 hp (75 kW), most engine builders simply increased displacement, which could sometimes achieve over 10.0 L. The biggest inline-four ever made was the 28.3 L engine used in the 1911 Fiat S76 racing car. These engines ran at very low rpm, often less than 1,500 rpm maximum, and had a specific output of about 10 hp/L. The US tractor industry both farm and industrial relied on large four-cylinder power units until the early 1960s, when six-cylinder designs came into favour. International Harvester built a large 5.7-litre (350 CID) four-cylinder for their WD-9 series tractors.
  Other technologically or historically notable engines using this configuration include:
  Alfa Romeo Twin Cam engine - one of the first mass-produced twin cam engines produced from 1954. Also first engine in production car with variable valve timing.
  BMC A-Series engine - the first engine to be used in a transverse drive train powering the front wheels of a mass-produced automobile (Mini).
  Chevrolet Cosworth Twin-Cam Vega - 2.0 L all aluminum (block & head), DOHC, 16 valves, electronic fuel injection, stainless steel header.
  Dodge A853 - intercooled turbo engine from the SRT-4, set the land speed record for 4-cylinder production cars at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
  Fiat Twin Cam engine - One of the first mass-produced twincam engines, produced from 1959.
  Ford Model T engine - one of the most widely produced engines in the world.
  GM Quad-4 engine - twin-cam Oldsmobile engine offered in GM small, sporty cars.
  Honda ED engine - first use of Honda's CVCC technology.
  Honda F20C engine - its 250 PS (180 kW; 250 hp) from 2.0 L was the highest specific output of its time, particularly noteworthy in that it achieved this without forced induction.
  Mitsubishi Sirius engine - includes the 4G63, which has the highest specific output of a turbocharged production engine in the world with the Lancer Evolution FQ-400 available in the 
caption: 1970 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV engine
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