Quote:
Originally Posted by Grape Ape
I also don't see why a v6 has to sound different than a v8. I can understand that the factory would tune the exhaust note differently on the traditional base v6 because of who they expect to buy them (same goes for the imports). But if they were building a v6 to fight American v8s, I bet they could make it sound like an American v8...
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the sound has a LOT to do with the firing order of they cylinders as well as the separation of the respective firings. for example, is the 3.8 3800 V6, we can take the 360 deg of the crank, and divide it by the number of cylinders, which gives us 60 deg, but the block is a 90 deg v, this difference in the degrees of the pistons results in a very specific sound, and as anyone with a 3800 v6 with a custom exhaust can tell you, we get massive drone at about 1500-2500 RPM, because there is a lot of resonance in the sound at that level
60 deg V6's like the new 3.6l dont have this issue as much, as the firing separation (60 deg) is the same as the angle separation of the pistons (60 deg) however from a sound point of view, 60 deg v6's have too much separation in the firing to have a good note
a V8 on the other has has a firing separation of 45 deg, which allows for very little resonance which would get annoying, and enough overlap of the sound to give a good note
really any multiple of 4 will give a decent exhaust note, w16 engines sound monstrous