Editor-in-Chief | Zhang Kehuan
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Author | Steamy Jun
Reports from The GreatAuto
Whenever we mention Honda, a car company from Japan, the first words that come to mind are likely to be "buy an engine and send a car", "uncrowned king in F1", "cut 2 gears 7200 to dry him!" ”......
Yes, Honda, an engineer-led car company, is almost far more obsessed with technology than people think. For more than half a century, Honda seems to be thinking about only one thing: to build a cleaner, higher-performance, more efficient engine. It is this kind of persistence that makes today's "Honda Engine" prestigious for a long time. But do you know what kind of effort Honda engineers have put into this over the decades? What are the fruits?
From broken cocoons to madness
How did Honda break down barriers between Europe and the United States in the Middle Ages?
In the early and mid-twentieth century, both car engines and aircraft engines were firmly in the hands of Europeans and Americans. At that time, most Japanese manufacturers could basically only play behind European and American manufacturers, and basically did not have their own innovation and technology.
In 1966, though, the story changed after Honda released its first production car, the N360.
As Honda's first model, the N360, in addition to the original logo of Honda, its shape design basically does not have much to point. But then again, in those days, who would buy a mini car and look at the design?
However, since Honda had been in the motorcycle business before this, Honda R&D engineers directly handled the technology from the motorcycle for the N360's 0.36L twin-cylinder engine. For use in the car, Honda engineers changed the two-stroke to a more economical and energy-efficient four-stroke and injected it with a SOHC single overhead camshaft design, so that the maximum horsepower of the engine is 31 horses!
An engine with a displacement of 0.36L can have 31 horsepower, and if the displacement is expanded tenfold, can't a 3.6L engine have 310 horsepower? This time, honda's engineers can be happy! Sometimes, developing an engine really requires some whimsy.
But in Japan in the 1960s, due to the lack of resources and the economy was just starting, the major manufacturers did not have the energy to develop large-displacement engines, and even if they were developed, they could not be sold. Honda, on the other hand, has been waiting for an opportunity.
Surprisingly, the Americans actually brought this opportunity for Honda because of their arrogance.
When the time entered the seventies of the last century, the global oil crisis broke out. In order to encourage car companies to reduce energy consumption, the US authorities introduced the famous "Marquis Act".
Just as the so-called "there are policies on the top, there are countermeasures under the bottom", at that time, most of the American car companies were thinking about how to exploit the loopholes in the policy and how to make the American large V8 engine with a displacement of 7L and 8L meet the "Marquise Act" in the United States.
At this time, only Honda, which is in the initial stage of development, smells the business opportunities brought by the "Muskie Act". After the introduction of the bill, in order to allow the vehicle to enter the US market for sale, Honda used almost the entire company's strength to develop the world's first CVCC engine that could pass the "Marquis Act" at that time.
In fact, from a technical point of view, Honda's CVCC engine installed on the original Civic is actually very good. In the era of no electronic injection, CVCC engines can achieve layered combustion + thin combustion with mechanical technology, and significantly reduce fuel consumption and emissions, which is "unique in the world" at that time. Even in 1973, it was proved by the academic community to be the most advanced layered suction engine at that time.
Enough to prove: if you don't force engineers, you really don't know they will have such ability!
However, when Soichiro Honda hesitated to show off the original Civic and CVCC engines in the United States, he was ridiculed by GM and other car companies as a "mother gun". Indeed, in the V8 era, Honda's L4 engine was really not strong enough! At that time, many American car companies began to shake: "If you Honda really have the ability, take a V8 engine to pass the 'Marquis Act', and can not reduce the horsepower!" ”
Where can Soichiro Honda bear this anger? So Honda fought another wave, and engineers installed the 5.7L V8 engine on the Chevrolet Impala to Honda's CVCC system. The result, of course, is that everyone is happy: this 5.7L engine with CVCC technology not only did not lose the original power, but also passed the EPA emission test perfectly, and Honda has become the object of cooperation for many American car companies.
After this battle, Honda became famous in North America, and the original Civic also knocked on the door of the American market and was sought after by people. Of course, with the increase in sales and revenue, the next thing Honda does is still to invest a lot of money and energy to develop better engine technology!
Enter the VTEC era
Honda shocked the world
If CVCC technology in the sixties and seventies allowed Honda to gain a foothold in the international auto market, when the time came to the eighties, Honda considered how to make itself famous worldwide. For most car companies, participating in motorsport is definitely a "golden oil" to promote their own products and experience their own technology.
Whether it is Honda's head Soichiro Honda or the founder of Infinity Honda Hirotoshi, they all love motorsport, from the very beginning of Honda Motors, they have been racing on the track, and Honda has won several Japanese auto races in the early days. However, how can Honda be at ease in a remote corner? The top F1 stage is what Honda aspires to.
In fact, in the sixties, Honda also went to the paddock of F1 to "wave", and the Honda factory team also won a grand prix championship.
Honda really started to play in F1 events, and it had to start from the 1980s. In the 1983 season, Honda returned to the paddock; in the 1986 season, the Williams-Honda FW11 car with the RA166E V6 turbo engine helped Honda win the 1986 Formula 1 World Constructors Championship trophy...
Subsequently, Honda and McLaren befriended, and with the help of the V10 self-priming engine and the car god Senna, experienced countless glories. Until the past 2021, the Red Bull Racing Team, which was engined by Honda, once again lifted the championship of the 2021 season.
It seems to be a bit far, but there is no denying that Honda has achieved an impressive record in the paddock. And since the 1980s, Honda has become a car brand that fans around the world are enthusiastic about with its excellent engine technology.
Here we have to mention the VTEC technology that was born out of F1 racing, that is, the "variable valve timing and lift electronic control system".
In 1989, Honda officially released the VTEC technology.
At its core, this technology provides a variable gas distribution system for the engine. This system allows civilian vehicles to take into account both economic and high performance orientations.
In simple terms, the system integrates two angles of cam on the intake and exhaust camshafts. At low and medium speeds, we hope to obtain a more economical power orientation, at this time by the ordinary cam to top the valve, reduce the engine power consumption; and in the middle and high speed range, we hope that the vehicle's power response becomes "nervous", at this time the oil will push the plunger located in the valve rocker arm to complete the conversion of the two cams, high angle cams can not only make the valve open in a working cycle for a longer time, but also increase the lift of the valve, effectively ensuring the engine's demand for intake.
Among them, a very representative engine is Honda's B series redhead engine. This is more than just an engine that can take into account the economy of low and medium speeds, high speed and high performance. At the same time, this engine also took the lead in breaking the record of more than 100 horses in the "liter power" of the self-priming engine, becoming one of the best small and medium-sized displacement engines in the self-priming era.
When the time entered the 1990s, Honda also developed i-VTEC technology based on VTEC. This technology adds a set of intake camshaft timing variable control mechanism, so that the engine can have a suitable gas distribution phase in a wide range of speeds, which greatly improves the performance of the engine, compared to the original VTEC technology, the performance is improved by 20%. Lower fuel consumption and stronger power have made Honda models from the 1990s to the 00s sought after by countless users.
Honda's eighth-generation Civic, for example, is equipped with a 1.8-liter self-priming engine with i-VTEC technology. The engine has a maximum horsepower of 140 hp and a peak torque of 174 Nm, and is used in the Civic, with a combined fuel consumption of as low as 7.2 L per 100 km. At that time, the Civic, which was blessed with a 1.8L engine, also had the reputation of "2.0L power and 1.5L fuel consumption".
Enter the era of small displacement
Honda's dream of attack continues
If you open the history of Honda, it is easy to find that since the birth of Honda, it is actually not very good at making large-displacement engines. In the field of civilian vehicles, Honda does not have models with more than 6 cylinders. Its largest displacement engine is the 3.7L V6 engine applied to the Acura MDX, and the second is the 3.5L V6 engine applied to older Models such as the Accord.
In fact, from our cognition, whether it is Honda's 3.7L engine or 3.5L engine, its popularity is not too high. As for Honda's "Divine Machine Family", it is basically a small and medium-displacement model. To put it a little further, there are Honda's B16, B18, B20 and so on from the "flood power" of the nineties; more recently, the L15 Earth Dream series and the K20 VTEC series are very popular.
With the advent of the turbine era and the era of small displacement, Honda, which is good at creating small and medium-sized displacement engines, is once again radiant.
At present, Honda's main engines are also L15 and K20 series. Although the lineup is streamlined, the engines of these two series are too strong.
First of all, let's talk about Honda's L15 series, which can be roughly divided into 1.5L self-priming engine and 1.5T turbocharged engine, which are widely used in Fit, Civic, CR-V, Accord and other models.
In fact, no matter which car, when we drive the vehicle, we can obviously feel that the performance of the engine is very active, a little step on the accelerator, the vehicle can provide sufficient push back feeling, bringing good sports performance.
In fact, although the L15 series engines are not high in displacement, they still use a large number of new technologies. Examples include the integrated 4-2 exhaust manifold, the high-efficiency oblique flow and low-inertia turbines, plus a series of optimizations for combustion systems and jet ignition systems... There is only one purpose, that is, to save energy and reduce emissions while still bringing enough fun to the driver.
As for the K20 series engines, it's even more exciting. This 2.0T engine from the Type R, which is currently widely used in luxury models such as Guandao, UR-V and Acura RDX, has a maximum horsepower of 272 hp and a peak torque of 370 Nm, and its book parameters are even better than the BBA's same displacement model.
What's more, as an engine from the "chariot", the K20 series also deeply optimizes the driving experience. For example, the maximum torque range of this engine is actually not high, about 2000rpm-4500rpm, but in the actual driving process, its explosive force is very linear. As the accelerator pedal deepens, the driver can clearly feel the linear upward trend of the torque curve, and even brings a soft texture that is only unique to large-displacement multi-cylinder self-priming engines.
epilogue
At this point, through the interpretation of the history of Honda's engine manufacturing, we have almost re-acquainted with this manufacturer.
As an automobile manufacturer, Honda has always insisted on creating newer and more perfect power technology for more than 60 years, and this alone is also worthy of people's admiration. What is even more valuable is that Honda also knows that fans and users expect it, and can live up to expectations every time. Today, Honda still adheres to its track dream and hopes to let more people enjoy the fun of driving. This year, Honda will also introduce the Civic Type R to China, so that more driving enthusiasts can feel the unique fun of Honda.
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