"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote

Our friend has an airplane powered by an unmuffled Chevy V-8, and it
sounds just as sputtery at idle...

Most high HP V-8's do sound sputtery, due to a high lift cam with more
than
usual valve open overlap.

Even then, V-8's with a stock cam often sound rough at idle, even with a
muffler, if idle is set relatively low. How about Harley's? They all
sound
rough, with or without mufflers.
--
Jim in NC


Most of the uneven sound of V-8's was a function of the old 90 degree
crankshafts, which always made any dual exhause system sound rough. Some of
the newer designs, at least from GM and Ford, have single-plane crankshafts
and a resulting smooth exhaust sound; although the real reason was exhaust
and intake tuning for a better combination of power and economy. There is
really no excuse for not having fixed the firing order problem at least 40
years earlier--after all, we had plenty of in-line four cylinder engines
with dynamically balanced single plane crankshafts.

OTOH, the "Harley Sound" is supposed to be part of the "Harley Mystique"
:-)

However, your points are well taken, and every LongEZ that I have ever heard
was a perfect example of an engine that ran just fine and sounded crappy.
It is almost as though the engines are annoyed about being installed
backward, so they sputter about the indignity of it all. :-)

Peter