Learn Why the Dodge Viper has a 10-cylinder engine
By Christopher R. Phillip V-8. V-8. V-8. If you’re a dyed-in-the-wool muscle car fanatic, there’s only one engine that floats your boat and that’s a V-8. Small Block. Big-block. Iron block. Aluminum block. As long as it has 8 cylinders, you’re in. So why did Dodge, known for iconic V-8s like the 426ci Hemi, outfit its Viper sports car with a V-10 engine? The answer is simpler than you think. First, let’s cover some basics. A V-8 engine has two banks of pistons, four to each side. A V-10? Five pistons to each side of the engine. Simple enough. In 1989, during the development of the Dodge Viper, Chrysler Corporation was already working on a cast-iron V-10 engine for the 1994 Dodge Ram. Chrysler also owned Lamborghini, known for its V-10 engine sports cars. According to multiple sources, Chrysler gave its cast-iron V-10 block to Lamborghini and asked its engineers to turn it into a brutal racecar engine. Guess what? They did.
Lamborghini re-cast the Dodge cast-iron V-10 in aluminum at one-quarter the price of a Lamborghini Diablo engine. The Italians improved Dodge’s V-10 cooling, crankshaft balance, weight reduction, and fine tuning. [Source: Allpar.com] According to our friends at Allpar.com, “Unique features of the Viper version [of the Dodge V-10 truck engine] included a low-profile cross-ram intake with dual throttle bodies, the manifolds, oil pan, heads, and accessory drive; the compression ratio was raised, the pistons lightened, the maximum engine speed increased, the valves enlarged, the rods and crank strengthened. In the end, few components were shared with the truck engine. That aluminum V-10 was so popular that it remained the only engine option for the Viper for its entire 25-year production run. Now you can bring home a final-edition Viper ACR in the Viper Dream Giveaway driven by Kumho Tires. Use the promo code with this article to get your bonus tickets at www.dreamgiveaway.com.
