The Chevrolet Inline-4 engine was one of

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

's first automobile engines, designed by Arthur Mason and introduced in 1913. Chevrolet founder Billy Durant, who previously had owned

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

which had pioneered the

overhead valve engine An overhead valve engine, abbreviated (OHV) and sometimes called a pushrod engine, is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with flathead (or "sidevalve") engines, where the v ...

, used the same basic engine design for Chevrolet: exposed

pushrod A valvetrain is a mechanical system that controls the operation of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. The intake valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture (or air alone for direct-injected engines) into the combu ...

s and rocker arms which actuated valves in the detachable

crossflow cylinder head A crossflow cylinder head is a cylinder head that features the intake and exhaust ports on opposite sides. The gases can be thought to flow across the head. This is in contrast to reverse-flow cylinder head designs that have the ports on the sam ...

. This was referred to this as a "valve-in-head" design, and it drew considerable publicity in a time when most rivals were flatheads. It was produced through 1928 when it was replaced by the

Chevrolet Stovebolt engine The Chevrolet Stovebolt engine is a straight-six engine made in two versions between 1929 and 1962 by the Chevrolet, Chevrolet Division of General Motors. It replaced the company's Chevrolet Straight-4 engine, inline-four as their sole engine of ...

. Chevrolet would not use another four cylinder engine until 1961 and the introduction of the

straight-6 A straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balanc ...

-derived

Chevrolet 153 4-cylinder engine Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

that was installed in the

Chevy II The Chevrolet Chevy II/Nova is a small automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, and produced in five generations for the 1962 through 1979, and 1985 through 1988 model years. Built on the X-body platform, the Nova was the top selling model in the ...

. For other, more modern Chevrolet four-cylinder engines see the

list of GM engines This list of GM engines encompasses all engines manufactured by General Motors and used in its cars. Divisions When General Motors was created in 1908, it started out with Buick and soon after acquired Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Oakland. There were ...

171

The engine was the first and most common member of this family. It featured

splash lubrication Splash lubrication is a rudimentary form of lubrication found in early engines and transmissions. Such engines could be external combustion engines (such as stationary steam engines), or internal combustion engines (such as petrol, diesel or pa ...

. For its last year (1928) it gained a revised carburetor, higher compression, aluminum pistons, and larger valves for a rating of at 2,200 rpm. Because of increased weight of the slightly longer 1928 Chevrolet National Series AB performance failed to improve from the 1927 Chevrolet Series AA Capitol. Applications: * 1914–1916 Chevrolet Series H () * 1916–1917 Chevrolet 490 () * 1917 Chevrolet Series F () * 1918–1922 Chevrolet 490 () * 1923–1926 Chevrolet Superior () *:(includes 1923 Series B, 1924 Series F, 1925 Series K, and 1926 Series V) * 1927 Chevrolet Series AA Capitol ()Gunnell, p. 22 * 1928

Chevrolet Series AB National The Chevrolet Series AB National (or Chevrolet National) is an American vehicle manufactured by Chevrolet in 1928 to replace the 1927 Series AA Capitol. Documented production numbers show that 1,193,212 Series ABs were manufactured in a variety ...

()

224

The engine, the larger engine in this family, was introduced in 1917 for the 1918 model year and used only in the Series FA and FB. It had the same bore as the 171, but a longer stroke of , giving it at 2,000 rpm. Applications: * 1918

Chevrolet Series FA The Chevrolet Series FA (or Chevrolet FA) of 1917–1918 is an American vehicle manufactured by GM's Chevrolet Division. It was a replacement of the Series F which had improvements in engine capacity as well as other features. In this transfo ...

() * 1919-1922 Chevrolet Series FB ()Gunnell, p. 15–16 * 1921-1922 Oldsmobile Model 43A

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chevrolet Straight-4 Engine

Straight-4 A straight-four engine (also referred to as an inline-four engine) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout ( ...

171

224

See also

References