The above crankshaft is more a half-finished object than a ready-for-use product. The single big-end bearings were turned into the right position after forging, using enormous force (twisting). Otherwise it is still in a raw state, however, its function is already quite obvious. It differs substantially from the usual V8 crankshafts. In this case, there is a big-end bearing available for each cylinder. This method is necessary if there is a deviation from the 90°-cylinder-bank-angle and when even more main bearings and a consistent firing order are required. Hereby, the engine is increasingly selected according to the space in the vehicle.

Even at a glance, the big-end bearings can already be seen in the crankshaft shown above. If one looks more closely, one can even recognise the low angular offset between the, to some extent, neighbouring cranks. This offset corresponds precisely to the angle from which the cylinder bank angle deviates from 90°. On the right is the engine front. Every second crank belongs to one cylinder side.While in the case of the typical V8 crankshaft, both cylinder banks are displaced only by the width of one big-end bearing, here, two crank-webs and a main bearing are added. Thereby the latter are 9- and not 5- fold. 06/07