Re: 4 cylinders

["Jason and Maria Colavecchia" <jasoncolavecchia@domain.elided>]

Hmmmmmm.....

I'm not a huge fan of the IH 4 cylinder for several reasons:

1/ the power of this engine is barely adequate to keep the Scout II moving
at highway speeds.  NOT good for towing.
2/ Being 1/2 of a 392, it has about half the power and torque.  As a
result, it has to work almost twice as hard to move the chunk of iron it's
bolted to, and therefore the fuel mileage is depressing.  A V304 has lots
of extra power, and basically gives the same fuel economy
3/  The 4 Cylinder weighs ALMOST as much as a V304 (but not quite)
4/  Parts specific to the 4 cylinder are hard to track down, due to the low
number of Scout II's built with them. The V304/345/392, OTOH, are quite
easy to find, and share a phenominal amount of components compared to most
other engine families.
5/ you could spend oodles of cash modifying a 196 to produce more power (of
course, what IS enough power anyways?) Compared to swapping in a V8, it's
almost not worth the trouble.
6/ Big tires require more torque and HP to move them.  It is possible to
multiply torque delivered to the wheels by upgrading the differential
ratios, but in order to get comparable performance to a V8, you WILL reduce
the Scout II's abilities when on-road (ie top speed, FUEL economy, noise,
etc.) This will also create a problem if you swap in a v8 later, as this
problem would not go away...

Despite all of this, the 4 cylinder is still an overbuilt IH, and certainly
makes most other 4 cylinder engines look small in comparison.  It DOES use
the same head(s) as a 392 engine, which means that you can also install a
header system that will bolt right up to it.  The engine mounts are the
same as the bigger v8's, as well as radiators and stuff.  A Scout II
doesn't have the clearance problems the 80 and 800 Scouts did when it came
to engine swaps.  For the most part, the V8 swap is a bolt-on operation.

AFAIK, the tranny bellhousing on the 196 is the same as the bigger
v8's...this is different compared to the older 152 engines, especially in
the older scout 80 model.

When looking strictly at off-road operation, the V8 option is not always
necessary (look at the legion of j**p owners with those tiny 4 cylinder
jobs.) Properly geared, the 4 cylinder will perform much like it's bigger
brothers, except where lots of inital torque and horsepower are needed (ie
mud running, racing, towing) On road, the 4 cylinder doesn't impress me.  

----------
: From: Russel DeArman <russde_93@domain.elided>
: To: ihc-digest@domain.elided
: Subject: 4 cylinders
: Date: Monday, April 05, 1999 5:18 PM
: 
: IH all, don't want to be a pest, but...
:   I still need some input on the four cylinider 196
: motor. Any info you have will be appreciated. It's in
: an '80 Scout II four speed (should be a t-18? and dana
: 300 right? ).
:   Truck will be used as a daily driver and weekend
: light duty off-roader.
:   How modifiable (?) is the 196?
:   Is there a limit to tire size the 196 will push?
:   When I swap the motor (prob. a couple of years)    
: what else will I have to switch?
:   Anything else?
: Other than "buy a v8, wimp!" all input and advice is
: welcome,
: Russ
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