V12

An engine in V configuration, having 12 cylinders. 12 cylinder engines have never been common, their use mainly confined to expensive luxury and sporting cars - they are very common in Formula One racers. 12 cylinder engines can have superlative performance and smoothness characteristics, but only at the cost of significant additional mechanical complexity and cost.

A V engine is a common configuration in larger engines in which the pistons are aligned so that if viewed from the front appear to be in a large V. The 12 refers to the fact that this configuration has 12 cylinders.

A number of World War II fighter planes used V12 engines, usually generating about 1,500 horsepower. Their use in fighters disappeared quickly after the advent of the jet engine.

Mercedes (MTU) manufactured a line of V12 diesel engines for marine use. These engines commonly power craft up to about 100 tons in pairwise configurations. These large engines required about 35 gallons of oil in the crankcase.

There are also V6 engines, V8 engines, etc. The V configuration helps minimize vibration and reduces the overall length of the crankshaft. V-twin (two cylinder V configuration) engines are common on motorcycles.

/Talk