Honda's New 3.5-Liter V-6 Goes DOHC, Drops VTEC

[ctechbob]

The "new" engine is very much upgraded from what I can find.

It would not surprise me if the new DOHC uses the same bore-center as the old SOHC; that saves a lot of machining changes from happening.

Granted, its not proof of the bore centers being the same....but I'd say they're likely the same. That's a J30AC head sitting on a studded J35 block.

 

[Bill7]

A Honda engine without VTEC. Toyota going to 0W-16.
The future is worse than the past.

 

[dnewton3]

Granted, its not proof of the bore centers being the same....but I'd say they're likely the same. That's a J30AC head sitting on a studded J35 block.

Makes sense from a financial perspective. Lots of things can be done to improve/upgrade the engine design: strengthen the block, 6-bolt mains, head design, etc. But the investment is made cheaper if the machining operations are essentially unchanged. Having the same bore centers is a major consideration; it saves a massive investment in machining ops.

Ford did the same with the Coyote 5.0L; it's based on the same 3.937 bore center as the old "modular" motors (4.6L, 5.4L, 6.8L). They beefed up the block design, altered the deck height, etc. But at it's core, it's just an evolution of the old engine design that first appeared back in 1991. Hence, there's not a lot of machining changes that had to happen as far as the block goes. It's not hard to change head designs, but block changes that result in major machine changes is VERY expensive.

 

[PimTac]

A Honda engine without VTEC. Toyota going to 0W-16.
The future is worse than the past.

A much more efficient future.

 

[I<3oil]

My guess is still 0W-20.

Yup

 

[NismoNVT]

Good riddance. Honda's VTEC was overrated. People thought of it as some wonder technology when in reality Honda had been behind in valvetrain technology because of VTEC. The packaging and extra complexity of VTEC prevented them from using DOHC on their mainstream engines. They stayed with staged-VVL and never mass produced engines with continuous VVL. Meanwhile Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Hyundai, FCA all managed to develop continuous VVL systems based on DOHC with little impact to packaging and cost, and nobody talked about them! Part of the reason is continuous VVL systems are unnoticeable without that stupid personality changing mechanism.

VTEC is not unique, it's primitive.

 

[CharBaby]

VCM and timing belt... Hmm no thanks.

Right. From what I can find, the new J35 still has a timing belt. This is disappointing considering it a new engine as “Alex on Autos” explains. However Alex doesn’t mention whether it’s a belt or chain, just that the ”NEW” J35 has a new block, head & internals.

 

[tbm5690]

VCM and timing belt... Hmm no thanks.

VCM is easily disabled if desired, although newer iterations have not proven to cause any issues like before. Timing belt isn't ideal, but J series also aren't known to break and the interval is nearly 100K so I see it as a minor drawback at best.

 

[I<3oil]

Right. From what I can find, the new J35 still has a timing belt. This is disappointing considering it a new engine as “Alex on Autos” explains. However Alex doesn’t mention whether it’s a belt or chain, just that the ”NEW” J35 has a new block, head & internals.

It’s a belt.

 

[NismoNVT]

The belt has some harmonic advantages, but the lack of proper service replacement causing engine failure risk overshadows it. Again their crosstown bitter rival has made the switch along time ago, but Honda does Honda things for some reason.