Variable Valve Timing and Raise Digital Management (VTEC) has turn out to be Honda’s best-known applied sciences since Compound Vortex Managed Combustion (CVCC) was within the Seventies. Coincidentally, whereas CVCC was an emissions management expertise, VTEC is being phased out in favor of extra standard double overhead cam (DOHC) expertise in pursuit of much less air pollution.
Honda’s non-turbocharged engines because the Nineties have employed single overhead camshafts that includes two units of lobes. Hydraulically actuated rocker arms engine the milder, lower-lift, shorter-duration lobes throughout low-to-mid-RPM driving and change to the high-lift, long-duration cam lobes at excessive revs. The engine’s unrestrained acceleration on the changeover is a well-liked side of VTEC’s success with fanatic drivers.
However the brand new 2023 Honda Pilot SUV has debuted an all-new 3.5-liter V6 engine that includes a raft of enhancements and the elimination of VTEC. The engine’s low-profile cylinder heads embrace high-tumble consumption ports and a slim 35-degree valve angle for improved combustion. The result’s essentially the most highly effective US-market Honda V6, at 285 horsepower and 262 lb.-ft. of torque. The engine is constructed on the firm’s auto plant in Lincoln, Alabama.
The brand new V6’s basis is a die-cast aluminum block with cast-in-place iron cylinder liners. The skinny-wall liners are made utilizing a centrifugal spin-casting course of and are excessive in power and low in porosity. The deep-skit block incorporates four-bolt important bearing caps for inflexible crankshaft help with minimal noise and vibration. The crankshaft is high-strength metal, additionally for minimal weight.
The engine features a cooling management spacer positioned within the block’s water jacket surrounding the cylinders to assist management warm-up and cylinder liner working temperatures for diminished friction. Technicians plateau-hone the liners to additional cut back friction between the piston skirts and the cylinder partitions by making a smoother floor. This can be a 2-stage machining course of that makes use of two grinding processes as a substitute of the extra standard single-stage honing course of. As an additional advantage, plateau honing additionally reduces long-term engine put on.
Sliding inside these cylinders are new shallow-dish pistons designed to assist keep secure combustion and contribute to effectivity. They’ve a fastidiously optimized skirt design to reduce reciprocating mass to scale back vibration and improve effectivity. The piston rings are chrome-nitrided for diminished friction.
The engine is topped with new DOHC heads with 4 valves per cylinder. The heads are low-pressure solid utilizing low-porosity aluminum with consumption ports that induce tumble within the incoming air. This helps the blending of the air and gas for a extra homogeneous combustion combination for diminished exhaust emissions.
A brand new higher-pressure multistage direct-injection system supplies the gas. It includes a compact, high-pressure, direct-injection pump that enables excessive gas movement with variable strain management to optimize injector operation. The injectors are a brand new multi-hole design that ship gas instantly into every cylinder at 30 MPa of gas strain (up from 20 MPa) for extra environment friendly combustion.
I sit up for driving the Pilot to see Honda’s progress in enhancing the efficiency of its direct injection underneath light-to-no throttle. The corporate’s present fashions toggle the gas movement on and off throughout this mild throttle tip-in whereas cruising at a gradual state 25 mph which is annoying, so I’m eager for enchancment with this new system.
Honda engineers shaved 1.2 inches from the engine’s peak and diminished the half depend by incorporating the pinnacle’s cam bearing caps instantly into the cam cowl. Engine peak is essential due to the necessity for area between the engine and the hood that gives room for the hood to crush within the occasion of a collision with a pedestrian. The change to twin cams additionally contributes to extra compact rocker arms and hydraulic lash adjusters, which additionally contribute to the discount in engine peak.
The adjustments to the V6 engine’s design in comparison with the outgoing Honda Pilot’s engine have contributed to a 40 % discount in smog-forming emissions like natural compounds and oxides of nitrogen, with a 50 % discount in unburned particulate matter. This leads to an EPA LEV3 SULEV 30 ranking.
The bottom value for a front-wheel-drive 2023 Honda Pilot LX is $37,295 and the beginning value for a top-of-the-line all-wheel-drive Pilot Elite is $53,375.
