DIY Four-Cylinder Motor Mimics V-8 Engine with Homemade Crank

Get creative with your Civic’s crankshaft: welding and cutting may add an edgy sound.

If you haven’t tuned in to the Garage54 YouTube channel yet, you’re definitely missing out. These innovative Russian mechanics always seem to have fresh ideas when it comes to extreme car modifications. While they’ve made a car entirely out of logs in the past, this time they’re getting technical. Have you ever seen a four-cylinder engine with a cross-plane crank?Typical four-cylinder engines have a flat-plane crank, meaning that two crank journals face upwards and two face downwards, with a 180-degree separation between them. This can be described as up, down, down, up. However, a cross-plane crank in a four-cylinder engine is more like up, left, right, down, with all of the journals set apart by 90 degrees. This configuration is rare in four-cylinder engines, with the only production vehicle to feature it being the Yamaha R1 motorcycle.

The crazy individuals at Garage54 opted to build a peculiar machine using a Lada engine—for no specific purpose other than just for the sake of it. Surprisingly, their technique for fabricating a fresh crank and getting it running is quite captivating. By dividing it into four sections, they reposition the crank onto its bearings within the engine and proceed to weld it together. This ensures the correct alignment, keeping all crank journals on a consistent axis. It’s an unconventional approach done flawlessly.

There are certain adjustments that need to be made to the crankshaft, camshaft, and distributor. The firing order of the engine has been altered, therefore the camshaft must be carefully cut and welded back together. While attempting to adjust the distributor, they ultimately resort to using only half of a V-8 distributor.

After ensuring that everything is functioning properly, the Lada is carefully driven out of the garage following a short test run. It isn’t until the RPMs climb that any noticeable change in sound becomes apparent. The engine emits a distinct V-8 hum, albeit a milder one similar to that of a low-fat milk variety. This unique firing sequence results in a noticeable lope, which is not a common trait for this particular Russian sedan to possess. As the engine is revved again later on, some sparks are seen escaping from the rear of the car, but neither the videographer nor the commentator seem to pay them any mind.

One criticism of the engine is its decreased revving capacity. However, given its construction method, I believe this is a reasonable drawback. It wouldn’t be surprising if these individuals attempted to create an inline-six using two Lada engines again. In fact, they have already attempted this.