Do you remember the motto of the Olympic Games?"Citius, altius, fortius" is commonly translated into German as "faster, higher, further". What does this have to do with a press conference in Gothenburg, Sweden?
Well, I'm inevitably reminded of this motto when Johan Inden, head of Volvo Penta Europe, appears before the assembled international water sports press in mid-May and, in his own relaxed Scandinavian manner, gives averitable cornucopia of new motors, drives and control elements spread out before us.
His key message: Volvo's new D4 and D6 engines are more powerful, more reliable and more economical than ever before.
In figures: The 3.7-litre in-line diesel D4 is now available with outputs between 150 hp and 320 hp, while the larger 5.5-litre D6 covers a range between 300 hp and 480 hp. In total, we are therefore talking about no less thaneight motorswhich, thanks to new cylinder heads, pistons, valves, fuel injection systems, turbochargers and so-called superchargers - I prefer to talk about superchargers - have been given a new and, according to the Volvo vow, longer life.
Volvo has invested more than 300,000 development hours and around 40,000 hours of testing in the redevelopment of its parade engines. We are quite astonished when Volvo engine mastermind Johan Wästeräng, the unofficial mastermind behind all these new developments, announces that the maintenance intervals of the machines will be extended, which means a cost reduction of up to 20 per cent, and that the number of parts to be replaced during servicing is so low that a further 40 per cent savings can be realised - chapeau!
In practice, the annual oil and impeller changes are a thing of the past. The press is impressed, and so am I.
New drives are needed to get the power of the new bolides into the water. The torques of around 750 Nm for the most powerful D4 and up to 1100 Nm for the D6 require appropriately dimensioned shafts, gears and seals. AndVolvo Penta would not be Volvo Penta if there were no solution for this.
A second curtain rises, and ...
You can find the full article in the September issue of BOOTE. From 14.8.19 available here.
