Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Inline sixes are inherently balanced, I don't know how the balance is achieved; but you might be messing with that.
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It won't change the balance as that's inherent in the arrangement of the pistons and rods on the crank. It can affect the firing frequency, which will affect the impulses acting on the flywheel. Those are reacted by the mass of the engine and car. That's what you feel in an engine with uneven firing intervals.
Disabling either the front or rear 3 cylinders will keep the firing interval - 1-5-3-6-2-4 goes to either 1-3-2 or 5-6-4 - even but it may not be the best solution in terms of distributing heat evenly through the engine, where 3 cylinders are releasing heat and 3 are absorbing heat.
The VW based compressor shows that it can be made to work, at least in being able to compress air. Idle stop-start could also be done.
I think a variation on the Swiss engine, with the 3 working cylinders supercharged, and the valve switching task simplified by the 3 other cylinders acting as the compressor/starter, is practical (if not trivial to implement). It's heavier than using the same cylinders for both compressing and working tasks but no heavier than the engine is now.