First post here, I have been lurking for a while and decided to join. I was reading some information regarding flat 6 engines and came across this info on wiki talk.

"a flat-6 configuration consists of two straight-3 engines laying on their side and connected to the same crankshaft"

Would you describe a flat 6 motor along these lines or would you not agree with that description of a flat 6?

Follows is the rest of the paragraph.

"Now, a flat-6 configuration consists of two straight-3 engines laying on their side and connected to the same crankshaft. In the horizontally-opposed or boxer configuration, the two halves are mirror images of each other and the directly opposing pistons are moving toward each other or away from each other at the same time. So, while one three-cylinder bank is trying to rock clockwise, the other other bank is trying to rock counterclockwise, and the two motions cancel each other. Hence the engine is in perfect primary balance. Straight-3 engines have no secondary imbalances, so all you are left with is an intrinsic tertiary vibration caused by the fact there are only three cylinders firing per crankshaft revolution, and as I said, tertiary vibrations are not much of a problem."

 

I have never thought of a flat six like that before, its right though. Interesting.

 

That is the reason I posted the gentleman's analysis. It rather bothered me that he referred to the engine that way but It is accurate in a way.