Motor engine family

An engine from a modular family of internal combustion engines, comprising:

• at least one cylinder;
• and
• a top end component package associated with the at least one cylinder;
• wherein the family includes at least two engines of different type, each with a configuration selected from a group comprising single cylinder, V-type, inline, opposed, square, w-type and radial;
• a first engine of the at least two engines having a configuration of one of a single cylinder, V-type, W-type, opposed and radial cylinder configuration;
• a second engine of the at least two engines having a configuration of one of an inline and a square cylinder configuration;
• wherein each cylinder of each engine of the family uses identical top end component packages;
• and
• wherein two of the at least two engines of different type are each constructed and arranged to power a different recreational vehicle selected from a group comprising snowmobiles, all terrain vehicles, go carts, personal watercrafts, boats with outboard motors, boats with inboard engines, motorcycles, scooters, and light aircrafts.

A method for manufacturing a modular family of internal combustion engines, comprising:

• designing a single top end component package;
• and
• designing a family of internal combustion engines, the family including at least two engines of different type, each with a configuration selected from a group comprising a single cylinder, V-type, inline, opposed, square, w-type and radial;
• designing a first engine of the at least two engines having a cylinder configuration of one of a single cylinder, V-type, W-type, opposed and radial engine;
• designing a second engine of the at least two engines having a cylinder configuration of one of an inline and a square engine;
• wherein each cylinder of each engine of the family uses the same top end component package designed in the first step;
• and
• wherein two of the at least two engines of different type are each constructed and arranged to power a different recreational vehicle selected from a group comprising snowmobiles, all terrain vehicles, go carts, personal watercrafts, boats with outboard motors, boats with inboard engines, motorcycles, scooters, and light aircrafts.

A method for reducing a number of unique components required for manufacturing a modular family of internal combustion engines, comprising:

• designing a single top end component package;
• designing a family of internal combustion engines, the family including at least two engines of different type, each with a configuration selected from a group comprising single cylinder, V-type, inline, opposed, square, w-type and radial;
• designing a first engine of the at least two engines having a cylinder configuration of one of a single cylinder, V-type, W-type, opposed, and radial engine;
• designing a second engine of the at least two engines having a cylinder configuration of one of an inline and a square engine;
• wherein, each cylinder of each engine of the family uses the same top end component package designed in the first step and each component in the top end component package is designed to comply with the strictest performance requirement for that component in any application utilizing one of the family of engines;
• and
• wherein two of the at least two engines, with different configurations, are each constructed and arranged to power a different recreational vehicle selected from a group comprising snowmobiles, all terrain vehicles, go carts, personal watercraft, boats with outboard motors, boats with inboard engines, motorcycles, scooters, and light aircraft.