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Flat Plane Vs Cross Plane V8 engines. A flat plane V8 (animated on the left) is very much like two inline-4 engines mated together in a V configuration. Therefore end-to-end balance is inherent, as the first and last piston of a bank is always exactly in the same position, as are the center two pistons on each bank.
, Mechanical engineer who passed a thermodynamics class. 1  This question applies only to V8, since, to my knowledge, only V8 engines can have either a cross-plane or a flat-plane crank. A straight-4 and a flat-4 engine will almost always have a flat plane crank (some racing motorcycle straight-4 engines not included).