# OHV engines vs. L head engines **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [November 9, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ohv-engines-vs-l-head-engines/21856 "2008-11-09T00:42:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grampy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a9adbd/32.png) [@grampy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/grampy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ohv-engines-vs-l-head-engines/21856/1 "2008-11-09T00:42:10Z")
Can someone explain what a L Head engine is,and how it differs from a OHV engine? ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ohv-engines-vs-l-head-engines/21856/2 "2008-11-09T01:19:57Z")
On an L-head engine the inteke and exhaust valves are located in the engine block instead of the cylinder head. On motorcycles the valves are located in the cylinder itself instead of the cylinder head. On the OHV engines the valves are in the cylinder head and hanging over the cylinder bore instead of being located beside it. L-heads are also called sidevalves, flatheads, or even Ricardo heads after the guy who designed it originally. The L-head design does not flow as well as the OHV designs but are able to put out some very good low end torque and they’re much, much simpler to work on. Hope that explains it. ---
**Author:** ![grampy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a9adbd/32.png) [@grampy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/grampy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 1:41am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ohv-engines-vs-l-head-engines/21856/3 "2008-11-09T01:41:34Z")
Perfectly. Thank you ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ohv-engines-vs-l-head-engines/21856/4 "2008-11-09T02:54:50Z")
Jeep once made a 4 cyl engine with the exhaust valves in the block and the intake valves in the head…I think they called THAT an “L” head… ---
**Author:** ![pleasedodgevan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@pleasedodgevan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/pleasedodgevan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ohv-engines-vs-l-head-engines/21856/5 "2008-11-09T04:29:17Z")
After reading the posts, I think that having one or both valves in the block will form an L shaped combustion chamber if you count the cylinder as part of the combustion chamber, as you should. The other difference is that the intake manifolds look strange because there are intake passages in the block. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ohv-engines-vs-l-head-engines/21856/6 "2008-11-09T13:58:57Z")
Wasn’t that arrangement known as an “F” head? ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ohv-engines-vs-l-head-engines/21856/7 "2008-11-09T20:25:54Z")
Cam in block, two valves in the block, same side of block = “L” head Cam in block, two valves in the block, opposite side of block = “T” head Cam in block, one valve in the block, one in the head = “F” head Cam in block, two valves in the head = “I” head, AKA OHV Cam or cams in head, two or more valves in the head = OHC See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam-in-block](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam-in-block)