20/08/2009 The Douvrin PRV V6 Resource Centre

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The Douvrin PRV V6 Resource Centre

The Brief History of the Douvrin PRV V6 Engine

Essential PRV V6 Statistics

Engine Photos, Drawings & Explosion

Pictures

Engine Production Line Photo Gallery

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The origins of the PRV V6 -engine lay in the contract of April

1966 where Peugeot and Renault agreed for a partnership in
manufacture of common mechanical parts.

In 1969, their first joint subsidiary, La Francaise de Mecanique,

was created.

The location of factory, and hence also the future place for the
PRV V6 production, was chosen to be Douvrin, a satellite town of
Lens in the very North of France.

It was in 1971 that Peugeot and Renault decided to join their

forces with Volvo to design and produce V-engines. They created
the PRV company, a PLC in which each patner had a one-third
share. The original plan was to create a V8-engine.

Reasons why the PRV Engine became a V6 instead of a V8 are

many. The energy crisis had extended the market for six-cylinder
engines. The French taxation policies of the early 1970s resulted
as clearly lower retail prices for cars with engine capacity less than
2.8 liters. But perhaps most importantly, Renault needed a V6 to
be installed into its new model, the 30 TS. The V6 matter was
somewhat less important for Peugeot or Volvo, since their fresh
models could easily fit a V8 as well.

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20/08/2009 The Douvrin PRV V6 Resource Centre
But why a 90 degrees V6 ? There was no obstacle for using those
angle instead of a completely new design, since only few years
earlier the Citroen had successfully commenced Maserati to
produce a cut V8 engine
(resulting in a 90 degrees V6) for its sporty SM model.

It is highly evident that, the decision to produce a V6 instead of a

V8 exactly earned the PRV Engine its importance, and hence the
extensive application both in the automotive industry and in the
motorsports.

The Douvrin PRV V6 was an engine that had two generations. All
the original PRV V6 applications had the feature of different
ignition timing for each cylinder bank. This was necessary due to
the 90 degrees specification, in order to make the engine smooth-
running. Second generation was introduced in 1986 with the
Peugeot 505 V6. In practise the engines had 30 degrees offset
crankpins to give the even firing intervals of a 60 degrees V6.

The Production History

The first Machinery aimed for building the PRV (or "Z") Engines
arrived to the FM Location in Douvrin in the beginning of June,
1973.

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20/08/2009 The Douvrin PRV V6 Resource Centre
The 'Z' factory buildings for the PRV V6 Production were
completed on January, 1974.

The Introduction of the Douvrin PRV V6 Engine officially took

place on 3rd of October, 1974. The First Car Model that
received the new Engine was the Volvo 264, shortly followed by
the Peugeot 504 Coup� & 504 Cabriolet. In March 1975, the
PRV V6 was introduced in two Further Models, Peugeot 604 and
Renault 30 TS.

On October 1976, the Renault Douvrin V6 was introduced in the

Renault Alpine A310 sportscar. In 1977, the Meyrignac Coupe
with the Renault Douvrin V6, was introduced at the Geneva
Motorshow.

In 1980, a new version of the Peugeot Douvrin V6 was

introduced in the Talbot Tagora. In 1981, the DeLorean DMC-12
received the PRV V6.

In February 1982, the Z154-4 type was introduced in the Volvo

760 GLE. Year 1984 brought the new Renault 25 model, also
available with the ZMJ-Z7V type PRV V6 Engine. Also the very
first Turbocharging of the engine in a production road car
appeared, being the Z7U variant for the Renault 25 V6 Turbo.
Later same year, the Douvrin PRV V6 Engine was introduced in
the Renault Alpine V6 GT / GTA and in the Lancia Thema 6V.

In 1985, the PRV V6 appeared in the new Volvo 780 Coupe.

July 1986 was a very significant moment for the Douvrin V6

Engine: the Second Generation of the Engine was introduced with
the ZN3J type of the Peugeot 505 V6. The new engine had 30
degrees offset crankpins to give the even firing intervals of a 60
degrees V6. Also a Turbocharged version of the Renault Douvrin
V6 appeared with the MVS Venturi sportscar

In 1988, the American Eagle Premier got a PRV V6. In 1989,

Citroen's new XM got the Peugeot Douvrin V6 of the ZPJ type.
Peugeot 605 followed next year. In 1991 was the turn of the
Renault Alpine A610 to make use of the PRV V6. After that, the
PRV V6 was still applied in the Renault Safrane & the 1st
generation Laguna V6.

One of the very last cars that used PRV V6 in their production
was the Helem V6 Coupe sportscar.

The Production of the Douvrin PRV V6 Engine was stopped on

15th of June 1998, after total of 970315 Engines Completed.

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20/08/2009 The Douvrin PRV V6 Resource Centre

The Douvrin PRV Six-Engine Association

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