The third and final subcategory to my essential question “what defines a car as a good car” is: What does the interior of cars (Engine etc.) consist of and what differences in the interior targets what specific trait? (speed, durability etc.) This subcategory will help me understand the actual making of a car and how cars get their special characteristics of speed, durability, etc.
- How does the engine work? The engine of a standard gasoline converts gasoline into motion so that your car can move. In order to do this, the car must burn gasoline inside an engine. Therefore, a car engine is an internal combustion engine. Almost every car with a gasoline engine uses a four stroke combustion cycle to convert gasoline into motion: Intake, compression, combustion (power), exhaust. [1]
The piston (a cylindrical piece of metal that moves up and down inside the cylinder) starts at the top, the intake valve opens, and the piston moves down to let the engine take in a cylinder full of air and gasoline. This is the intake stroke. The piston then moves back up to compress this fuel/air mixture to make the explosion more powerful. This is the compression stroke. When the piston reaches the top of its stroke, the spark plug emits a spark to ignite the gasoline. The gasoline charge in the cylinder explodes, driving the piston down. This is the power or combustion stroke. Then, the exhaust valve opens up and the exhaust leaves the cylinder to go out the tailpipe, which is why its called the exhaust pipe. That is the completion of one cycle, and the engine then moves onto the next.
Basic engine parts: The core of the engine is the cylinder, with the piston moving up and down inside the cylinder. Cars generally have more than one cylinder (four, six and eight cylinders are common). [1] Most cylinders the car possesses, the faster the power can be generated. But this also means more fuel is needed. [2] The spark plug supplies the spark that ignites the air/fuel mixture so that combustion can occur, the intake and exhaust valves open at the proper time to let in air and fuel and to let out exhaust. The ignition system produces a high-voltage electrical charge and transmits it to the spark plugs through the ignition wires. [1]
A few ways cars are enhanced to make the engine perform better include more displacement, which is made by adding more cylinders or making them bigger. Another way to improve the engine would be to add more air in the cylinders because more air means more fuel can be added. This can be done using turbochargers and superchargers, which are forced induction systems that pressurize incoming air to cram more air into the cylinder. A turbocharged engine produces more power than the same size non turbo charged engine. [3] Bigger air filters can also increase air flow, and more exhaust valves, exhaust pipes, or getting rid of the muffler can decrease the air resistance, which would give the engine more power. Lightweight parts help the engine perform better because the lighter the parts are, the less energy they need to move. [1]
Cars that have faster, more powerful characteristics normally have better, more powerful engines. However, they also have more aerodynamic designs, which means they are closer to the ground, and smoother than other cars. [4] Cars can be front wheel drives (which means that the engine is transmitting power to only the front two wheels), rear wheel drives (which means that the engine is transmitting power to only the back two wheels), or all wheel drives/four wheel drives (where the power is transmitted to all four wheels of the vehicle). [5]
That’s all for this blog!
- https://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm
- https://www.sundevilauto.com/how-do-four-cylinder-and-v6-engines-differ/#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20the%20more%20cylinders,the%20lifetime%20of%20your%20vehicle.
- https://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm
- https://www.actionautoutah.com/blog-detail/86#:~:text=Sports%20cars%20have%20powerful%20engines,efficiency%20during%20high%2Dspeed%20driving.
- https://www.wheelswisdom.com/blogs/car-driving/know-your-car-for-dummies/