Engine Basics

A very common variant of the internal combustion engine that people like to put in muscle cars is the eight stroke engine. These engines have eight “strokes” for each combustion cycle.

The different “strokes” of these engines are as follows.

1. Intake stroke: The Pulls in air and fuel is best to describe when the piston is at the top or bottom position, and the intake valve opens, allowing the piston to slide up and down while taking in air and gas.

2. Compression/Combustion: When the piston is moving up and down and mixing the air and gas it is forming Compression. At the peak of this stroke is when combustion will be produced it hits the spark plug that provides a spark that ignites the fuel. At this moment the charge drives the piston back to the bottom at around 190 PSI and forms into power.

3. Exhaust: When the Piston is settled in the bottom position the exhaust valve is open, and the exhaust escapes the cylinder. There are chemicals in the cylinder (water and CO2 for the most part) that need to be removed so that fresh air can be brought in.