The engines of today are basically the same as 100 years ago. Well they certainly don't look the same but they still have the reciprocating design consisting of a crankshaft housed in a block. Connected to the crank are the connecting rods which have a piston attached that moves inside a bore. In some engines a camshaft is also in the block and is driven by a gear connected to the crank. On top of the block over the bores is placed the cylinder head which has the valves that control the intake and exhaust gas flows. A single or multiple cams can be housed in the cyl head. Intakes are bolted to the head with either a carburettor or an EFI system to supply the air and fuel. A multitude of ignition systems can be designed into the engine to supply a spark to ignite the spark plugs. What I have described is as accurate for an engine from the 50's to an engine of today. Nothing has really changed except technology. In this section I will eventually cover all the engine internal bits. When I do my next engine rebuild if I have time, I will show you how it's done and cover pretty well everything you should know and watch out for.

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