Engines

Resources for understanding how engines actually work.

How they work

Animated Engines (Website) — clear, interactive animations of how engines run, from four-stroke to Stirling.

• Four stroke (Interactive) — the Otto cycle, one stroke at a time.
• Wankel (Interactive) — makes the rotary finally click.
• Single Cylinder Stirling (Interactive) — the clearest hot/cold cycle animation.

• How a Car Works (Website) — free illustrated course on the whole car, engine included.

Videos

• Speeed (Channel) — 74 videos for 2.48M subscribers, most of them twenty to thirty-five minutes on cars and the things around them: every type of suspension explained, how every car brand got its name, building a fun cheap classic in five days, and the part of every project car nobody finishes.
• Every Car Term & Its Meaning Explained in 17 Minutes (Video) — a countdown of 28 parts and terms, from the muffler (chambers that bounce sound waves until they cancel out) and the serpentine belt to the throttle body and mass air flow sensor. Horsepower gets the best story: James Watt invented the unit to sell steam engines, and a real horse can beat it in short bursts.