Engine tops the high performance upgrades list.
Internal combustion gasoline engines run on a mixture of gasoline and air. The ideal mixture is 14.7 parts of air to one part of gasoline (by weight.) Since gas weighs much more than air, we are talking about a whole lot of air and a tiny bit of gas. One part of gas that is completely vaporized into 14.7 parts of air can produce tremendous power when ignited inside an engine and under great pressure..
There are several engine types which are identified by the number of cylinders and the way the cylinders are arranged. Motor vehicles will have from 3 to 12 cylinders which are arranged in the engine block in several configurations. . In line engines have their cylinders arranged in a row. 3, 4, 5 and 6 cylinder engines commonly use this arrangement. The "V" arrangement uses two banks of cylinders side-by-side and is commonly used in V-6, V-8, V-10 and V-12 configurations used in most American muscle cars. Flat engines use two opposing banks of cylinders and are less common than the other two designs this was used in some of the older automobiles. They are used in Subaru's and Porches in 4 and 6 cylinder arrangements as well as in the classic VW beetles with 4 cylinders. Flat engines are also used in some European autos like the Ferrari's with 12 cylinders.
Each cylinder contains a piston that travels up and down inside the cylinder bore. All the pistons in the engine are connected through individual connecting rods to a common crankshaft.
The crankshaft is located below the cylinders on an in-line engine, at the base of the V on a V-type engine and between the cylinder banks on a flat engine. As the pistons move up and down, they turn the crankshaft just like your legs pump up and down to turn the crank that is connected to the pedals of a bicycle.
A cylinder head is bolted to the top of each bank of cylinders to seal the individual cylinders and contain and control the combustion process that takes place inside the cylinder. The cylinder head contains at least one intake valve and one exhaust valve for each cylinder. This allows the air-fuel mixture to enter the cylinder and the burned exhaust gas to exit the cylinder. Most engines have two valves per cylinder, one intake valve and one exhaust valve. Some newer engines are using multiple intakes and exhaust valves per cylinder for increased engine power and efficiency. These engines are sometimes named for the number of valves that they have such as "32 Valve V8" which indicates a V-8 engine with four valves per cylinder. Today's modern modular engine designs can use anywhere from 2 to 5 valves per cylinder.
The valves are opened and closed by means of a camshaft. A camshaft is a rotating shaft that has individual lobes for each valve. The lobe is a "bump" on one side of the shaft that pushes against a valve lifter moving it up and down. When the lobe pushes against the lifter, the lifter in turn pushes the valve open. When the lobe rotates away from the lifter, the valve is closed by a spring that is attached to the valve. A very common configuration is to have one camshaft located in the engine block with the lifters connecting to the valves through a series of linkages. The camshaft must be synchronized with the crankshaft so that it makes one revolution for every two revolutions of the crankshaft. In most engines, this is done by a "Timing Chain" (similar to a bicycle chain) that connects the camshaft with the crankshaft. Newer engines have the camshaft located in the cylinder head directly over the valves. This design is more efficient but it is more costly to manufacture and requires multiple camshaft's on Flat and V-type engines. It also requires much longer timing chains or timing belts which are prone to wear. Some engines have two camshaft's on each head, one for the intake valves and one for the exhaust valves. These engines are called Double Overhead Camshaft (D.O.H.C.) Like in the Ford Mustang Cobra, and Mach 1. Engines while the other type is called Single Overhead Camshaft (S.O.H.C.) Engines. Like in the Ford Mustang GT Engines with the camshaft in the block are called Overhead Valve (O.H.V) Engines.
Now when you see "DOHC 32 Valve V8", you'll know what it means.
There is nothing that people enjoy more than upgrading a car with after market high performance bold on parts. One of the easiest cars for this type of application would be the Ford Mustang. The first thing that many people do to their Ford Mustang is upgrade the engine. This is common, as many people want their Ford Mustang to scream down the road with blazing speed and the best performance possible. Mach Performance Parts Inc. store will have all the Ford Mustang engine upgrades and accessories that you will need to turn your Ford Mustang into the top performing auto on the streets and make it faster than any other car currently hitting the strips.
This is also true for the Chevy Camaro. The Chevy Camaro is a favorite among high performance car enthusiasts and the Chevy Camaro is very easily upgraded in the engine department. The engine that comes inside the Chevy Camaro already screams but it is not of course the fastest engine. The best course of action is to change the Chevy Camaro motor parts with after market performance auto parts. Were ever possible. You can easily upgrade the parts within the engine of the Chevy Camaro and make it a mean machine for taking to the streets and upgrading the motor so no one can touch you on the road or on the track.
There is also the Corvette, which is a higher performance auto straight from the factory. While the Corvette engine is already one of the best performance engine made as far as factory engines are concerned. But that just makes the after market parts for the Corvette that much better. There are many upgrades available to the Corvette owners of the world who wish to make the engine even better and more powerful than it already is. The most important factor is the age and size of the motor of the Corvette in question. The older the car, the less powerful the engine is and thus you would need to work harder to upgrade the engine in the older Corvette. There are some laws governing how fast you can have your Corvette going but that is not really an issue for the high performance Corvette on the race track.
The Pontiac new GTO is another favorite among the high performance car enthusiasts around the world. The Pontiac GTO is most popular because of the styling that is so sleek in design and the engine did keep pace with such a design. It is normal for owners of the Pontiac GTO with the stock engine to upgrade right away to ensure that they are bringing the best possible performance into play when driving the classic machine.
The Firebird and the Trans AM also require the engine to be upgraded in most cases as the engines do not hold up well to the high speed driving that is popular today. Make sure that you check out all the engine upgrades that are available to the Firebird and the Trans Am and make the best choice when doing so. This will ensure that your high performance car, like the Firebird is the best on the road.
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