6 cylinder engines, no matter inline-6 or V6, are inherently smoother than 4-cylinder inline engines because all the first order and second order forces can be balanced. However, most small cars do ...

Combining cam-changing VVT and cam-phasing VVT may satisfy the requirement of both top-end power and flexibility throughout the whole rev range, though it is inevitably more complex. At the time of ...

Manual transmission might be almost dead in the USA – only 4 percent of all new cars sold there are equipped with stick-shift – but in the rest of the world it is still the choice of the majority. For ...

As shown in the picture, straight-6 engine is simply a pair of 3-cylinder engines mated together symmetrically, thus piston 1 is always in the same position as piston 6, piston 2 the same as piston 5.

A refined engine should be smooth running, free of vibration and quiet. These qualities also help the engine to spin freer at high rpm, lifting red line hence power output. Engine smoothness depends ...

First introduced by Mercedes 300SL in 1954, tuned intake manifold is not exactly a new technology. It is discussed here just because its principle is useful to our further study of variable intake ...

When I started watching cars in the mid-1980s, most cars on the road were still fed by carburettors, including the wildest supercars like Lamborghini Countach QV and Aston Martin Zagato. Carburettors ...

Steering is very important to a car because it is the interface that the driver touches most. What makes a car's steering better than another? It is usually judged by several factors: directness, ...

The earliest variable valve lift systems like Honda VTEC vary valve lift by switching between slow and fast cams at a threshold point. Such discrete mechanism not only creates a step in the power ...

It would be good to have a linear, predictable steering response, but sometimes varying the steering ratio could enhance the driving experience. For example, when cruising on highway we want the ...

The advantage of turbocharging is obvious - instead of wasting thermal energy through exhaust, we can make use of such energy to increase engine power. By directing exhaust gas to drive a turbine, ...