Car Parts Tutorial

Did it ever occur to you to look under the hood of the car and wonder what’s making your car move? To the untrained eye it all may look like a conglomerate of wiring, metallic parts, fuses and fans. If you own such a contraption known as vehicle, it is unacceptable to not know at least the major processes that occur from key turn to car moving. There are four major components that compose your car alongside many other accessories and components. These major components are: The engine System, the power train, the breaking system and steering alongside with suspension.

Let’s start with the engine. This may sound strange but the best way to understand the internal combustion engine is to compare it with a … cannon. As the fuse when lit creates an explosion by igniting the gun powder inside the cannon, thus propelling the projectile forward with incredible speed, the same goes for the engine. It has a burn chamber in which the controlled explosions take place. The explosion is created by the surge of gasoline released into the gas chamber and the spark plug provides the spark that ignites the gasoline which by burning results in enormous pressure that propels the “projectile” in this case a piston forward creating a circular movement. The only difference is that the piston comes back to the initial position unlike the cannonball.

Next stop is transmission. What exactly does happen when you shift through gears? Let’s find out. Inside the transmission you have a set of gear sets that do all the work. You have the input shaft which is connected on the clutch disk which is turned by the motor’s power and an output shaft that determines the gear.  On both shafts you have a set of gears and set of metal sticks called selectors. They determine the shift that you’re placing the car to through a shifter linkage. Once the output shaft has its gear selected, it connects to the input shaft through the gears and “dictates” the transmission how much power to deliver.

Ok so you have the means to move and the power to make the car move. The question is how you stop it. Here is where the braking system comes in. So when you press the brake pedal, the car transfers the amount of force inflicted by your foot to the brakes through a fluid called obviously: brake liquid. Since your foot doesn’t have nearly enough power to inflict the necessary force that it would take to stop a 1.5 – 2 ton car, that power has to be amplified. That can be done in two ways: mechanically that involves the principles of leverage in which a force applied upon a leaver activates another and another therefore amplifying the force considerably. The other method is hydraulically that involves the principle of fluid atomicity, knowing that it cannot be compressed, it inflicts great amplifying power.

The steering may seem simple but is actually a complex system of axles that are activated by the recirculating ball system. The ball system actions as a gear would and determine the axels movement when the steering wheel is moved.

All the power in the world is completely useless if you cannot control the car. This is where suspensions come in. Simply put, the suspension is a piston filled with fluid and a powerful spring. Its role is to absorb the shocks created by the road’s irregularities and maximize the contact between the tires and the road.

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