How Cars Work – Part 1 – Suspension, Transmission, Engine & Clutch
You don’t need to read through thick manuals to comprehend the components which let your vehicle work. From initial black & white videos defining the basics of your car’s suspension to today’s images describing complex transmissions, these exclusive videos for each component will educate you about how cars components actually work.
The leaf spring suspension is the basic and oldest one. Many long, skinny material leaves are bound along in a pack using clamps. One end of the this pack is connected to the vehicle’s structure with a bushing. There is a shackle at the other end. Combined with the flexing of the leaf load up itself, that delivers the suspension motion and cushions the drive.
Most modern pickups still use this setup because of their rear suspension because of its simplicity and durability. The Chevrolet video from the 1930s shows the way the suspension works and outlines its drawbacks for traveler car use.
The Engine
This incredible animation by Toyota outlines the procedure by which an engine produces power. It covers the normal cylinder configurations as well as basic terms like compression ratio, displacement, and the variations between one and double over head cam engines. The video recording also explains a few of today’s newer engine technologies, like variable valve timing. It’s worthy of watching more often than once.
The old-school manual might be an endangered species, but you should figure out how to drive and understand how it works. Manual transmissions give a direct link with the machine-one which makes the full experience of travelling a more worthwhile activity.
The work of the manual transmission is to transmit the engine’s torque from the input shaft, through various gearsets to the output and to the axle and influenced wheels. Those gearsets in the transmission combine with the gears in the axle to multiply the torque of the engine unit and get the car moving. This basic animation shows how the gears are decided on, and what these gears actually do when you move the shifter.
A clutch allow driver smoothly couple and de-couple the engine from gearbox so that electricity can flow in one to the other without stalling the engine unit or damaging to other components. Each and every time you thrust the clutch pedal, the pressure plate produces pressure from the clutch disc, separating it from the engine’s flywheel. Releasing the clutch pedal (after a new gear is picked, for example) creates friction between your disc and flywheel, which connects the transmitting to the engine motor again, sending capacity to the wheels.
