engine type

Over the years of engine development, several types or configurations have been made. All of them relate to the position of the valves and the camshaft (s) that operates them.

- air cooled engine -- An engine which is not cooled by antifreeze but by passing air beside external fins.

- diesel engine -- An engine with high compression that pressurizes the diesel oil fuel and fires the charge through compression not by a spark plug.

- DOHC -- double overhead camshafts

- F-head -- Side exhaust valve and overhead intake valve.

- flat engine

- four-stroke cycle engine

- hemi or hemi-head -- Engine using hemispherical-shaped (half of a globe or sphere) combustion chambers.

- horizontally opposed engine

- hydrocarbon engine

- I-head -- Both valves located directly over the piston. Also called valve-in-head or overhead valve engine.

- in-line engine

- internal combustion engine

- L-head -- Both valves on one side of the cylinder

- oversquare engine

- pancake engine

- radial engine

- rotary engine

- slant engine

- SOHC -- Single overhead camshaft.

- square engine

- steam engine

- stirling engine

- stratified charge engine

- straight engine

- T-head -- exhaust valve on one side and intake valve on the other side of the cylinder and found on twin-camshaft engines.

- traction engine

- transverse engine

- turbine engine

- two-stoke cycle engine

- undersquare engine

- V-type -- Two sets of cylinders set apart in a V-formation like a V-8 or V-6

- valve-in-head engine

- wankel engine

- X-type