• We published an article earlier about how a four-stroke engine works.

• We understand how the gas flows but what if we could look inside?

• Video below is copyright of Smarter Every Day.

Remember our earlier post on the basic working principles of a four-stroke engine? (Click on the link below to read more.)

How Does a Four-Stroke Engine Work

We came across this nugget of a video while scouring through the thick web surrounding YouTube videos and thought it’ll be interesting to share with our Bikes Republic followers.

Destin Sandlin, the owner of the YouTube channel SmarterEveryDay (SED) had heard about some guys – Phil, Mike and Everett – who created a transparent engine head cover and visited them to truly see what actually goes on in the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine.

The builders took a 1920’s Briggs & Stratton side-valve engine and replaced the stock head with a thick perspex cover. Destin then shot the action at 20,000 frames per second.

Let’s watch the video below:

The video clearly shows the four distinct strokes of a four-stroke: Intake, compression, power and exhaust. But what’s really apparent are the movements of the fuel/air mixture, combustion flame propagation and exhaust gas evacuation.

Remember that we also spoke about the spark being introduced before the piston actually arrives at TDC (top dead centre – where the piston is at its highest point in the cylinder) during the compression stroke? Well, you could see that here too.