A clutch? (With pretty pictures and stuff)

How a car engine really works.

How many of you reading this actually knows how an engine really works?
Well, as of late I've been really curious, and with no previous knowledge I think I can explain more or less how an engine works, as well as what a break in period is.

First of all, let's look at the heart of the matter, the engine. (This post is going to be a rather long post, as I will try to explain how an engine really works in simple words, so excuse me, if my post exceeds 1000 words.)

This is an engine (More or less what MY car's engine looks like, not exactly it because this is VW Gol's from 2010.)

My car has a 1.6m^3 - 4 cylinder engine. What that means, is that my car has 4 piston rings, or, err, cylinders. (And 4 pistons, DUH.)
Now, WHAT IS a piston cylinder?

A representation of a piston cylinder in a combustion engine (Thanks to Brittanica encyclopedia for this post)

Now, you're going to notice that the bottom part of the cylinder (Most commonly referred to as the crankshaft.) works in a fashion so that when the crankshaft spins, it also sets the piston in motion.
Now, when the piston retracts, (Goes down.) the intake valve (Upper left of piston.) opens, and lets in a mixture of gasoline and air.
Now, once the piston goes all the way down, the intake valve closes, and the exhaust valve (Upper right of piston cylinder.) begins to open.
When the piston starts to generate pressure (As it begins to move upwards.) the spark plug ignites, creating an explosion, and generating what we call co^2.
This will be it for today, but I'll try to explain more about how this works in a different post, as this one is beginning to get long.
Please, stay tuned, and drive safely.

Introduction.

Today it is the first day I get to write my blog...Or rather, first TIME.

This blog is going to be about cars. Cars. CARS. CAARS.
One more time.
CAAAARRRRSSSS.

 This is my car(VWGol). Well, not mine exactly, as mine is a darker shade of gray, a lot less shiny, and it's falling to pieces already.
VW Gols are only sold in South America, it is the most sold car in South America.
My Gol already has 3300 miles. (Got it Nov 18, 2011)

 This is a clutch.

This used to be a clutch, until I got a hold of it.


I've burned through 3 clutches, and been into a fender bender.
I've raced with it a couple of times as well, but I will not go into too much detail with that because it might get me in trouble ;)

 Haven't really taken care of the break-in period, as I didn't believe it would be THAT important for the car, and after reading a few articles online I realized I should have been a little more gentle with the engine for at least the first 1000 miles. But hey, I'm being gentle now. Not taking it past 3k rpm, not going faster than 60 until I hit 8k miles.
Every once in a while I'll give it a little gas, just so that the car doesn't end up lethargic.
I'll post some pictures of me and my car in a while.
This blog is going to sort of document and monitor how my car reacts until I completely break it in , and after that as well. I want you to take into consideration that this is my first post, and it's just a brief introduction of what my posts are going to be like.



DISCLAIMER: All images in this post were taken from GOOGLE.COM   All credit for images goes to google.com.
 In the future I'll do my best to upload my own pictures.