Power vs Powertrain: Making sense of truck terminology

What is a 6.0 liter engine? What does it mean when someone says they have V8 engine? How in the world do you know what it means to have 195 horsepower? These complicated terms can confuse the best of us. With technology becoming more and more vast, new parts, and therefore new terminology, has come into view. So how do we decipher the terminology?

Liter:

In an engine, you have pistons. These pistons move up and down in their cylinders. As they move, they pull in air. The bigger around the piston, and/or the further it moves from top to bottom is what determines how much air is pulled in. The air, mixed with gasoline, is what allows the gasoline to burn, creating energy for your truck to run on. The more air the piston pulls in, the more power your truck can produce.

How much air goes in, is measured, and then multiplied by the number of pistons. The total is converted to liters. This is what determines that your engine is, for example, a 6.0 liter engine. The bigger the liter, the more the power, because it means more air is being brought in to assist the gasoline in burning and producing energy.

V8: The definition of a V8 is actually much simpler than it seems. Basically, it is two sets of strait-4 engines (a set of 4 cylinders on each side). Each set shares a single crankshaft, which makes the finished product a V shape. The more cylinders, the more powerful the engine is. This is why the V8 is a very popular engine size.

Horsepower:

Many tend to think of horses when the word horsepower is mentioned. The truth is, the term "Horsepower", is actually derived from how powerful a horse is. One horsepower is equal to 33,000 foot-pounds per minute. A foot-pound is how much weight can be pulled vertically by gravity one foot, over the period of one minute.

How does this translate to a truck? Well, to find out the horsepower of a truck, you hook it up to a dynamometer. A dynamometer places a load of weight on the engine, and then the power that the engine exerts to compensate for the load, (without stressing the engine) is measured, and converted into horsepower. So if a truck is, for example, 195 horsepower, then your engine is equal to 6,435,000 foot-pounds per minute.

Power and Efficiency:

Many times, these terms tend to cancel each other out. If you want more power, you usually loose efficiency, or vice versa. However, more and more truck manufacturers are trying to balance this out. People want both power and efficiency. But if you want the most power in your truck, you are going to have to sacrifice some efficiency.