Cylinder Heads for Dummies

 

sample cylinder head configuration

Over the years we've learned that one of the quickest ways to identify the freelancers who are utterly clueless about their topics is the truly stupid misuse of terminology that would be easily recognizable to anyone familiar with the topic. A good example would be the creative writing graduate who tries to tell you how to replace the "break shoes" on your "disk breaks"... although we've come to learn that a lot of people seem to make that particular mistake. Nevertheless, we caught today's nominee is just such a faux pas: he's first-time DotD Jeremy Laukkonen, whom we caught trying to explain "What is a Cylinder Head?" for WiseGEEK niche site WikiMotors.com.

Laukkonen's opening paragraph managed to not just suggest his unfamiliarity with his topic, but prove that he had done a sloppy job of rewording someone else's text:

"Internal combustion engines typically include a cylinder block, which houses the pistons and the cylinders through which they move, and a cylinder head to cap off the block. .. [some] engines have either part of valve train, or both the valve train and the camp shaft [sic]..."

...which suggested that Jeremy thought that the cylinders are "parts," and then proved to everyone that he had no idea what camshafts are. When it comes to more... detailed? descriptions of IC engines, Jeremy once again demonstrated a tenuous connection to his topic:

"Other common engines, such as the V6 and V8, contain two parallel banks of cylinders. This requires two cylinder heads, mounted in such a way to form the appearance of a V, in order to seal the cylinder block."

In the first place, Jer, that's not a "cylinder block," that's the engine block. In the second place, the block already has the "appearance of a V," because the two banks of cylinders are set at an angle to one another, forming – you guessed it – a V. In other words, they're not "parallel"...

And last, but not least, Laukkonen seemed to believe that head gaskets are some sort of magical creatures, given that he told his readers (a couple of times) variations on the notion that,

"...[the] flathead engine...[had] a head that was a simple, flat panel, mounted via the head gasket, to a cylinder block that itself contained the entire valve train."

We hate to have to inform you, Jeremy; but the cylinder head is mounted with bolts, and the gasket's function is to create a seal. We'd like to think that you knew that the head includes all the requisite passages for the valve train, injector and exhaust ports, spark plugs, and lubricants... but we suspect you didn't.

Such is the folly of thinking that self-appointed "professional freelance writers" know enough about technical topics to explain them without revealing themselves to be Dumbass of the Day fodder!

SE - ENGINES