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The Engine

Technically speaking, your car’s engine is not a motor, although everyone uses the two words interchangeably. A “motor”converts electrical  energy into mechanical work such as the ecm and starter motor that cranks your engine. An “engine,” on the other hand, is a machine that converts heat energy into mechanical work. Your engine ecm does this by forcing the engine to burn gasoline inside its combustion chambers. When gasoline and air are mixed together in the right proportions (parts of air to one part gasoline is considered ideal) and ignited by a spark, the mixture explodes, creating tremendous heat and pressure. Although, combustion occurs in a split second, the ecm insures it does so in a controlled manner. When the spark ignites the mixture, a “flame front” sweeps out from the point of ignition like a rapidly expanding balloon until all the fuel mixture is consumed. This causes a sharp rise in cylinder pressure, and ecm performance  which pushes the piston down and turns the crankshaft. Thus, heat energy is transformed into useful mechanical work to power your car down the road. Pressing down on the accelerator pedal opens up the engine throttle, which allows more air and fuel to be drawn into the engine. This increases the density of the fuel mixture in each of the engine’s cylinders, which in turn increases the intensity of cylinder pressures when the mixture is ignited. As a result, the engine ecm develops more power, allowing it to either run faster or work harder, depending on the load. Let off on the accelerator pedal and the amount of air and fuel are decreased. Cylinder pressures drops and the engine ecm slows down.

In a way, you can think of an internal combustion engine as an air pump. The ecm sends signals to the throttle which allows it to pump more air through itself, and the greater the volume of air (and fuel, the greater the ecm output. That’s why bigger engines require a high performance ecm to produce more horsepower than smaller ones. They have a greater pumping capacity. Unfortunately, internal combustion engines are not very efficient when it comes to making good use of the heat energy produced by combustion. Only about a third of the heat energy is actually used to drive the vehicle. Nearly a third is lost when the hot exhaust gases exit
out the tailpipe. By the time the piston reaches the lower limit of its travel. cylinder
pressure has dropped considerably from its peak which occurred shortly after ignition.
The engine ecm has gotten all it can from the expanding combustion gases, yet heat energy remains which must now be dumped out the exhaust so the cylinder can repeat the process over again with a fresh charge of air and fuel Another 20 to 25 percent of the heat produced during combustion is lost to the cooling system.

As the engine burns fuel. It begins to heat up. Were it not for the cooling system,
the engine ecm would continue to build up heat until it eventually melted and destroyed  the ecm. So heat loss through this path is unavoidable. Another form of loss is overcoming internal friction: piston rings rubbing against the cylinders’,
cam lobes rubbing against their lifters; valves sliding up and down in their valve
guides; the crankshaft turning in its bearings; etc. Yet frictional losses aren’t as great as you might imagine. It’s only about 5 to 8 percent for most engines. Even so, it’s another loss that comes out of the useful work produced by combustion.
A percentage of the engine’s remaining power is also required to drive “parasitic” accessories such as the water pump, alternator, power steering pump, ecm and air conditioning compressor. There are also frictional losses in the engine ecm, transmission, drivetrain, and tires.

For the legendary Lamborghini sports car stable of fantastic ultra high performance and styled vehicles it all started with ordinary Fiat automobiles and tractors.

Mr. Lamborghini – fully named – Mr. Ferruccio Lamborghini got his start with Fiats and then went on to a large successful manufacturing concern that grew from a small manufacturing shop into a major producer of tractors. However at a certain point in every person’s life they search out to complete what their real passion is. In the case of Lamborghini was finely styled and crafted motor cars. At 60 years of age, an established manufacturer of agricultural tractors – Mr. Lamborghini – decided that he could a better job of building a high end, beautifully styled, performance racing automobiles than either of the two dominant Italian auto firms of that auto industry sector – Ferrari and Maserati.

The first product out of the door had a chassis that was multi-tubular; the engine was front mounted sporting a 3.5 liter 12 cylinder V-12 engine. The V-12 engine itself was fitted with six Weber carburetors and ran four overhead camshafts. It all clocked at 360 ultra smooth horsepower with the transmission drive being through five speed stick shift. Suspension involved a coil and wishbone independent suspension set up. In one word it was wow – both in terms of performance of the hop as well as the automotive styling.

Although the styling of those early Lamborghini models may be considered standard Italian sports car design – designs which have worked their way into the so called standard “sport scar designs “and “sport scar flair”, at the time it was new and innovative and for the most part if was twenty five years ahead of anything produced in the good old U.S.A. . The one American sports car which might be considered an exception to that point was the Chevrolet Corvette. For years to come nothing else really matched or was similar to the clean aerodynamic lines and styling of the early Lamborghini classic autos.

Even then Lamborghini had such innovative products the establishment and reputation of the Lamborghini product line was no easy road to hoe. Although the first cars were produced in 1963 it was not for two years later – at the Turin Motor Show that the car began to attract solid interest and for the reputation of the car and its studio to grow and begin to become accepted for what it should be.

The first real product of record for Lamborghini was what was marketed as Miura T 400 model automobile. Its first year of manufacture was the 1966 model year. The basic layout and design of the Miura T 400 was a mid-engined coupe with a slightly larger version of the overhead cam engine – the classic V-12 laid out transversely behind the two seats of the car. The rear wheels were then driven by this engine through” spurs gears”. Interestingly the gear boxes and rear axles were Lamborghini products all by themselves -so they shared a lineage that was unique and not the same as any other of the competitor’s models.

What was performance of this little cat? The V-12 engine could pour out a total of 385 barrel horsepower. Top speed of this little coupe was over 180 miles per hour. It could more than carry its weight with the local Italian contenders – even the famed Ferraris.

If the was one complaint from drivers or riders it was of noise levels in the car’s cockpit. It can be said that this was the price to be paid for success or in this case speed and performance. If you cannot stand the heat don’t stay in the kitchen. Certainly the buyers of Lamborghini fine motor cars who bought the product and established the revered name for its performance and advanced styling and forgo this small shortcoming or foible as the car as an assumed fact – even a luxury.

The next model in the Lamborghini stable was introduced approximately two years later. The entire life of the production run of the popular Miura model was nine years – with two cars being produced a week ( a production figure of only 100 or so cars a year). The name of this vehicle was the Espada. For the new Lamborghini model, the Espada, Lamborghini went back to a more standard front engine layout. Perhaps this was in response to concerns over noise levels in the cockpit of the Miura and the need to produce a more “standard” or “civilized “vehicle product. No one really knows what went on in the mind of the genius Ferruccio Lamborghini. However what was retained for sure were the Lamborghini basics – the four liter V-12 massive highly tuned engine with whizzy overhead cams and multiple choke carburetors all putting out massive automotive performance and handling.

In the end it can be said that the Lamborghini automotive and automotive styling and performance legends are more than unique and reek of power, thrust and acceleration.