**Car Terms You Need to Know**

Are you tired of being in the dark when it comes to car terminology? Look no further! In this article, we'll break down a list of essential car terms that every enthusiast should know.

**Rev Matching and Rev Hang**

You might have heard your mechanic mention rev matching and rev hang. But what do these terms mean? Rev matching is the process of blipping the gas to match the RPM difference between the engine and transmission during a shift. This can be done without a clutch, if you do it smoothly enough. On the other hand, rev hang occurs when you push in the clutch and the RPMs stay up and decrease gradually.

**Car Manufacturers' Tricks**

Did you know that car manufacturers program into the engine control module to keep your car from creating too many harmful emissions that are products of quick gear changes? This might sound crazy, but it's real. Car Throttle has a good article on it, which I'll leave a link in the description.

**Money Shifts**

You've probably heard the term "money shift," but what does it mean? A money shift occurs when you're driving super hard and accidentally shift into the wrong gear. More specifically, on money shift is shifting one, two, and then back to one hitting first gear again after second, instead of hitting third, shooting your RPMs into the stratosphere and likely causing a lot of damage.

**Final Drive and LSD**

A lower final drive ratio will result in less torque but a higher top speed, while a higher ratio will do the opposite. On the other hand, an LSD (limited slip differential) is a type of rear differential that drives both wheels, even if one of them loses traction. This results in a smoother power transfer to the wheels and makes it possible to do big old smokey skids and burnouts.

**CVT and Ground Effect**

A CVT (continuously variable transmission) is belt or chain driven rather than gear driven. The belt connects angled pulleys in a way that allows you to essentially change gear ratios seamlessly. Cars that have a CVT accelerate much smoother since there aren't steps in between gears. Ground effect is an aerodynamic principle of race car design, where you shape the car so that when you drive, differences in air pressure create a downward force on your car, giving you better traction.

**Firing Order and Rod Knock**

The firing order is the order in which the spark plugs fire. For example, in this six-cylinder engine, the firing order is one, five, three, six, two, four. The firing orders are usually optimized for balance between the left and right cylinder banks as well as the front and back of the engine. If you hear a repetitive knocking coming from your engine, it might be rod knock. Your piston is connected to a rod which is then connected to your crankshaft. There are bearings at each end, and if you run too low on oil or just go too ham on your engine, you can damage that rod bearing, which means metal on metal contact.

**Conclusion**

There you have it – a bunch of car terms you need to know! How many did you already know? Let me know in the comments below. Now you know all of them, so feel free to ask your mechanic for Dirty Dirks Blinker Drink with confidence!

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Blower, LSD, muffler delete,heel-toe, blinker fluid.You've heard these termsa million times before,but what do they all mean?Today, we're gonna look at some car termsthat every car nerd needs to know.Easy noob stuff to expert level shop talk.How many do you know?Let's find out.Hey big thank you to our friends at Keepsfor sponsoring yet anotherepisode of Wheelhouse.Look, I may keeps onmessing up the pronunciationof some car terms in this episode,but one thing I don't need to worry aboutis messing up my hair.I know thanks to Keeps,I'm able to keep these lusciouslocks of car knowledge,because I don't want to be oneof the two out of three guysthat will experience somesort of male pattern baldnessby the time they're 35,I really don't.Keeps makes it supereasy to hold onto thatprecious hair of yours byhaving a virtual doctor visitand shipping your hair loss medicationstraight to your door every three months.How easy is that?It's very easy.So if you're ready to takeaction and prevent hair loss,go to keeps.com/wheelhouse50,or click the link in thedescription to receive50% off your first order.That's K E E P s.com/wheelhouse50.Thank you so much Keeps forsponsoring this episode.Now let's keep this episode going.Being a gearhead is a lifetime pursuit.No matter how many wrenches you turn,how much gas you breathe,how many engine blocksyou accidentally crackthere's always something to learn.Sometimes it's intimidatingto talk to car folkbecause you literally don'tknow what they're talking about.So we've made it easy onyou and compiled a list.Let's start with an easy one.A muffler is like a bigbox in your exhaust systemthat muffles noise andkeeps every car on the roadfrom sounding like a Harley Davidson.Like I said, we're gonna start easy.This list is going to ramp up.A resonator is a device thatcomes just before the muffler.It acts as a sort of echochamber to focus the soundso the muffler can silence it.It's usually the fatsection of an exhaust pipe,looking like that big,weird section on a worm.You know what I'm talking about, right?What's up of that part ofthe worm, what is that?Downpipe in older cars refers to a pipethat carries exhaustfrom the exhaust manifoldto the rest of the exhaust system.In a turboed engine, however,it carries exhaust from the turbineto the rest of the exhaust.Moving on to the chassis.A unibody is when the car's chassisis a single piece of metalthat also joins with bodyworkborn perfect and beautiful.This is in contrast to a ladder frame,which is employed by mosttrucks and off-road vehicles.A ladder frame uses framerails as the body sits on top.And then you've got somecross members and it makes thewhole ladder frame look like a ladder.When it comes to fuel delivery,cars either have carburetorsor more commonly nowadays fuel injection.I don't think a car hasbeen with a carburetorsince like the mid '80s.In a carborated engine,the gas and air mixture comestogether before it movesthrough the intakemanifold into the cylindersand direct fuel injection shoots the fuelstraight into the cylinder.CEL is the check enginelight on your dash.Just the sight of this lightcan strike fear into the heartsof the bravest of tuners.Sometimes it looks like this,which can be confusingeven to major car nuts.We prefer this one, it'sjust way more clear.FWD or front wheel drive,the front wheels drive the car, obviously.RWD is rear wheel drive,and 4WD is four wheel drive,which means your car iscapable of providing powerto all four wheels when theyneed it either automaticallyor manually controlled.Basically 4WD can operate aseither two or four wheel drive.AWD or all wheel drivemeans the engine suppliespower to all the wheelsat all the same time.Torque is the measurementof twisting forcemeasured in pounds feet.If you hold a 12 inch ruler in one handand put a one poundweight at the end of it,you're twisting with onepound foot of torque.A lot of hype is given to horsepower,which is how quickly it can do work.But torque is also extremelyimportant and really tells youhow quickly you canget out of the hole or,a get out of a turn oraccelerate, you know?Alright, so now we're going to getinto some more general engine termsthat have to do with engine layout.You've heard I4, I6, V6,straight six, slant six.When someone refers to acar as a V8 or inline six,what does that mean?Well, they're referring tothe number and arrangementsof cylinders in the engine.This is a straight six becausethe cylinders are all linedup in a row, straight up and down.This is a V6 because the cylindersare arranged in a V shape.This is a Chrysler slant sixwhere all the cylindersare slanted. 30 degrees.I'm a six because only 40%of dudes are hotter than me.FF and FR described frontor rear engine positionand front or rear wheel drive.For example, FR is frontengine rear wheel drive.RR is rear engine rear wheel drive,as well as the sound a seal makes,and FA his front engine, all wheel drive.Bondo is a body putty.You can use it to filltiny holes and cracks.You can sand it down,you can paint over it.You can do a bad job with itand make your car look like (bleep)and then just say screw itand buy a new body panel.Whatever you do though,don't use it for structural integrity.WOT, wot or wide open throttle.It's when you've got the pedalall the way to the floor,the throttle opens up all the way.You don't have time to say the whole term,so you've just got to abbreviate it.Wot, Wot.When you hear someone say NA,they're saying naturally aspirated.This refers to any enginethat doesn't force air intothe cylinders with aturbo or supercharger.Speaking of naturally aspirated,one of my favorite engine terms is Hemi.And it's not just aname for Chrysler V8's.Hemi refers to the shapeof the hemisphericalcombustion chamber in the engine.Before the Chrysler Hemi's isdebut in the early fifties,most car manufacturersused flathead designs,which got the job done,but weren't very efficient.Hemispherical heads on the other hand,allowed for the use of much larger valves,which increased airflow through the engine,which always increases power.There's a lot more to the hemithan I can get into right now,so to learn more about it,check out are up to speed on the hemi.It's one of my favoriteepisodes. I just love them hemis.Turbochargers and superchargerskind of do the same thing.They're both essentiallypumps that compress additionalair fuel mix into thecylinder before combustion.Turbochargers are powered bythe energy from the exhaust gaswhile superchargers are driven by a beltconnected to the crankshaft.Spinney boi is slang for a turbocharger.There are also a million otherslang terms for these things.You got whooshi boys, snails, turbine.You can probably justmake up your own honestly,and if you say it with enough confidence,people will believe you.Here at Donut, we call them spinney bois.Blow off valve, even ifyou don't know this term,you've definitely heard thesound of one of these things.Sometimes they're called BOVsor BPV's for bypass valve.These take the load off the turbowhen the throttle is suddenly closed.Without a blow off valve,there'd just be a lotof pressure in betweenthe turbo and closed throttle.So the blow off valvelets off that pressure.Now when it comes to superchargers,there are three different types of them.I like to refer to them as blowers.Roots is the heaviest andbiggest style of supercharger.It looks the coolest,but it's the least efficient kind.It has nothing to dowith the Sepultura album,it's just named afterthe guy who invented it.Twin screw superchargers,use two screws to squeezethe air into the engine.They usually sit on top ofthe engine and are very loud.Do not Google twin screwin front of your twin.Centrifugal superchargersare the most efficientof the blower boys.They use a spinningcompressor to squeeze the air,and as a result, theykind of look like turbos.They can be mounted onthe front of your engine,which is kind of a bummerbecause then you don't get to cuta hole in your hood.You might've heard of X pipeand H pipe exhaust setups.While these two will make yourV engine car sound different,the main benefit thesepipes bring to the table isa balancing effect betweenyour two cylinder banks.Exhaust pressure can buildup on one side of your engineand an X or H pipe can allow the pressureto even out and flow betterthrough the exhaust system.They also sound reallydope, especially X pipes.A cat is your catalytic converter.It's another exhaust devicethat reduces the amountof toxins in the exhaust gas.This is one thing youdon't want to delete.They get stolen all the time.And if you steal catalytic converters,please just get a job instead.A lot of people actually docut these out of their systembecause they think they reduce power.That kind of used to be true when catsfirst came on the scene,but nowadays they're veryefficient and don't offermuch benefit if you take them out.So don't do that.Plus you can't pass them on.A delete is when you justremove a feature of your car.You hear people say that they havea muffler delete or a cat delete,and all that means is they'reprobably not going to pass smog next year.A sleeper is a car that looksunassuming on the outside,but is built like a racer on the inside.The trick is to lull opposing racersinto a false sense of security,not realizing what's under the hood.Our boys, Tony Angelo and Luckyover at Hot Rod Garage probably builtthe coolest sleeper ofall time, The Malibi.I got to drive it aroundthe block one time,and it was the sickest thing ever.I love sleepers.I love a good sleeper.Let's talk about some suspension stuff.A solid axle or a live axle.is when an axle is one rigidpiece and moves together.It's durable, but if one wheel bumps,the whole axle will be effective.They're extremely strong,which is why trucks use them,and they're also great for drag racing.A torsion beam rearsuspension is a little better.The wheels are offset from the axle,so the car's weight creates torsion,which compresses the Springsallowing for a smoother ride.A MacPherson strutassembly looks like this.It's basically a spring fordamping an individual wheel.Double wishbone suspensions are a littlemore sophisticated thanthe straight strut designs,and they result in better handlingthanks to these twolateral control arms thatlook like the cape Wishbone wearswhen he's dressed as Sherlock Holmes,hence double wishbone.Multi-link suspensions look like this.A complicated mess of linksto push and pull on the wheelin every which way.This design is super customizableas these links can be replacedwith adjustable piecesto tune your suspensionexactly how you want it.Camber is the angle made by the wheelssitting on the ground,measured in degrees of swag.Wheels straight up anddown have zero camber,and thus no swag.These wheels have like 20degrees of negative swag,and these wheels have 90degrees of positive swag,which mathematically is swag to the max.Camber angle has a direct effecton how much grip your tires have.So if you want to really grippy set up,you're not going to wanta (bleep) ton of camber in your tires.Whereas if you want to look cool as hell,you're definitely gonnawant all that camber.Me personally, I'm a grippy boy.I like grip, so I don'twant a lot of camber,but I can appreciate a goodcamber set up when I see one.Double clutching is whenyou match the enginespeed with the speed of thegear you want to shift into.You put the clutch in, shiftto neutral, let the clutch out,give the engine somegas to get the RPMs up,put the clutch back in,shift into the next gear,and let the clutch out.AFR is the air fuel ratio.Basically the mix of air and gasolineyour car uses to run.If you're using moregas and not enough air,you're running rich, whichresults in bad gas mileage.And if you're not using enough gas,you're running lean and you might noticea bad or jerky acceleration,and it's usually prettybad for your engine.When you strike theperfect air fuel ratio,it's like Goldilocksusing baby bear's toilet.It just feels so right.Hey man, he's got up abidet, can't blame her.Let's talk about the differenttypes of horsepower ratingsyou might've seen.Brake horsepower, wheelhorsepower, to the crank,what does all that mean?Brake horsepower or BHPis the amount of poweractually delivered at the crankshaft,which is why some people say to the crank.Brake horsepower is differentfrom wheel horsepower,or how much power actuallymakes it to the ground.A notable amount of power is lostwhen going from the enginethrough the drive train,and to the wheels.You've probably heard of limp mode,which is a safe mode for your car.If any number of sensors goes off,limp mode kicks in whichusually limits your engineto around 2000 RPM and keepsyour ride from hurting itself.If your car goes into limp mode,you kind of have no choice,but to walk of shame it to amechanic so they can identifywhich sensor went off and why.Here's some manual transmission terms.Heel toe is a tricky and very cool methodof downshifting witha manual transmission.In the middle of a downshift,you brake and hit thethrottle at the same time,using your heel and your toe.Try this one in your buddy'scar before you break yours.Rev matching is when youblip the gas to match the RPMdifference between theengine and the transmissionduring a shift.You can actually do this without a clutch,if you do it smoothly enough, I can not.Rev hang is when you push inthe clutch and the RPMs stay upand decrease gradually.Car manufacturers programinto the engine control moduleto keep your car from creatingtoo many harmful emissionsthat are product of quick gear changes.I know that sounds crazy,but trust me, it's real.Car Throttle has a good article on it,I'll leave a link in the description.A money shift is whenyou're driving super hardand you accidentallyshift into the wrong gear.More specifically on moneyshift is shifting one, two,and then back to one hittingfirst gear again after second,instead of hitting third,shooting your RPMs into the stratosphereand likely causing a lotof money's worth of damage.Final drive is the ratiobetween the pinion and ring gearin the differential andexists in every car.A lower final drive ratiowill result in less torque,but a higher top speed,while a higher ratio will do the opposite.LSD stands for limited slip differential.It's a kind of rear differentialthat drives both wheels,even if one of them loses traction.It results in a smootherpower transfer to the wheels,and makes it possible to dobig old smokey skids and burnouts.CVT stands for continuouslyvariable transmission,which is belt or chain drivenrather than gear driven.The belt connects angledpulleys in a way thatallows you to essentiallychange gear ratios seamlessly.The car doesn't need to shift gearsin a traditional sense.Cars that CBTS accelerate much smoothersince there aren't steps in between gears.Does it feel weird toaccelerate perfectly smoothly?Yeah, it does and peopledon't really like it.But it is pretty cool.Blinker fluid is a lubricatingagent that helps silencethat annoying click in your turn signals.If you hear that tick tock sound,you're probably not takinggood enough care of your car.Take it to the shop immediately.Or if you fancy yourselfa real grease monkey,you can change yourblinker fluid yourself.I recommend Dirty Dirks Blinker Drink.It's made from real snake oil,and we're proud to have them as a sponsor.A transaxle is one big boxthat combines the transmission,axle, and differentialinto one single unit.They were invented to save serious spacefor FF and RR vehicles.They're also used in some FR vehiclesfor weight distribution.Racing from a dig means startinga race from a dead stop,also known as racing.Racing from a roll means starting a racewhile the cars are already moving.Shout out to 1320 video,I freaking love you guys.Check out their channel forsome roll racing examples.Ground effect is an aerodynamicprinciple of race car design.You shape the car so that when you drive,differences in air pressurecreate a downward force on your car,giving you better traction.Firing order is the order inwhich the spark plugs fire.For example, in this six cylinder engine,the firing order is one,five, three, six, two, four.The firing orders areusually optimized for balancebetween the left and right cylinder banks,as well as the front andthe back of the engine.Rod knock, if you heara repetitive knockingcoming from your engine,that sounds like this,it might be rod knock.Your piston is connected to a rodwhich is then connectedto your crank shaft.There are bearings that each end,and if you run too low on oilor just go too ham on your engine,you can damage that rod bearing,which means metal on metal contact.Your engine might be toast.So rest in peace.There it is a bunch of carterms you need to know.How many did you know already?Let me know in the comments.Now you know all of them,so feel free to ask your mechanicfor Dirty Dirks BlinkerDrink with confidence.Obviously I missed a ton of them.We're probably going todo more of these episodesin the future,so if there's something you'dlike to hear more about,let me know in the comments below.If you haven't subscribedto donut yet already,please consider subscribing.We put out a bunch of videosa week, a bunch of content.We worked really hard on it for you.We want to be inclusive.We want to help you learnabout the cars we love so much.Follow Donut on all socialmedia at Donut Media.Follow me at Nolan J Sykes.I post pictures sometimes.Be kind, I'll see you next time.