Manufacturers like to use a lot of acronyms on their cars. Variable valve lift (VVL) and variable valve timing (VVT) are two of the most popular ones. These systems sound pretty similar, but what do ...

Valve overlap—that crucial interval when both the intake and exhaust valves are open, expressed in degrees of crankshaft rotation—is typically a fixed parameter and always a compromise. For example, ...

The first production car engine with variable valve timing (VVT) came from Alfa Romeo in 1980. It was installed in the fuel-injected Alfa Romeo Spider. Before this, a few experimental systems existed, ...

In order to set a stage for what follows, let's first revisit some of the fundamentals involved in how valve timing relates to power output. And to further clarify how "power" is defined in the ...

Every aspect of an engine is a compromise: torque for horsepower, efficiency for emissions, performance for fuel economy, compression for octane tolerance. During the evolution of the internal ...

Michal studies Automotive Journalism at Coventry University in the UK, and has been writing for CarBuzz since March 2025. He was nominated for student culture piece of the year recently and has been ...

I was visiting Ford's Vehicle Operations (Pilot Plant) in 2002 with a Ford engineering buddy of mine when he decided to show me Ford's all-new F-150, which was scheduled to debut for 2004. There were ...