The battery supplies the power necessary to start the engine when the ignition switch is is turned on.

The crankshaft converts the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotational motion that's used to power the vehicle and its components.

The ignition coil is a high-voltage transformer made up of two coils of wire. The primary coil winding is the low-voltage winding and has relatively few turns of heavy wire. The secondary coil winding is the high-voltage winding that surrounds the primary and is made up of thousands of turns of fine wire. Current flows from the battery through the primary coil winding which creates a changing magnetic field inside the secondary coil. This induces a very high-voltage current in the secondary coil which it feeds to the distributor.

Spark plugs receive current from the distributor and use it to spark combustion in the combustion chamber of a cylinder.

The water pump is driven by a belt connected to the crankshaft and ensures that coolant moves through the engine and radiator.