Cylinder number and arrangement depends on the purpose of the engine. Smaller (four and six cylinder) engines in front-wheel drive vehicles often use an inline design which orients cylinders vertically over the crankshaft and aligns them in a row. Other common orientations are a horizontal/opposed design which places cylinders flat facing each other with the crankshaft between them and a V-type design common in six and eight cylinder engines that features one cylinder head per block of cylinders oriented at a 60 to 90 degree angle to each other with the crankshaft at the bottom of the V.

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

The stroke cycle order is intake stroke, compression stroke, power stroke, exhaust stroke.

The steering linkage is a system of pivots and connecting parts between the steering gear and the control arms. The steering linkage transfers the motion of the steering gear output shaft to the steering arms that turn the wheels.

A radial arrangement places cylinders in a circle around the crankshaft and is used almost exclusively in aircraft engines.