Every pilot has been befuddled by the random mess of letters and numbers that make up airplane engine names. Believe it or not, there is a method to the madness. Consider the trusty IO-360-L2A found in newer model Cessna 172′s.
The Continental GTSIO-520-L(2) tells a lot about itself in its name.
Based on the name of that engine alone, I can tell you that this is a fuel Injected engine with horizontally-opposed cylinders and that it displaces 360 cubic inches on all cylinders. See what I did with the colors?
The first block of letters tells us the characteristics of the engine. The number after the dash is the the cubic displacement, or total volume of fuel/air mixture that is moved through the cylinders in one complete 4-stroke cycle. Lastly, we have the engine model number.
This naming scheme is pretty common in general aviation and is strictly adhered to by the big companies like Continental and Lycoming.
Special thanks to Continental Motors for help and technical insight into engine names.
Surprisingly many pilots don’t know this. Nice short, to the point, and informative article.
aviatorsarea.com/
Thanks for the comment Brandyn. I was never taught this in initial training and sort of picked it up along the way. Certainly makes all those letters and numbers clearer.
The aerobatic version of the io-360 simply has an AE tacked on to the beginning. AEIO-360
Thanks Matt! I was actually just thinking about that the other day.
Who would have known. Currently building a Pitts so this certainly helps.