---
title: "Watching Fuel Explode in a Transparent Engine Is Amazing"
description: "Look inside a transparent gasoline engine at the exact moment of combustion, shot with a high-speed camera. It's beautiful."
date: "2017-02-02"
modified: "2017-02-02"
authors:
  - name: "Mike Spinelli"
    job_title: "VP of Content"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/mike-spinelli"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/7310/watching-fuel-explode-in-a-transparent-engine-is-amazing"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "clear"
  - "combustion"
  - "how it works"
  - "slow-motion"
---

# Watching Fuel Explode in a Transparent Engine Is Amazing

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/02/transparent-engine-clear-engine-smarter-every-day-combustion.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

We’ve been fans of [Smarter Every Day](<https://www.youtube.com/user/destinws2>) ever since host Destin Sandlin broke his brain [riding a backward bicycle](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0>). In this episode, he [visits the home workshop](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xflY5uS-nnw&t=192s>) of two guys who make cool things out of lawnmower engines, including cutting apart four Briggs and Stratton single-cylinder engines and making a B&S four cylinder lump.

## A clear engine lets you see the magic inside your car

That project would be cool on its own, but these mechanical sorcerers also built a transparent engine, so we can finally see with our very eyes what happens inside a combustion chamber. That engine is also a Briggs and Stratton, but running on propane, and they had to do some fancy mechanical maneuvers to get a transparent roof over the valves so we can see inside. They moved the spark plug from its usual position atop the head, and replaced the ignition coil with a [Model T-style trembler](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trembler_coil>).

## Take one transparent engine, add slow-motion

The final product is cool on its own, but then Sandlin shot it with a high-speed camera. That’s where the fun and amazement begin. Prepare to be awed.

It sure beats the hell out of a CGI model.

https://youtube.com/embed/xflY5uS-nnw

## Author
A sucker for Ford-era Jaguar XJs and glitchy, early-90s BMW V12s, Mike was the founding editor of car culture site Jalopnik, and a former editor-in-chief of 0-60. He's also a co-host of the TV show /DRIVE on NBC Sports, which can be seen from time to time on NBCSN, usually after midnight.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/mikespinelli>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/mikespin>)