After the Big Bang of combustion when we made [most of] our coveted horsepower, we have to eliminate the waste – blow the by-products of the explosion out of the engine. It’s really just housekeeping – the cleanup phase, right?  A throw away stroke in the four-stroke internal combustion engine? Au contraire mon frère! The exhaust stroke is important to us petrol heads for at least a couple of reasons. One is a technical reason and one is a spiritual reason.

You can call it “ignition” or “combustion.” Here at the QCrew we call the third stroke “Bang!”  Let’s review: Some gorgeous intake systems have been created to Suck the combined air and fuel into the cylinders where the handsome high-compression pistons we stared at for hours before installing in our engines where their beauty can no longer be appreciated except in our fond memories have now Squeezed the mixture into a potent bomb waiting to explode. Bang! The spark plug provides the triggering event.

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What are a father and son to do with a free weekend when Mom is away?  Let’s build a car.  Let’s build a rat rod. Start with a [poorly] chopped 1927 Ford Model T sedan body, purchased as an abandoned project, add 40 feet of 2X4x3/16” steel tubing in the garage, and a set of axles just laying around.  This was Father’s Day weekend 2013.  By Sunday night, the body was sitting on a frame and the suspension mocked up. 

While we love custom built high displacement bikes, there is still room in our fantasy garage for the right two-stroke.  Not just a ringy-ding-ding bike, but a cool urban hipster on which we can arrive at our favorite mid-town watering hole with a roar and a glorious cloud of fragrant purple smoke.

Chris Zahner (of NYC, natch) has built just such a bike.  This is his creation, built from the bones of a 1975 Yamaha DT 250.

Engineers would refer to this phase as “compression,” but we like “squeeze.” All valves closed and and the piston and ring assembly rushing upward to turn a little air and fuel into a horsepower-producing bomb. Ah, it’s a beautiful thing. In fact, we think its even art; the hardware is sculpture and the diagrams make the perfect wall deco for the aesthetically minded petrol head.

OK, technically the first stroke of a four stroke engine is called “intake,” but you know what we mean.  There are many ways to get air and fuel into the combustion chamber – we’ve picked out a few examples of intake systems that look as beautiful as they perform.  

Our friend Matt is in Wisconsin, where summers are glorious (and, if you are a hot rodder winters are for planning projects), sent us these pics of his latest project.   This looks like fun from start to finish.  Here’s Matt’s story.