Calculate engine displacement from bore, stroke and cylinder count in cubic centimetres, cubic inches and litres, with the per-cylinder volume shown. Runs entirely in your browser — your numbers never leave this device.
| Cylinders | Displacement | Cubic inches | Litres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 499.56 cc | 30.48 cu in | 0.5 L |
| 2 | 999.11 cc | 60.97 cu in | 1 L |
| 3 | 1498.67 cc | 91.45 cu in | 1.5 L |
| 4 | 1998.23 cc | 121.94 cu in | 2 L |
| 6 | 2997.34 cc | 182.91 cu in | 3 L |
| 8 | 3996.46 cc | 243.88 cu in | 4 L |
Displacement is swept volume only — the space the pistons move through. It does not include the combustion-chamber volume left above the piston at the top of the stroke, which is why it is not the engine's total internal volume.
| Bore × stroke · cylinders | Displacement | Cubic inches | Litres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 86 × 86 mm · 4 | 1,998.23 cc | 121.94 | 2.00 |
| 101.6 × 88.392 mm · 8 | 5,732.98 cc | 349.85 | 5.73 |
| 74 × 58 mm · 1 | 249.45 cc | 15.22 | 0.25 |
Displacement is the volume the pistons sweep: each cylinder is a tube whose cross-section is set by the bore and whose length is set by the stroke, so one cylinder displaces π/4 × bore² × stroke. With bore and stroke in millimetres that product is cubic millimetres, divided by 1,000 for cubic centimetres — an 86 mm bore on an 86 mm stroke sweeps 499.56 cc per cylinder, and four of them give the 1,998.23 cc that the industry rounds to a 2.0-litre engine. Manufacturers' badge figures are nominal roundings of this arithmetic, which is why a '2.0' is rarely exactly 2,000 cc and why two engines badged the same can differ by a few cc.
Cubic inches are the same volume in the older unit — divide cc by 16.387064, the exact number of cubic centimetres in a cubic inch — and the conversion explains the famous American figures rather than contradicting them: a V8 with a 101.6 mm bore and 88.392 mm stroke displaces 5,732.98 cc, which is 349.85 cubic inches, sold for decades as 'the 350'. The small gaps between calculated and advertised sizes are marketing rounding, not a different engine, and this page shows both units at full precision so the rounding is visible.
What displacement is not matters as much as what it is. It counts only the swept volume — the space each piston travels through — and excludes the combustion chamber left above the piston at the top of its stroke, so it is not the engine's total internal volume, and it says nothing by itself about power: a turbocharger forces more air through the same swept volume, which is why small modern engines out-pull larger older ones. Bore and stroke also describe character — a bore larger than the stroke (oversquare) favours high RPM, a longer stroke favours low-speed torque — but those are tendencies the single volume figure deliberately does not try to score.
Because the badge is a rounding. Displacement falls out of the bore and stroke the engineers chose — 86 × 86 mm in four cylinders gives 1,998.23 cc — and marketing rounds that to the nearest tidy figure. The calculated number is the true swept volume; the badge is its nickname.
Bore is the diameter of the cylinder (and the piston that slides in it); stroke is the distance the piston travels from top to bottom. Volume needs both: the bore sets the cross-sectional area, π/4 × bore², and the stroke sets the length of the sweep. Two engines of equal displacement can trade one against the other.
Divide by 16.387064, the exact number of cubic centimetres in a cubic inch (an inch is 25.4 mm, and 25.4³ ÷ 1000 = 16.387064). So 5,732.98 cc ÷ 16.387064 = 349.85 cu in. For litres, divide cc by 1,000.
No. Displacement sets how much air the engine sweeps per cycle, but power also depends on how fast it turns, how completely it fills, and whether a turbocharger or supercharger forces extra air in — a boosted small engine routinely out-powers a larger unboosted one. Displacement is a size, not a rating, and this page reports it as exactly that.
It is the building block the total is made of, and the figure that stays comparable across engine layouts: the 499.56 cc cylinder of the 86 × 86 mm four and the 716.62 cc cylinder of the V8 explain their totals immediately, and multiplying one cylinder's volume by any count — the widget's table runs 1 to 8 — shows the engine family a given bore and stroke could build.
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