Engine configuration

Engine configuration is an engineering term for the layout of the major components of a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine. These components are the cylinders and crankshafts in particular but also, sometimes, the camshaft(s).

Many apparently 'standard' names for configurations are historic, arbitrary, or overlapping. For example, the 180° V engine is so named because the crankshaft is related to a V engine more closely than it is related to other opposed-piston engines such as the boxer. Others would consider it a flat engine because of its shape.