Displacement is the combined volume of all of the cylinders in an engine. When compared with horsepower, displacement can give a good idea of the efficiency of an engine, revealing how much horsepower per volume is being produced. Today most manufacturers list their engine's displacement in liters. In decades past many American cars' displacements were listed in cubic inches. Chevy's first big block V8s, for instance, are still listed as 427 cu in. The conversion process from cubic inches to liters or liters to cubic inches is quite simple and will allow for an easier comparison of engine specs.
Convert cubic inches to cubic centimeters. There are 2.54 cm in an inch. That means there are 16.387 cubic cm in a cubic inch (2.54 cubed).
Convert cubic cm to milliliters. Since one cubic cm is equal to one ml, there are 16.387 ml in a cubic inch.
Find how many cubic inches are in a liter. If a cubic inch is 16.387 ml and there are 1000 ml in a liter, there are 61.02 cubic inches in a liter. (1000/16.387)
Multiply a value given in liters by 61.02 in order to get its measurement in cubic inches. If given a value in cubic inches, divide by 61.02.
