BMW M78 is a reciprocating engine

Reciprocating engine

A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common features of all types...

 with six straight cylinders

Straight engine

Usually found in four- and six-cylinder configurations, the straight engine, or inline engine is an internal-combustion engine with all cylinders aligned in one row, with no offset...

 produced by BMW

BMW

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...

. The engine has a cylinder volume

Cylinder (engine)

A cylinder is the central working part of a reciprocating engine or pump, the space in which a piston travels. Multiple cylinders are commonly arranged side by side in a bank, or engine block, which is typically cast from aluminum or cast iron before receiving precision machine work...

 of 1.2 litres (1 182 ccm) and 30 effective horse power with 4 000 revs per minute and a torque of 68 Nm

Newton metre

A newton metre is a unit of torque in the SI system. The symbolic form is N m or N·m, and sometimes hyphenated newton-metre...

 at 2 000 rpm.

The engine was used in the BMW 303

BMW 303

The BMW 303 was a middle sized saloon produced by BMW in 1933 and 1934. It was the first BMW to use the 'kidney grill' which today is a hallmark of the company's models....

 model from 1933, and was, among other things, equipped with a chain-driven camshaft

Camshaft

A camshaft is a shaft to which a cam is fastened or of which a cam forms an integral part.-History:An early cam was built into Hellenistic water-driven automata from the 3rd century BC. The camshaft was later described in Iraq by Al-Jazari in 1206. He employed it as part of his automata,...

and vertical, overlying valves.