Mechanical tuition

[steveavxt]

I've done a lot of mechanical work on my own car in the last few years, such as;

Brakes - replaced disks, pads, fluid and reconditioned my calipers.
Suspension - changed shocks, roll bars, ball joints, wishbone bushes, track and tie rod ends etc
Engine - Sparks, cambelt, exhaust, turbo, filters etc
Cooling - Replaced header tank, radiator, water pumps

So i'm no stranger to getting my hands dirty

I'm looking to learn more about the internals of an engine (pistons, valves, crank etc) and would be interested if anyone knows where I can learn about this sort of thing in the region?

I work full time and am not looking to become a mechanic but think it would help me to understand what to do if required.

Cheers

Steve

[semi42]

i would recommend this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HILLIERS-FUNDAMENTALS-MOTOR-...

this is the edition i have , dunno what the later edition have in em but this basically covers everything i did in college

[GEORDIE_BOY]

I did mechanics at college but learnt it as my trade with work, I did level 2 and 3. But Gateshead college do evening classes, I did paint spraying there but that was only level 1 2 nights a week. At level 1 you'd probably not learn anymore than this is a wheel this is how to put air in it and this is how to change a wheel.

I also have the book mentioned above and it is great, but I think you'd be better to go and buy an old engine and strip it down, clean it all up and rebuild it. The Vauxhalls SOHC engine as found in Novas, Astras, Corsa etc upto 96 ish is an easy place to start, also the early small block 16v engines again in Vauxhalls (1.4 and 1.6 etc) are also simple to do. An engine like this, a cheap engine stand and a haynes manual and you'll be in business. They are easy to work on and you would get a basic idea as to how they work.

Also need to make sure you have the right tools, but they dont need much more than a basic socket set to strip but torque wrench would be needed to rebuild it if you wanted to reuse it.

I may be stripping an engine soon and rebuilding it depending on how bad the internals are, you'd be welcome to come and have a look and a fiddle

[steveavxt]

GEORDIE_BOY said:

I may be stripping an engine soon and rebuilding it depending on how bad the internals are, you'd be welcome to come and have a look and a fiddle

Sounds great. I was going to buy a spare zlet from ebay, strip it down and build it with uprated parts then swap it for my current one but i fear i'd be going in blind.

I've got a fairly decent tool kit with a couple of torque wrenches so I'm ok there. I'll get myself that book to start with.

[GEORDIE_BOY]

A ZLET is an expensive engine to start with, looking £1k + so not ideal, and then all that work if it went wrong could be expensive. If you stripped another engine, say a Vauxhall X20XE (I think) from say a X18XE they basic engine is very similar to the Z. Better to try something cheaper first!

[JTBUSH]

Id get David Vizards, Tuning the A Series. Its obviously about tuning the A Series but the theory is the same for all engines and it will teach you a lot about engines and how to get the best from them! You can also get a 1000cc A Series for under £100 so its not too expensive to practice on.

[steveavxt]

It looks like an X18XE can be had for £200 and there are plenty about. I think it might be the way to go as it's a 16 valve vauxhall engine so it should be very similar to mine.