Best way to learn about engines?
Discussion
Here is a good place to start:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm
I took the expensive route, I'm going to a technical college.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm
I took the expensive route, I'm going to a technical college.
Trooper2 said:I thought the expensive route was playing with an engine and discovering for yourself?
I took the expensive route, I'm going to a technical college.
I recommend this as well: www.autozine.org/technical_school/tech_index.htm
Edit: The main thing is to get the basic theory before you get drawn in by the complexities of the system, having said this I still have yet to meet any one who knows how an automatic gearbox works (I mean how all the internal systems work in harmony, not just individual pieces of the system).
>> Edited by speedy_thrills on Sunday 27th November 05:59
Boosted Ls1 said:
Yep,
Plenty of interesting books in the SA design series. Then there are UK books as well. Take a look around Waterstones or Dillons sometime. Libraries can be helpful, you never know what gems they have. What engines do you like?
Boosted.
I'll go and have a look round Waterstones soon. As for what engines I like, big ones
. I ahve a 2 stroke bike and have come to hate the way 2 strokes work. Their performance from cold is abysmal - especially at this thime of year when I can't get any het into the engine! I'm more interested in car engines, mainly smaller capacity engines as they will be what I can get access to in the next few years. I'd really like to just be able to look at an engine and tell whats wrong, or even just know what I was talking about! I have a vague understanding at the moment, but I'd like to learn some of the more technical things. Thanks for those two links, I'll read through them (perfect time now as its cold and wet outside!)
m1spw said:
I ahve a 2 stroke bike and have come to hate the way 2 strokes work.
Ah, you do need to learn about engines I see!
m1spw said:
Their performance from cold is abysmal - especially at this thime of year when I can't get any het into the engine!
You'd find the same if you were riding a CG125. It happens because of the carb being jetted on the weak side for emissions reasons. Suboptimal mixture enrichment devices ( "choke" ) don't help either.
Wikipedia is probably a good resource for learning about how engines work as by following the hyperlinks you can get to more detailed explanations of particular concepts which howstuffworks tends to skate over a bit.
Another good resource is on the ends of your arms. Swap your Jap bike for a Simson and get fiddling...
Edited because of the winky bug
>> Edited by Pigeon on Monday 28th November 15:19
Incorrigible said:
Get some spanners and a project 
see here for how another interpid explorer got on a few years ago
I'd really like to, but money is a bit tight atm. I need to save up so I can get a car next year when I'm 17, and insurance is a b!tch. And no one I know would let me fiddle with their cars, the cheapest I would have access to is my mums Civic Sport (only 2 months old, no chance), and all the other family/friend cars are either quite new or worth a lot
Might get myself an older dirt bike style bike next year though to work on and fiddle with!
www.keveney.com/Engines.html
This site is quite cute. It shows animations of various engine types.
HTH.
This site is quite cute. It shows animations of various engine types.
HTH.
anniesdad said:
www.keveney.com/Engines.html
This site is quite cute. It shows animations of various engine types.
HTH.
Yay, pretty pictures!
And they move as well! 
Thanks!
wedg1e said:
m1, I see you're in the northeast. I should have a Lotus twincam in bits shortly if you want to come and take a look... 
Also have spare RV8 that I was planning to strip sometime.
I'm in Stockton.
Hi wedg1e,
This is one of the things I love about PH, where else would someone invite you to go and see their engine? Thanks for the offer, but at the moment I'm completely snowed under with coursework. My weekdays are split between lessons and getting little bits of work done (and maybe eating if I have time
) and my weekend are normally one day working then spending one day at my dads house being beaten up by a 7 year old and a 4 year old . I just can't see when I would be able to come and see it, thank you very much for the offer though. Lovely pair of cars you have there 
I remember when I was about five years old. We were travelling back through London, in my Dads company car, an Opel Rekord (you could probably age me from that). I was asleep on the back seat. We were driving along, and there was this almighty great thud. We came to a halt, and it turned out that we had been hit by a book.
As it turned out, it was the Haynes manual for a Renault 4.
Well it was no good to my Dad, so he gave it to me.
I guess that must have been the beginning of my interest in cars!
I think Renault were renowned for rust in those days...... I can only think that the book must have fallen through the floor of someones car.
>> Edited by dilbert on Wednesday 30th November 18:42
As it turned out, it was the Haynes manual for a Renault 4.
Well it was no good to my Dad, so he gave it to me.
I guess that must have been the beginning of my interest in cars!
I think Renault were renowned for rust in those days...... I can only think that the book must have fallen through the floor of someones car.
>> Edited by dilbert on Wednesday 30th November 18:42
Anything by David Vizard, go and buy a mini and then do all the tricks to it. It's the only cheap car that you can make 5X more powerful with less than a grand. Do your own heads, modify stuff from other cars to fit, use blowers, understand cams, valve sizes, durations, ignition systems, and go and build a screamer. That's how I became an expert!
love machine said:And oh so modest...
That's how I became an expert!
For engine and other car related stuff, I've found Fundamentals of Motor Vehicle Technology to be fantastic having picked it up pretty much at random in a bookshop (strangely for a fiver less than Amazon
). One other I've picked up more recently, but have yet to read in anger is Design and Simulation of Four-Stroke EnginesBooks and websites are all well and good, but you just can't beat the knowledge you'll gain from actually getting greasy and taking it all apart yourself. Then you try to put it back together again, without any spare parts (I'm getting close, only a single nut left from the last chev V8 rebuild 
). Now see if it works. If not, start again until it does.
Your first doesn't need to be anything special, as I recall, I started on a 8HP Wisconsin single cylinder pull start. I had my friend hold the plug wire as I spun it over to see if the magneto was working
make sure you have one of those friends around, it makes the stories much better.
Find a local small engine shop, and see if they have a lawn mower engine that you could have/buy cheap just to tinker with on the kitchen table.
Most importantly, don't be scared of it. You really can't break an engine (without trying pretty damn hard), and there is nothing in them that will explode/jump/bite. Just take your time, and think about what you're doing.
Have fun!
). Now see if it works. If not, start again until it does. Your first doesn't need to be anything special, as I recall, I started on a 8HP Wisconsin single cylinder pull start. I had my friend hold the plug wire as I spun it over to see if the magneto was working
make sure you have one of those friends around, it makes the stories much better. Find a local small engine shop, and see if they have a lawn mower engine that you could have/buy cheap just to tinker with on the kitchen table.
Most importantly, don't be scared of it. You really can't break an engine (without trying pretty damn hard), and there is nothing in them that will explode/jump/bite. Just take your time, and think about what you're doing.
Have fun!
One of the best authors for books is david vizard what this guy doesnt know really isnt worth knowing!! he doesnt hold secrects back like most do and is in simple plain english that even somebody with no mechanical knoweldge would be able to understand, i have been able to build record breaking rover v8 engines in my carrer of which are all owed to reading what david writes in his books
I started with an old villiers 2 stroke which after a while needed fixing so I just did what everybody told me needed doing. It didn't need fixing at all but it wetted my appetite. I had changed the piston rings and got it back together and it still ran. After that I had another bike or two and as the quest for speed developed (bought japanese 2 strokes)I started reading books written by people ahead of me in the learning curve. You need a bit of everything to get you started.
Boosted.
Boosted.
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