Just had a crash, and I won’t be riding for a month or two, meaning I’ll have a substantial amount of time on my hands.
I thought I’d try to take apart an old engine and see what makes it tick….
Assuming a pretty small understanding of the actual parts of an engine, what would be best to start on?
(preferably as few electrics and as cheap as possible)
An old seagull engine has been mentioned

Anything 2-stroke would be a good guess.

Any “A” series engine, usually found in minis and older metros. Simple, beautiful and in many ways, the grandfather of most modern engines.

Something slightly blown up? Motorbike engines would be good, small and relatively portable. Depends what sort of injury you’ve picked up o’course.

A 2 stroke petrol lawnmower possibly or alternatively a small, agricultural diesel.

2cv engine

Buy a little Honda GX engine off ebay.. Knackered second hand ones go for cheap, and you’ll learn a lot about engines by stripping and reconditoning one. The best fact, is that it’s small enough for you to run in your shed / garage afterwards (with suitable ventilation obviously!)

I agree with A series. An old fashioned naturally aspirated 4 stroke will demonstrate how all the bits work together. You can build one on a kitchen table too. I did.

Honda c50 engine cheap easy to m

I was gonna say a series as well, lots around, lots of mini forums etc

Bike engine. You may get a gearbox as well, and easier to move about if you get a smallish one.

Rotary.

Steam engine 😀

Think big.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM7ksfRVF70[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJuS0jR6_E4[/video]

One of these would keep you busy for a little while! 😈

Deltic, Honda CBX, Ducati Desmo, etc etc

You’ll not get an a-series cheap any more. And having to deal with the gearbox is a pita, though the flat sump means working on them without a bench or stand is possible.

I’m biased, but I’d heartily recommend a fiat fire lump from a panda, punto cinq or sei. Simple, logical and cheap to work on. The 750 motor club now uses the 1108cc for their engines in the 750 championship.

I’ve now got two lawnmower engines spare. Won’t take you long to dismantle it though.

simple diesel is what you want

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrAeUf7v49g&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]

something cheap, probably a small aircooled single cylinder motorcycle engine.
specific tools to get it apart will be the ignition rotor puller and some way to undo the clutch basket nut and the sprocket nut. you can buy puller cheap off ebay and the clutch/sprocket nut will come off easy if you take it to someone with a rattle gun

thanks for the suggestions!
I think i was thinking a little smaller (maybe single cylinder). I broke my collar bone, so anything sizable probably isn’t much use.
Also thinking around £50ish ideally.
what’s the best bet in terms of getting one? ebay?

or maybe a steam engine would be a better bet?
To be honest, I really have no idea what would work best as a first project, so any experiences would be brilliant!
thanks

Steam under pressure may not be a good thing to play with and you won’t learn much about an internal combustion engine.
I’d go motorbike I think.

Search ebay for spares or repair Honda generators, its generally the carb that is blocked or the windings on the generator side of things that fail. The engines themselves are very therapeutic to tinker with – I’ve rebuilt quite a few. Manuals are available FOC and parts are generally okay price wise.

Will also teach you the basics of closed loop control systems albeit in a manual/analogue manner.

Look for Ex650 / 800 / 1000 and Em650.

I’ve rebuilt/fettled 3x Ex650’s, a Generac, and an Em650 – they do become addictive!

Mini A series or a rover V8 both simple engines

I think I’d say go smaller than you think- this sort of thing is just plain physical, bad arm will be troublesome no matter what but it’ll make even an averagey motorbike engine hard to deal with (like, my engine’s pretty light for a 4-stroke LC, which still means it weighs more than me.)

A-series engine. I knew cock all about engines until I got my first mini and it died. I bought another and drove around in that but meanwhile I dissected the original engine just to see how it worked. Dead simple, dead easy to fix. Brilliant!

At least with the V8 if it goes wrong you can turn it in to a wine rack

What about one of these in kit form?

Bohm Engines

Apologies for the Clarkson content but you could have a go at one of these. Looks relatively simple…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeUMDY01uUA[/video]

Thanks, great help!
I’ll have a look at some small hondas, if not I might wait a few weeks and have a crack at an a series.

I’ve looked into the gearbox of a Honda Fireblade engine via the sump (it’s in my kit car) and it looks like an amazing bit of engineering. Very tempted to get one just to take apart.

You could probably pick up an old 100cc air cooled kart engine with carb for under £100. pretty easy to strip and rebuild, they happily rev to 13k as well….

I’ve got a Briggs and Stratton XC35 attached to a Lavor Thermic 3c power washer up for grabs. The pump is knackered but the engine runs well. 2 projects in 1 with a useful item afterwards! dc30online AT gmail if any interest.

How about something with a bit of heritage? – something like a Lister D

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lister-D-stationary-engine-/151320935545

or if you’re feeling adventurous

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lister-D-stationary-engine-/331221007919