Learning to rebuild engines - where to start?

[JeeExEll]

VW flat four, just because they sit nicely and are naturally stable. Also you can run them for ages without needing coolant when you're done

And they won't fall off the kitchen table. Couple of exhaust flexi pipes out the kitchen window and Herbie's your uncle.

 

"Look luv, look what I've built. It actually runs."

- " Oh you and your bloody Airfix kits!!!!".

[cobblers]

I'd also recommend a VW flat four, but even totally shagged ones fetch a few hundred quid.

[Guest Hooli]

If you can do a mower you can do a car, it's just the bits are bigger & there are more of them.

 

Timing belts aren't black magic, you time most similar to gear driven (or indeed chain driven) engines - it's just how you connect it together.

[richardthestag]

start with a 2 stroke RC motor, moving onto mower or moped engines then onto 4 pots

 

ickle 2 strokes are great fun to get bench run upto a gazzillion rpm

 

the more cylinders the more money you need to throw at them. the more you stand to lose if you fuck it up

[strangeangel]

Possibly a daft suggestion and a bit pointless, but what about a lawn mower engine? Cheap parts that are easy to get hold of, easy to haul about and similar technology to something like an a-series engine.

 

This. Or maybe a Chinese scooter, available from eBay in all kinds of flavours from £10 upwards?

[Mally]

I gave up on a VW in the end, not recommended.

2CV would be good but expensive.

Reliant are light, but getting expensive now and wet liners.

Pinto are good to learn on but 2.0 are expensive and very heavy. I could have given you one a while ago but they are all gone now.

A series would be a good place to start.

[cobblers]

My first engine rebuild was a 1380cc a series. Dead easy, I did it using my nans wheelie bin as a workbench.

Started and ran fine for 6 miles before it started knocking worse than ever

[Des]

Any engine rebuild should be a piece of piss in this age of high res diggy cams, the skills you need to learn would be working out how fucked existing components are, visual inspection and measurement with instruments of accuracy. Or do a dirty old donk of a Beetle as already suggested, designed by Nazi simpletons, visual inspection can be performed quite adequately in failing light while pissed up and all measurements are done with a thumbnail, no gaskets need buying, bathroom sealant is actually far too good for them, £30 on a set of rings and bearings will achieve the same result as a 2K 'proper' rebuild, a big wet fart of smoke and shrapnel the instant some wanker tries to break the 60MPH wall.

[Junkman]

Do up this one, flog it and proceed to property development:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Escort-1600-cc-Cross-Flow-Engine-1-6/112494331043

[DodgeRover]

Cheapy scooter off Facebook or ebay, get it running and shift on or play round the fields.

 

2 stroke are simplest, 4 stroke more complicated.

[MikeR]

avoid 2 strokes , they have a black art of their own , slightest bit of shit , lack of oil or too much heat and they seize up , a lawn mower engine is a good start , even a BBC prog on how it all goes together , when its avb ...

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b086t743

[DodgeRover]

I wouldn't really agree with that, I rebuilt my first engine at 13 a 250cc Bultaco mainly on the dining room table with my dad's help and a Haynes manual as it was just too cold in the garage.

That engine ran well for years and in hindsight I was probably none too careful.

 

4 stroke XL or TL engines however took much more faffing with to sort the cam timing after changing cam chains

[jonathan_dyane]

I hate to say it but the most useful thing to have is a mate who know's his beans who you can ask for advise on what is acceptable and reusable and where you need a rebore/regrind etc.

[Snipes]

I'd want a complete car so you can eventually "throw" it back in and hear it running. I'd go for something cheap needing a rebuild, like a OMGHGF K-series. Fix it, sell it on, buy something more snazzy like the Rover V8.

[Mally]

Do up this one, flog it and proceed to property development:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Escort-1600-cc-Cross-Flow-Engine-1-6/112494331043

 

Not as daft as it sounds.

[Dave_Q]

I would pick based on what you're likely to want to apply the skillz to in the future.

 

The likes of the A series, rover V8 and anything else pushrod / cam in block is kinda old tech now, but great if that's what you want to rebuild in the future.

 

From your list the Micra engine is the best modern engine, if you can crack one of those then you will be all good with pretty much any DOHC 4 pot which most newer stuff is.

 

Whatever you choose to do, the best skill you can learn is determining what actually needs replacing. Get some vernier calipers and a micrometer (needn't be too dear, £10-20 each off eBay) and get the HBOL for whatever you're rebuilding, strip it and measure the rings, bearings etc and only replace what needs replacing.

[Slartibartfast]

Would the K4m from my doomed megane be of any use? You can of course have it for free.

[Bren]

Try a mower/ small bike engine first. Minimal cost and it can be binned easily if you cock up.

Trouble is a lot of the old skool motors is they are a bit more difficult to get hold of and consequently more expensive - days are gone when a running Rover V8 could be picked up for £125.

[fordperv]

There is only one!

 

Ford 'Pinto' engine.

Easy to pick up a suitable project engine, shit loads of parts available, and you can learn on them very quick and easy as the engine is so basic. Seriously, if you wanted to teach someone how an engine works the Pinto is probably the best easiest subject to use for that.

 

There's a range of types of Pinto available, I'd say a 2.0 '205' type block would be the best starting point as it'll be most desirable when you've finished the rebuild for selling it on.

You have said pretty much what I thought when I read the first post

[Dead_E23]

Some inspiration from YouTube for the armchair engine rebuilder :  

 

 

(Too good to hide away in the YouTube thread!)

[Stanky]

Yes, thats exactly what I am thinking about doing - complete strip-down and rebuild. Even if it takes 11+ months to do I'd love to be able to say I'd done that.

[DodgeRover]

Could you build something you could actually use though, it seems a lot of effort and time to put into something that you aren't going to benefit from. What about rebuilding a 600cc bike engine and fitting it to one of the Honda Pilot copy type buggies?

[Stanky]

I see what you are saying but I don't have the space to fit a basket case into the garage, and I am also utterly unable to do bodywork (other than swapping panels) so finding something that fits these criteria seems difficult:

 

1. Cheap

2. Bodily good

3. Mechanically in need of help

4. Mechanically straightforward

 

whereas an engine removed from a car that can be stripped down and rebuilt - teaching me how it all works in the meantime - with plenty of access would be feasible in my current situation.

 

I'd love to build up to a full-blown Vulgalourisation of something wretched, but I have neither the skills, cash or space currently. One day, I hope - but I need to cut my teeth on some simple stuff first.

[Guest Hooli]

Why rebuild it properly?

 

Learning to measure the wear etc is the important part. You can sling it back together with old gaskets, bearings etc for the experience of building a lump from scratch.

 

 

Oh & then try a gearbox, lots more daft little bits to drop & loose in them...

[Mally]

Exactly as above, don't need to change anything just reassemble the first time.

Gearboxes are an art I rarely master.

[Guest Hooli]

I've done two gearboxes, both worked. I can say motorbike ones are stupidly easy after my first one being a LT77 out of a Disco, done on a workmate in the road behind the car.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Buy, or get given, a shagged 16 valve petrol engine - Ford, GM etc. Take it apart, clean it up, reassemble it etc. Don't buy new bits but get the skilllzz - checking ring gaps, plastigage on bearings shells etc.

[Guest Hooli]

I don't think it really matters what sort of engine it is. Big ends, piston rings, valve guides, bore wear etc etc are same on anything. Cam drive be it gear, chain or belt all involves timing the cam. How they are actually connected doesn't matter too much in that, after all if it's timed up then a cambelt is as simple as a fanbelt to change.

[DeeJay]

Scrapper Metro engine, sell on to a Mini licker. 

[DodgeRover]

Gearboxes I find strangely therapeutic to work on, everything is so logical and you can see how they should work as well as any damage usually being very evident.