Cars - For Car Enthusiasts

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Where to learn about engines? (lemm.ee)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello! Don’t know if this is the right community to post this question, but maybe you can help.

I want to learn about cars and engines. I’m a pretty mechanical person and I like to tinker. I can do basics, like changing my own oil etc.

I want to do some hands on learning, but I don’t have a ton of money to spend or space to work in. I was wondering if you had suggestions on something small and affordable I can get to learn about engines. I was thinking a lawn mower or a scooter but I don’t know how similar those would be to a car.

Do you have any advice?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

Mowers are an okay start, theyre usually 2 strokes so a bit different from a car but they still have many similar parts.

You might be able to ask around at junkyards/pick a part places if they have engines, especially broken or damaged ones. Even if you never put it together to get it working, you can still learn a lot from just disassembly/reassembly. You could ask local shops if they will let you be an apprentice, maybe make a little money while you learn.

Recommend watching YouTube videos, not necessarily "build videos" since I find those pretty stupid usually, but videos about disassembly and reassembly are important. Cleaning, machining, etc are usually good ones too. Curmudgeon Transmissions is one I like for transmission videos, for example. I like to find the old guys, because theyre the ones with all the years of experience and I find I learn way more from them than from younger guys.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I haven't seen a 2-stroke mower in over 40 years.

Those are some great ideas about finding a non-running engine for free, tear it down and see how it works.

Seeing the crank rotate, the piston move, and the cam timing the valves opening - that was fun to do as a kid.

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