ENGINE CONSTRUCTION

Engine Block Assembly

Very sophisticated casting. Made of cast iron or aluminum with cast iron cylinder liners. A great deal of machining involved in the process of manufacturing. Becomes the frame of the engine.
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Engine Bottom End

Bottom End Parts

Block Crankshaft Connecting Rod Pistons, Rings, & Wrist Pin Bearings (Main and Connecting rod) Caps (main and Connecting Rod) Fly Wheel and nuts and bolts

Cylinder Block
Common cylinder configurations: Vee, inline, opposed And slant. Number from farthest front backwards

Crankshaft

Converts reciprocating motion into rotary motion. Made of either nodular iron, forged steel, or billet steel.

Crankshaft Terminology

Crankpins or throws Main bearing journals Rod bearing journals Thrust bearing Main caps Oil passages Flywheel flange Vibration damper end Keyway Rear main seal Front crankshaft seal Counter weights Firing order
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Crankshaft Bearings

Known as friction or precision insert bearings. Uses a steel backing with soft metal on crankshaft side.(lead,tin, copper, silver, cadmium) Oil clearance between crankpin and bearing very critical. (.001) Oil Clearance measured with plastigauge.

Crankshaft Service

Grinding Cranks Undersize bearings

Flywheel

The flywheel (known as the flex plate when used with an automatic transmission) carries the engines inertia in between power strokes. It is the power take off for the engine. The clutch or torque converter bolts to it. Lastly it has the starter motors ring gear.

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Vibration Damper

The vibration damper smoothes the vibrations caused by the power strokes. It has a pulley on it the run auxiliary systems. It may contain timing marks or crankshaft timing sensors.
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Balancer Shafts

Used to counteract the normal vibrations inherent to piston engines. Found on 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder engines mostly.

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Covers & Pans

Made of steel metal, aluminum, or plastic materials. Usually use gaskets or seals.

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Gaskets, Seals and Sealers

Gaskets seal two stationary surfaces. Seals do it when one surface moves. Many types of materials: rubber, paper, aluminum, steel, cork and more. Sealers adhere gaskets to one of the surfaces.
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Pistons
Pistons harness the energy of the power stroke and transfers the force toward the crankshaft.

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Piston Terminology

Head or crown Ring grooves Ring lands Oil return holes Skirt Pin hole Pin boss Pin offset
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Piston Rings

Rings seal the compression in the combustion chamber and the motor oil in the crankcase. Automotive engines use 3 rings: 2 compression and 1 multi-piece oil ring.

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Piston Ring Wear

Causes a loss of compression. Causes excessive oil consumption. May cause blue smoke out the tail pipe.

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Types of Piston Rings

Rings are usually made of cast iron can be plated with chrome or molybdenum. Help seal the ring to the cylinder wall. Shapes of the ring vary to also help the ring seal better.
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Piston Pin (Wrist Pin)

Hollow polished steel pin. Attached in a variety of ways. Pinned to piston. Clamped to rod small end. Snap ring free floating. Press fit.
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Connecting Rods

I-beam style rod use to transfer the pistons force to the crankshaft. Small end contains the piston pin and the big end has a removable cap to install it to the Crank. Nuts and bolts are usually of a very high quality.
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Installation of Pistons

Cylinder number Piston number Notch to the front Position ring gaps Remove rod cap check bearing inserts Cover bolts with fuel line if needed Crankshaft at TDC or BDC Install ring compressor Oil piston, cylinder wall, & crank journal Carefully tap in piston with hammer handle. Properly replace rod cap
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Rods MUST match caps

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Weird Science of Engines

Free running and Non-free running Crankshaft rotation versus piston travel Piston side thrust Piston pin offset Cylinder bore wear Crankshaft journal wear

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Free and Non-Free running Engines

Free running engines can have their piston at TDC and their valves wide open and the valve wont touch the piston.

Non-free running engines will crash the valves into the piston if the piston is at TDC and the valves are wide open. This will wreck the engine.

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Piston Travel Verses Crankshaft Rotation

When the piston move way down the bore the crankshaft does not turn a a turn. This will always create vibration.

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Piston Side Thrust

There are two sides to the piston. The thrust side and the relief side. Wear occurs mainly on the thrust sides. Skirt area is not even needed on the relief side. Piston pin offset counteracts side thrust.
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Cylinder Bore Wear

Wears oval shaped. Cylinder wall tapers. Pocket forms near the top. A ridge forms at the top.
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Cylinder Boring

Cylinders can be bored to restore them however they will be larger requiring bigger pistons. Usually bored to .010, .020, .030, or .050
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Crankshaft Wear

Wears out of round due to the power strokes. Grinding can restore the journals, however they are smaller requiring under sized bearings.
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