Category: Engine Hacks

Everyone generally knows about piston and rotary engines, with many a flamewar having been waged over the pros and cons of each design. The “correct” answer is thus to combine both into a single engine design. The resulting birotary engine comes courtesy of Czech company [Knob Engines] which makes their special engine for the aviation […]
The theory behind hydropower is very simple: water obeys gravity and imparts the gained kinetic energy onto a turbine, which subsequently drives a generator.  The devil here is, of course, in all the details, as [FarmCraft101] on YouTube is in the process of finding out as he adds a small hydro plant to his farm […]
Back during WWII, Chrysler bodged five inline-6 engines together to create the powerful A57 multibank tank engine. [Maisteer] has some high-revving inline-4 motorcycle engines he’s trying to put together too, but unlike 1940s Chrysler, he also has a trombone… and a lot more RPMs to deal with. The Chrysler flatheads were revving at a few […]
Over on his YouTube channel [Tom Stanton] shows us how to build a Stirling Engine for a bike. A Stirling Engine is a heat engine, powered by the expansion and contraction of a working fluid (such as air) which is heated and cooled in a cycle. In the video [Tom] begins by demonstrating the Stirling […]
If you’re into automotive hacks and don’t watch [Robot Cantina], you are missing out. This hack has [Jimbo] taking a break from automotive hacking to butcher a poor, innocent Tecumseh lawnmower to run diesel fuel (or anything else) by converting the motor into a hot bulb engine. (Video embedded below.) The secret is a long […]
Steam turbines have helped drive a large chunk of our technological development over the last century or so, and they’ll always make for interesting DIY. [Hyperspace Pirate] built a small turbine and boiler in his garage, turning fire into flowing electrons, and learning a bunch in the process. [Hyperspace Pirate] based the turbine design on […]
Recently, the EPA and COBB Tuning have settled after the latter was sued for providing emissions control defeating equipment. As per the EPA’s settlement details document, COBB Tuning have since 2015 provided customers with the means to disable certain emission controls in cars, in addition to selling aftermarket exhaust pipes with insufficient catalytic systems. As […]
A working DIY two-stroke in all of its glory, with the flywheel removed. (Credit: Camden Bowen) How hard could it to be to build a two-stroke internal combustion engine (ICE) from scratch? This is a challenge that [Camden Bowen] gladly set for himself, while foregoing such obvious wastes of time like first doing an in-depth […]
The earliest piston engines typically had only one cylinder, and at best, produced horsepower measured in single digits. But once you have a working engine, it’s a relatively short step to adding cylinders and increasing the power output. [Emiel] made a similar upgrade to one of his engines recently, upgrading it from one cylinder to […]
With the latest craze of electric vehicles, it might be tempting to take an old project car and convert it from gas to electric. On the surface, it sounds simple, but the reality is there are a number of pitfalls. It would be nice if you could find a drop in engine replacement that was ready […]