Engine design recommendation

[Budz100]

I always wanted to build an engine, something like a 4 cylinder 4 stroke inline would be cool. Can anyone recommend a good design? I am not set up for casting so bar stock would be preferable, unless castings could be bought. I'm looking for something with overhead valves that you can see the pushrods and valves working when running. The smaller the better. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

[SGW]

There are a bunch of IC engine casting kits here:
http://www.hemingwaykits.com/acatalo...e_Engines.html

Clearly you want to order only the essential castings and no associated bar stock or other bits available here, to keep the shipping weight down.

Ordering from England is easy with a credit card, by the way. They charge in pounds on their end, it comes out in dollars at your end, with a small bank fee for the conversion.

[JCHannum]

Bill Reichart's Panther Pup is an air cooled four cylinder engine that fits your criteria. Plans are available separately and are well written. Castings are available in brass or aluminum for a reasonable price. Building from barstock or built up construction would be possible for the clever builder.

http://www.billreichart.com/engines.shtml

Several other engines are available as well that are not as complex as the Panther Pup, but still worth while building.

[Clevelander]

Is a good source for motor designs. I believe there is an index on line to I.D. which issues might be of interest to you. They are no longer publishing the magazine (current issues). But all old issues are available and it's a treasure trove that I wouldn't give up for anything. I'm just getting my skills in order to make an ascending scale of the various motors that I find appealing (at least that's the intention).

[darryl]

I always thought a motorcycle engine would make a good model. Might be best to go back a lot of years and pick a simple looking one. Don't start with an Indian right away- they have something like 2500 parts if I remember right.

[bob ward]

There is more information here on small engines than you will never need.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/

[loose nut]

L. C. Mason wrote a couple of books on the subject.

1. Model 4-Stroke Petrol Engines, designing ,building and running.

2. Mastif. (The complete name fails me at present)


The first is a general book and the title explains it, the second is a book on building a four cylinder 4 stroke engine. These are English style engines but good runners. The books should still be available from the hobby press, somewhere.

[A.K. Boomer]

I always thought it would be cool to make a twin crank opposed 2 cylinder, mechanical balance would be perfect and so would the power stroke's if you fired them off at the same time --- or just make it a two stroke and no worries...

[rmcphearson]

If I saw one of these on a bike pass me I'd $hit a brick. Heck, I'd love to see one run period. I saw a couple at the Navy Aviation Museum but they were not operational.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_engine

[TRX]

There was actually a production motorcycle with a radial engine - the German Megola, with 5 cylinders.

The Megola was also the only front wheel drive motorcycle I've come across. Their solution to starting, clutching, and shifting was interesting.