Haynes Build Your Own Internal Combustion Engine

Product Information

At least that is truly a working model, and can actually be used for something - like pumping water.

It turned over as promised, though the nature of the plastic pieces made it far from smooth when it ran — this is no Mercedes-AMG V8. The model engine looks great on display, housed in its plastic transparent casing but add 3x AA batteries and you will now have a V8 engine where the spark plugs light up, the pistons move up and down and the crankshaft rotates. Most purchases from business sellers are protected by the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 which give you the right to cancel the purchase within 14 days after the day you receive the item. Many small parts (screws and valve components in particular) so it needs to be put together on a tray.

It doesn’t require any special tools or even glue to assemble and once it is fully assembled, the battery-powered engine model can be turned on to reveal moving parts, lights and sounds. It requires several hours of your time to assemble but is great fun and the interactive app adds to the fun and is very educational. Some mention that it works well and looks good, while others say that construction can lead to an almost functioning model, which can be frustrating. Part of what drives our brand is our strong network of official licensees, who share in our do-it-yourself ethos. Disclosure: I received this item for free for the purposes of writing an honest and impartial review.

The best that can be said for it is that my 9 yr-old grandson learned to tighten screws gently to avoid breakages, but even his grandmother (who has a PhD in Physics) found assembly frustrating. Did you have any difficulty with the manifold, mine seemed to be very reluctant to clip into placeMake are you're putting it in the right hole I had the same problem, bit of persuasion and in it went. The build quality was not great and I swear (despite many attempts and double checking) that the cam timing is totally wrong (ok being a bit pedantic but its a critical part of an engine)and the spark plug lights also seem to be have the wrong timing.If you don’t know what any of that means, you will do by the end of the assembly, and you will have a newfound appreciation for the complexity of an internal combustion engine. We did make a couple of mistakes towards the end, however: the rocker shafts had somehow been assembled the wrong way around on one bank of cylinders, and the ignition timing was surprisingly fiddly and required some initiative to sort out. Unmissable reviews marking his first 20 years at the Sunday Times Clarkson's first review: Aston Martin Vantage Our favourite Clarkson review: Bugatti Veyron 16.

Some mention that they had one issue with the motor not fitting correctly, and that the distributor was hard to fit.

Now as an adult I enjoy helping the kids – when they were younger it was simple marble runs that got more complex and now LEGO sets (which the kids display rather than play with). Although the instructions for assembling the valve train quickly bought back teenage memories of being covered in muck and swearing at an incomprehensible Haynes manual it made perfect sense once I threw the manual aside and just assembled the damn thing from first principles - P14 if you're wondering. This is a free download which then gives an interactive experience with exploded views of the engine, animations of five key components and detailed descriptions of 11 engine parts. Some mention that it's brilliant and easy to put together, while others say that the instructions are difficult to follow, the parts are not machined well to enable easy assembly, and the instructions were written with children in mind. Haynes is one of the most recognised publishing and specialist automotive brands in the world thanks to our famous repair manuals.