1.

Engine Block

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Engine block is an important parts of an engine. It is made by pouring the molten iron or aluminum
alloy into a mold. The mold is made such that we should have required number of holes in the casted
block, which are said to be the number of cylinders of an engine or engine cylinders. The diameter of
these holes is called the bore of an engine.

We have some more holes along the length of engine cylinder, these are water and oil flow paths
required for cooling and lubrication of an engine. Oil paths or vents are rather narrower than water
flow vents.

What else we have in an engine block is semi-circular seats. On these seats half part of thrust
bearings (thrust bearings come in two parts) are mounted, then we place crankshaft in these thrust
bearings. But we still need to hold crankshaft to the engine block, to do that we have bearing-caps.

Bearing-caps have a semi-circular seat for other half part of thrust bearing. To mount the bearing-cap
with engine block we use studs and nuts. One threaded end of stud goes into internal threaded hole in
engine block, and other threaded end of stud goes into hole in bearing-cap and we fasten them
together with nut. Two studs are used for holding one bearing-cap in place.

2. Piston

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Piston is a cylindrical structure with a flat surface called crown at the top. Piston is the component
that moves up and down in an engine cylinder. Wait what it would cause?, friction if one cylinder
(piston) moving up and down in another cylinder? Yeah to overcome this problem groves are made
on the circumference of this cylindrical structure (piston). And we place rings in these groves called
piston rings. So now the whole cylindrical structure is not rubbing with engine cylinder and only
piston rings are in contact with engine cylinder thus reducing friction to a great extent.

Now how we go to use this up and down motion of piston, for that we need to know about 2 more
things that are connecting rod and wrist pin.

3. Connecting Rod

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It is an ‘I’ shape structure whose one end is connected to piston and other one to crankshaft. The
piston side end of connecting rod has hole in it. And we have also got a hole in piston’s cylindrical
structure just beneath the piston rings. So we align this hole with connecting rods hole and put a wrist
pin through it. Wrist pin act as a bearing and connecting rod can move like pendulum beneath piston,
though piston’s cylindrical structure is gonna limit its motion. To make sure that wrist pin should not
move from its position it is restricted by snap ring at both sides.

Other end of the connecting rod can be split into two parts. First is semi-circular journal bearing seat,
which is placed over crankshaft after installing the half part of journal bearing, in the seat. Other half
is journal bearing cap. These two parts are bolted together, holding crankshaft in between. Thus
piston is now connected to crankshaft through connecting rod.

4. Crankshaft
As name suggests it is designed in such a way to convert linear (up and down) motion of piston into
rotational motion. It works same as slider- crank mechanism. Material used for making crankshaft is
cast iron generally but we also use forged steel in high power engines where load on crankshaft is too
high.

Casting a crank-shaft seems to be an easy task, but it’s not. Once crankshaft is casted it is then
machined, which is not that easy considering its shape. Then after machining it requires proper
balancing to work properly.

You will generally find some random holes in crankshaft; these holes are for balancing the crankshaft
while rotating at high speed.

5. Crankshaft Casing or Oil Sump

It is also called as oil sump. It is a casing which is bolted to engine block, which covers engine from
bottom thus called crankshaft casing. It retains lubricating oil in it which is pumped to different
engine parts. Crankshaft has got small holes which spills oil towards piston, to remove piston heat
and lubricate the piston rings, so it also prevents oil from splashing. We have got a bolt at the bottom
of this casing from where we remove used lubricating oil during maintenance.

6. Engine Head

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Engine head is casted in the same way as engine block. Its mold is made such that the casted piece
must have an opening for air to flow into engine cylinder and an exhaust opening from where the
burnt gases will go out. This passage of air flowing in and going out of engine cylinder is controlled
by inlet and outlet valves. So engine head also has cylindrical holes to insert valve stem. Furthermore
to burn the air-fuel mixture we have to fire it up and how we gonna do that? Yeah we need a spark
plug which must produce a spark inside engine cylinder, for this we need cylindrical hole in engine
block to put spark plug into engine cylinder. We also have semi-circular seats casted in engine head
for camshaft bearings.

Before we discuss all the new terminology we have used to explain the engine block let’s just figure
out how engine head is attached to the engine block.

We have 4 internally threaded holes at the top of engine block. Threaded end of the stud gets
fastened up in engine block and we have 4 studs fasten up in the same way in the engine block, then
we put a gasket whose holes align with the engine block studs. We have 4 holes through the engine
head and they align with 4 fastened studs of engine block. So this way we fasten the engine block
and engine head with gasket in between together with help of stud and nut assembly.

7. Valves

As we have already know that they control the inlet and exhaust air to go into and out of engine
cylinder. Material used to make valves is nickel-chromium iron alloy. It can resist high temperature
and have great strength. Valve could be described in two parts- valve stem and valve head. As we
already know that we have got cylindrical hole in engine head for valve steam and we also have a
valve seat where valve head will rest in engine head. Valve is mounted upside down means valve
head is facing engine cylinder. It is so because when there would be high pressure in engine cylinder
it would press the valve head against its seat in engine head and thus pressure will be maintained at
best.

8. Camshaft
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It is a shaft with a number of cam profiles along its length. So it regulates the valves opening and
closing time. It does so by pressing the end of valve stem by its cam profile. But we still need a
mechanism which would return the valve back to its position once pressed by the cam profile of
camshaft. We have valve spring and bucket head tappet assembly for solving this problem.

Now as we have semicircular seats for bearings of camshaft. What retains it to be fixed in engine
head while rotating is cam-caps? They hold the other half of journal bearing and have two holes in
their casing through which we insert bolts and fasten them in internally threaded holes of engine head
thus we hold our camshaft between the casted journal seat in engine block and cam-caps and fasten
them up with long bolt.

9. Valve Spring and Tappet

Valve spring provides a self-returning mechanism when valve is not being pressed by camshaft. We
further have bucket type tappet covering the valve spring. The purpose of tappet is to provide smooth
surface for cam to press the valve spring or inlet and outlet valve. The arrangement is like we have
valve spring around valve stem and tappet mounted over that spring for smooth surface and camshaft
mounted just over it making the valve move up and down using its cam-profile.
10. Timing Belt

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Wonder how camshaft gets its rotational motion to regulate valves. Yeah it’s through timing belt
which transmits the motion of gear mounted at crankshaft called crank-gear, to the gear mounted at
camshaft. The ration of cam-gear to that of crank-gear is 2:1. So that camshaft would rotate only
once in two rotations of crankshaft. Timing belt is made up either from glass-fiber or Kevlar so it
does not worn-out easily.

11. Spark Plug

It is the parts of an engine that ignites the air-fuel mixture in the engine cylinder. It produces the
spark at right time by using electrical energy of battery. The basic working principle is that when we
have high electrical potential at one end and zero or negative potential at other end. And two ends
being real very close to each other, it produces an electric field so strong between them that it ionizes
the air molecules thus producing spark. And that is in the combustion chamber , It is made up of
titanium so that it can withstand a real high temperature generated by high electric potential
difference while producing spark.

12. Gasket

A wide variety of materials are used in making gaskets like Teflon, glass-fiber, silicon etc. It is
generally a paper like sheet which is placed between engine block and engine head. As we have
already discussed that we have both water and oil vents in engine block, so gasket gives insulation
from water or oil leaking into engine cylinder or air-fuel mixture from engine cylinder leaking out
from joint of engine block and engine head. Aluminum engine blocks are preferred over cast iron
because it expends more on heating thus compressing the gasket more, increases the workability of
gasket, thus reducing the chances of leakage.

13. Piston Rings

Yeah we have talked about them; they reduce friction between piston and cylinder walls. What else
they do?

Piston rings prevent the pressure created by burning of air-fuel mixture from leaking into crankcase.
Not only that piston rings scrap down the oil from cylinder walls which is spilled by crankshaft to
remove heat from piston. They also transfer heat of the piston to the cylinder walls which are being
cooled by water circulation through water vents.
Ques3

Introduction carburetor and types

of carburetors:
Carburetor and types of carburetors:
The carburetor is the most important item in the fuel system of spark
ignition engines. carburetor is attached between the fuel filter and the
induction manifold. If supplies the air-fuel mixture of varying proportions to suit
engine operating conditions.
The liquid fuel enters the float chamber of the carburetor. And the air enters
the air horn of the carburetor. Mixing of the fuel and air takes place when both
pass through the venturi in the mixing chamber of the carburetor. This air and
fuel mixture then goes to the intake manifold.
Carburetor:
A carburetor is a device for atomizing and vaporizing the fuel and mixing it
with the air in varying proportions to suit the changing condition of spark
ignition engines.
The air-fuel mixture so obtained from the carburetor known as the combustible
mixture.
The process of mixing the gasoline the fuel with air to get the combustible
mixture known as carburetor.

Understanding the terms vaporization and

atomization.
1. Vaporization- It is the change of state of the fuel from liquid to vapour.
 2. Atomization- It is the mechanical breaking-up of the liquid fuel into
small particles so that every particle of the fuel is surrounded by air.

To produce quick vaporization of the liquid fuel, it is sprayed into the air
passing through the carburetor. Spraying of the liquid turns it into many fine
particles so that the vaporization occurs almost instantly.
A carburetor supplies the air-fuel mixture of varying proportions to suit the
changing conditions of the engine. The mixture must be rich (have a higher
percentage of fuel) for starting, acceleration, and high-speed operation.
The mixtures should be mean (have a lower percentage of fuel) for operation
at intermediate speed with a warm engine.
The theoretically perfect mixture of air and gasoline contains 15 parts of air
and 1 part fo gasoline by weight.
An ideal carburetor passes the mixture of completely vaporized fuel and air, in
the proper proportion to the intake manifold and cylinder.
But in the present-day carburetors, the complete vaporization of fuel is not
achieved, due to the heavy nature of the fuel and other limitations. The heated
intake manifold and hot-spots in the manifold vaporise part of atomized fuel.
Even until the end of the compression stroke in the cylinder, the gasoline does
not vaporize completely. Although the heat and pressure during the
compression stroke are applied to it.

Types of Carburetors
The different types of carburetors are classified on the following basis:

1. According to the arrangement of the float chamber:

1. Eccentric
2. Concentric
2. According to the direction of air flow:
1. Downdraft.
2. Side draft.
3. Up draft.
4. Semi-down draft.
3. According to the number of units:
1. Single
 2. Dual
3. Four-barrel.
4. According to the type of metering system:
1. Air-bleed jet.
2. Metering rod type.
5. According to the types of venturi:
1. Plain venturi.
2. Double venturi
3. Vane venturi
4. Nozzle-bar venturi
5. Triple venturi.
6. According to the pressure above the fuel in the float chamber:
1. Unbalanced.
2. Balanced.
7. According to the type of power system:
1. Manually operated
2. Vacuum controlled.
8. According to the method of varying the mixture strength:
1. Constant choke carburetor.
2. Constant vacuum carburetor.

Types of typical Carburetor:

1. SU Carburetor
2. Solex Carburetor
3. Zenith Carburetor
4. Carter Carburetor

A Carburetor According to The

Arrangement of Float Chamber:
In eccentric float chamber types of carburetors, the float chamber is
placed at a side of the venturi tube.
In concentric float chamber types of carburetors, the float chamber is
paced around the venturi tube.
The eccentric float chamber type carburetor does not provide correct air-fuel
mixture when the vehicle is ascending a grade.
When the vehicle is running on a horizontal road, the level of the gasoline
in the float chamber and the discharge jet is normal, as at (A). The carburetor
correct air-fuel mixture to the engine.
When the vehicle is ascending or descending a grade, the carburetor is
tilted and the level of the gasoline changes in the discharge jet as at (b) and
(c). This causes too much or too little gasoline to be supplied by the jet giving
incorrect mixtures. The concentric float chamber type carburetors does not
have this difficulty.
The level of the gasoline in the discharge jet remains approximately constant,
which provides the correct air-fuel mixture to the engine in all positions of the
level.

The Carburetor According to the

direction of Air-Flow:
In downdraft carburetor types of carburetors, the air enters the top of the
carburetor rettor and leaves at the bottom, as in the figure.
A side-draft carburetor types of carburetors, the air enters the top of the
carburetor and leaves at the side, as at (b).

In updraft carburetor types of carburetors, the air enters the bottom or side
of the carburetor and leaves at the top, as in the figure.

The semi-downdraft carburetor types of carburetors, the direction of air

flow is inclined from top to bottom, as at (d).
In most passenger cars, the downdraft carburetor is used. This type of
carburetor, The gravity assists the flow of the mixture. Thus, the engine sucks
it better at lower speeds under load. the higher volumetric efficiency of the
engine is achieved. The location of the carburetor above the engine is more
accessible for inspection change or repair. A air entering the carburetor is
cooler.
Carburetor According to The
Number of Units:
Single barrel carburetor has only one barrel.
Dual barrel carburetor has two barrels, each containing a fuel jet, venturi
tube idling system, choke and throttle. It may have a single air inlet, choke and
float chamber, although it frequently has two floats one for each jet. It has only
an accelerating pump.
Usually, the passenger car engines of eight or more cylinders are provided
with of the dual carburetor having the dual intake manifold. Each barrel of the
dual carburetor feeds one branch of the intake manifold. This arrangement
provides uniform distribution of the fuel mixture to the cylinders.
Four the barrel, the carburetor is made up of two dual carburetor in one
unit. The primary side to a complete dual carburetor containing a choke, an
accelerating pump, a power valve and a complete main metering and idle
system. The secondary unit has its one float bowl and a dual carburetor main
metering system and idle system.

Carburetor According to The Type

of Metering System:
In the air bleed jet types of carburetors, the fuel is supplied to the main
discharge nozzle through the main metering jet at low speeds.
The air bleeds are connected to a vent tube located inside the main discharge
nozzle so that air is mixed with fuel as it is drawn into the carburetor venturi.

As the suction of the main discharge nozzle increases at higher speeds, more
air is drawn through the main air bleed and the correct air-fuel mixture is
maintained.
In the metering rod types of carburetors, the amount of fuel is controlled by
a rod which extends into the jet. The metering rod has three steps of different
diameter. Which opens the space in the jet through which the fuel passes.

The metering rod is connected to the throttle shaft by the suitable linkage. so
that it is raised when the throttle valve is opened and lowered when the
throttle valve is closed.
When the rod is raised up, it provides more area between the jet and the rod
and more fuel passes to match the flow of ait at high speeds.

Carburetor According to the type

of Venturi:
Different types and number of venturies are used in the carburetor design,
according to which the carburetors are classified.
The carburetor may have plain, double, vane, nozzle-bar and triple venturi.
Each type of the venturi is designed to provide the decreased pressure of air
flow so that it may draw fuel from the discharge jet.
Multiple venturies help to keep the fuel away from the carburetor walls to
reduce condensation.
Carburetors According to the
Pressure above the Fuel in the
float chamber
 If the pressure above the fuel in the float chamber is atmospheric
pressure, the carburetor is said to be unbalanced.
 If the pressure above the fuel in the float chamber is equal to the air
intake in the air horn, the carburetor is said to be balanced.

The balanced carburetor contains a balance tube and passages that connect
the air-horn with the top of the float chamber so that the pressure in the air
horn and the float chamber remains the same.
In the case, if the air intake is restricted by a clogged air cleaner, the mixture
ratio of the carburetor is not affected. Also, it prevents discharge of the fuel
through the pump discharges jet at high speeds.

Carburetor According to the Types

of Power System:
According to the type of power system, the carburetor may be either manually
operated or vacuum controlled.

 In the manually operated carburetor. the power jets for enriching the
mixture are operated by mechanical linkage to the throttle sahft.
 In vacuum controlled carburetor a vacuum controlled power jet
(called a step up system) is used for enriching the mixture.

When the engine is operating normally at cruising speed, no load, a high

vacuum is produced in the vacuum passages connected to the intake
manifold. It pulls the vacuum piston down against the spring so that it holds
the step up the rod in the step-up (power) jet to keep it closed.
When the engine is operating on load the intake manifold vacuum falls off,
and the spring pushes the piston up which raises the step up the rod out of
the jet to allow extra fuel to flow from the float chamber to the discharge
nozzle. The extra fuel supplements the normal supply furnished by the main
metering jet. Thus enriching the mixture.

Carburetor According to the

method of Varying the Mixture
Strength:
In the constant choke carburetor, the mixture strength is determined by the
varying depression of a fixed tube or venturi.

 Solex and zenith carburettor are of this type.

In the constant vacuum carburetor, depression in the choke tube is

reasonably constant. And the size of the jet is varied to provide the correct
mixture for all engine operating conditions.

 S.U. the carburetor is an example of a constant vacuum carburetor.