Awesome Engines

Compressed air can pack an impressive amount of energy in a small space. Brick Technology shows off how it can power LEGO Technic engines, then moves on to a brick-built, remote-controlled semi that’s powered by compressed air in the tanks that it’s towing. The custom pneumatic parts came from Green Gecko Workshop.

DisagrEE makes these cool stainless steel keychains for car enthusiasts. Each one is cut in the shape of the head gasket from an engine. They have keychains based on sports cars from BMW, Subaru, VW, Audi, Mazda, and more, along with beefier designs inspired by big diesel engines from trucks.

Typical LEGO machines use motors to directly drive gears or belts. Brick Technology shows us how LEGO parts can be assembled to move pistons to move a crankshaft, which spins gears attached to a wheel or propeller. They start out with a 1-cylinder engine and gradually ramp it up to a 12-cylinder radial airplane engine.

Cars in racing games don’t have the most realistic-sounding engine sounds. AngeTheGreat’s Engine Simulator not only can replicate the mechanisms and physics of a car engine, but it also produces realistic procedurally-generated sounds. You can grab the source code for Windows on GitHub.

Warped Perception has made several project vehicles that incorporate small turbojet engines. For this video, he built a custom transparent housing for one of the jets so we can see exactly how it works to create thrust. Along the way, he offers a great layperson’s explanation of jet propulsion systems.

Charged with moving the pistons in and out, a crankshaft is like the beating heart of an engine. While crankshafts need to be finished by machining, they start by forging and stamping steel, then twisting the molten metal to form the journals and counterweights that comprise this critical car part.

Typical V8 car engines start around a 4-liter displacement and go up from there. On the other hand, this minuscule engine from Toyan has a 0.028-liter displacement. JohnnyQ90 shows of this amazing fully-functional miniature power plant that runs on nitromethane, the same stuff used to power top fuel dragsters.

A hero’s engine is a spherical device that spins using steam pushed through a pair of opposing jets. Jimmy Kimmel Live regular “Science Bob”​ Pflugfelder created this unique version of the hero’s engine that spins up rapidly as liquid nitrogen vapors create the necessary pressure to get it spinning fast.

The way that steam engines can propel things using boiling water is pretty amazing. This video from How It’s Made takes us inside a factory that makes radial steam engines and shows not only how they come together, but how they work.

This insane vehicle is basically a ride-on V8 engine. Created by the guys behind Boss Hoss Motorcycles, the Hoss Fly Barstool is powered by a 9.37-liter Chevy big-block V8 that makes 621 horsepower. You can build your own from a kit, or you can buy this one at Mecum’s 2022 Houston auction, which runs from 3.31 to 4.2.2022.

Mechanical engineer Grant Takara created the perfect desk accessory for gearheads. This CNC-machined aluminum V8 engine block looks just like the real deal, except it’s designed to hold pens or pencils instead of pistons.

A normal turbo-jet engine runs entirely on ignited fuel. Integza built something a little different – a jet engine that uses an electric motor to spin its compressor. He made its main chambers out of empty butane cans, while its fuel source is a mix of butane and propane. Along the way, he built a low-budget spot welder.

After playing around with a gasoline-powered pogo stick you could buy in the 1970s, The Backyard Scientist wanted to see what other kinds of things you could add a gas engine to that don’t need one. So he took a tiny nitromethane-powered engine and revved up a desk fan, a USB charger, and a toothbrush.

Rolls-Royce shared this brief, but fascinating look at the process of building one of its Pearl 15 jet engines at their factory in Germany. Each engine is assembled by hand by a team of skilled mechanics out of thousands of individual components. This particular engine was later attached to a Bombardier Global 6500 business jet.

Simas1014 of Generic Woodworking likes to make working models of car engines from wood. Here, he shows off an impossibly tiny model of a V8 engine, complete with a working crankshaft, rods, and pistons that move. You’d need to measure this engine’s displacement in milliliters.

Green Gecko shows off an impressive LEGO Technic build which replicates the functionality of a V8 engine. Running on compressed air, it even sounds like a real engine as it starts to pick up speed towards its 1500 RPM redline. Like what you see? Buy the complete kit on the Green Gecko Workshop website.

LEGO builder Mad Brick created a working replica of the block, crankshaft, and pistons of a V12 engine. Then he lubed it up and connected the engine to a powerful motor, which spun up to as much as 40,000 RPM. It worked great until the pistons started flying.

Morris Models makes mechanical wooden models inspired by engines. They show how crankshafts, pistons, and other parts work in sequence to generate propulsion. They come in 7-cylinder, V-Twin, lawnmower, opposed aircraft, and Wankel rotary variants. They also make a model of a repeating weapon known as a Chu-Ko-Nu.

While stuck at home with some free time on his hands, car enthusiast Brian King aka AWDcutlass decided to rebuild a full-size GM LS V8 engine inside of a transparent acrylic shell. It’s pretty wild to see all the parts moving inside of it, and it looks especially awesome when he turns on the LED lighting. See Part 1 of the build here.

Plane Pieces’ drink coasters are a great gift for aviation enthusiasts. They’re made using authentic Pratt & Whitney gears from WWII radial airplane engines. Each one is encased in clear resin, surrounded with a machined aluminum outer ring, and has a protective bumper underneath. Sold individually, or in sets of four.

Old school Mazda fans will immediately recognize the Dorito-shaped rotor in the image here. For everyone else, what you’re looking at is an approximation of a Wankel rotary engine, built by LEGO machine maker Akiyuki. For a lesson on how the real engine worked, Car Throttle has a nice simple explanation.

Ian Jimmerson shows off an impressive wooden model he built that demonstrates the inner workings of a 9-cylinder radial engine, like the ones used on some older airplanes. It’s really amazing how stable it is as it gets up to speed. Check out his in-depth explainer videos here and here.

You could have a steam train, if you’d just lay down your tracks. Russian railroad enthusiast Pavel Chilin took Peter Gabriel’s advice literally, and built himself a working steam train engine that runs along a set of narrow-gauge tracks in his backyard. Additional footage here.