Engine Dissection Report

The engine dissection report should be a professional document. You must use a word processor. Your report may contain graphs, tables or drawings which will clarify the text. The text should be three to five pages. Be sure to reference all ideas, equations, figures or quotes that you take from other sources.

The general goal of this report is to convey to the reader (1) a general idea of how the engine operates, and (2) a detailed account of your observations on how the details of the design support the overall function of the engine. The report should include the following sections:

1.0 Introduction

This section briefly lays out the exercise to be performed. After reading this section, the reader should know in broad terms what you did, and your goal in doing this. (For example, you tore apart and rebuilt a small engine to understand how the design details support the overall operation of the engine.)

2.0 Procedure

This should be an overview of what you did, not a blow-by-blow description of each nut and bolt extracted. For example, this might describe how you ran the engine, the order of disassembly, the order of reassembly, and how you ran the engine again. You should include anything noteworthy, such as points where the suggested procedure list was in error or inadequate, and details that were not in the list that you felt the reader should know about. In other words, you are writing a road map that somebody can follow to repeat what you did.

3.0 Description of Major Subsystems

This section should describe how the details of the design support the function of the various subsystems. Again, remember that everything you see in the engine was put there for a purpose. Use the notes you generated in your journal to describe the intent of the designer behind each of the features. You will probably see some features whose function you do not understand, especially associated with the electrical system (we certainly did during our dry run!). Do not worry about these, but note them.

  • 3.1 Air/Fuel Subsystem

    This includes the systems for handling the air, fuel, and exhaust products. Note that since we did not dissect the carburetor, the description of this system will be abbreviated.

  • 3.2 Mechanical Drive Train

    This should include the piston, connecting rod, crankshaft, fly wheel, starter clutch, and valve train. This section should include a description of the timing system, using the fact that the spark fires when the magnet is near the armature. This should be the largest section of the report

  • 3.3 Lubrication Subsystem

  • 3.4 Cooling Subsystem

    Think about the purpose of the fins on the engine, the vanes on the flywheel, and the shrouds.

  • 3.5 Electrical Subsystem

    Again, you are not expected at this point to understand all the details of the electrical ignition system, but go as far as you can in explaining the key features, and identify those features that you do not understand. How does the system that turns the engine off work?

    • 4.0 Conclusion

    Bring out the major points you feel are worth emphasis.

    Report Grading:

    1. Engine Dissection Discussion -- 40%
    2. Description of Major Subsystems -- 40%
    3. Report Presentation -- 20%