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Knowing everything about everything

Mister

Mister

Member
Hey everyone. Well, I'm young guy of 20 years, full of energy and vinegar. However, although my youth and inexperience may be my downfall in life, I still have a passion for figuring out how things work. I'm love cars and motorcycles, as well as planes etc, but I've never gotten the chance of figuring out how they truly work. Don't get me wrong, I know what an engine is, but I'd like to know everything, specific engines for example, (Hemi, twin cams - what these things mean in the auto community etc) and what makes them go vroom vroom. I want to learn as much as I can, starting with the absolute basics.

If anyone has any sites, links, or any suggestions on basic books that I can rent from my local library, that would help me better understand mechanics, that would be great. Thanks for reading, hope this isn't asking much, but you got to start somewhere right?

Again, thanks for the read,
-Mister
 
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Google any of the items you mentioned above and there is a wealth of information.
Oh to be twenty again...
 
Have you checked w/local college & technical training centers on vehicle repair/maint. courses? If not - go to your ed center & talk to a counselor...courses could be free (tuition assistance)...good luck!
 
"How stuff works.com" is a pretty good place to learn the basics of a lot of things, and they have some good animations. When you do an online search use words like "basic" or "specific" to narrow your results. I'm 3+ times your age, and still learning every day.
 
Might start with some basics on how to handle and operate a motorcycle like a MSF course. Even though you do not have a bike yet that might be your first concern....
 
Many years ago when i was a young lad and got my first motorcycle it broke after a few days my father helped me repair it although i did not understand what we were doing or why but it did involve splitting a crank case on the kitchen table
i went to the library and got out books and read them the more information the books gave me the more questions appeared in my head and as technology moves on then so nearly 40 years later i am learning every day lots more questions to be answered
I do not think that anyone will ever have the answer to everything so it is best to look at one part of the technical subject and get to know it and your head will lead you from there

Brian
 
Your still young enough to read much, check out Amazon books. Buy a Harley Manual and look over it as well. A gas engine is really kinda simple in theory. You got pistons sliding up and down inside cylinders. The pistons are hooked to a rod which is hooked to a crankshaft which transfers the power to whatever. The heads are bolted on top of the cylinders to cap the whole affair off. You have a chain or gear driven cam with lobes on it that open the valves to each cylinder at a specific time let in fuel mix and let out exhaust gases. And you have the intake mechanism of Air/Fuel injection and the Electrical ignition that sparks the mix and drives the piston home.

Of course you may find some of those seemingly elusive labels are really just simple explanations. For instance Hemi is short for the Hemispherical shaped combustion chamber on an engine head. Not sure but believe Chrysler Corp first mass produced it back in the late 1960's in their Dodge Charger automobile. And twin cams, well that means a couple of cams installed side by side. In Harley's case one cam for each jug. (A jug is a cylinder or bank of an Engine). Of course there are other jugs like a jug of wine which won't break the bank (of another kind) as bad.

Good luck with your quest.
 
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