Looking for a good engine tutorial

david0tey

david0tey

Line Up and Wait
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Fox-Three
As I was looking under the engine cowling during my preflight the other day, it hit me. I couldn't tell you what a lot of that stuff is! I have a basic understanding of how engines work (If I didn't, I wouldn't have passed my checkride). But I felt unworthy of piloting the aircraft without an in-depth knowledge of what was going on underneath the hood. Does anyone know of a good website to give me specifically what each part of an aircraft engine is. For example, I know what a carburetor is and I know what it does, but I have NO idea what it even looks like.
 
man-card.jpg


I kid.

Here's some for starters...this along the lines of what you're looking for?
http://www.pilotfriend.com/training/flight_training/fxd_wing/power.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPBWYnNojMo
 
Various hoses, belts, batteries and an oil catch funnel.
 
What you probably should do is get a mechanic or knowledgable CFI to go through it all with you there at the plane with the cowl off. That's something I do with all primary students. If it costs you the price of half an hour or an hour of their time to do it, it's money we'll spent, although if I'm just sitting around the airport, you could probably get me to do it in exchange for a good craft-brewed beer after we're done.
 
My club's owner did just that, for free, and just because he felt like instructing a bit. He likes to chat. Very useful.

It turns out that there are two maintenance shops right next to the club, and it's not unusual to have various aircraft with the cowlings removed lying around.

I wouldn't have trusted my instructor to know the difference between a spark plug and an oil dipstick (or, is that a 710 dipstick?).
 
Throttle body, manifold, battery, alternator/generator, oil filter, muffler, starter, various gas lines and oil lines, and the air intake tube are the things I see in the photo. Well not really sure if that is the starter I'm seeing up on top aft of the engine but it sure looks like one.


The good thing is most everything on the plane engine you can see by opening up the hood of the car.
 
Don't worry about knowing the names of everything. Just follow the pipes. Each cylinder is an air pump. Air goes in. Fuel goes in. Exhaust goes out. Most of the stuff you're looking at relates to moving air, fuel, or exhaust.

The rest is stuff to send electricity to the spark plugs (you need that stuff) or stuff to make electricity to power gadgets (that stuff is unnecessary).

Think about what goes in and what comes out and you'll have a good understanding of what you're looking at without knowing what the parts manual calls a specific piece. And that puts you a leg up on the many people who can name parts have no idea what they do.
 
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