It is always great to see people trying things on their own and experimenting with different concepts. It if wasn’t for people’s ingenuity, society wouldn’t have most of what it has. In fact, America itself was pretty much built on this principle and as a society, we would have to say we are doing pretty good (politics aside).
Late in the 1800’s, if it wasn’t for people experimenting with engines, our society would probably be running on steam and we would live in a very different world. But today, when most people experiment with engines, they are generally experimenting with modifying parts that make up an engine. It is extremely rare that you hear of someone building and/or designing an engine from scratch themselves.
Sure, companies are constantly designing new engines and coming up with extremely creative ways to achieve what they have. If you just take a few steps back and think about where a diesel engine was 20 years ago, you should be pretty impressed. If you look back even further, say 30 years ago, holy cow, have we progressed leaps and bounds.
Some of the conversations that we hear from OEM engine designers regarding emissions are 8 and 10 years out (to start). Companies are literally working on engine designs and developing new processes that we as consumers won’t see for close to 15 years. We are talking 2030! That is amazing.
But what about the car guy, who isn’t happy with anything being offered today, or wants to tinker around and create their own engine? I cannot tell you the last time I spoke with someone who was building an engine from scratch in their garage. Engines are just complicated pieces of equipment and it seems like most of us are more content modifying than creating.
So, when we came across this little beauty, we had to share it. Yeah, it isn’t perfect, but it is a home built, from scratch, diesel engine! The bore is a whopping 1.1875 inches and the stroke is 1.5 inches. With this being a four cylinder engine, that roughly translates to 6.65 cubic inch engine! (0.10897 Liters)
The little 4 cylinder is actually running pretty good and you can tell they put a lot of time and effort into this. The video is 3 minutes long and the radiator seems to be cooling the coolant enough that the engine isn’t overheating. All said and done, this is pretty spectacular. (Click here to see the 2 cylinder engine he, also, built)