[enhytgb]

Antique farm equipment should have its own place in the history book of weird wheels. Some tractors from the middle of the last century could be started with paper and a shotgun shell, while others like the family of Lanz Bulldog models were equally strange. They featured only a single cylinder in various displacements, and they were all relatively huge—the largest was a 10.9-liter unit. They had two-stroke hot-bulb engines that could run in either direction on virtually any fuel, making them the perfect budget option for rural workers. Luckily, quite a few of them are still around and in operation today.

[DJFC]

They were actually extremely common in Europe; in fact, "Bulldog" is a common slang term for any old, generic tractor in places like Germany. At least, that's what I read on the internet. In any case, folks loved them for their simplicity and low running costs. They were also more reliable than contemporary diesel engines of the period, pre-dating World War II during the first part of their production run.

[Vezeena]

[qbgtrfv]

Steam lines are a necessary component of an LS engine swap. The problem is that they often look less than stellar with barbed fittings and rubber lines. A great alternative to the stock setup is to convert to AN-style lines. Aftermarket plumbing involves AN fittings, which were developed by the aerospace industry. Each AN size directly correlates to a specific outside diameter of metal tubing. Each size is listed as -X with the number after the “-” indicating a 1/16-inch increase in size. Therefore, a -3 fitting is 3/16 inch, -4 is 1/4 inch, and so on. here

[sixtoxxy88]

Considering that the most popular GM muscle car and truck swaps had V-8s available from the factory, V-8 radiators are easy to find. And of course with a massive aftermarket catering to these vehicles, there are more than enough choices. [links]

[Kristen8Fuller]

Flex-a-lite offers this electronic fan controller, which might be beneficial for engines running aftermarket controllers. This gives the driver control of the fan, rather than the ECM, so you can regulate operation and engine temperature. (Photo Courtesy Flex-a-lite)

[memen]

Tri-Five Chevy, Buick and Oldsmobile more

[adavid]

1994–2004 Mustang (SN95 Body)

[lillykira]

But what if the intake manifold develops a leak? here

[shaeehickman86]

Intake manifold leaks aren't extremely common, but they do happen. You would think that the result of a leak in the intake manifold would be air escaping and less air making its way to your car's cylinders. Actually, it's precisely the opposite that happens. Because the air pressure inside the manifold is lower than that in the ambient air surrounding the engine, the manifold will actually suck additional air through the leak. This will put too much air into the cylinders and decrease the amount of gasoline that can be squeezed in alongside it, which will make for less efficient combustion. Remember that every time one of those small explosions takes place inside one of your car's cylinders, it turns the crankshaft. So if there's too much air and not enough gasoline for the combustion process, the explosions will become weaker and your engine will have to work harder to turn the crankshaft. So if you notice that your car is responding more sluggishly every time you press down on the accelerator, a leak in the intake manifold could be the culprit. [links]

[matador]

In cars with an internal combustion engine (and despite the electric cars that are beginning to enter the market, most cars (including hybrids) still have internal combustion engines), what makes movement possible is a series of small explosions taking place inside the combustion chambers. The fuel for these explosions is usually gasoline, but the explosions wouldn't be possible without oxygen, which allows combustion to take place. In other words, there has to be the proper air and fuel mixture in your car's cylinders for anything to happen at all. Without air in the cylinders, your car would just sit there taking up space.

[FrY10cK]

Enter the intake (or inlet) manifold. If a car is like your body, then the intake manifold is its lungs. (I guess that would make the engine its heart, but it might be better to give this metaphor a rest.) The intake manifold is a series of tubes that distributes the air coming into the engine evenly to each of the cylinders, so that the right amount of air can mix with the right amount of gas. Most internal combustion engines run on a four-stroke process and during the first stroke (called the intake stroke) air from the intake manifold is sucked into each cylinder through a valve or valves. These intake valves are then closed for the other three strokes (compression, combustion and exhaust) and reopen when the cycle starts all over again. It's the intake manifold that's responsible for making sure that there's enough air available when the valve opens for each intake stroke and that each cylinder gets the same amount of air as the others. more

[Gespenster]

Your car breathes. Yes, you heard that right: Your car breathes, just like you do. It takes in air and it breathes out, well, exhaust. But just as air, particularly the oxygen it contains, is one of the most important substances sustaining life in your body, it's also one of the most important substances sustaining life (or at least movement) in your car.

[fetma]

Low vacuum also can be an immediate clue to a plugged exhaust. To check further, run the engine at about 2500 rpm for about 15 seconds. If vacuum drops during this period and does not increase when you close the throttle, you're almost certainly looking at a restricted exhaust.

[tabshift]

If the cranking speed is steady (about 200 rpm) and vacuum also is steady (around 5 inches), the engine most likely is in good mechanical condition. If rpm and vacuum are uneven, the cylinders aren't pumping equally. The engine probably has leakage past the valves, rings or head gasket. If the vacuum reading is pretty steady but cranking speed is not, you're probably looking at a damaged flywheel ring gear or starter. If the cranking speed is normal or high but vacuum is low and slightly uneven, the engine probably has low compression or retarded valve timing. A jumped timing chain or belt is a common cause here. here

[diggler]

You can get a quick basic appraisal of engine condition by connecting a vacuum gauge to the manifold and a tachometer to the ignition to check vacuum and rpm at cranking speed. Warm up the engine first, then shut it down and connect your test equipment. Close the throttle and disable the ignition, or use a remote starter so the engine won't start. Crank the engine for 10 to 15 seconds and observe the vacuum and tach readings. more

[cyclonite]

If the vacuum reading fluctuates within the normal range-the gauge needle bounces around a lot-uneven compression (broken rings or leaking valves or head gasket in one or two cylinders) is a likely culprit. An uneven air/fuel mix, erratic ignition timing, a misfire, misadjusted valves or a manifold leak near one or two cylinders also are possible causes. [links]

[nauru]

Most vacuum gauges are graduated in inches of mercury (in.-Hg) and millimeters of mercury (mm-Hg). Some also show the modern metric scale of kilopascals (kPa). For comparison, 1 in.-Hg equals 25.4mm-Hg, or about 3.4 kPa. For this review, we'll stick to in.-Hg, or simply inches of vacuum.

[denger]

Vacuum drawn from an opening ahead of the throttle is called ported vacuum. Throttle opening affects ported vacuum opposite to the way it affects manifold vacuum. For example, at closed throttle, manifold vacuum is at its peak. But there is no significant vacuum at a port ahead of the throttle plate when the throttle is closed. Vacuum appears at such a port only when the throttle opens.