28/06/2019 - taking Valves out

Today we looked through all the responses to our survey, there were sixteen in total. We looked at how many people got questions right. Most people got the multiple choice questions right but when we asked them to name a part of the engine not many people got those right. We put the information on the extra information slideshow. We have decided that we will add some images to the manual so people can see what the part actually looks like. This should make the manual easier to understand since people don't seem to know what the parts look like. We also went to the workshop in block three. We took the intake and exhaust valves back out. This was a step back. Our engine is still fully disassembled. Next week Mike Vita may come in so that we can use the cylinder hone to get rid of the lip on the cylinder. We will definitely do some work over the holidays. We will get as much work as possible done over the holidays. if this does not happen next week we will use the cylinder hone and get rid of the lip, replace the piston rings, but the paste on the valves, clean all the surfaces so we can replace the gaskets, and reassemble some of the parts. Next week we will probably start cleaning the surface and if Mike Vita can come in we will get rid of the lip. 


This is a cylinder hone                                                                                           Piston rings

26/06/2019 - Wednesday

Today we read through the six responses on the survey and every person so far got the first question right. Ms Cooney sent the questions to both our verticals so we are hoping to get more responses. We also got the parts. The gaskets and piston rings arrived. On Friday we will go and clean the engine so that we can replace the gaskets. Mike Vita may come in on Friday. If he does we will probably replace the piston rings. He also may bring a cylinder hone. We will use this to get rid of the small lip above the piston in the cylinder. As well as sending the survey to our verticals Luca and I both sent it to a few of our friends. We also decided that if Mike Vita is not available Luca will take the engine and some of the parts home. He will photograph everything. We will add the parts we put back on onto the engine disassembly process after the holidays. If mike Vita is available Luca may not have to take the engine home.

Taking the piston back out 21/06/2019

Today we took the piston back out. We did this because one of the parts we have to replace is the piston rings. We have to take the piston out so we can replace them. The parts have still not arrived but we hope they will arrive by next Wednesday. We also created a survey to test people engine knowledge. The questions were things like a photo and asking what it was. When the parts arrive we will continue the reassembly. On Wednesday if the parts have arrived we will continue the reassembly. We will use the responses to help us make our manual helpful.

What parts we ordered 19/06/2019

Today we created a slideshow called extra information. On this, we put what help we got from Mike Vita and the parts he ordered so that we can get the engine going again. The parts we are getting are new piston rings, spark plug, and some of the gaskets. We also added our impact on the community on that slideshow. On Friday we are going to take the piston back out so when they arrive we can put the piston rings back in. We will also clean some of the parts MIke Vita told us two. We also might try to get the torn piece of the screw out of the hole it is stuck in.

14/06/2019 Finding what parts need to be replaced

Today Mike Vita Luca's dad came to school to help us figure out what parts we would need to replace to get the engine to work. The reason he came is because he studied to become a mechanic so he is an expert. Yesterday he went to ynot repairs and spoke to the person who gave us the lawn mower engine. He could not quite remember the model number so while Mike was here at school he took a photo of the model number on the engine so that he can show the person at ynot's. The parts we need to get replaced are the piston rings, some of the gaskets and the spark plug. He also said we need to give some of the components a really good clean. We also showed him the four and two-stroke, engine models. Seeing this reminded us to write up the difference. On the engine parts slideshow, we added a slide that explains the difference between a four-stroke and two-stroke engine. We also asked Jeroen if he would test our manual in a couple of weeks when we have put enough things back in that he can actually take off something. We will see if we can get the parts in Gisborne and if we can hopefully get them by Wednesday. If we can not get them within a reasonable time then we will just continue the reassembly.

12/06/2019 Deciding if we are going to get the engine running

Today we spent some time deciding if we are going to get the engine running. The problem is until we decide everything gets put on hold. We can not keep reassembling the engine because if we do and then we decide to replace the piston rings we would have to reassemble the whole thing. My Dad is unable to go to town for the next week so Luca will talk to his Dad tonight and see what they can do. If they can not get the parts we will not do it. The chances of us getting the parts and getting the engine going are unlikely. We are not sure if we will be able to get the parts in Gisborne or how much they will cost. And while we are trying to figure this all out we still can not continue reassembling the engine. So if we do not get the parts in the next two weeks we will not do it. We will ask Jeroen if he will help us test our old manual when we have enough parts on that he can actually try to disassemble some of the parts. We will reassemble all the complicated, fragile, important parts.

7/06/2019 Stem B Putting Piston Back In

Today we spent some time creating a google drawing that has a list of some of the people we may ask to test our manual by disassembling parts of the engine. We went to the workshop and while we were there we put the piston back in. It was very difficult to put back in it required three people. We had to use screwdrivers to push the three rings in so that the piston would fit inside the combustion chamber. While two people were using screwdrivers to push the rings one of us would use the end of a screwdriver and gently hit the top of the piston so that it would slide back in. We also sprayed some silicone spray around the piston and combustion chamber to make it slide more easily. While we were doing this one of the rings broke because it was old and brittle. Also, the spring inside the ring was not in the correct place so we had to use a screwdriver to get the spring back in the right place. We also learned about the purpose of the three rings which we wrote about in the engine parts stem B slideshow in our Stem B google drive.  Mr. Venter also told us that if we wanted to get the engine working we would have to replace the piston rings and a few gaskets. So over the weekend we will both talk to our parents and decide if we will bother replacing the parts. We will go to the shop where we got the lawnmower engine to see if they have the parts and how much they cost. If they do not have the parts or they are too expensive we will just assemble it and not get it working. But we need to do this soon because we can't put any more parts on because then we will have to reassemble the whole thing again to put the gasket and other things back in. We also wrote some questions for the people who will test our manual for feedback on the Google drawing with the names.

Stem B 5/06/2019 Putting intake and exhaust valves back on

Today we updated our engine parts slideshow we added the parts we have learnt about while we disassembled it. We also went to the workshop and put the intake and exhaust valves back on the one cylinder lawn more engine. It took a while because we accidentally put the exhaust valve in the place of the intake valve so we had to change them around. On Friday we are going to put the piston back in the engine. We are going to but all the components from the engine block back in and then we will let the people testing our manual disassemble some of the parts outside the engine block.