What effect can switching engines between a bigger car and a smaller car have? For instance, what effects would there be if you switched a Subaru engine with a Vitz engine? Well, experts say if technology and power are matched, then there is a fair likelihood that both cars will function well and because of this, you can by-pass a petite woman in shades cruising a Vitz with a turbo engine that will leave pedestrians in shock and awe. However, while switching car engines can work for some cars, it can be challenging to others.
To begin with, people switch car engines if the engine of a particular car cannot be found or when it is damaged. It can also happen if someone wants some kind of modifications on their car. When switching car engines, you might find the new engine is much smaller than the previous one hence forcing the mechanics to modify crucial engine parts such as mounting, gearbox, bell-housing and drive shafts, which translates into more costs and vehicle instability.
Similarly, sometimes the challenges in fitting engines fails during mounting. For example, if you want to mount a Range Rover Sport engine into a Land Rover, it might fail to fit because of a mismatch since the cars are of different makes and models. In such cases, the problem could be in failure of the gear box or general driving system of the car as a result of mismatch and power demands for the two cars.
Engine swaps also affect the handling and braking system of a car since, in most cases, the replaced engine tends to be lighter or heavier than the existing one hence affecting the amount of weight on the axles. This, therefore, ends up greatly affecting the car’s existing brakes and may lead to premature wear and tear of the suspension units.
The drive terrain also changes since people fit four wheel drive engines into two wheel drive cars or change smaller engines with low power output into a bigger car designed to produce a high torque. This can increase the car’s fuel consumption.
Explaining how the car engine works
Car engines are built around a set of “cooking pots” called cylinders (usually anything from two to twelve of them, but typically four, six, or eight) inside which the fuel burns. The cylinders are made of super-strong metal and sealed shut, but at one end they open and close like bicycle pumps: they have tight-fitting pistons (plungers) that can slide up and down inside them. At the top of each cylinder, there are two valves (essentially “gates” letting things in or out that can be opened and closed very quickly). The inlet valve allows fuel and air to enter the cylinder from a carburetor or electronic fuel-injector; the outlet valve lets the exhaust gases escape. At the top of the cylinder, there is also a sparking plug (or spark plug), an electrically controlled device that makes a spark to set fire to the fuel. At the bottom of the cylinder, the piston is attached to a constantly turning axle called a crankshaft. The crankshaft powers the car’s gearbox which, in turn, drives the wheels.
