Yahoo Autos Watch a Teen Build a Functional Two-Stroke Engine Entirely From Scratch
What kind of hobbies were you tinkering with as a young college student? Maybe you were consumed by trying to keep a haggard old hand-me-down car running; perhaps you were so lucky as to have some kind of high-performance project car. Possibly, you were wholly dedicated to record-breaking consumption of beer and pizza.
Probably none of you were building a fully-functional two-stroke internal combustion engine out of scrap metal, by hand.
But that's exactly what young J. Joachim Hall has been doing with himself. A prolific tinkerer and college student, Hall's fantastic YouTube channel MakerJ101 showcases the many ingenious projects he's taken on in his home workshop since 2011. And this six-part series that culminates in a fully functional, white gas-powered two-stroke internal combustion engine is a perfect example of what Hall is capable of.
Just think of what goes in to a project like this. Most of us would get lost just trying to sketch out all the components needed to build something like this. But using nothing more elaborate than a drill press and a soldering iron, Hall created a single-cylinder two-stroke engine that actually runs and revs. The only off-the-shelf part involved is the spark plug. We'll give Hall a pass on that.
Hall's six-part video journal details every step of the process. Be warned: There's more than an hour of footage here. If you just want to see the payoff, click here to see the engine fire up for the first time. But you'll be missing out on a ton of truly brilliant basement engineering-and the unbridled excitement Hall can't contain when something goes right.
Seriously-set aside an hour or so and watch all six YouTube videos below. Maybe even show it to your kids. Who knows? They could just be inspired to build a tiny two-stroke of their own.
