Haynes Combustion Engine

(Tested out on a willing participant aged 12 years old)

Anyone who knows anything about cars has heard of Haynes and their manuals for repairing cars so we expected something of high quality and simple to understand. Overall it delivered. Inside the box was a mini Haynes manual style explanation of how a car engine works. Anyone who has ever tried to explain how a car engine works knows that this is not an easy task. The manual managed to hit just the right balance between getting all the principles across and making it too complicated. It also has a short dictionary of engine terms which was very helpful. The kit comes in sealed plastic bags with the clear instruction to only detach one part at a time when you need it. Good advice as parts are not individually numbered. We did have a problem because one of the springs was missing but a replacement was sent in the post in few days. The instructions were very easy to follow and in spite of having to insert 67 screws it was completed in two evenings and gave the Wii some time off. The only challenging bit was the fitting the camshaft and the instructions need to be a bit clearer about how to do this.

As it is a working engine the instructions spelled out very clearly "do not try to put petrol or engine oil in the model" . As if... To make sure that the pistons actually worked without destroying themselves you have to use vegetable oil. When the model is complete you can see all the moving parts and it even has lights on the spark plugs that you have to set up in the right firing sequence to get the engine to run. When you have completed the kit just connect it to the supplied electric motor, press the starter and watch the engine run. Fascinating. I've never seen anything like this kit before and would highly recommend it for any youngster interested in cars and how things work. It's not the cheapest product but I'd say it was definitely worth the money. The box says from 10 upwards and I would not recommend it for anyone under 10.

Bought this engine for my 8 year old daughter who wanted to know how car engines worked.

Suffered the same confusion as the first reviewer, the instructions are not that clear regarding the timing 'cog' but it does go on and works well once you work it out!

I thought it was a great project and my daughter now knows haw a car engine works.

Now trying to find the Jet engine .....

Although this product is aimed at children and teaching them how engines work it was still fun for an early 20s guy and his dad to play with on a sunday afternoon.
There are some fiddly parts, especially the timing belt which took a little while to get right, but once it is done it is quite impressive to see it going like a real engine. I certainly learnt a lot about how engines work from this.
I would definitely recommend this to someone else, either as a gift or as something to play with themselves! I still love turning it on and watching it run and is a great product.