It's common for homeowners to have 2- or 4-cycle small engines in their lawn and garden equipment, utility vehicles, recreational vehicles, generators and other machines. With this easy-to-follow, richly illustrated handbook, homeowners will be able to understanding small engines, troubleshooting them and working on them. The book has a brief history of significant and popular small engines and a guide to setting up a home workshop in which to work on them. It also includes case studies on the disassembly, maintenance, repair and/or rebuilding of: a 2-stroke lawnmower engine, a 4-stroke utility motor, a 2-stroke chainsaw engine, and a curbside junker. The writing is lively and entertaining and the color photos clearly show how to work on these useful engines.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Entertaining read about old small engine history:
I found this book very entertaining. I really enjoyed it. It was not what I expected. I bought it hoping it would be a good book to explain the basics of small engines to my 12 year old son. It is not a good book for that. There is clearly a focus on history and older pieces of equipment. The author seems particularly enamored with old 2 cycle engines.
Very interesting, But...:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I read it cover to cover in a short amount of time. However the title is rather misleading. This is definitely not a technical manual. If you have an old engine that wont run, this is not the book to help. It covers very basic workings of engines. I did find the book to be an excellent starting place for one interested in tinkering with old engines as a hobby. It inspired me to go ahead and give it a shot. After reading it I have proceeded to buy other more technical... more info
Excelletn overall review of vintage small engines:
Peter has a wonderful Folksy way of bringing his enthusiasm for a wide range of small engines to us. If you want lots of color pictures and copies of small engine adds you remember from your youth, or if you are looking for some info about that garage sale find, or if you just want to learn a great deal about a range of small engines, THIS IS THE BOOK. Lots of good practical advice as to how to fix and restore, as well as just collect. Tools, methods, gaskets Do's and Dont's ........ Even just fun to read... more info
