A garage for a car enthusiast is not only a roof over the car but also a place where you spend quite a lot of time yourself: you need to touch up the body, change the oil, or even tackle serious repairs. That is why rational planning of the space and sensible organization of the Read more…
When I bought a used passenger car and started repairing it, my first helper in the garage became… a hoist I built under the ceiling. Without it I would hardly have managed, for example, such a difficult operation to do alone as replacing the engine. Figure 1 shows the hoist placement in the garage — Read more…
I suggest motorists equip themselves with a shallow inspection pit that lets you repair a car while seated. It takes far less effort and material than building any “full-depth” equivalent — and it is comfortable to work in. The mini pit has two parts: a ramp pit with a sloped end (you slide under the Read more…
To begin with, I suggest that car‑enthusiast readers run a small experiment. Next time you drive out of town, stop on a high‑speed stretch of highway and watch the passenger cars rushing past. In fact, you shouldn’t so much watch as listen. After fifteen minutes you’ll learn to recognize the main car makes by ear: Read more…
The journal has already reported on the advantages of rotary valve gas distribution in two-stroke internal combustion engines («M-K» No. 11 for 1974 and No. 10 for 1977). Here are their advantages in brief: achieving the highest specific power and fuel economy of the engine, improving starting and simplifying the cylinder design (no intake ports Read more…
Camber and toe-in of a passenger car’s wheels can be adjusted very accurately without going to a service station. You only need some basic metalworking skills and simple tools to make your own set of devices for this adjustment—simple and convenient to use. Consider as an example the VAZ 21063. The distance between the centres Read more…
In the second issue of “M-K” for 1976, I read an article “Electronics on a Motorcycle” about an electronic ignition system. It has a DC to AC voltage converter. This circuit requires a battery to operate. Many owners of motorcycles such as “Voskhod”, “Minsk” would like to equip their machines with electronic ignition, but they Read more…
Winter has arrived, and the flow of motor vehicles on the highways of our country has noticeably thinned. The fleet of cars and motorcycles belonging to individual owners is almost completely put away for the winter. There are many reasons for this, but one of the main ones is the mismatch between automotive “footwear” — Read more…
Many motorists, especially owners of domestic cars, have experienced all the “joys” of winter operation of their beloved “steeds” firsthand. A particular “pleasure” is bringing the heart—the “fiery engine”—back to life after a frosty night. I own a giant of Russian automaking—the Oka—so all my thoughts and efforts went into developing a system that would Read more…
With the help of articles in the magazine «Modelist-Konstruktor», I built myself a universal power tiller based on a Minsk motorcycle. It turned out to be a good, hard-working mechanical helper. Its basis, of course, is the standard motorcycle frame, shortened (as recommended by the magazine) and fitted with the power unit and a two-stage Read more…
