I have finally taken an engine apart to see what’s inside and how it works. I can officially call myself a “car guy” now haha!
I made a video documenting the tear down and explanation:
Here’s a few photos of the process.
The engine is the 1ZZ-FE with VVT from my 2001 Toyota Corolla:
Valve covers pulled:
Timing cover pulled:
Camshaft removed:
Headbolts are double hex, 10mm, but you can use a regular hex to break them free. They’re on there tight!
Long headbolts
Flipped over, with the oil pan off, you can see the oil pickup tube and the crankcase
Block with head removed. Carbon buildup on pistons, but the cylinder walls look fine
Underside of the head. You can see this engine has 4 valves per cylinder with the spark plug in the center.
Oil pump runs off the crankshaft:
Crank case removed:
All aluminum crankshaft. Five points in between are the main bearings. Holes are drilled into the connecting rod bearings to those main bearings so it can be lubricated with oil.
Piston has 3 rings – two compression, and one oil ring.
Timing chain cover has a hydraulic tensioner
Just for fun I “tried” cutting the engine block in half.
But I gave up after I got this small chunk out of it.
The crankshaft sounded hollow, so I tried cutting it and it cut pretty easy.
Its actually aluminum. I thought it would be steel or some kind of iron, but that would make it even heavier than it already is.
And that’s all the parts on a Corolla engine…pretty simple isn’t it?
This was just a tear down for a fun learning experience. I don’t have plans to put this thing back together.
I made a video documenting the tear down and explanation:
Here’s a few photos of the process.
The engine is the 1ZZ-FE with VVT from my 2001 Toyota Corolla:
Valve covers pulled:
Timing cover pulled:
Camshaft removed:
Headbolts are double hex, 10mm, but you can use a regular hex to break them free. They’re on there tight!
Long headbolts
Flipped over, with the oil pan off, you can see the oil pickup tube and the crankcase
Block with head removed. Carbon buildup on pistons, but the cylinder walls look fine
Underside of the head. You can see this engine has 4 valves per cylinder with the spark plug in the center.
Oil pump runs off the crankshaft:
Crank case removed:
All aluminum crankshaft. Five points in between are the main bearings. Holes are drilled into the connecting rod bearings to those main bearings so it can be lubricated with oil.
Piston has 3 rings – two compression, and one oil ring.
Timing chain cover has a hydraulic tensioner
Just for fun I “tried” cutting the engine block in half.
But I gave up after I got this small chunk out of it.
The crankshaft sounded hollow, so I tried cutting it and it cut pretty easy.
Its actually aluminum. I thought it would be steel or some kind of iron, but that would make it even heavier than it already is.
And that’s all the parts on a Corolla engine…pretty simple isn’t it?
This was just a tear down for a fun learning experience. I don’t have plans to put this thing back together.
