Did you know that hybrid cars have existed since the early 1900s?
We have been gifted a Haynes – Machine Works Kit so we can build our very own hybrid engine. The kit is intended to illustrate the way 4-cylinder internal combustion/electric hybrid engine works. The hybrid module attached to the engine is non-functional, but it uses fibre optic cables to illustrate the flow of electricity to the battery when the combustion engine is operating and charging. It shows how the battery discharges when the engine is operating using a combination of combustion/electricity or using electricity only.
Car and Automobile fans will know that Haynes is one of the world’s leading publishers of car and motorcycle manuals and that they are also all about quality and technical ability. I remember buying one for Ethan’s dad when he first started driving over 10 years ago. If you love Haynes manuals, building cars or kit cars then you will be very impressed with this 4-cylinder engine!
It is suitable for 10 years + but I have to say that the instructions aren’t amazing, even at 29 I did struggle a little. A colour manual would have worked better in my opinion. This is a great project for children or adults who love building and exploring with mechanical projects. It is a perfect STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) project as it helps them build their critical thinking and creative processes, it would also be good as a home schooling project.
This kit includes everything you need in the box [apart from 3 AA Batteries], it has over 100 parts and it does include a screwdriver but ours was a little flimsy and wonky. The box says there are fully illustrated instructions but these are black and white so not too useful in some parts. I followed this youtube video when I got stuck and it was perfect.
Building this set requires a lot of focus & concentration. It took me over an hour to build. One major thing I learnt is that you need to always check you have placed parts correctly before screwing in. I messed up early on and didn’t realise until near the end.
You can get this Haynes Hybrid Engine Kit set and others from Amazon, Menkind and other leading retailers. Trends UK have a full range of Haynes Build Your Own Engine Kits on their website, so perfect for Birthday or Christmas.
We received the kit for the purposes of writing a review, and doing a Youtube Video. All thoughts and opinions are of us at DittrichDiary and do not reflect on the company.
