V8 Engine Table

I made this table quite a few years ago, and have since sold it so I cant take any more photos, so I appologise for the lack of detailed photos.

By the end it was a heavy but strong table, costing me about £100 to make.

Please be aware that once you do this to an engine, there is generally no way it is going back in a car!

Please don't forget to vote for me in the furniture challenge! Thanks.


Date Made: April 2005
Approx Cost: £100
Approx Time: done over 2 weekends (1 weekend day to strip engine and send to blasters, wait for media blaster during week, 1 weekend day to put together, wait for glass during following week - obviously if you prepare, then it could be done in a day or two)
Difficulty: Medium


** Additional Note **

People have asked how heavy it is. If you take off the glass it can be picked up by one person, although it is heavy and akward. Bear in mind that mine was an aluminum block though!

Step 1: Acquire Engine

I watched ebay for a while until I found an old rover V8 engine cheap. I paid £10 for this one.

Somehow you need to get it home safely! You will likely need an engine hoist as they are heavy! Also line your van/car as you will probably get oil everywhere even if you do drain it first!


**Additional Note**

For those looking for engines, try to het hold of a damaged or incomplete engine.

2 reasons:
a) it will be cheaper
b) some models may be rare and it will annoy people who need the parts for their car if you use a working engine for a table!!

You can try searching eBay with the following syntax

"V8 (engine, block) (damaged, broken, spares, repair, faulty, cracked, split, incomplete, non runner)"

Take out the quotation marks but leave the other symbols. The bracketed words separated by a comma basically means "or" so it will find items with any of those words. Add in any other words you can think of.

I watched eBay for quite a while until I got one local and cheap.

Comments

[londobali]

it looks great! awesome job!!

How heavy is it? still manageable when you want to move it to the corner for party, etc?

[Mr_o_uk]

I couldn't quote you figures, but once the engine is stripped down, one person can pick it up if you separate the glass. (Bear in mind that mine is an aluminium block).

Have a look at this...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=832271

[londobali]

Ahhh.. so it's manageable.. :)
Thanks..

Old metal parts are expensive around here, they go by the kg..
Scrap metal could easily hit 1us$/kg, twice or more if the parts could still be reused (and they reuse almost everything here!!)...
so that's about 200$ (or more) for a block like yours.. :(

But i'll keep an eye out for it.. Thanks for the idea!

[Mihsin]

I suggest to either use Allen bolts or mill away a seat for the hex nuts holding the connecting rods.
Best regards

[Mr_o_uk]

I had always envisaged a bit of grinding, and hasn't thought about allen bolts. But I think they would look much cleaner. Nice idea.

[supreme creator]

nice now this will look great for a table in my room since i love muscle cars and other cars this will do thxs

[Martijn_huis]

Dude... NICE!!

[ihaveguitarskills!]

Awesome job! I voted btw :)

[Mr_o_uk]

Thanks. Much appreciated.

[jkendall1]

You just gave me an awesome idea as to what to do with an I-4 Chrysler Engine that has been sitting in my garage for quite some time. I do have a "hot tank" so it should prove to be a nice weekend project with some friends. Thanks mate!

[Mr_o_uk]

I'd like to see some pictures when you do!

[horphmyre]

Do you have any idea what it weighed?

[Mr_o_uk]

I couldn't quote you figures, but once the engine is stripped down, one person can pick it up if you separate the glass. (Bear in mind that mine is an aluminium block).

Have a look at this...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=832271

[computurwizard]

That...is...AWESOME :D Good work, sir. Good work.

[onemoroni1]

Awesome idea and build.

[rwolkens]

This reminds me of the one they have on Top Gear U.K. I think theirs is actually a Rover V8 as well, now that I think about it. I've been wanting to do one of these ever since I first seen it on the show on B.B.C. America. Thanx!

[Mr_o_uk]

The original was a Porsche engine...

http://youtu.be/_jPaYnaKVDk

But I think they use a jaguar v12 now. (I haven't seen top gear in a few years, so I may well be wrong)

[rwolkens]

Right. I know it's not a Porsche engine now, because it's a "V" configuration, but it might have been at one point it time. I could have sworn it's a V8 now, but you may be right, and it's a V12 Jag lump.

Ok, so I just googled it, and you are correct, it is a V12 Jag block.

[RoeyLeon]

Amazing work !
looks very good !

My father has a garage , maybe i`ll ask him to arrange some old motor and i`ll do this project to

thanks for the Idea !

R

[Mr_o_uk]

I used a v engine as I thought it would be the most stable and look the coolest, but I guess you could do it with a flat 4 and bend the con-rods. Can't see how you'd do it with an in-line unless you didn't use the pistons and found some other way to fix the glass.

I like aeroplane engines, especially radial ones; I just like the look, so a table made from one of them would be cool.

[RoeyLeon]

either way . what you did came out amazing , great clean professional job

Keep the good hard work

[BUTCHER2301]

By any chance do you have also a sofa from a car seat like the one in Top Gear?
Amazing job with the engine!

[Mr_o_uk]

No, but I did make a bucket seat swivel chair back in 1999. Was with an aftermarket cobra bucket seat though, so more like what these guys make...

http://www.gsmofficeseats.co.uk/

[Mr_o_uk]

For those looking for engines, try to het hold of a damaged or incomplete engine.

2 reasons: a) it will be cheaper b) some models may be rare and it will annoy people who need the parts for their car if you use a working engine for a table!!

You can try searching eBay with the following syntax

"V8 (engine, block) (damaged, broken, spares, repair, faulty, cracked, split, incomplete, non runner)"

Take out the quotation marks but leave the other symbols. The bracketed words separated by a comma basically means "or" so it will find items with any of those words. Add in any other words you can think of.

I watched eBay for quite a while until I got one local and cheap.

[BUTCHER2301]

Thanks a lot for feedback.You are already voted since I started reading.By the way you are the only one with this project on Instructables(I searched),so you will compete against yourself ;)

[BUTCHER2301]

I think this engine comes very close to yours:

http://piese-auto.anunturi-auto.4tuning.ro/dezmembrari/dezmembrari-bmw/motor-bmw-4-0i-v8-10932224.html#poze

Don't try to translate anything just look at the pictures(850lei=200Eur),is that much for an engine?I know that it depend from what car it comes.

[Mr_o_uk]

So that is a v8 engine, similar to the type I used, but I would look for one cheaper than that.

Try to look for one that is not complete, or one that is damaged. If it can't be used as an engine then no one will want it and hence will be much cheaper.

[BUTCHER2301]

You have my votes and by me you are a winner!I's like to ask you,from what car did you acquire the engine(the car model)?Or the V8 engines are all the same as aspect?I see that yours si quite simple not all that plastic covering it.Thanks in advance for assist.

[Mr_o_uk]

This is a rover v8 engine. It came from either a land rover or an mgb.

The engine is detailed here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_V8_engine

Which says that it was also used in range rovers, tvr', Morgan's and triumphs.

I couldn't say what engines have what angles, but I imagine they will all be pretty similar? I'm sure you could get round any differences by putting a slight bend in the con rod, shortening the piston head (get hold of some race ones), or by fettling bits away...

Once you strip all the covers and ancillaries away, it will look very similar.

Note that the engine I bought wasn't complete, so a full engine would look more like this:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rover_V8_engine.jpg

[liquidhandwash]

you watch to much top gear!
nice, thanks for posting

[Mr_o_uk]

Found the link!

http://youtu.be/_jPaYnaKVDk

I dont like the way they had the glass fixed though, I think the pistons make it look a lot more interesting.

[Green Silver]

Love it, but I couldn't see her indoors feeling the same way though!

[Mr_o_uk]

Yeah, I built a cobra bucket seat swivel office chair when I was 18. Most comfortable chair ever. At the moment it's stuck in storage as its not deemed suitable for a 'couples' home! One day I'll have my own man cave where these things are allowed. Obviously it will be hidden behind a secret bookcase door!!!

[wakojako]

You should've ended this 'ible with 'and on that bombshell' - how could you resist!?

[pathunt]

This is great! A couple of tables like this would be perfect for my garage man-cave.

[woofman]

Cool idea. Wine bottles detract from the overall look. Wonder what you sold it for...

[Mr_o_uk]

Sold it to a guy who put in his garage reception room, so no wine bottles in there...

[danzo321]

If you didn't use pistons widespread for a big top, I see 4 points on the engine casting that look like they would support a top.

[Mr_o_uk]

Please don't forget to vote for me in the furniture competition...

Thanks.

[streetrod5]

This is fantastic! I've wanted one ever since my brother sent me a pic of this one, or one similar. Good choice with the aluminium block; you'd never want to move an iron block around the den. Is that a 215 cubic inch (3.56 L)? Nice Instructable.