Have you ever been stuck at a red light, feeling a slight drop in RPM or suspecting a misfire, and said to yourself: “That’s it. My engine is on the verge of exploding.”
If you haven’t experienced it, I can guarantee you that you would love to be able to see within your engine at that time. Unfortunately, there are only a few manufacturers that sell a transparent oil pan or valve cover.
Transparent Oil Pan and Valve Let You See in a Running Engine
The guys use a big plastic vacuum-forming system to make a transparent valve cover and an oil pan for the Lada engine they’re using. They experiment with a variety of textures and thicknesses in order to get the hot plastic to actually fit around the brand new valve cover and oil pan they bought.
They eventually have the parts they’re looking for after fiddling with the thickness, temperature, and suction level for a bit.
The pickup initially, sucks oil to the remainder of the engine without issue, but when the oil level drops dangerously low, oily foam appears. Since the guys glued the valve cover straight to the head and don’t want to go through it again, they pause and inject more oil through the dipstick hose.
However, if more oil is applied, it works out perfectly, at least for a bit. The internal cover over the rockers on this Lada engine is possibly for oil control, so the view of oil spewing everywhere is a little blurred.
That is, until the valve cover vibrates loose and oil begins to spill all over the engine. Then you’ll see that the oil is flowing freely.
In any case, a transparent oil pan and valve cover have just as much excitement as a transparent head. It’s fascinating to see all of the things that go on inside an engine that you never consider.
It’s fascinating, if not exciting, to actually be able to see oil slosh about inside a hot car. The universe revolves because of a modern engineering innovation.
Watch the full video below:
