Hey all, I am twenty-two years-old and have become literally obsessed with engines. I think I really would like to become a professional engine builder as a career, however if not, I still want engine building to be a major hobby of mine. What I am wondering is, where/how do I go about learning to build engines? What do I study? I was thinking of getting a degree in mechanical engineering, but from my understanding, mechanical engineers work on more of the pure theory aspects of things (for example designing cams or the combustion chamber, etc...) whereas it is a technician or engineering technologist who actually builds the engines.

My local community college has some engine-building courses, but where would I go to learn more after them? Do I take basic courses in engine building, then go and work at some machine shop or something, or do I need a full degree for it or what? I was thinking I could get a degree in mechanical engineering(for the sake of having a degree, because that's important nowadays, and also it's related, I could focus on combustion engines in it), but for engine-building, I could perhaps take a few courses in that and then work at a machine shop where they'd teach me more? Or do engineers themselves build engines?

I want to obtain a college degree in engineering, because I love engineering, but I really want to learn to build engines as well, and hopefully someday start my own engine-building business.

Thanks  

The only place for learning high-performance engine building is the School Of Automotive Machinists in Houston, TX. Everything else is just rebuild scool.  

Johnny is right.  I graduated from SAM about 7 years ago and I can say that I learned a tremendous amount there.  I have had my own machine shop for almost 5 years now.  Some of the guys I went to school with with have gone on to work at the Dart Pro stock team, Greg Anderson's pro stock team, Richard Childress Racing, John Force Racing and more other teams than I can think of.  A number of them also worked for a while and started their own shops.  It is a dying art, learning how to build engines the right way using the right machining techniques.  

Save up your money or take out a student loan and go to school!  

Cool, thanks guys, I appreciate the information.  

I WANTED TO BUILD A CHEVY MOTOR TO PUT IN MY DEMOLTION DERBY CAR. any suggestion on what kind to build? I want something with alot of power put I want something thats going to stay cool also. Any tricks that could help me out?  

Hey there Chris, say i've been running in the demo heat for the past few years, and i've been doing pretty good myself with just a sb305 that i got from the junkyard for cheap.  
 the biggest thing is to stay cool, and have good tires, with that you should be able to baby yourself to the end and then bang around the last couple guys that have been playing their hearts out.
a couple great websites for tips and tricks, or even cars,engines, and other parts for sale and wonderful forums to chat with other fellow demo runners:www.derbypro.com & www.demoderbyads.com  hope this helps, it sure helped me
take care and happy riding