Technical Do you say Engine or Motor?

I was taught at an early age that a device that converts gasoline or diesel fuel to rotary motion is called an "engine". A device that converts electrical energy into rotary motion is a motor and it still makes me twitch when someone calls an engine a motor......althought I have to admit they are wearing me down.

What do you say?

 

In school I was corrected many times but at home it was always motor. What the heck is a steam engine???? Can I buy some new motor mounts for my SBC at the parts store.

 

I call an engine an engine, like you, but I don't care what other people call it, it doesn't bother me. The terms are somewhat interchangeable in our colloquial speak.

 

ENGINE ! I feel the same way about it. Just think, next they will start calling a distributor a dizzy?

 

It is annoying.

That's why, of course, every one of these are called by the right and proper name of: the Ford Engine Company, the American Engines Corporation, General Engines, the Packard Engine Company, the Hudson Engine Car Company, Kaiser Engines, Nash Engines, Checker Engines Corporation, the Duesenberg Engines Company, the Stutz Engine Co, the Pierce-Arrow Engine Company, the REO Engine Co., the Harley Davidson Engine Company, DeLorean Engine Co, Vauxhall Engines, Bentley Engines Ltd. Rolls Royce Engine Car Ltd, Austin Engines, Morris Engines, the Triumph Engine Co., Bavarian Engine Works, Toyota Engine Corporation, Honda Engine Co., Suzuki Engine Corporation, Nissan Engine Corporation, not to mention the Indianapolis Engine Speedway.

Oh, and the (Insert your State Here) Department of Engine Vehicles, where you can get your enginecycle registered.

Happy Engineing!

 

Small block engine, rat motor, elephant motor...this was beat to death ages ago in
the letters column of either HOT ROD or Car Craft. It still doesn't matter.

 

My Dad taught me to use engine for gas and diesel. Motor for electric. I still use the terms that way, but that’s my choice. Still kinda bugs me when people use motor for gas engines, but not much. It’s their choice, just like it’s my choice.



Bones

 

Bikers ride enginecycles?

 

I don't care....the idea is to communicate an idea, and I accept that some folks call an engine an engine, and some call it a motor...from the context, I can usually figure out what they mean.

But as often as possible, I call it the mill.

 

DO YOU SAY ENGINE OR MOTOR?

Yes, I do.

 

bridgeport?...

 

when I get asked what motor my car has < I tell them it's a GE

 

I guarantee you diehards still say motor oil!
Even when you're pouring it into your engine.

 

A motor has a plug on it that goes into a socket on the wall.

 

I don't care what they say I most always say motor just to piss them off-------------------------

 

Plenty of dealerships on the same road are at times referenced "the motor mile".

 

This is an exercise in futility!

 

"When they won't start, we call them a number of other things, in Yolo County..."

-Little Maddie, True Grit

 

That was drilled into me at an early age as well and I correct young people all the time.

 

When you come to a fork in the road...take it.


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Harley has been working on an electric motorcycle. My question is, without loud pipes, who's going to save all the lives?

Lynn

BTW....I own an old Sportster that I bought before "everybody" had one. Haven't ridden it in years. Someday it can drip in my son's garage.

 

Internal combustion motor? Wait a second I have to puke!


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Now that I think about it, while "engine" and "motor" get used interchangeably in cars, I've never heard anyone call an electric motor an engine.

Maybe somebody can start a thread on Solenoids and Relays!

 

Is Deeeetroit now the Engine city ? I don't care whether it is called engine or motor, But RIM instead of wheel drives me crazy ! Later Bill

 

Please don't take this personally, mountainman is not alone, it's just that this discussion rears its ugly head about every six months, when it's new to someone they are happy to participate, when others have seen it 23 times it is akin to a dead carp.
I guess I now know how the Ford guys feel every time they see a new 327 thread.

 

An electric motor will never be an engine, but a gasoline engine can definitely be a motor.

mo·tor
/ˈmōdər/
noun
noun: motor; plural noun: motors

1. 1.
   a machine, especially one powered by electricity or internal combustion, that supplies motive power for a vehicle or for some other device with moving parts.

 

Lump, Mill...

 

Jim said, "...mill." I like that.

She's got a chromed-out '33 Ford grille
In front of a bored-out '58 430 Lincoln mill
And it's all sittin' on a 1932 Ford frame
And if I never built a hot rod roadster
It'd be a shame

 

This is one of them "Oh brother" threads.... Fuget about it!!!