Anyone in or near Portland, OR interested in seeing a Prius engine removed from the car and partially cut away, go to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). I took the kids there this weekend to see the new science exhibits and as soon as I saw the engine display in the ground floor lobby (with a silver Prius next to it), I let the rascals loose in the exhibits and spent a long time checking out this amazingly compact, well-designed marvel that we are all enjoying so much.<br><br>Actually, I really wished I had some tools to take it apart more because the cut-aways don't show as much as I wanted to see. The main cut-away shows the electric motor and its linkage to the ICE. The whole package looked surprising large given the small space its crammed into under the hood. It was especially fun to think about the first engine I ever took apart as a teenager - a 1971 Corolla 4-cylinder, which was like a tinker toy compared the Prius engine.<br><br>The display includes a couple of banners advertising the Prius under the logo "University of Toyota", which leads me to think that other Museums of Science and Industry around the country may have similar displays as a way to market to the science-minded. Be prepared to pay admission, however.

Yay! This weekend! Thanks!!!<br><br> --Mike in Portland

pulehu_ribs:<br>I'm so jealous the cutaway Prius engine is on the wrong side of the country. I could see staring at it for a couple hours, too. Did you happen to get a good feel for the diameter of the planetary gear system (the ring gear in particular). I've been real curious about this. Also, how sturdy did it look?<br><br>Thanks for any info.<br>Robert Snyder

R. Snyder - you asked about the cut-away Prius engine I saw -<br><br>"Did you happen to get a good feel for the diameter of the planetary gear system (the ring gear in particular). I've been real curious about this. Also, how sturdy did it look?"<br><br>Unfortunately, the planetary gear system was not visible (or it may have been unrecognizable to me). Not a whole lot was cut away, much to my frustration and curiosity. In general, it was about as sturdy looking as I would expect of an engine that size, but not much if you're comparing it to a Ford F-350. What really impressed me was the design/engineering, squeezing an awful lot into a small space very efficiently, almost artfully, but hey, it's a Toyota!<br><br>I don't have a digital camera or I'd go back and post a few for you and the group. I got one reply from Mike in Portland, &lt;reconfigurable_logic&gt; who's going to see it this weekend. Hey Mike, if you see this and have a camera - maybe you can take a few pictures to post?<br><br>Cheers - Tom in Portland

Where are the pictures? We want more.

Thanks for the heads-up! Now I can stop pestering my local dealer. Just last night, I picked up my front end mask - even though delivery isn't due until Xmas; of course I had to ask for another demo drive.<br>Bob (Just waiting to drive it)

One of the links in the "Links" section has some cutaway photos also. But they have the motors/transmission cutaway, not the engine. Difficult to tell sizes from the photos though.<br><br>The link is <a href=http://www.sae.org/automag/toptech/1298t06.htm target=new>http://www.sae.org/automag/toptech/1298t06.htm</a>

I just posted a cut away photo of the transmission section in response to some later questions on this thread. The pieces highlighted in red are the planetary gear set. The ring OD is about 13 cm or 5 inches.

Too quick to post. The photo is #13 in the default album.