I just put in a replacement cam idler gear, and checked the magnets in the oil.......They were encased in a gloppy ball of soft crud. I set them out on a rag to drain the oil out. As the oil drains away I see "hair". I only have 7.5 hours on the hobbs meter, but I think I'll drain the oil and wash the sump anyway. The sump is coated with condensation and in some places the surface oil is white from emusification. Suprising; there is NO RUST. I guess I don't run it enough.  The heat lamp on the outside isn't good enough, out there in the garage.
I'm reluctant to run it untill I  shim out the axial crank play from .062 down to spec,. I tried to remove a shim gasket from the slacked off bearing, but the paper gasket just balled up. Dang!
Anyway, when George gets a gib key puller back in his 'library' I'll check it out and get on with the next step!
This engine is a Ashwamegh 25/2. I think it is pretty well made, but there are things to look for. George won't sell these anymore because they wouldn't stand behind their product. Although he has. I'm changing the idler with an aluminum gear he had made. I understand that bronze gears have superceded the aluminum ones, but because I'm installing it before failure, I hope it will work. (not having to run against bunged up crank or cam gears)
I noticed that the oil tube to the main bearing by the idler gear was not aimed at the main bearing oil hole. It is possible that some oil was getting in there, or maybe it was lubed by oil flying off the gearset? Also, the gear backlash is greater than 1/4 inch at the flywheel rim, for both the original gear and the experimental replacement gear. The replacement gear did have much better axial clearance. The idler pinion was not deburred by the builder, so I used the needle files on it.  
The ballance holes drilled into the flywheels don't look like additional counterweighhting for the crankshaft, I think they were just for static ballance of the flywheels? This engine has bolt on counterweights, although I do not see any indications that they have been 'ballanced' (no grinding pads or drillings for weight removal).
Once you get past the YUCK! of sticking your hands into that cold glop, and get to work, it's a simple and fun engine to muck around in. I understand Jack has chitlin's in his
Scott E
PS (I'm modifiing this post)
I went back out to the garage after I wrote the above, and drained / washed the sump. about a tablespoon of water came out with the oil, which was devided into a lower 'black oil' and an upper layer of amber colored oil with some milky white highlites. I started looking at the poor casting quality, then started digging at one spot with a screwdriver. Well, you probably guessed the rest.... Then I got out the inspection mirror to see how bad it is . in that order.
I guess I better take it down all the way. It's got sand pockets everywhere. Some fell off in that 7.5 hours of running, those are the areas with no red paint. Of course, the sand that broke loose became the 'black' on the lower level of the oil, and alot of oily black mud was on the sump floor. It washed out OK with a rag and some diesel fuel.
Casting flash all over. I could spend a day with a die grinder cleaning up the partially blocked oil passages etc.
A drop of water is hanging from one cylinder stud, so I guess some cylinder water is weeping past the gasket and down the threads. That would explain the water better than trying to blame it on condensation.
I'll  try to add some pics
Scott E

I'm mostly concerned with the casting sand getting by the coarse strainer in the bottom of the sump that the oil pump sucks thru.  I didn't dissasemble my engine because it looked pretty clean inside. Magnets won't stop sand, so I think full flow filtration is in order. Unless you have disassembled and hot tanked / pressure washed the engine, it will likely drop sand forever. The filter could be simple and maybe just a cotton cover for the suction strainer.
 I couldn't get the strainer out of my engine block, I was afraid to break off the fitting, so I just washed it in place and hoped for the best, but now I'm having second thoughts...
Scott

I liked the response to the full flow filter proposal. I see now that the oil pump SQUIRT may be most important.  With gauge readings of 30 psi peak as opposed to 4 psi average to a gauge on a accumulator, it is something to think about.  On the other hand, I am also thinking that there is one squirt per two crankshaft revolutions, because the oil pump plunger is run off a cam lobe. So maybe oil PRESSURE is not that important? Maybe we just need enough Oil pressure to get a FLOW of enough oil to the highest bearing above the pump.
As for the bypass valve in a full flow oil filter, I posted:
( I think the oil pump discharge check valve on the pump top could be blocked or restrained with a stiffer spring,)
The stiffer spring on the oil pump discharge check valve would let cold oil bypass the filter, then as the oil warmed up would  allow filtration. An oil filter without air in it would not "accumulate", oil being non compressable.
The downside of this would be a  "Made in India" loose plunger fit might leak too much to push warm oil thru any increased restriction (the filter).
If the oil pump was designed properly, then it draws the least amount of engine power required to do the job. That would mean that it does not have much reserve pressure or flow for us to mess around with.
Now everything is clear as mud. Perhaps the path of least resistance; run it like Lister intended? Add bypass filtration? Check the oil pump plunger spring during oil changes? ALWAYS wipe out the sump and inspect the suction strainer and magnets at oil change. I think the oil suction strainer is too coarse.
As for the extended oil sump.....how would you design it? Take off the oil suction tube and add an external tank at the same level, then hook the pump suction to the new tank? You could put an old cotton towel or your worn out socks in there to act as a passive filter? Now that's what I call recycling!

Why is the Motorgaurd filter prefered over the FRANTZ? Or is it?

Scott

I wouldn't throttle the intake air to create a vacuum for your cranckase evacuation system. The pumping losses increase, cumbustion efficiency drops, fuel cosumption increases. The Max KW output would be reduced. The engine needs all the air it can get, and you will start to suck dirt into the intake valve guides etc.
The Vacu-Pan used on race cars relies on vacuum pulses in the exhaust. You might tap into the exhaust near the head and put a plumbing check valve on it (3/8" swing check ?) and see if it draws a vacuum? GM cars used a check valve to draw air into the catalytic converter, I have one from a Pontiac, it is a round thing that operates like a reed valve.
I think the normal crankcase exhaust directed to the outside of the air filter is the simplest, and you can SEE the vapors before they enter the intake air filter. This gives a continuous indication of engine load and health.
The Listeroid may have intake pulsations, that would reqiure an enclosed air filter can with the crankcase hose led into the can on the far side from the air inlet.

Here's mine!  It's an Ashwamegh 25/2 with a 15 KW ST gen head. Overhead muffler and related hardware were from B&B auto parts. The radiator was from a 1969 Firebird 350, and even though it is a crossflow radiator, it still does the thermal siphon thing! An attic fan draws air thru above. The starter is from a 350 chevy, including the ring gear, I made the adapter from a piece of 4 inch aquamet shaft (from a boat) don't do that, it was the worst to machine! I welded up the starter support from channel and angle steel. With the rocking of the engine (side to side) it shakes quite a bit. The rubber mounts between the frame and subframe might not have been the best idea.
I built the subframe 'I' beams across the engine instead of the usual way, DON'T do that! It allows the engine to shake right to left in the picture. The 'I' beam sub frame should be VERY heavy and should be parallel to the drive belt, not parallel to the crankshaft like I built it! The wire and plug recepticle with 'Kill A Watt' meter is sitting on top for the ST head, but it usually sits on the floor...The Junction box on the ST Generator replaced the original tin box supplied with the generator (it was shaking apart) and the meters were relocated to a remote box. The voltage adjust rheostat was eventually removed (usless...Thanks for the advise George) I added an hour meter to keep track. I have run on biodiesel, OK but plan to blend used crankcase oil etc. when I get fuel storage and mixing tanks set up.

If the heat rejection is the average 1/3 work, 1/3 jacket water, 1/3 exhaust, then you can calculate the recoverable heat as previously discussed........BUT:
Exhaust heat exchangers will condense exhaust carbon and must be cleaned. I experienced this on a diesel ship with an exhaust heat recovery boiler. It would no longer generate enough steam to run the evaporator (to make fresh water at sea) after less than a week. It would eventually cook out the carbon from a dry boiler, but you couldn't put water back in until it was cold again.
My point is this: Your exhaust heat recovery system needs to be straight enough to run a flu brush thru it, and have caps at the ends to run the brush in and let the carbon fall out the bottom.

An other consideration is the direction the exhaust is aimed. If you aim it away from the house and neighbors, it will be better. I am thinking about changing mine to straight up with a short length larger pipe around the end to shield the pulsations and draw some air (augment) into the exhaust steam. Higher is good too.