"Kit engines".......where?

[Eco Diesel]

Just thought I would ad my 2 cents here. I just picked up an original Lister 12/2 last Sunday and am in process of stripping it down. I only have the one 6/1 GTC engine I imported  and opened up to compare to but with all the talk here on the forum I thought the main crankcase castings on the originals were suposed to be far better than the india castings. this 12/2 has the big flywheels like the start Omatic but without the grooves. Near the hub or bore there are many very rough spots from the factory casting. My findings when i inspected the inside of my GTC 6/1 crank case interiors showed that the interior was  a smoother and cleaner casting than this old 12/2 original. When cleaning the old crud out of the crankcease intrior I was almost cutt multiple times on jagged ribs and sharp flashings. The exterior of the 12/2 is pretty good but does have some grinding marks from the factory here and there with no evidence of any putty or filler. Just a little work with an air sander and 3M brillo discs would make it look real nice. The GTC engines casting exteriors are smoothed over with bondo or some kind of finishing putty just like all the metal lathes and milling machines have been finished for many years. On these big body parts it isn't an issue really other than for eye appeal. Where I am now noticing a difference between the original Lister and the GTC Listeroid is that the smaller cast parts appear have a better cast finish. Perhaps they were invesment cast. A number of years ago, I tried to reinvent the tire bead axe incorporating the dead blow head feature from the common dead blow hammer with a bead breaker. (I'd post a picture if it was easy) The hoe portion on the proto type was cast for me in Calgary by a large and reputable casting firm. After recieving the finished part which they appeared to be proud of (I was not) especialy after paying someone to make this curvy wood plug a good sum of money. They suggested investment casting if I wanted a better looking part. After finding out what was needed for this type of molding I then made a mold from aluminum and it was sent to Winnipeg for investment casting. This is a process where they fill the female cavity with wax/ demold/ dip the wax part in a slurry and then sugar coat with a fine sand/ do this multiple times to create a thick cacoon/ drill a small hole/ heat cacoon and drain wax/ Then fill with desired cast material. The results were night and day and like comparing 2 pieces of fire wood - one with the bark on and one with the bark off. When i compare the smaller parts on these 2 engines such as the rockers on the original 12/2 to the rockers on the 6/1 GTC it is as if the parts on the 12/2 are investment cast. I don't know if they did this or not but am saying the quality is of this caliber. Of course at these prices for the India made engines we can't expect them to provide investment casting although I know they can do it over there and i am sure they would do it if we were willing to pay for it.

[Eco Diesel]

Just looked at the rockers real close on the 12/2 and they appear to have a long flashing rib ground off on the underside which would indicate a long pour vent. They still might have been by investment casting by the looks of the finish or maybe the english just had finer sand. Getting back to the kit engines, I can see this being a fun way to buy an engine.When your done you will be more familiar with your engines inner workings than if never had worked on one. You may even get around EPA issues down the road. I had looked into the steam engine kits that are available. These kits come with raw castings that need to be machined, tapped and fitted to blue prints specs. There is alot of work to completing one of these but thats what makes it fun. Working on these Lister engines is definitly fun also, so who cares if it's ready to run or not when you get it. Tinker away