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Author Topic: Oiling system mods  (Read 3779 times)

4x4_Welder

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Oiling system mods
« on: July 05, 2007, 08:09:57 AM »
Ok, I know better than to tinker with a working system, but I can't help it.  On the SL3, I know the plunger pump is adequate for thousands of hours of use, but can there be improvements?  I'm thinking something along the lines of an external belt-driven pump, and a full pressure spin-on filter.  Am I nuts, or is this even needed?  I just want my engine to live as long as possible between overhauls. 
Maybe even use an add-on transmission cooler and fan as an oil cooler..........
I love the smell of diesel smoke in the morning!

phaedrus

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Re: Oiling system mods
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2007, 02:02:58 PM »
Maybe Im slow about this, but what's an SL-3 ?
if ya don't ask permission they can't deny it...

hotater

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Re: Oiling system mods
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2007, 02:20:58 PM »
4x4welder---

I don't know what a SL3 is, but how it's lubed is usually a function of what kind of crank bearings it has.  Tapered rollor bearings (TRBs) are being used in most of the splash lubed engines and splash is all that's all needed.    In fact, with my Jkson-PS kit engine (6-1) I disconnected the oil pump because it was doing nothing but causing drag and pumping dirty, cold oil into the TRBs.

Splash lube is surprizingly reliable and simple.  The original Lister engine used it with hollow and solid dippers.  Experimenters here have done the same with mixed results.    The originals use the oil pump to get oil to the main bearings.  If the crankshaft rides in bronze bushings you need an oil pump (or gravity feed) to those bushings.

Some Indian engines have oil pumps and TRBs.  That frees up the oil pump to be a dedicated cleaner, if you put in a filter, or it could be attached to another source and the pump do another job, since the engine is running anyway.      Filtering WVO or WMO for future use comes to mind.

There are several users of 6-1 and 12-2 (and their cousins) that have inserted spin-on and toliet paper bypass filters to the oil return line.   The plunger pump delivers enough pressure and volume to make it feasible, but HEAT is a problem.  The Listeroids don't heat up the oil enough to make filtering easy and the oil never gets hot enough to drive off water.  That clogs spin-on filters in a hurry.

There are many small oil pumps and power steering pumps that can be adapted to run from a belt or directly off the flywheel.     One of the attractions of messing with these engines is coming up with 'extras'.  Most of them are a lot of work and make about as much sense, but gives the same sort of pride, as the matchbook covers flapping in your 'custom' bike's spokes.      ;)

If your SL3 is like the Lister CS the splash system with dual 'levels' of crankcase bottom works great at seperating the cold, wet oil from the clean, warm oil on top.  A pump just mixes them up again.    

  Mine just passed 2500 hours and has not yet used the oil pump.

7200 hrs on 6-1/5Kw, FuKing Listeroid,
Currently running PS-Kit 6-1/5Kw...and some MPs and Chanfas and diesel snowplows and trucks and stuff.

4x4_Welder

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Re: Oiling system mods
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2007, 03:17:42 PM »
It's a bit more modern than what's usually dealt with on this site, but this is about the only Lister-oriented forum I could find.  It uses babbitt insert-type bearings, and a plunger-style oil pump similar to that in the CS series engines, with a replaceable-cartridge bypass filtration system.
SL3 = 3cyl, air cooled, 1.3l displacement, 12hp at 1800rpm, fixed at 1800rpm for this particular engine. 
I love the smell of diesel smoke in the morning!