A Newbie with a Lister A

[Dethafoo]

So I went and got my first Stationary last weekend. So like a kid in a sweet shop I bought a load of Brasso and wirebrushes and now have sore hands from cleaning and taking parts off all weekend. (except for a large bolt in the hopper that seems to be more rust than metal!)

Decided to see if I am the only guy on here with a 1937 Lister A (A28C) Twin flywheel, hopper cooled 3 HP old thumper.

If I can work out how to add an image... I will? or I can e-mail it!

Still.... great site... seems like a lot of good knowledge.

Oh... I am in Folkestone in the UK..

ADDITION -
OK...I have hit my first problem... the top core plug in the hopper... what is it actually for? Is it just to view the top of the piston or does it hold the cylinder head on... I am having trouble moving it (even after several pints of WD40, gentle tapping and frenzied wire-brushing). If its just a maintenance/cleaning port... and if so...how do you get the cylinder head off. The instructions have the cross section of the head, hopper and piston sleeve as the same hatching....is it one solid cast iron lump that is therefore difficult to clean?

[snail]

Hi,
   Sorry this reply took so long, you've probably worked all of this out by now, but here goes anyway!
By the sound of it , you've got one of the non detachable cylinder head versions, same as mine. I assume that the core plug is part of the casting process because i can see no other use for it.The easiest way to decoke the head is to remove the big end bolts and remove the barrel/head/piston all in one go.Careful, it weighs twice as much as you'd think! . With the piston out, the easiest way to remove the carbon is probably to send it for a dip in the hot tank at yourlocal engine shop.I used the oldtimer's trick of heating up a patch of the offending carbon with the oxy torch until it's bright red, then turn off the acetylene and blow straight oxygen at it. Works best if the whole casting is warmed up to maybe 100 deg C first. Don't try this inside cos the smoke is like a blacksmiths forge being lit!
I have a book from the 30's which says that you can do the above in situ by removing the valve caps after the engine has been run up to temperature. I wasn't game to try it!

Keep up the good work!

Brian

[Dethafoo]

Snail.
Thanks for your reply... hadn't thought of Oxy-Acet to remove it, it also sounds a bit dangerous to me.... wife could be a bit angry when she see a ball of flames erupt from the workshop. Anyway... I solved the coking problem.
I removed the heavy brass valve covers in the top, rotated the crank until the valves were shut, put an old rubbish plug in the hole and put a diluted solution of caustic soda in the head. Left it a day and a half and then filled the hopper with water and pulled out the valve cover plug to flood the head and really dilute the caustic. Emptied the hopper through the taps and let the final part in the head flush out through the exhaust port. Shiney and clean! Any I checking the the crankcase and none of it had leaked passed the rings...so it seems to have done the job.

Just a question from a newbie in the UK.... whats a Listeroid? I have seen people mention them on this site, quite extinsively. Also... what are the  EPA doing over in the states? I have seen various people saying things are going to be banned or such like. I assume EPA is the Environmental protection agency.
Sorry to sound a bit dumb...difficult to get the hang of another countries foibles.... I have noticed that this forum has some pretty heated debates about all sort of stuff.

[Andre Blanchard]

Just a question from a newbie in the UK.... whats a Listeroid? I have seen people mention them on this site, quite extinsively. Also... what are the  EPA doing over in the states? I have seen various people saying things are going to be banned or such like. I assume EPA is the Environmental protection agency.
Sorry to sound a bit dumb...difficult to get the hang of another countries foibles.... I have noticed that this forum has some pretty heated debates about all sort of stuff.

When Lister was still making these engines some companies got started in India making repair parts for engines used locally.  When Lister stopped sometime in the 70's I think those companies naturally just started making the entire engines.  In some language of the area the word "roid" or "oid" or some such means copy so listeroid is a copy of a Lister.

The EPA is just another tool of the rich and powerful in control of the government and like all such tools it is used to maintain the power in its proper place.

Compared to the heated debates that take place on usenet and the like, the debates here have some basis in reality.

[bitsnpieces1]

  Andre pretty much hit it.  Another way to explain it is:
Listeroid (and Petteroid) both refer to Indian made copies of original engines, Lister and Petter.  The Listeroid is a copy of a Cold Start Lister; two flywheels, vertical cylinder, water cooled.  Petteroid is one flywheel, vertical cylinder, water or air cooled.  Changfa is a Chinese made horizontal cylinder, single flywheel, hopper type water cooled diesel.
  EPA is the Environmental Protection Agency and is doing regulations on diesel engines for pollution control.  Others can tell you exactly what those regs are.  Mostly they threatern to stop the importation of Indian Listeroids & Petteroids and perhaps stop the use of any diesel in the USA.  However, Andres' definition means just as much as any.

[Halfnuts]

The -oid just means "like," implying it's a similar but not identical engine.  So Literoid means Lister-like, which is not the same as a faithful copy.  There are a number of differences between the original Lister CS and the common 'roids, but the number of features that remain unchanged since the engine first appeared in 1930 says a lot about how fit the original design was for its intended use.

Halfnuts

[Dethafoo]

Thanks guys... (I am saying guys as this does seem to be a male orientated pass time!).
Never really seen any of the Indian imports. Be nice to look a few up.
Sad to see that (as usual) the government are trying to stir things up. Usually they hit the minorities before they take on heavy industry etc.
Anyone got a clue how to add images? Could post a few of the Lister ... OK... the bits of the lister as they are getting sorted out...

Nice forum guys!