Last week I finally got around to installing my transfer panel and finishing a few things on the genset.  I started the roid, let it come up to temp and turned on everything inside that is bussed to my transfer panel.  The engine had no problem carrying the load and to be honest I was supprized.  I had 20 CFL lights, 2 6 foot flourescent tubes, 4 incandescent bulbs, two ceiling fans, a 52" flat screen with cable box, a 32" flat screen with cable box and a side by side fridge going all at the same time.  The wife was impressed and she has since stopped giving me a hard time about buying the listeroid....life is good!

Surplus center has 177 pretty cool little two cylinder Yanmars that are very similar to the CAT's that everone bought like hot cakes.
These Yanmars don't have alternators or fans installed, but they do come with mufflers.  Get em while they last!  I wish I had some extra cash....

https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2009090719235340&item=28-1684&catname=engines

Tried looking in the manual but could not find the dimension for how far the liner should protrude past the top of the deck surface of the cylinder block.  Measured mine today and it is .018.  This seems excessive, I looked at the old (maybe 30 min run time) copper head gasket and it has a large ridge/depression where the liner smashed the crap out of it when the head was torqued.  After a few more coats of British Racing Green I will be just about ready for reassembly, and this is one of the last things to look at/fix before it all goes together.  So what is it supposed to be?  Thanks, Mike.

Please help!  Dave is out of stock of his offset idler bolts and 2" hollow dippers.  He does not know when the next production run will start because he only has one or two orders right now.  My engine has so much play in the cam gears that I am reluctant to even run the  engine after all the work I have put into it so far.  If anyone has a spare offset bolt or 2" dipper I would like to purchase it ASAP.  Thanks, Mike H.

I picked up my new Powerline 6/1 electric start engine Monday.  I just about killed my neighbors poor little trailer getting it to my hangar, but it made it unscratched   Finally finished uncrating it and cleaning it up yesterday, overall I am very pleased with the apparent quality.  The engine has several nice features such as a massive cast iron valve cover, a good quality fuel tank with nice fuel lines and of course that big electric starter hanging off of the side of the case!  I added approximately one gallon of diesel to the tank, bled the fuel filter and hand cranked it untill I heard the injector squeak a couple of times.  I continued to spin it and released the compression release and the engine popped of immediately! I only ran it for about 15 seconds because I did not have any water in the cooling system.  When it ran the engine ran it hopped around a bit, but I guess this is to be expected as it is actually sitting on two pallets and the pallets flex quite a bit.  I will try to get it off of the palet in the next few days and run iot again to check the balance, I think it will be OK because when I shut the rack and engaged the compression relief the engine would spool down smoothly.  I also tried the electric start and it is definately the cat's ass! Using the electric start the engine would light off immediately with the twist of the key!  I highly recommend the electric start if anyone is looking to buy an engine, it is a small price to pay for the utility that the starter provides.   

If you were about to place an order for a new 6/1 from CMD, would you also buy the spare parts "kit"?  The kit is a little pricey; but it has just about everything you could possibly need, and alot of stuff that you probably will never have to use.  If it were purchased with the engine you would surely save on shipping, as the kit would require truck freight if ordered by itself.  What would you do???
Thanks, Mike.

I have been reading everything I can about exhaust slobbering and I still cant come to a definate conclusion.  Most people say you will get slobbering if you are not running enough load, the same people rarely mention operating temp.  My thought is that if the operating temp is correct the even if you are only lightly loaded you will have complete combustion and slobbering should not happen.  I also realize that under a high load the cylinder pressure will be much higher and the rings will seat better, but ring seating should have nothing to with slobbering and everything to do with oil consumption and blow-by.  Alot of stuff that I have read has base ring seating and engine load as thier reasoning for the exhaust slobber. So if I were to run a theromostat and get the engine temp right but run a small load do you thing I will get the dreaded slobber?