Hi dieselgman,
Thanks for all your advice.

I used to have a garage business back in uk mainly buying selling and tuning Cosworth’s , evo’s etc,ect. So totally understand cramming as much air into combustion chamber as possible with correct fuel ratio! (Burnt out pistons lol) Used to fit water spray onto charge coolers and even spray with co2 fire extinguishers before setting ¼ mile time.
These engines were all multi-valve running as high as 9000rpm.
The reason I suggested warming the air at the filter was because on smaller engine older cars they always had a shroud over exhaust manifold with a heat proof pipe attached to air filter box?
One of the fans is directed towards the air filter.
I’ll fit my temp sensor in the air stream leaving the engine, do you know what sort of temp the air should be?
Reading the user manual it states keeping the engine as cool as possible
After posting yesterday I had the same thought as you regarding controlling the fans. I’ll have 1 running all the time and then the other 3 coming on at different temps, 2 running at 30c, 3 at 35c and all 4 at 40c.
Yes the shed is really that air tight, my goal is to have it running almost silent. I’m getting there the only real noise is from the vibration now. At the moment the genny is just sat on 2 big bits of wood which in turn are placed on gravel. (French planning laws won’t allow me to make a concrete base)
I was going to fit the usual rubber feet but I’m now wondering about cutting down car suspension coil springs, then using shock absorbers to stabilize the unit, any thoughts on that?
I’m sure I’ll be asking more over the next couple of days as I complete the build.
When it’s finished I’ll work out how to post pictures and explain my to build to help others and give something back to this extremely helpful forum.

Oh! forgot I changed the oil a couple of days ago and overfilled it a bit, this could quite possibly be the cause of the smoke. It really is very faint though especially compared to the old ST3 I had. I got the wife to look yesterday and see couldn't even see it.

Thanks, no not complicated, just want to make sure I get everything right. Our only form of electricity is the HR charging a battery bank.

Thanks for the link mate, very helpful

Thanks for the help dieselgman. I'm running at about 3/4 load. It is possible that smoke is paint burning off form inside the exhaust I built... I'll give it a few more week after an oil change and then strip down and have a look and glaze bust at same time.

Hi Guys,
Haven't been on here for ages, haven't needed to as the old ST3 had been behaving itself. It finally gave up after running for 5 years for up to 8 hours a day.
Anyway now have a 1976 HR2 with 15kva alternator, believe it to be ex MOD and only has 500hrs use.
After building a sound proof shed and underground exhaust system it run perfectly for 2 days (about 8hrs) on the 3rd day it was chucking out a lot of white smoke which I believe was un-burnt fuel, believing the bores where glazed I fully loaded it and sprayed a mist of water down the inlet. This cured the white smoke but after a couple of weeks running it's still blowing a small amount of blue smoke and using a bit of oil.
I want to change the oil but I totally confused after reading loads of threads on the subject which all seem to contradict one another.
I can't get the 20/20 stated by Lister out here in France (looked everywhere) some threads suggest 15/40???
Your vast knowledge would be much appreciated on this much talked about subject.
Also any other advice on running this HR2 would be greatly received.
Thanks in advance 

Need to order full gasket set for my ST3 problem is my supplier needs to know if it's 1975 onwards.
The engine plate is missing how can I tell what sort of age it is? (pre or post 1975)
Thanks as always.

Casey, 240v x 51amp = 12,240w ? The imput the charger requires. I'm new to this so happy to admit I could be wrong, if I'm not might it make you look a bit of a Knob...

My batteries are sealed so must be AGM?
http://www.enersun.com.au/files/PDF/Batteries/EN160-6.pdf
Does this make any differance to charging rates etc?

Maximum load for the majority of the time will be less than a KW but it would be good if I had upto 3 KW on standby.  Pure sine 220/240 AC.
If I stick with the battery bank I’m running at the moment its spec’s are
48 volt 1280 amp hr how long would it need charging and at what amps?

What I want to do is run the generator for as little time as possible (price of fuel now).
I’m really not sure what I should be doing to build the most efficient system and need someone to tell me how my batteries should be set up... 12, 24, 36 or 48volt and then what I need to charge them.
When I look on ebay there are plenty of inverters but none of them seem to have a high enough charging amps.
Help... I’m now paying 1 euro a litre for red derv and running the genny for around 8 hours every day.
Would I be better off getting a 24volt truck alternator, bolting it to the genny and charging the batteries this way?
Thanks for the help.