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Messages - Combustor

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1
           Seems the current crop of shop managers with business degrees and no shop savvy are slowly killing once productive businesses. My son worked a while in a well known car and farm machinery dealership and could not understand the decisions. He phoned me one day to get down the shop in a hurry, and I arrived to find a top brand valve refacing machine and matching seat cutter system on a pallet ready to go in the skip bin. The excuse was "Nobody here has been trained to use it, and we just fit exchange recon heads now".  Taught myself to use it in about twenty minutes, and it does a perfect job.
          Got a similar call a little later and arrived to find a top class Japanese lawn mower in the skip bin, and was invited to get it out of the way promptly. Seems they were now agents for a well known brand of green and yellow farm machines and mowers, and could not be seen to mow their tiny front lawn with a machine of any other colour. Gave the machine an oil change and a pair of blades, and it has not missed a beat in years. Still trying to understand the logic applied by their leadership.
          Combustor.

2
Engines / Re: SR2 Service
« on: January 16, 2017, 10:20:04 AM »
Hello Mike,
Not sure what you have there, but if it is a regular SR2 then it will be aircooled and have fins under air cowlings around the cylinders. There are of course marine versions of SR engines and these may be water cooled with jacketed cylinders, possibly heat exchangers or perhaps raw water cooling systems. Do you have a water pump attached to draw in and circulate cooling water?
         If your SR2 is aircooled the air will be drawn into a fanwheel attached to the flywheel inside an air cowling. You may also have air ducting from the side of the engine to an outlet on the boat exterior. Check any ducting for obstruction before going further. Tell us more about the hot running symptoms. Is there a temp gauge? Are you seeing smoke or steam, or does it smell hot? Can sometimes be an oil leak contacting a hot manifold and creating smoke or a hot smell. Let us know what you find and some marine experts may be able to dignose for you. Regards,
Combustor.

3
Listeroid Engines / Re: oiling schedule
« on: January 12, 2017, 08:49:43 AM »
           Somewhere in the early'60'sLister supplied a batch of VA StartOmatic gen sets to the old Postmaster General's Dept.(now Telstra and Aus Post) to power remote phone exchanges and post offices where regular maintenance and good cooling water were in short supply. They were fitted out on a skid base with an extended oil reservoir and connected to a large overhead fuel tank in a locked enclosure. The service crews arrived evey 7 or 8 weeks to service them and refuel. They ran continuously unattended and I believe they survived remarkably well on that service schedule. There are still one or two of these plants in existence as living proof of their durability, so perhaps a little healthy neglect is not all bad.  (VA = aircooled version of 8/1).
Combustor.

4
Engines / Re: LD1 fuel pump set up question
« on: December 04, 2016, 08:10:56 AM »
Hello Peter,
                Sounds like your rack is not moving fully to its left position to deliver excess fuel for starting. With the side cover off, and stop control in "run" position, pull the stop lever firmly out towards you and over the lug it rests against  and see that the rack now moves further left to full fuel position. Cranking the motor now you should hear a healthy creak or grunt from the injector. If not, then injector could be faulty. If OK then time to look at spill timing adjustment etc.
Fuel pumps can also get tired and not deliver enough fuel for good starting, but are OK when running at speed.  Hope the problem is something simple.Regards,
Combustor.

5
Hi there Mikenash,
                          Am sure there are experts here who can pinpoint your problem, but if you are sure the timing gears are correctly meshed, then time to look elsewhere. The hollow cams are fixed to the camshaft with taper pins. Is it possible that a pin is broken or wrongly fitted ? Time to check valve train timing. First properly locate TDC. Rig a pointer near flywheel timing marks. Pull injector and poke a rod down on the piston.  Rotate crank till rod is say 20mm down on piston before TDC, mark flywheel at the pointer. Then mark again when say 20 mm down after TDC, Measure half way between flywheel marks and this is accurate TDC. Now rotate and watch valves at the junction of intake and exhaust strokes (not compression stroke). Exhaust valve should be just closing and intake about to open right at TDC. If this is not happening then you still have a valve timing problem somewhere. Hope this helps. Regards,
Combustor.

6
Engines / Re: Lister SR2 air compressor?
« on: July 13, 2016, 11:24:22 AM »
         Imagine any air conversion on a 4 stroke engine would need a somewhat smaller compressor cylinder, as it has a compressing stroke every revolution and the engine only has a power stroke every second revolution. The quoted 7 cfm sounds likely, and is not very much air when it comes to shop tools, most will need 2 or 3 times that to be useful. Presume the SR units from ships were only starting auxiliary power sets which then produced air to start main diesels. Big marine diesels need huge amounts of high pressure air to start them. Ships diesels are stopped and re-started in reverse when manouvering, and this happens in seconds, so you can imagine the air needed.
        Hamworthy, and I think Reavell produced compressors to fit Lister CS engines, and as I recall, they were mounted direct to the motor in place of the second flywheel, and I believe they came in marine versions also.
       I have a 3 stage compressor originally powered by a 25hp diesel to produce 350psi for starting 1500 or 2000hp generator diesels. My Ruston 6PS (6hp) gasoline engine/compressor needs 10 minutes or more from cold to raise 250psi of air to cold start an old 50hp diesel and have a reserve for a second start, so air requirement are fairly high. Sounds like your present machine has good capacity, so if it starts easily, probably one to keep. Regards,
Combustor.

7
Lister Based Generators / Re: Horsepower calculation
« on: March 04, 2016, 01:29:35 PM »
Your little LT1 will govern better and sound happier at 1500 rpm than it will at lower speeds. It is still only running at half its design speed. If it was delivered with a max 1500 rpm rating then the injection timing will be set for that speed range. If the nameplate says max 3000 rpm then it is worth retarding the fuel timing to make it sound happier and more efficient.
       Engines specified for generator service usually have a governor set for closer speed regulation than a general purpose engine. You may find load response a bit slow at 1500 rpm, but with lighter or non-critical loads this may not matter. Fuel economy is hardly a factor if it's just for outages so easy to set up a simple 2:1 pulley ratio and let it loaf along at 1500. Good luck,
Combustor.

8
Waste Vegetable Oil / Re: Contamination with hydraulic oil?
« on: December 06, 2015, 01:36:09 PM »
          Check with your hydraulic oil source that they are not dumping any fire resistant hydraulic fluid into the mix. That could stop you dead!
Combustor.

9
Listeroid Engines / Re: What If I did this?
« on: October 14, 2015, 03:25:34 PM »
Hi there EdDee,
                      Carefully read as much as you can on the topic of burning WMO in the threads on this site and others, and then make up your mind as to whether it is for you.  Some report good results but others have sad tales to tell, as there are many variables and unknowns with its use. Factors affecting results include
Source and type of oil
Contamination with unsuitable oils, (synthetics, gear lubes. coolants, fuels etc.
Blend ratio's, with diesel, heating oil, kero, jet fuel, RUG, other secret brews,
Heavy metal residues, (cause deposits and abrasive wear),
Your ability to achieve fine filtration and remove residual water/detergent "goo"
Possible need to preheat to keep flowing in cold weather
Legalities of transporting and storing, in some places, once oil is used, it is classified as Dangerous Goods.

If you can secure a source of an un-contaminated oil of a single type,then it may be worth some careful trials but be prepared for a lot of research and experiment and learn from other
users who have succeeded.  Also look into waste veg oil as fuel or the possibility of turning it into bio-diesel. Either way, you will need a lot of spare time.
          Do not listen to anyone who says you can build a refining setup that will turn WMO into diesel. It is a very hazardous process,not very successful and illegal almost anywhere.
Good luck.
 
Combustor.

10
Everything else / Re: 3k st alternator just stopped mid work
« on: October 12, 2015, 11:30:56 AM »
            Looking back at your great pics of brushes and holders, it seems to me there is a helluva lotmof unsupported brush hanging out there. Perhaps someone here can tell me that's normal for an ST unit, but seems to me most other machines have the holders within 2 or 3 mm of the slipring, so that the brush is fully supported and guided. Could be there is very little spring tension and the brush is out of line and jamming when the ring rotates.
          Is it possible to slot out the holes in the insulated bracket or otherwise modify to support the brushes closer to the slipring as other makers do? It could solve several problems and it seems you have little to lose. A whole new piece of insulating panel drilled to correct dimensions could be an easy fix. Sure those brushes need more support than they have at present.
Regards,
Combustor.

11
Engines / Re: Lister SR1
« on: August 29, 2015, 11:23:39 AM »
            Hi GraderDude,
                                In desperate times when parts are not available I have resorted to lapping the joints together. You can carefully remove the fuel pump cap and hold in lathe chuck or similar, apply a dab of fine valve grinding paste, then gently oscillate the pipe cone in the cap seat. Clean and inspect at intervals and check final fit with some bearing blue. Guess you could do the same with the injector end. Wash up very clean and refit with fingers crossed. Has worked for me on occasions, but if new parts can be found that's the easy option.
Combustor.

12
Engines / Re: A total newby wanting help
« on: August 25, 2015, 02:07:33 AM »
Hi to the Newby,
                       A great place to start in Britain would be  www.stationary-engine.net/forum/   as there are hundreds of owners of D series and others on there. A search on their site will yield lots of info and they are a friendly lot. Worth logging on there for a lot of good info. Hope this helps,
         Combustor.

13
Engines / Re: Lister SR1
« on: August 25, 2015, 01:57:05 AM »
          Careful alignment and tightening of the line from pump to injector is required. Tighten both ends in small increments and wriggle them to ensure they align correctly.
Those bakelite washers under delivery valve holders also gave me pain. Not sold as a separate Lister spare, and I had to shop round till I found a fuel injection shop that did
not want to include them in the price of a pump re-build. You need to see the guy in the back of the shop who services pumps and he will have a bag of them in his drawer.
As Dieselgman says, replace those Dowty washers while you are in there. Regards,
         Combustor.

14
Engines / Re: Lister Petter PH2 diesel Pump Leak
« on: July 03, 2015, 01:58:28 PM »
Can not vouch for the particular pumps to fit your Petter, but the Indian built Mico or Mico-Bosch replacements supplied for Lister CS and others appear to be of excellent quality and well priced. Believe they are made under licence from Bosch, so have a standard to uphold. Others here may be able to relate their experience with Indian injection gear, but it seems largely positive. Regards,
          Combustor.

15
Listeroid Engines / Re: Jkson 6/1 rebuild
« on: May 16, 2015, 11:12:08 AM »
Hi Gippslander,
                   No chance of a backfire when cranking a prpoerly timed diesel in the right direction. If cranked too slowly it may bounce back off compression, but will not generate enough compression heat to actually fire, or "backfire" in the way that a poorly timed petrol engine will. Think you would have to crank a 'roid backwards at considerable speed to get it firing, as timing would be less than ideal.
         Have seen older multicylinder truck diesels run in reverse when rolled or towed backwards when in a forward gear and that's a bit frightening. Newer rotary pumps are built to shut off when reversed.
          Am sure your 'roid will start much easier when it has bedded in and has a few working hours under its belt. Load it to near capacity once you are sure all is OK with it. A multigrade oil will help cold cranking.
          Combustor.

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