Puppeteer

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Stevels

Pages: 1 [2] 3
16
Listeroid Engines / Re: World’s Stupidest Lister Question!
« on: June 13, 2006, 01:36:34 AM »
Thanks HalfNuts!

I will try that bleeding all the way through and see if it helps.  It seems that my first cylinder is fueled up fine.  I can see a drop of fuel being dispensed from the high pressure line with every click, but that second cylinder is still not giving any love.   It is dry so far.

I have read a lot about run away engines.  Should I really expect that a brand new motor, even an Indian one, should be horribly broken right out of the crate?

On that note, I am not exactly sure how to stop the engine.  ;D

Is it:
1)   lift the fuel pump lever
2)   slide over the decompression locks

If so, do I wait any amount of time between steps?

How much room should I give around the engine to start it the first time?  It is a bit tight in the garage.  The engine is mounted to a heavy steel frame, but 650 RPM of 1000 lbs of misbalanced flywheel is probably an ugly thing!

I know I have heard about these, but did your Lister fly away the first time you started it?

Thanks again!

Stevels


17
Listeroid Engines / Re: World’s Stupidest Lister Question!
« on: June 12, 2006, 11:21:56 PM »
Thanks guys, for the help!

After a bit more play, I did indeed find that ON is the lever down! I confirmed this by taking off the high pressure tube to the injector and seeing a drop of fuel with every click!

Now, the problem is that while I clearly see fuel getting to one of the cylinders, the other cylinder is as dry as bone.  I confirmed that fuel was making it up to the banjo bolt on the second injector pump, but so far, have not been able to get diesel to come out of the high pressure tube on the second cylinder. 

I may just need to crank it a bunch more, but what has me concerned is that I hear a little clicking on the injector pump that works, but I do not hear anything on the second injector pump.  Should I just wind it up more until I puke?

Should this engine be able to start with only one cylinder?

Thanks again 

18
Listeroid Engines / World’s Stupidest Lister Question!
« on: June 12, 2006, 08:50:15 PM »
???
After months of sitting, followed by weeks of building, today I am ready to start my brand new, Listeroid 12/2 for the first time.

Problem is I don’t know how.

Yeah, I know about the decompression levers, spinning the wheel, but where is the On / Off switch?  I mean the fuel pump switch, called the governor lever, I think?  Which direction is on?  It says nowhere?!  Is it with the lever  up or down?

Either way, my Listeroid does not start.

Please help!

Here is what I did.

1)   Put in fresh oil
2)   Put in fresh diesel
3)   Open fuel valve.
4)   Bled the fuel filter with the little bleed screw on the top of the fuel filter housing until my filter and fuel lines seemed filled with fuel, at least from the filter to the fuel tank.
5)   Set the Governor Lever UP (also tried down – don’t know which way is RUN?)
6)   Set both push rod blocker thingies so the rod can not come down and thusly, there is no compression.
7)   Crank the handle and spin the flywheels as fast as humanly possible, or to the point of near vomit.
8)    Flicked the closest decompression lever clear so compression is in one of the cylinders.
9)   Cranked even harder, since now one cylinder has compression.
10)   Sweat and pant.  No Listeroid seems to be starting.

I would expect one cylinder to pop a bit with life, and then I was planning on throwing the second decompression lever – but it does not start at all.

I do not know what I am doing wrong.  Any ideas?  Any advice would be great.  I am as green as  Lister!

19
Listeroid Engines / Re: Is this normal?
« on: June 08, 2006, 09:48:44 PM »
That is a cool idea! I don't know if I would want to pick up the engine from a single bolt, but if it works it works!

Thanks.

I have George's CD, but I don't recall picking up this pearl of wisdom from it!

Thanks again!

SA

20
Listeroid Engines / Is this normal?
« on: June 06, 2006, 02:37:00 AM »
Hi Forum Folks!

I am finally getting a chance to get my Lister project going after not touching it for several months.  I have a couple quick questions, that I am hoping someone can answer for me before I get too much further in the project.. 

When I took off my valve covers, I noticed that one of the eight head bolts sticks out about an inch and a half from the nut, while all the other bolts are flush with the nut.

Please see the picture provided. Is this normal?  Is this OK

See that one bolt sticking out?  I am feeling like I have three nipples here!

Also, When I took off one of the coolant flanges, I was shocked and saddened by the Indian Quality Control or lack thereof.  I don’t know if it is poor casting, or what, but what looks like it should be a large diameter opening for water is sealed almost shut with cast iron. Please see Picture provided.

My Sphyncter is gafloogeled!
Again, Is this normal? Is this OK? Should I bore this out and look for others like this on the other opening of the engine and fix them too?  I want to install an active cooling system, and I suspect that this is not a good thing in terms of aperture size.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks guys!

Stevels

21
Waste Vegetable Oil / Re: heating the injection line
« on: February 12, 2006, 07:00:59 PM »
I would agree with Darren, though I have no empirical evidence to back it up – it does make sense.  All my research seems to conclude that between 160 and 180 degrees F is the ideal temperature range for feeding a diesel engine WVO.  I would assume that the exhaust based heat exchange system would be to unreliable, vary in temp greatly, and almost certainly run too hot overall for good results.  I think a controlled liquid cooled system is better and am making that design for my Listeroid.

I am planning my WVO conversion for my 12/2 but right now, I begrudgingly admit, I have not yet even started my Listeroid.

I went to the scrap yard yesterday, and got some serious I-beam and some other metal framing material that I will use to make a frame for the engine and ST head, but I thought I would use copper water cooling lines wrapped around the exhaust pipes to capture additional waste heat -- but not use this to heat the WVO directly. 

I like the idea of converting my Lister to an active liquid cooled system, and tapping copper tubing around the exhaust flanges to capture more heat after the coolant has left the engine.  I will employ a heat exchanger radiator to harvest the waste heat from the engine in the winter, and route the coolant to an external radiator in the summer (until I build my Stirling engine to use that waste heat!).  Of course, I have the cooling system thermostatically controlled, like in a car.

Ambitious? I think so, but I have almost all the parts in, and am waiting really for the weather to get warm enough for me to work in the garage without getting blue lips.

I too, am running the Frybrid WVO conversion in my car, and it works wonderfully.  I learned a lot from Frybrid’s owner, Chris Goodwin, regarding decisions he made when designing his system.  Things like the coolant system is an ideal means of heating WVO because it is a fairly reliable and stable means of using waste heat to heat the fuel almost exactly in the ideal temperature pocket suitable for WVO fuel heating.  I also love his "hose in hose" design as a means of keeping the who warm when going from tank to engine and back.

I currently have the high bid on a Pollack 6 port valve on Ebay – and with any luck, I will have all the parts for my first attempt in time for the snow to melt so I can get into my garage again!

22
Waste Vegetable Oil / Re: Waste Veg Oil
« on: January 16, 2006, 12:41:50 AM »
Incidentally how much discount do you get for the red-dyed diesel over road-tax diesel?  I should start buying that.

goid point... the truth is it is all a scam.  While years ago, home heating oil was indeed cheaper than deisel fuel, which was as would make sesne, cheaper than gasolin. Now, since our oilman President invaded an oil rich country, it is actually cheaper for me to actually buy diesel fuel to heat my house. 

I paid extra right after Katrina, to locked my home heating oil at a a cap of $2.75/gallon  Currently, my fuel oil is being billed at $2.49/g, but if I take more than 15 days to pay, it goes up to $2.75/g.  Diesel costs between $2.59-$2.66/gallon.

Ahh, progress! :)

23
Waste Vegetable Oil / Dino oil for break in?
« on: January 13, 2006, 03:17:19 AM »
So are you folks suggesting that I first break in the listeroid with regular diesel engine oil, and move to synthetic only after I have run the engine past the break in period?

24
Hi fellow Listeroidheads,

I hope I am not missing a thread about this subject elsewhere, but I can not seem to find it so I thought I would start a new thread

I live in an urban area and I am ON-Grid.

My urban dwelling friend just installed a solar photovoltaic system on his house and is currently selling back excess electricity he produces to the electric company in the form of reversing his power meter and gaining credits. 

I am told that under no circumstances, would he ever actually receive a check from the power company, but he would pay into the system in terms of credits, and on cloudy days, use those credits he may have earned on sunny days and essentially get power for free.

I called my local electric company to ask about the details of this, since I am only a short way away from producing power from my Listeroid running on free, waste Vegetable  oil.  When I spoke to the power company about this, National Grid thought I was speaking Venetian, and had two heads -- and recommend high doses of Lithium to cure my mental illness!

Does anyone know for sure, what is involved for me to hook up my Listeroid based 8KW generator into my house, and have any excess electricity go back to the grid and credit my account?  No one here seems to know anything about this, and can only advise me on how to use my generator only when if I were to disconnect from the grid.  This is not my intention.  I live in grid land!  I want to use the grid as my “battery”

I am not an electrician, but I am sure there is a fairly simple answer.  I have read Utterpower’s explanation of syncing the phase of a ST head to the grid, but this all seems like voodoo, and does not really answer my question of how I can get National Grid to eat my excess power made from used won-ton oil!!
Are there any electrically savvy --  rebellious folks out there that can guide me in the right direction?  Do I need a special box? Meter? Hire a vegetarian electrician? How can I do this,  It is too cool not to do!

Again, I want to generate electricity with my Listeroid on free waste fuel -- while on the main power grid, and what I don’t actually use, I want to automatically sell back to the grid. 

Any one there who can guide me on this profoundly cool venure?

Thanks for any advice!! 
Stevels

25
Listeroid Engines / Re: Ashwamegh Information
« on: January 13, 2006, 02:06:13 AM »
Since I am not actually finished with my system, I admit my advice at this point is purely speculative.  But I simply love the idea of running an engine at as slow a speed as possible, if for no other reason than I just think it is damn cool.  If I could get a 3HP running at 150RPM I would!!  I went out of my way to get a 650 RPM motor even though it cost me HP to do it.  Slow diesels seem to me as though they would burn their fuel more thoroughly, create less polution, less wear on every involved moving part, and run longer and quieter than a faster engine.  Even if I am wrong, it still sounds cool to the ear – isn’t that worth something. 

Hell, if I wanted to be cost effective, wouldn’t I get a cheap 3600RPM high output motor and not be on this forum?

I will let you know once I am in production, in the meantime, slow is sexy! and I am sticking to that story!  ;D

26
Waste Vegetable Oil / Re: Waste Veg Oil
« on: January 10, 2006, 05:09:24 AM »
The holidays are finally gone and my Listeroid Waste Veg project is not forgotten, but a whole lot more time consuming than I had hoped.

I had to first clean and heat my garage so I could even work on the project.  I had to buy a MIG welder and learn how to use the darn thimg (I am a computer nerd, machinist wannabe)

Now that most of the parts are here and the holidays are over, this project will gain some speed.

No, I do not have it going yet.... but man, do I have some ambitious ideas!

I know this is the WVO thread, but I will first design and test the system on Home HEating Oil (essentially diesel dyed red) and once the system seems sound, i will fabricate the conversion to WVO.

As I said, I have converted my MB 350SDL to veg, and it is my daily driving car and it ROCKS! -- so I love this WVO technology.  I am, however, way over my head with just about every aspect of this project.

Just the way I like it!

I will try to take snap shots and document the project, as if it is as ambitiious as I am planning, it may earn me some "Cool Points" within our forum :)

Either way, i gotta do something usefull with the 'Roid soon, my wife is starting to think that the huge green thing in the garage is not her new central vacuum system after all!!

27
After reading this thread, it seems like ListermanDan's enthusiasm for Amsoil may have raised our collective red flags in our "BS-O-Meters", but I am sure a video of tandum 6/1's would be proof that "snake oil" is not his business. 

I am writing this though, because I actually need some advice from the forum.  All my parts are pretty much in for my VegOil generator, but I have stilll not even started up  my 12/2 and the crankcase is still dry because I don't know what I should do about engine oil.

I read that there is pretty much unanimous consent that synthetic oil is a good move for the Listeroid, and that it is in fact best to start from the begining on synthetic oil rather than switch over after using a standard oil. Does anyone have any reccomendation for which synthetic I should go with.  Where can I get Amsoil locally?  Is there another brand that people have experience with that my local Pepboys or AutoZone would stock?  I see that there is standard moter oil that says it is formulated especially for diesel engines, but I have not seen any synthetic motor oil that markets itself for diesel use.  Also, since I intend to run diesel and waste vegetable oil, is there any additional consideration regarding my motor oil choice?

I sure am anxious to fire up the 'Roid, any advice would be apprecated.

28
Listeroid Engines / Re: Whats the story with biodiesel eating paint?
« on: January 10, 2006, 03:16:21 AM »
Having a senior moment, I can not recall where, but I remember seeing a picture of a Listeroid's paint totally eaten by spilled BioDiesel.  If I can find the picture, I will post or link it. It is worth 1000 words. 
My advice: don't paint anything and you be sloppy with your biodeisel  :D

29
Listeroid Engines / Re: Gen.head size
« on: January 10, 2006, 03:09:05 AM »
The rule of thumb I keep reading about is 2HP for every 1KW.  Technically speaking 1KW = 1.341022 HP, but this is theoretical and not ever realized.  Nonethgeless, i feel that the 2HP for every 1KW is a bit conservetive when talking Listeroid HP vs Briggs and Stratton HP.

I have a 12/2 and an 8KW ST head.  I read of a 12/2 with a 10KW head producing over 9KW before the exaust got smokey.

I will let you know how my 8KW performs as soon as the system is complete.

30
General Discussion / Re: Where are you calling from?
« on: November 24, 2005, 02:02:10 AM »
Hey Listerines! Here is my $0.02.

Who: Steve: Stevels (Pronouced Stee-vils) This handle was what this gay housemate called me about 15 years ago out of college.  His name was "Teddles"  My wife, whom lived there also at the time, thought it was the funniest, so, with my luck, the name stuck after all these years.  No one knows the origin of this name -- now you all do!! Am I sharing too much here?? :)  I have no idea what became of Teddles.
 
Where: Providence, RI USA

Why: SO many reasons.  I am not a hippy nor a Right Winger.  Athough for a normal guy, I get so angry at being a schmuck to the "system"  Big oil, Electric Utility Grids, etc.  I LOVE the idea of gnerating my own electricity and selling back the the power company, by burning a waste vegetable product that burns clean, is renewable, and is domestic.  Sometimes I feel like a hard core fanatical patriot with my belief that the US should embrace a domestic source of power (and goods too - don't get me going about trying to find an American flag NOT made in China).  I want to be proactive in WVO and SVO, as well as other renewable, domestic energy supplies.  Ironically, I am doing this with an Indian built engine and a Chinese generator, but you get the point.  Also, I just finished a wonderful conversion of my car to run on WVO.  As for Listeroids, they are the coolest because they are so raw, basic and simple... and SLOW!

How: I have an Ashwemeh 12/2 I just uncrated.  http://www.steveadler.com/wvo_generator_project.htmI am just about to grab a ST 8KW head.  Need to figure out how to fabricate everything else I will need and once I am generating AC, I will work on the WVO hybrid converstion.

So how about the rest of you?

Pages: 1 [2] 3