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17
Original Lister Cs Engines / Fired up the old Lister today...
« on: June 24, 2018, 11:00:15 PM »
...for the first time in a couple of years at least. Despite being sat all this time, she fired right up & settled to a nice steady 600rpm-ish. Well chuffed 
A friend of mine is experimenting with what he calls "black diesel" - basically, waste motor oil, filtered to 1 micron, with petrol (gas) added to reduce the viscosity. We decided to try it in the Lister rather than his car, on the basis that if it didn't work, he wouldn't be stuck without a working car. Although the "fuel" was a little more visicous than regular diesel, the ole Lister took it in her stride; maybe a slightly bluer exhaust than usual, but it's hard to tell. Since we didn't have any "clean" diesel to switch over to, I've had to stop her with this dodgy "diesel substitute". Be interesting to see if she still starts next week...
If I get chance, I'll take some video/pix next time.
A friend of mine is experimenting with what he calls "black diesel" - basically, waste motor oil, filtered to 1 micron, with petrol (gas) added to reduce the viscosity. We decided to try it in the Lister rather than his car, on the basis that if it didn't work, he wouldn't be stuck without a working car. Although the "fuel" was a little more visicous than regular diesel, the ole Lister took it in her stride; maybe a slightly bluer exhaust than usual, but it's hard to tell. Since we didn't have any "clean" diesel to switch over to, I've had to stop her with this dodgy "diesel substitute". Be interesting to see if she still starts next week...
If I get chance, I'll take some video/pix next time.
18
General Discussion / IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ! GDPR regulations, May 2018
« on: May 23, 2018, 07:56:08 PM »
Hello everyone,
As many of you will now be aware, having received scads of e-mails about it recently, the EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) comes into force on Friday, 25th May, 2018.
This forum, in common with all forums, holds data which can be used to personally identify you. Specifically, your name (or pseudonym), e-mail address, and IP address you most recently accessed the forum. There are also various settings which determine what e-mails you might receive from us. Typically, these might be topic/reply notifications, and the occasional general announcement, such as this one.
I'm planning to install a mod which should help me manage the forum in light of these new regulations; specifically, to allow the "right to be forgotten" (i.e. deleted) without actually deleting any post contents; the right for members to see what data we hold about you, and so on. I'll also, after this notification, do a bit of a database clean-up to get rid of old/dead/defunct/never used accounts.
If you wish to change anything about your account, which you can't do yourself though the forum software, please e-mail me on listerengineforum@solutionengineers.com, with your request. Depending on how many requests I get & when, I may not be able to action them before the 25th May, but I'll do my best. If anyone seeing this message, or reading the e-mail generated from it, wishes to have their account removed, again, please e-mail me. Or, I believe you can delete your account yourself, if you log in.
If you can't login, because you've forgotten your password; request a password reset. All e-mails from the forum are currently being generated from the above e-mail address, so if you don't see the mail, please check your spam folder.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask them here. I can't guarantee I'll know the answer, though. IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer).
Cheers,
Ade.
On behalf of the Lister Engine Forum, http://listerengine.com
As many of you will now be aware, having received scads of e-mails about it recently, the EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) comes into force on Friday, 25th May, 2018.
This forum, in common with all forums, holds data which can be used to personally identify you. Specifically, your name (or pseudonym), e-mail address, and IP address you most recently accessed the forum. There are also various settings which determine what e-mails you might receive from us. Typically, these might be topic/reply notifications, and the occasional general announcement, such as this one.
I'm planning to install a mod which should help me manage the forum in light of these new regulations; specifically, to allow the "right to be forgotten" (i.e. deleted) without actually deleting any post contents; the right for members to see what data we hold about you, and so on. I'll also, after this notification, do a bit of a database clean-up to get rid of old/dead/defunct/never used accounts.
If you wish to change anything about your account, which you can't do yourself though the forum software, please e-mail me on listerengineforum@solutionengineers.com, with your request. Depending on how many requests I get & when, I may not be able to action them before the 25th May, but I'll do my best. If anyone seeing this message, or reading the e-mail generated from it, wishes to have their account removed, again, please e-mail me. Or, I believe you can delete your account yourself, if you log in.
If you can't login, because you've forgotten your password; request a password reset. All e-mails from the forum are currently being generated from the above e-mail address, so if you don't see the mail, please check your spam folder.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask them here. I can't guarantee I'll know the answer, though. IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer).
Cheers,
Ade.
On behalf of the Lister Engine Forum, http://listerengine.com
19
General Discussion / Peter Forbes (aka listerdiesel)
« on: March 19, 2018, 11:18:50 PM »
Gents,
For those of you who didn't know, I have to sadly inform you that Peter Forbes (aka listerdiesel here & elsewhere), died unexpectedly earlier this month. Peter posted here from time to time, always with useful and helpful information, although he was much more active - the primary administrator, even - of the Stationary Engine forum. Nevertheless, his contributions here will be missed.
RIP Peter.
For those of you who didn't know, I have to sadly inform you that Peter Forbes (aka listerdiesel here & elsewhere), died unexpectedly earlier this month. Peter posted here from time to time, always with useful and helpful information, although he was much more active - the primary administrator, even - of the Stationary Engine forum. Nevertheless, his contributions here will be missed.
RIP Peter.
20
General Discussion / Scheduled Downtime - January 18th 2018 @ 18:00 approx.
« on: January 17, 2018, 09:49:07 PM »
Hi folks,
I've just been informed by Linode, our host, that this virtual server is being migrated to new hardware tomorrow, January 18th, at around 6pm GMT. I'm not totally sure of the timezones, but I think that's around lunchtime on the west coast of the USA, it's definitely 2am in China, and presumably around 4-5am in Australia (can't remember how many TZs you guys have).
With a bit of luck and a fair wind, a nice loud creak from the electron injector, and a good swing on the harddisks, we'll be back up and running in around 10 minutes from shutdown.... but, this being IT and not an 80 year old Lister, the old girl might take a bit longer to make black smoke. I'll be around at the time of the reboot, so I'll keep an eye on things & hopefully I can fix it if it all goes titsup.
This downtime is to patch the server to prevent the Meltdown bug from affecting it. More downtime will follow later to patch against Spectre, but it should be less dramatic.
So.... break out your Listers, and be prepared to take a 10 minute smoke break while we wait for the electrons and positrons to do their thing!
Cheers,
Ade.
I've just been informed by Linode, our host, that this virtual server is being migrated to new hardware tomorrow, January 18th, at around 6pm GMT. I'm not totally sure of the timezones, but I think that's around lunchtime on the west coast of the USA, it's definitely 2am in China, and presumably around 4-5am in Australia (can't remember how many TZs you guys have).
With a bit of luck and a fair wind, a nice loud creak from the electron injector, and a good swing on the harddisks, we'll be back up and running in around 10 minutes from shutdown.... but, this being IT and not an 80 year old Lister, the old girl might take a bit longer to make black smoke. I'll be around at the time of the reboot, so I'll keep an eye on things & hopefully I can fix it if it all goes titsup.
This downtime is to patch the server to prevent the Meltdown bug from affecting it. More downtime will follow later to patch against Spectre, but it should be less dramatic.
So.... break out your Listers, and be prepared to take a 10 minute smoke break while we wait for the electrons and positrons to do their thing!
Cheers,
Ade.
21
General Discussion / Recent outages (14th, 15th April 2017)
« on: April 15, 2017, 05:53:26 AM »
All,
My apologies for the recent sever outages... this was caused by 2 things: I ran out of disk space (oooops, that was careless), I believe the knock-on effect from that caused MySQL to get all upset so it wouldn't run.
I've since freed up well over 11GB of disk space, so that should see us for another couple of years at least. The problem child is actually another forum which runs on this server, which is about 5x the size of LEF...
I've also increased the maximum number of simultaneous connections allowed to the database, so hopefully we won't see that message for a while either. I'll keep an eye on it, and if it looks like I need to increase it again, I will do so.
Meantime - apologies again for the outages. Hopefully it won't happen again anytime soon!
Best regards,
Ade.
My apologies for the recent sever outages... this was caused by 2 things: I ran out of disk space (oooops, that was careless), I believe the knock-on effect from that caused MySQL to get all upset so it wouldn't run.
I've since freed up well over 11GB of disk space, so that should see us for another couple of years at least. The problem child is actually another forum which runs on this server, which is about 5x the size of LEF...
I've also increased the maximum number of simultaneous connections allowed to the database, so hopefully we won't see that message for a while either. I'll keep an eye on it, and if it looks like I need to increase it again, I will do so.
Meantime - apologies again for the outages. Hopefully it won't happen again anytime soon!
Best regards,
Ade.
22
Engines / OT: Cleaning an aluminium (aluminum) cylinder head
« on: August 07, 2015, 12:52:37 AM »
Gents,
I have an off-topic question. Off topic for Listers that is, but it IS an engine question, and I figure some of you guys know more about this stuff than I do...
So - I'm building a Jaguar V12 racing engine. This has an ali block & heads, and cast iron cylinder liners. The engine I'm rebuilding is 38 years old, so there's obviously a lot of crud around. My big parts washer plus some seriously concentrated degreaser + lots of elbow grease has shifted the bulk of the oily contaminants, and the actual portion of the heads which sees combustion have cleaned up very well. However, the part of the head that's in contact with the water, has heavy rust (iron oxide from the liners & other steel/iron parts of the engine) deposits seriously well bonded to the aluminium surfaces.
My question is - what's the best way to shift the rust without damaging the aluminium? Scrubbing with a plastic scrubbing brush has very little effect. I've had some luck using a Dremel & brass wire brush, but it's very slow going (and the brushes disintegrate rapidly).
The heads are (a bit like early Lister heads) almost impossible to obtain except at ridiculously high prices, so I need to clean them without wrecking them. I'm thinking a decent brass wire brush that I can attach to an angle grinder would be the quickest way to remove it - if I can find a suitable brush of course. Brass-plated steel is no good as the steel will score the aluminium, which means it'll need surfacing, and that buggers up the timing (OHC engine).
Any other suggestions warmly welcomed.
Ta!
I have an off-topic question. Off topic for Listers that is, but it IS an engine question, and I figure some of you guys know more about this stuff than I do...
So - I'm building a Jaguar V12 racing engine. This has an ali block & heads, and cast iron cylinder liners. The engine I'm rebuilding is 38 years old, so there's obviously a lot of crud around. My big parts washer plus some seriously concentrated degreaser + lots of elbow grease has shifted the bulk of the oily contaminants, and the actual portion of the heads which sees combustion have cleaned up very well. However, the part of the head that's in contact with the water, has heavy rust (iron oxide from the liners & other steel/iron parts of the engine) deposits seriously well bonded to the aluminium surfaces.
My question is - what's the best way to shift the rust without damaging the aluminium? Scrubbing with a plastic scrubbing brush has very little effect. I've had some luck using a Dremel & brass wire brush, but it's very slow going (and the brushes disintegrate rapidly).
The heads are (a bit like early Lister heads) almost impossible to obtain except at ridiculously high prices, so I need to clean them without wrecking them. I'm thinking a decent brass wire brush that I can attach to an angle grinder would be the quickest way to remove it - if I can find a suitable brush of course. Brass-plated steel is no good as the steel will score the aluminium, which means it'll need surfacing, and that buggers up the timing (OHC engine).
Any other suggestions warmly welcomed.
Ta!
23
General Discussion / We're moving again....
« on: June 02, 2015, 09:16:12 PM »
This is just a heads-up announcement. The hosting is due on the server in a couple of weeks, and since I've had more than a few problems with it over the past couple of years, I've decided to move onto a new host - Host4geeks.com is the one I've chosen, primarily because they offer "fanatical" support, without the "fanatical" price that someone like Rackspace charge....
Since I run more than just LEF on this server, and some of what I run is pretty mission critical, I'll be getting H4G to do a trial migration first; if all goes well with that, then the "real" migration will happen shortly afterwards.
In theory, no-one will even notice when the move takes place, it'll just happen at some point. However, I'm also planning to upgrade the forum software to SMF 2.x, which is more secure, has better features, and a more modern user interface. To give you an idea of what an SMF2 forum looks like, check out http://madmodder.net. If anyone has any compelling reasons why we shouldn't update, drop me a PM or reply to this thread, and we can discuss it.
I'll post a further update when I've got more news for you.
Cheers!
Ade.
Since I run more than just LEF on this server, and some of what I run is pretty mission critical, I'll be getting H4G to do a trial migration first; if all goes well with that, then the "real" migration will happen shortly afterwards.
In theory, no-one will even notice when the move takes place, it'll just happen at some point. However, I'm also planning to upgrade the forum software to SMF 2.x, which is more secure, has better features, and a more modern user interface. To give you an idea of what an SMF2 forum looks like, check out http://madmodder.net. If anyone has any compelling reasons why we shouldn't update, drop me a PM or reply to this thread, and we can discuss it.
I'll post a further update when I've got more news for you.
Cheers!
Ade.
24
General Discussion / microcogen.info - problems?
« on: May 29, 2015, 10:25:44 AM »
I'm struggling to get the microcogen site today, is it just me or is it playing up for everyone?
Makes a change for that site to be down & this one to be up!
Makes a change for that site to be down & this one to be up!
25
Original Lister Cs Engines / A new Lister in the family...
« on: May 18, 2015, 01:26:58 AM »
Last Friday, I was up at sparrowfart for the long (200 miles - I know that's peanuts to you Americans, but on our roads... that's a trek) drive down to Bath to go pick up my new toy. 4 hours down, 3 hours to pull it out of the boat it lived in & onto my transport, and 6 hours back (Friday night traffic...), another hour to offload, and here she is, nailed to a selection of railway sleepers, almost ready for a first run:
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on Flickr
Yup, I finally have me a Lister JP4, aka 38/4. 38 horsepower, feel the width...
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on Flickr
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on Flickr
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on Flickr
The engine was originally fitted to a Dutch barge. In this shot, we can see the genuine, original, Dutch diesel catch tank (for the injector overspill)...
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on Flickr
The spec plate, showing this to be a 1940 engine.
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on Flickr
Interestingly, it's been retrofitted with a 1963 JK flywheel - presumably to add the ring gear & electric starter motor. Originally, it must have been a hand-crank start, quite a task on such a big engine.
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on Flickr
The upside-down flywheel serial number reads 213JK4MP13 - it looks like the MP has been added in the wrong place (MP=Marine Propulsion), and should have been after the 13 (which, we assume, means 1963).
That's it on the photos for now; but, with a bit of a jerry-rigged fuel line, a couple of fresh batteries & a battery booster, I got her fired up Lots of smoke and noise, and she won't run on all four at low RPM, I suspect the fuel lines still need a little bleeding. Next job is to fit a radiator & associated pipework - and probably a waterpump as I don't have the enormous thermosiphoning radiator that this engine would normally sport - so I can run her for more than a brief period. Oh, and a more powerful governer spring than the lash up I added, which sets the "tickover" at about 100rpm I think...
Still - all in all, I am chuffed. This engine will easily run my entire workshop, and when I move out into the Portuguese sticks, it'll be my only access to 3-phase power.
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on FlickrYup, I finally have me a Lister JP4, aka 38/4. 38 horsepower, feel the width...
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on FlickrLister JP4 by AdeV, on FlickrLister JP4 by AdeV, on FlickrThe engine was originally fitted to a Dutch barge. In this shot, we can see the genuine, original, Dutch diesel catch tank (for the injector overspill)...
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on FlickrThe spec plate, showing this to be a 1940 engine.
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on FlickrInterestingly, it's been retrofitted with a 1963 JK flywheel - presumably to add the ring gear & electric starter motor. Originally, it must have been a hand-crank start, quite a task on such a big engine.
Lister JP4 by AdeV, on FlickrThe upside-down flywheel serial number reads 213JK4MP13 - it looks like the MP has been added in the wrong place (MP=Marine Propulsion), and should have been after the 13 (which, we assume, means 1963).
That's it on the photos for now; but, with a bit of a jerry-rigged fuel line, a couple of fresh batteries & a battery booster, I got her fired up
Lots of smoke and noise, and she won't run on all four at low RPM, I suspect the fuel lines still need a little bleeding. Next job is to fit a radiator & associated pipework - and probably a waterpump as I don't have the enormous thermosiphoning radiator that this engine would normally sport - so I can run her for more than a brief period. Oh, and a more powerful governer spring than the lash up I added, which sets the "tickover" at about 100rpm I think...Still - all in all, I am chuffed. This engine will easily run my entire workshop, and when I move out into the Portuguese sticks, it'll be my only access to 3-phase power.
26
General Discussion / Scheduled Downtime
« on: March 25, 2015, 05:49:59 PM »
I've just been informed that our host is patching their VM infrastructure with some high priority updates, this will start approx. 2 hours from the time of this message. There will be at least one re-boot. Since that normally causes chaos for our server, I fully expect to have to manually kick it once or twice afterwards, so LEF might be up & down for a few hours tonight.
Sorry for the short notice, they've only just let me know now....
Cheers!
Ade.
Sorry for the short notice, they've only just let me know now....
Cheers!
Ade.
27
General Discussion / More unexpected downtime
« on: January 25, 2015, 12:23:41 PM »
Apologies for the lack of service yesterday & into today; for some reason, the daily website was REALLY slow, which prevented me from getting the root password (which is REALLY complicated), so I couldn't fix the databse 
All done now, as you can see...
I'm going to look for somewhere else to host LEF - the virtual server we are on now is becoming flakey. More news as I get it...
Cheers,
Ade.
All done now, as you can see...
I'm going to look for somewhere else to host LEF - the virtual server we are on now is becoming flakey. More news as I get it...
Cheers,
Ade.
28
General Discussion / DOWNTIME - 25th/26th Sept 2014
« on: September 26, 2014, 11:03:41 AM »
Apologies for the unexpected downtime around the 25th/26th September, this was caused by a host failure at 2am UK time, which was finally "sort of" resolved at 4am; but I needed to reboot our VPS again, as it always needs a reboot following any kind of disruption...
I've decided to go on the hunt for a new host anyway, since the platform we're on has proven to be less reliable than I might have hoped. I'm also going to look into upgrading the forum software to SMF v2, which has many new and useful features, not least better security.
There's no timetable on this work, I'm mad busy both at work & leisure at the moment, so I'll fit it in as best I can...
I've decided to go on the hunt for a new host anyway, since the platform we're on has proven to be less reliable than I might have hoped. I'm also going to look into upgrading the forum software to SMF v2, which has many new and useful features, not least better security.
There's no timetable on this work, I'm mad busy both at work & leisure at the moment, so I'll fit it in as best I can...
29
Lister Market Place (things for Sale) / Listers for sale (UK, Birkenhead)
« on: September 01, 2014, 07:12:28 PM »
Due to imminent downsizing of storage space, I'm having to sell of machines I'd hoped to hang on to. Still, my loss can be your gain.
They're on eBay now, finishing Sunday 7th September:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231321568211
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231321571232
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231321575519
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231321580339
I'm keeping my working SOM set & the spare parts engine that came with it, look out for that one day in the future, I still have big plans for it...
They're on eBay now, finishing Sunday 7th September:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231321568211
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231321571232
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231321575519
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231321580339
I'm keeping my working SOM set & the spare parts engine that came with it, look out for that one day in the future, I still have big plans for it...
30
Other Slow Speed Diesels / New acquisition: Lister LR1
« on: October 16, 2012, 02:22:56 PM »
I recently bought a cheapo Lister LR1 engine - an air-cooled 2hp @ 900rpm unit which had been sat in a garden for some time.
Surprisingly, the oil looked OK, and there was diesel in the tank, so I had a go at starting it - no joy, I got a few pops and clouds of clag, but nothing resembling an actual running engine...
So, I set to and modded an old car flywheel (turned most of the weight off the outer rim, the LR1 already has a flywheel, it doesn't need another one), turned & milled a hub for it so it would mount onto the Lister's camshaft. 2 bits of flat iron were needed to mount the starter motor, I need a 3rd bit to prevent the starter from flapping about too much when running, and also to ensure it engages properly when the solenoid operates.
I then discovered just how hard a start it really is.... I took this video to show the claggy old beastie firing up. Until she's got a bit of warmth, I just can't make the revs pick up. Once warmed up, the engine runs freely, and will re-start on a single compression stroke. Speaking of compression, it is mental, the starter motor won't turn it over compression without a run up, or the use of the decompression lever:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hsv8Bbo6D4[/youtube]
This engine is destined to be converted to a throttle-controlled machine, and will be mounted onto the "Clagobility Scooter", aka Granny Chariot.... one of these:
Inspired by this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5_7KQ7rYKs[/youtube]
Surprisingly, the oil looked OK, and there was diesel in the tank, so I had a go at starting it - no joy, I got a few pops and clouds of clag, but nothing resembling an actual running engine...
So, I set to and modded an old car flywheel (turned most of the weight off the outer rim, the LR1 already has a flywheel, it doesn't need another one), turned & milled a hub for it so it would mount onto the Lister's camshaft. 2 bits of flat iron were needed to mount the starter motor, I need a 3rd bit to prevent the starter from flapping about too much when running, and also to ensure it engages properly when the solenoid operates.
I then discovered just how hard a start it really is.... I took this video to show the claggy old beastie firing up. Until she's got a bit of warmth, I just can't make the revs pick up. Once warmed up, the engine runs freely, and will re-start on a single compression stroke. Speaking of compression, it is mental, the starter motor won't turn it over compression without a run up, or the use of the decompression lever:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hsv8Bbo6D4[/youtube]
This engine is destined to be converted to a throttle-controlled machine, and will be mounted onto the "Clagobility Scooter", aka Granny Chariot.... one of these:
Inspired by this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5_7KQ7rYKs[/youtube]