The answer is a lot of us have time to experiment The sense of achievement after we have got it working is great. This system will work well on steady loads such as lights and heaters but for fluctuating loads the alternator with an AVR is the answer.

You can forget the Supacheap trolleys they bend the bottom plate and the rims are only pressed coke cans. You need a real bag trolley with the steel wheels probably only obtainable at a clearing sale or the dump. Sorry I meant refuse transfer station.

Maybe I am a cynic but this seems to be laying the ground work for yet another increase in energy prices. Because of the outcry about electricity prices in various states the companies realize they need to provide reason for the next price hike. This prediction is from  AEMO whose can't manage to get enough generators on line when there is an excursion from normal demand. It seems strange that electricity workers are considered to be essential service employees and have legislation forbidding them to withdraw their labour yet generators can tell AEMO to get stuffed if the price isn't right.

Getting a liner to fit isn't a problem.I had a LD1 rebored with a liner to fit the undersized worn piston as it was cheaper route to go. But welding a cylinder and the attempting to bore it would be a drama I would think.

From what I can remember the LD1 has a sheetmetal latch with a protrusion on it. The fuel lever is clicked over this latch to start it. This allows the rack to move to an excess fuel position. The 0.010 clearance allows for a slight overload and it is so the engine doesn't blow clouds of black smoke on a severe overload. If nobody can come up with an answer before I will get the measurements for you on the weekend. A thought just occured to me maybe you can't see the reference mark because the rack has been assembled incorrectly because it is quite prominent on the R.H. end of the rack shaft.

I have been keeping my eye open for something about 10 Kva to run my plasma cutter in my workshed. At the moment I use a 60 year old 4Kva S.O.M. Because it doesn't have the later transformer regulator it requires a bit of patience when you whack a sudden load on it is just a bit slow to respond or gives up and drops out the contactorand sulks, a bit like me who is just a bit older than it. The plasma will run at 30 amps on an 8Kva petrol generator and sometimes I would like to cut something a bit thicker than 0.25 in plate. The compressor is powered by an LD1 which is a lot more reliable at starting than the B&S it used to have. The workshop is about 1/2 Km from the house and the original quote to run the power would have required a casket win to finance it.

I understand that there is a maintainence cost to the distribution network but I wonder why it is dearer than the maintainence charge for my Telstra line which is exclusive From the Exchange to my premises.Whereas the electricity line is shared by 20 people on the common line from the transformer at the end of my road. The biggest rip off is the individual charge in multiple dwellings where there may be 10 units all fed by the one lead in but all paying the $1.20 a day or thereabouts for the shared line. Having talked to the electricity ombudsman this rip off is allowed by law at the moment. But I have been harassing my local state representative for some answers about this so far with no sensible answers.