I thought I would start a technical help topic on the Lister SL series. I have no expertise other than my own experience in dealing with my recently acquired piece of iron and a surprising amount of aluminum. Please feel free to post your frustrations, workarounds and fixes. Hopefully it might help a few LS owners in the future.. The LD series is also covered in the manuals and it might be useful to include this model as well.

Manuals:
The original Lister manuals are a long way from modern Toyota or Honda standards. I found using the Lister service manual in conjunction with the parts manual is a big help. Hopefully the information here will compliment the manuals.

The kind folks at the Internal Fire Museum have a wide selection of manuals including both the SL parts and service manuals but you need to register first before you can download. They provide the service for free or with a voluntary contribution.

http://internalfire.com/index.php?loadf=93&sid=702402d917ef0f6d8fa3c64e639ce003

Thanks dieselgman .. the vents checked out fine. I'm pretty sure the problem is missing manifold gaskets. The air shroud was sandwiched between the head and manifolds without gaskets and over time fuel leaked out. The heat probably thickened the fuel and combined with dirt making it look like oil.. Will make up some gaskets and go from there.

Thanks guys  I managed to find a manual at this Dutch site http://www.opduwer-drukker.nl/naslgwerk/naslgwerk.htm . I think this is the manual you refer to but it sure lacks detail .. the parts list is also pretty sketchy but better than nothing. Hopefully you guys can guide me along as I'm getting into it. At the moment I'm disassembling and attempting to deal with oil leak issues around the cylinders. This has been going on for some time as there is a thick sludge buildup in between the fins. Pic below.

The manual mentions a breather "copper pipe" which (I assume) would run from the crankcase and connect up to the "inlet port" in the head. No sign of these vent pipes. Any thoughts on how the crankcase would be vented? Also mentioned ..if the breather is clogged there is a potential of gasket and seal leaks..

Thanks guys.. I'll be picking the diesel end up this Friday and let you know the serial number. Will no doubt be looking for a manual and hopefully with some help from the kind folks here, I'll have a better understanding of my new pet project..