You dont want to use a carb, just a  nozzle with a regulator and valve to vary the amount that injects it into the intake stream.  The carb would limit the oxygen pulled in and therefore cause problems with the diesel burning(Ie to rich).  Natural gas and propane injected in this manner would not cause any problems with increased heat or pressure.  In a spark engine they limit the oxygen to burn it lean to decrease emmisions and that can cause problems.  In a diesel there is no problems with this as there is no restrictions in the intake stream.  All hydrocarbon fuels have close to the same energy "per pound"  and as a result there is no issues of gaseous fuels having increased heat or higher firing pressure than diesel fuel. 

With a regulator/valve setup you just increase the gas fuel when the engine is running at its lowest load.  As you increase the amount of  gas the diesel injection rack will start to close.  Increase the gas until the point that the engine starts to run rough and then back off the gas a little so it runs smooth.  Leave the gas at that point and the governor/injection pump will self adjust to increasing load. 

I would be afraid of locking the injection pump into one position and adusting the gas flow.  If the engine for some reason started to run away and you had to fumble with the injection pump lock to shut it down it might be too late.  If the injection pump is closed all the way even if the gas fuel is still flowing the engine will shut down as there is no form of ignition. 

A poor craftsman blames his tools is a correct statement.  They are poor, not only in money but in experience.  The japanese had some experience left and the usa helped and the chinese imported experience from japan, usa, and other countries several decades later.  India had some from britian but not alot after the war. Plus it is hard to think when working on a starvation diet, heck I cant think when I skip one meal.

can one be suppled with unfiniished castings

I am sure if you contact the indians they will sell you a rough casting. 

i would like to pursue the 6-900 rpm engine,but w/domestic internals.

What domestic supplier is there of lister/listeroid parts?  Everything would have to be custom machined to have "domestic" internals.

my reasons for this long walk, reading threads of misalighned cranks,sand inclusions,tappets gouging cams``------------ what yaer is this? sounds to me,these clowns are taking yankee dollars and sending over painted foundry scrap.this type of product would not stand a chance of passing q/c inspection at FISHER-PRICE. with all the capability over here, how is fabing parts farfetched? motor-cycle after market has been engaged in this activity for some time now. their product operates to 5000 rpm and in most cases, has little or no practicle value. this would be well suited for this board of talented and imaginative DRUIDS.  regards.

Yes, fisher price would reject them, their made of iron not plastic like their products and would be quite unsafe for toddlers to play with as well.  What capabilities do they have?  Its not the united states, most people still live in mud brick huts and survive on less that a 1000 calories a day over there, probably worse than 1900 conditions in the states, I think they are doing pretty well with what they have.  Have you priced aftermarket motorcylce parts?  A stock engine for my harley sportster is 4800 dollars.  Just some aftermarket clutches for the bigtwins cost more than the entire cost of a listeroid.  They would cost well over 5-6000 dollars if they were made in the states probably
 

Wow, now that would be a project.  First, even EMD uses cast iron in their larger engines, they just weld up the smaller 2 strokes more for light weight power than for any other reason.  The old crosleys used furnace brazed steel blocks with good success but it was done for weight reasons more than anything.  The problem?  Well I couldn't imagine welding a block, I dont know how they do it but the warpage of welding would drive an amish man to drink.  I imagine they have lots of heavy solid jigs,preheating,  and such.  Furnace brazing would be alot better in my opinion as it heat/cool the whole unit reducing the warpage but not many have a furnace that big/powerful to do it and it would still take jigs to hold it all together.  I would think and individual would have more success building a small coke powered cupula furnace and sand casting a block than anything else. 

Why not build a proper heat exchanger.  Take a 6-8 inch pipe, stainless if you are self punishing and want it to last forever or common steel for ease of working.  cut two pieces of flat plate that fits inside both sides.  Match drill the plates with 5/8" inch holes equally spaced until you have a surface equal to or ideally time and half of a 2" exhaust pipe.  take 1/2 inside dia pipe(steel or stainless brake line) and weld or braze in these holes for the exhaust to travel through.  Two fittings in the outside jacket to allow water to circulate.  The smaller individual tubes allow for greater surface area better heat exchange.  A shotgun bore brush would provide easy clean out.  If you wanted to go vertical with the exhaust place a t fitting where you do so and a short length of pipe hanging down with a valve or cap that can be opened often to let the crap drain out. 

I strongly agree with you Buick on the nuclear part. 

Both 3 mile island and chernobyl sp? where not caused by equipment malfunctions but by stupidity.  3 mile island, FEMA directed them to scram the reactor time and time again in simulated emergency to the point that it became an emergency.  And then we gave the russians false information on a new break through in nuclear fission that they went out and tried, and low and behold, blew its top.  As far as the waste, if they dug it up and it is radioactive, then burry it back when they are done with the mine. 

I do think that wind electrical generation and solar heating, have a large part to play.  The problem facing wind right now is that the stupid extreame enviromentalist claim that it kills birds(as if the acid rain from coal plants dont kill fish and other wildlife).  There is no pleasing them.

I also think that we need to go back to trains for the majority of our freight and long distance passenger transportation.  I know that we have been spoiled by cheap fuel and quick transit times but a train is so much more fuel efficient and would reduce the need to build more and more super hiways to handle the cross country truck traffic.  Also, a real tough one for many to embrace, is that people need to use electric vehicles for local transportation.  Coupled with wind and nuclear power it is fairly clean and cheap.  The majority of people dont travel over 25 miles a day and it is well within the range of electric vehicles with cheap, reliable lead acid batterys, although heavy.  Carefull planning and trains for long distance transportation would work well.  I doubt this would ever happen though as people are to used to their personal vehicles to go to the store or cross the country.  But if it did it would leave fuel for the applications that batteries are impractical

On the farming note however, I think electric tractors would be a great way to farm for less than say 40 acres.  The weight of the batteries, which are detrimental in a car, are a plus in a tractor.  Individual wheel motors make high torque without transmissions and are instantly reversable and can easily be set up for zero turn.  A second battery pack at the barn would make for easy "refueling"  It would once again take a little planning as you couldn't operate the machine non stop during busy seasons but if you planned a good crop rotation it would spread the work out and make it very practical.  I use electric forklifts, tugs, and other electric vehicles at work and they are excellent to use, just as good as there propane powered equivlents.  http://www.renewables.com/Permaculture/ElectricTractor.htm
I know this site has a little hype, dont agree exactly with every thing he says but I do think it has potential. 
I personally use draft horses on my acreage, takes something special to handle animals and I realize not every has the patience to do so. If I didnt use them I would probably look at building myself an electric tractor. 

What the hell do you really know about the inputs/outputs  or profit/loss of the production side of the oil crops

Boy, what a way to start off a conversation, where are your manners? 
I have never raised conola, but you stated oil crops, I have been involved in the production of soybeans for 16 years now.  While not nearly as good as a oil crop it is being used for biodiesel in this area.  We personally grow forages but our neighbor, who I help out all the time, has about 6000 acres of corn and soybeans.  I have been involved at every step, have plowed, spread lime, fertilizer, disced, harrowed, planted, cultivated, and harvested crops all these years.  My father rents out 120 acres that produces these crops as well.  I am versed in soil samples and soil health(I don't agree with my neighbors practices and what the renter does on my fathers ground.  Dad is starting to see the problems as well)

I must admit that I have discussed the in and outs of growing and crushing canola with those that have been there and done that.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!  Because you done that you must be an expert on the subject.  I mean, talking to a few people gives you TONS more clout than reading the universities research papers and reading accounts for produces.  The written word has so much less clout than a casual conversation!

His reply was that the test plots done east of me about 60 miles have not done too well.

I found out that he and his full time farming brother have grown and harvested canola with mixed results

This last year his area has been in such a severe drought that they did not even have a wheat crop to harvest, no canola either.

So if I get this straight, your talks have netted you 3 reasons to not grow conola and you reply with

Time and weather will tell whether this relatively new to the area crop will work out.  Looks like it should in the long run

Sounds great, invest the money and go for it, you "Should" be rolling in the money in a few years

I unloaded and moved my engine across 20 feet of gravel and around a corner into the barn almost exactly like abbamovers stated.  My wife helped but at no time did we strain or try to use brute force.  We used what we call a spud bar, (a big steel pry bar) to move it on pipe rollers.  I personally like block and tackle better than a come along, make sure if you do use a come-a-long that it can be slowly let out under control as some just release completely, they are much better at pulling than controlling things like a block and tackle is. We let the crate slide down directly on a set of heavy oak ramps to the ground, with a rope looped around the top of the create.  We placed two boards in the front stake pockets of the pickup truck bed and a 3x3 across them to attach the block and tackle to.  I moved the crate down the ramp with the pry bar and couple of inches each side as my wife played out the rope.  Once on the ground we lifted it up to put rollers underneath.  Also dont pry up too far on one side, get some thin 1" boards to stick under one side, then the other, then the pipe rollers.  The engine is very top heavy and will fall over if tilted to far.  We used 4- 5' sections of old 2x4's as track,as we rolled it off one set on to the next they were picked up and placed in front again.  Took less than 25 mins to do it and much cheaper than renting a forklift or purchasing engine hoist.