Hi bruss01, I'm another newbie to listeroids, but have quite a bit of other semi-related experience with everything from snowmobiles to marine engines.
George's Utterpower CD is the closest thing there is to a manual. It's definitely not everything you're looking for, but it at least is full of ideas.
Everyone seems agreed that if you want quality out of the box, try to get a good used real Lister from the UK and refurbish it. You should probably regard a listeroid as a semi-finished kit, and treat it accordingly. the good news is that most of the problems appear to be fit-and-finish related and should be sufficiently remediable without resort to machine tools. As it is, I have a neighbor who's a machinist (
http://www.jensensteamengines.com ) and would undoubtedly get a kick out of helping with this sort of thing.
The toughest part for someobdy in a garage like me is handling heavy lumps of cast iron. I can do up a hoist easily to a floor joist, but something like a roller crane sure would be nice, and I'm old enough that moving 125 lb flywheels around isn't a completely trivial thing to do by hand. I might finally have to break down and buy an engine hoist (corvair engines only weigh about 250 lbs completely assembled - never needed one). To be sure - you want to strip, inspect, and clean any listeroid before starting it. Also to be sure - you'll probably find yourself doing a lot of measure, fit and finish before it's back together. And I don't care what kind of engine it is - it should be properly balanced. It probably isn't in the crate, so you get to do it. The bump method described elsewhere here is adequate.
I'm also dealing with the fact that, like you, I have to have temporary/portable mounting. Historically, engines like this were often mounted on heavy skids for portable use, and Lister built a delivery truck with the engine mounted on a drive wheel. I understand that the concrete block mounting is ideal, but I'm probably going to be moving in a year or two. One thing I am certain of - if you're going to do a portable mount, stick to the lighter, slower engines like the 6/1.
Generator sizes are pretty well laid out already. A 6/1 will run a 3.5 KW gen head well. I'm going to use a 5 KW because I may use the head on something else as well, and having the windings running well below rating might cost some efficiency, but will gain me a cooler generator. A 12/2 would use either a 7.5 or 10 KW head.
So far I have seen no explanation of how to get a 700 lb chunk of cast iron off a trailer and into your garage... does everyone out there have a ton of burly friends, or maybe a forklift out back under a tarp? I have neither.
Ha! Neither have I. I had the receiving guy at work fork the pallet in to my Corvair van, and it's been in there ever since. I've spent the last two days thinking, fabricating and rigging something to get this thing out of the van (which has a 18" floor height, thankfully) and onto the garage floor so I can uncrate it. I can tell you this - simple machines are your friends. In my case, the pulley, the lever, and the roller are all going to get a workout tonight. If you're applying direct muscle to a whole listeroid and you're not a weight lifter, you're probably going to hurt yourself.
I'm nervous about sending a ton of money to a foreign country beyond the reach of US law, but if that could be addressed can I order directly from the manufacturer (provided someone there speaks English!)? Ship directly to Port of Sacramento? Are listeroid parts "standard" across manufacturers?
Most people here are buying from somebody doing a batch import, often as part of a larger business. There's a lot of voodoo about EPA regs, but my engine, at least, showed up without any surprises through someone who has imported them in the past and probably will in the future. In any event, as someone who used to work at EPA, I can assure you that the EPA smog cop car pulling up to your house with the lights flashing because you have a listeroid is vanishingly unlikely.
If EPA import rules suddenly start really applying to Listeroids, there's always individual import from Canada. There is more than one Canadian vendor here, and a private owner importing for his own use is legal under the lifetime personal exemption clause for nearly anything including a Trabant. Believe me, if they won't flag a Trabbie, they won't flag a Listeroid!
Parts interchangeability varies across brands and models. Most seem to be mostly compatible. Excessive compatibility isn't always a good thing - it looks like they've standardized on one rocker arm that isn't actually the right one for the 6/1 with IDI. It's definitely worth your time and trouble to compare different brands and decide how much generic nature you want, and if there are any specific featuers like direct injection or a real oil pump that some engine have and others don't. It appears that most of the engine manufacturers are buying their raw castings from a very few foundries, and are doing the finish and assembly themselves - rather like white box PC manufacturers. This means that a Lovson and a Metro probably share a lot of castings, for example.