Thermostat for GTC brand 6/1

[Shadow]

I'm getting close to firing up my GTC 6/1 that I purchased from the good folks at Eco-Diesel systems in Alberta.I went looking for a suitable thermostat to complete the cooling system and found that a thermostat from a 1985 Olds Firenza 2.0 litre fits perfect! Including the housing! Not sure if all 6/1's have the two piece flange(housing), but this one has the 1 inch threaded piece on the outside and under that is another flange with countsunk impression to fit a thermostat. This particular thermostat fits exactly in there so you can bolt the outer piece back on if you want to use the one inch threaded outlet, or bolt the aluminum housing from the Olds if you want to use a Rad hose.
              One qustion I do have, Is when I start this engine, How long can I run it without a load of any kind on it? Its all bolted in place with everything hooked up. But my genenerator is not here so cant put a load on. Is it safe to run empty for any length of time? Thanks

[phaedrus]

I have a GTC and it was run with no load about 8 hours - the engine slobbered oil in the exhaust and still, at nearly 1000 hours tends to do this.

Advise you to be patient.

[peterako]

For a few seconds it is not a problem. But you must run in a lister so you need to load it.

But if you really want there are other tricks to load like pushing a peace of wood against the fly wheel ( keep it wet)

also take care that you can really load the engine if you have a generator.

Good luck

Greetings peter

[ronmar]

I wouldn't run it more than an hour or so without a load.  Initially starting it up a few times to hear the noise and get your fix:) should be OK.  I did this with my 6/1 and had about an hour of no load time on it before spinning the generator.  It slobbered for the first hour after the load was applied(about 1.5-2KW in baseboard heater and lights) and hasn't slobbered since. I am probably pushing 20 hours on mine now. 

A couple of starts and no load runs up to operating temp then shutdown shouldn't hurt with your lister before you are able to put a load on.  This gives you a chance to see how the valve train interfaces with the valve rod caps and to see if the lifters are rotating(mine didn't really start till there was a load on and the engine was hot.  

You probably don't really have an accurate way of setting the RPM without measuring the frequency of the generator output.  You can count the exhaust pulses or oil pump strokes over say a 15 second time period then multiply by 2(two revolutions per exhaust pulse/pump stroke) and multiply by 4(Four 15 second periods in a minute) to get RPM. 75-80 exhaust pulses or pump strokes over 15 seconds is 600-650 RPM.  YOU DO NOT WANT TO OVERSPEED THESE ENGINES! At any rate, it is a good idea to back off the governor spring tension and start at a lower RPM and work your way up to the proper RPM.

You also don't want too much oil.  About the middle of the flat surface on the oil slinger at the bottom of the conrod is about right.  Coincidentally this is about the level allowed by the upper sump before the oil flows over the lip to the lower sump.  As long as you don't fill the oil over that lip, and your pump is working normally, you should be fine.  Check the oil level in that upper sump at every startup.  If the pump quits, then that upper sump will eventually get depleted if no oil is being pumped up to the roller bearings.

First smoke is cool...  Good Luck.

[rcavictim]

Perhaps Troy, owner of ECO Diesel could offer suggestions.  As I understand it the new batch of engines came with chrome plated cylinders and that makes them somewhat of a different animal as far as initial break-in and proper ring seating.  It is my gut feeling that you want to get a full load on that engine as soon as you have verified that it is running properly.  If it were mine, without any further advise from others, I would not put 10 minutes of no load ticking-over on it.

[phaedrus]

I do NOT recommend this, but I have seen, on 6000 hp Enterprise engine, rings seated in by sprinkling several cans of bon ami cleanser slowly into the turbocompressor suction.

[listeroidsusa1]

My Caterpillar D8 had the same recommended procedure to break in the rings. It has a 1246 cubic inch 6 cylinder with hardened liners, running at 900 rpm. Cat had some abrasive powder that was slowly fed into the intake. Cat also recommended running 50-100 hours before doing this on a new or rebuilt engine though........ I wouldn't want to do this to a Lister however.

[Eco Diesel]

I was just talking to Shadow (Stan) about making sure his engine is run right from the get go with a decent load. I can relate to the feeling of being anxious to start one of these engines but you will be sorry if you run it initialy unloaded for even a short time. It takes some heat to make heavy cast iron come to size and that big old piston to fit it's bore properly, valves to fit the guides, fuel to burn effectively etc. An example - our 6/1 running under a 2800 watt load operating at 190 degrees with our ball valve set to control convection flow through the upper cooling line will eventualy drop to 160 degrees if you take the load off it. One of our customers started his uncoupled 6/1 engine a number of times to show his friends how it was started/ran and his 6/1 slobbered for many hundred hours of loaded operation before the rings finaly seated in properly. Our own 6/1 demonstrator had barely reached 650 rpm on the wind up and we had 2500 watts on the plugs. It has a nice dry exhaust system to date with the exception of the incident. The only time it ever slobbered was when I was in a hurry to show  a customer it running and I stupidly poured oil for the valves from the jug. Glug glug oh shi....This single goof up took an hour of running to clear up and an hour 1/2 to wipe down the girlfriends Rav4! Thats why India provides us with an oil can and not an oil jug! It is always best to take your time and set things up properly. I would highly recomend having an electrician assemble or help you assemble your control panel with decent volt, amp, elapsed time and frequency meters, disconnect etc. so as to accurately adjust your engine rpm and so you know what you are throwing at it load wise. It's that darn Listeroid fever that tells us to start the thing before it's time! Gotta fight the temptation fellows.

Troy

[Doug]

We have this nice fine abrasive powder where I work that when sprinkled into CAT engines ahead of the Turbo causes them to require a rebuild at 2000 hours....

Dust lol.
All it took in one case was a loose clamp on an air cleaner and the turbo showed the pitting from tiniest amounts of talc like dust sucked in.
Also CAT products in my buisness tend to suffer from short lives since they are more refined and engineered.
A blunt object built of amour plate and seat of the pants designed to be abused is a far different animal from a refined working machine intended for an operator.

This much said I will ask the CAT man next time he comes to shake his head at Our equipment about he magic powder.

Doug

[GeckoPower]

I heard that guy has 3000 hrs on his machine since december and has had no real problems other then water pump belts, and he is running his whole house on a 6/1 // st 5kw head.  how many have even tried to run their house on what they have created for more than 2 days? I would like to know.

[t19]

I have on Johns loaned 6/1

It worked like a charm, stayed in comfort while the world around me fell apart

[Eco Diesel]

Say Geko, Yeah know, I heard about that same guy. It sounded like he was actualy pretty darn happy with his Listeroid. You don't hear that everyday on this forum! Says even his wife starts it when he's away working!  Hmmm.... Maybe these roids aren't so bad after all.

Troy