Would you use this connecting rod?

[MacGyver]

An important aspect of this discussion is missing. Are you enjoying working on this engine even with the problems ? 

Well, I guess that would have to be a qualified "yes"...

I almost always enjoy getting my hands and eyes into new and unfamiliar equipment, so that part has been enjoyable.

Unfortunately I have kind of limited time and money these days and I can't afford to waste too much of either trying to track down and fix basic quality problems.
That only takes resources away from the things I think will be *really* fun.. like building heat exchangers to reclaim the waste coolant and exhaust heat, and building filters and fuel line heaters to experiment with WVO, WMO, etc.

But yes, for the most part I'm having a good time.



Steve

[sid]

was looking on ebay and noticed the seller in Maine.he says all you have to do is add oil and fuel and a radiator and run it....has an excellent feed back/ I just wonder /// maybe his engines are free of sand and from a good supplier/my engine was made in 1998 and I got it in 1999/ never a sand problem/// I never heard of a sand problen until 4 years ago// I think India is very capeable of  make a quality engine// I think you just have pay for it and find the right supplier///not buy the cheapest thing India can assembly/// how to open an engine crate in under 3-4 hours/// take a sawz all/////
/ cut top off / cut down all 4 corners / bend over sides/ total time 5-10 minutes//when finished with engine. stand up 4 side re attach with angle brackest . re attach top// about 10 more minutes...sid

[Tom]

Well if you need a lister fix to keep you motivated you're welcome to come see one in action. 

[Doug]

Part of the advantage in the way that they do it is that you can see how the majority of parts go together. You just have to figure if they were assembled correctly and if they are machined correctly.

Yes that is a good point but he also sells a CD that tell you how to fix all these things.
So it stands to reason the CD should be enough along with the manual ti assemble the engine.

Steve as long as its still fun, My Petter is going on 2 years now of fun. Although its assembled I haven;t the time to do much any more.

[sid]

I think you could buy one that is already assembled and with out sand for that price/ and you would not need a c/d////sid

[Doug]

What fun would that be?

Without sand you have no reason to take it apart and the wife will get pissed off if you do without a good reason.

[sid]

as many engines that I have I seldon get the hankering to tear one apart unless it is broke//sid

[MacGyver]

What fun would that be?

Without sand you have no reason to take it apart and the wife will get pissed off if you do without a good reason.

She's gonna be pissed off anyway. Trust me...

I'd be happy with less sand.

Oh my God.. I've posted so many silly questions on this board that I've been given another star and upgraded from "newbie" to Jr. Member. How many more posts before I get to be king?


Steve

[sid]

when you get to 100 / you get a folder to put them in/sid

[Doug]

I have 5 gold stars.

That means I am a very special little boy.....

Keep asking Steve.
If you don't we get stale and stuffy and I'm liable to start rambling to kill time....

what do you do for a living Steve?

[ronmar]

An inspection of one of these things would NOT be the work of an hour, and surely would not be a task for the "unskilled".  I don't know about anyone else, but it took me at least 20 minutes to uncrate my "short block" and the way the crate was put together, there was no putting it back together for an acceptable re-shipment.  Plus the need to have a workspace and machinery to move one of these 450# crates around.  Then another few minutes to unwrap the plastic.  As for inspecting all the other parts, well that would take at least another hour for even a cursory exam.  All this would add up to a fair ammount of additional cost.  

With the implication implicit that the buyer inspect this thing for proper assembly, that is a lot of added labor and cost for something that will/should be throughly inspected by the end user.  From a business standpoint, it is far better to deal with the defective part as it was handled, to keep the end user costs down and keep the product marketable to a very small market.

As for PS, George and Joel, I wouldn't have taken that bet with Doug, even though I wouldn't mind buying him a beer:)  I had a flywheel with a casting flaw.  On my word and appraisal alone, that flywheel was replaced without question.

The biggest advantage of a "kit" engine is that an engine with a flaw or sand was not succesfully test ran in India to possibly cause more damage to parts.  Would it be nice to get a box of unassembled bare unpainted parts as a true kit?  I think so.  A little bit more assembly/fitting instructions might be required though.

Ron

[sid]

my main question is why is there is sand in some engines and another vendor has no sand/I have bought 4 engines from one dealer and no sand// he has sold over 600 engines and had 2 failures both cause by running out of water//we had never heard of sand until 4 years ago when every one tried importing the cheapest engine they could find///I ran my engine 4 years before the sand issue came up////sid

[mobile_bob]

there is no vendor that sells engines made in india that are devoid of sand, unless you find an assembler that will take the time to properly
clean the castings... and even then there will be those that slip through.

the issue with the sand for the most part is the insanely ignorant original design of the big end oiling system that has carried over in the listeroids
coupled with pistons that trap sand under the insides, is a recipe for disaster.

any engine that does away with the top end oiling has moved to proper engineering practice, beit with crossdrilled crank or with hollow dippers.

sure the big end original oiling system works, but you got to have QC to assure that there is a clean piston etc.

having done the math, and provided the equations, done the research, and been a diesel engine mechanic for now just over 33 years
i defy anyone to defend the original lister big end oiling design, it is marginal at best, adequate if everything is clean and perfect

also because it has been said the original cost as much as a house,, for godsakes the clones are but a fraction of the original price for a lister
using even 1950 pricing.

you get what you pay for, and then put whatever labor/dollar you like to get it to the level of quality that is sufficient for your personal needs.

no other engine on the market today allows one to do that.

bob g

[Doug]

When I was a teen I did a fair bit of small engine work.

My biggest cutomer was a guy who had a landscaping and Lawn cutting buisness.
I undercut every guy intoen for the service and made good money....

This is how:

I sold rebuilt Lawn Boy D407 movers and Mini Mac7 chain saws to him when I had them.

End of season I would strip 4 mowers at a time like an assembly line ( all the parts were interchangeable so it didn' t matter ). I had all the tools lined up to do it so itwent very fast.  I stuck to what worked and I did it in volume. Glen was a very happy man, I saved him a lot of money and he payed cash and was very good to me....

I could sell or rebuild all his stuff fast and keep the price down.

So why couldn't someone order 50 rods and open the crate check all 50 in an hour or two, I think I could. It might take a few days to uncrate 50 or so engines worth of parts and decide what is good enough and what is not.

I think the Kit engine is as much about liability and getting around the EPA. It is the cheapest way for Utterpower to avoid lawsuits buy only selling parts. Its also cost effective it has kept them in buisness and the parts and engines flowing in for those who want to build a hobby engine or blue print and build a work engine  

[Tom]

What fun would that be?

Without sand you have no reason to take it apart and the wife will get pissed off if you do without a good reason.

She's gonna be pissed off anyway. Trust me...

I'd be happy with less sand.

Oh my God.. I've posted so many silly questions on this board that I've been given another star and upgraded from "newbie" to Jr. Member. How many more posts before I get to be king?


Steve

She'll get over it. Mine was not too happy either, especially when the first one was messed up with a top end full of sand. George sent a replacement engine and offered the hosed one + repair parts for the low low price of only $400.00. I really wanted it too. I'm surprised you didn't see the mushroom cloud from her reaction to buying ANOTHER Listeroid from over on your hill.

Now she is fairly happy with the situation. After the first extended outage when she sees how little fuel you've burned you will be a hero!