Mike,
Nope no gasoline in the diesel - just a little anti gel (same stuff I always ran in the trucks and what I use in the little Kubota - Diesel 911 pretreat). Much colder than this and I'll give it a little torch flame down the intake. That seemed to make it start easier. So far, this was the coldest I've ran it.
My Duece-and-a-Half had an intake manifold flame heater which I'm told works very well. I never got to try mine since there were parts missing on it. If I recall, the data plate on the dash says not to blast the flame gun unless the engine is cranking.
I have a changeover valve plug that was fitted with a glow plug but when I took out my CV plug I found it to be slightly shorter than the replacement. So the heads must not be the same. I did not install the new plug. Next summer I might play with the CV plugs again - when it's not so cold out. I think the glow plug will make it fire pretty quickly. In the Kubota they make a BIG difference.
Bob,
I did take the ST5 all apart to inspect and to paint with Glyptal. The bearings had side covers on them (so not wide open) and I did not open them up. They felt OK so I left them alone - probably a mistake. In warmer weather they're not too bad, but far from silent. Funny, I found no sand in mine.
My slip rings are not straight. They have a little runout. I was thinking about removing them and trying to get them lined up better. My fan (looks to be aluminum or potmetal) is also a bit crooked but I'm not worried about that.
The entire inside of the ST5 was bare clean iron - no paint at all. I must have gotten a "fresh" one off the boat because there was no rust at all, either. The first coat of Glyptal soaked in pretty well. I gave it all two coats. I ran it down into the field winding slots best I could - to try and bind all the windings together. I don't like the way they just press the field into the case - no wonder why they crack sometimes. I even made "special" brush handles out of wire so I could paint all the way through to the middle of the case.
-John (Boston)