Lister L Hedge Find

Well due to Graham and Gary being Luddite's where computers are concerned have been asked to start a thread on an engine they've just acquired.

A brief bit of back ground history, its was discovered on a farm a few weeks ago by a family member whilst doing a bit of business with the land owner, he could only see the name lister sticking out from a hedge which he reported back to Gary, on hearing this both the lads went to investigate what it was and if for-sale, after a bit of haggling and a couple of weeks waiting the deal was struck, the engine was then picked up at the weekend and dropped round to Grahams gaff, the engine has now been identified as a Lister L supplied to T. White & Son, Castle Cary in August 1922 (info from David Edington), its on its original trolley and appears to be complete though seized this is down to there having been no spark plug left in the hole so water managed to get in but after taking the cover plate off last night the internals look in quite good condition, the trolley is made up of 5"x5" x6' hardwood beams the rear wheels are 24"x3" the front wheels are 19"x3", all the trolley fixings are cast iron, situated between the tank and the engine is a small centrifuge pump which is powered by a thin leather belt which appears to pump the cooling water round the system, the cooling system is a screen cooling setup water tank and cooling system all look original.

Quick update Graham just rang with the help of Gary and 3 other family members have now managed to strip engine down to main block, have a lot of seized parts but it looks like the engine is on its way to recovery lol

Grahams going to bring his camera in tomorrow so will post some pics then

Sounds like a nice project to get there teeth into .... white maybe the name before T H Whites ...? now a ford new Holland dealership .

matt

good on you all lads
i love a challange like that from time to time
i would love a hedge find on that scale and with all the rest to go with fan f-ing-tastic mate
hope all goes well for all concearned and enjoy

my mate has just brought me around a air cooled "bernard motuor "
frence me thinks
modern possably
seized but looking complete-ish to me
but for now on with the amanco for me until such time of stuckness due to one thing or another
kev

That's a cracking find boys hope it's not in to bad of a condition once it's stripped down. There is the odd Lister L bits get on to ebay but they do make good money so heres hoping you can manage to salvage most if not all the parts you'll need.
Sounds like it will be a great show engine when finished,

Good luck boys,

Stu.

Well as promised here's the pics, have hit first snag as said now stripped down the only thing is how to get the piston out, its nearly at the bottom on the stroke and there's no access from the top any and all help much appricitaed

thanks to abes for doing this as he said the piston is well stuck any help

graham kent wrote:thanks to abes for doing this as he said the piston is well stuck any help

alot of soaking in diesel or even hot oil ....That worked on my A and that was stuck at bdc .

matt

i always use old sump oil mixed with wd40 and/or paraffin and leave it for a week to soak in
and as matt says ,i use a blow lamp on the under side of the piston if possable and heat the oil through that way as the hot stuff raises from the piston
it lifts the looser crud out the sides and allows the cooler mix to work in thee gaps ect ect
ive heard of people using the cheapest cola drinks they can find and leave the acid to do its work
atleast the plug is on the top of the lister tank cooled ones, to poor the mixture down i had to free of my old lister a through the side plug hole
kev

What a great find, photos are great too thanks for posting them Abes
Like what's been said keep soaking it with anything type of oil, if you can get the Conroe of the crank that will be a great help.
Don't try rushing it let it soak and every time you walk past it give it a clout with a hammer and block of wood
Jonesey

some good ideas there you might find the piston is seized in the bore and the mains are not .... you could try after soaking with heat etc taking the nuts for the cylinder off and rock the engine with more heat and soaking eventually the cylinder with pop and once that's happened you gently rock until you can get crank to tdc If bolted down same way as the A type you could cut some small lengths of tube and replace the nuts on the studs and wind them down .The pieces of tube fit on the top of the nut and as you wind the nuts off 1 turn going around in same pattern to lift equally the cylinder will jack it self off ...thats amusing you have left lots of dowsings of oil in the bore .

A idea to heat some oil in a old pan like hydraulic oil untill starts to see bubbles and pour that down the plug hole ....

if the nuts go tight though you will need more soaking and heat .... Remember you have got time on your hands . Last thing is that you want to break anything .

Matt

Engine fully stripped down crank out just the piston now left in, cant get to the piston from the top as now head removed just a small hole visable, Graham fully cleaned the block inside and out and has suspended it upside down and poured WD40 in there at the moment but said he is going to get a couple of bottles of cheap cola and pour that in as well lol, will keep you undated as progress is made

Abes wrote:Engine fully stripped down crank out just the piston now left in, cant get to the piston from the top as now head removed just a small hole visable, Graham fully cleaned the block inside and out and has suspended it upside down and poured WD40 in there at the moment but said he is going to get a couple of bottles of cheap cola and pour that in as well lol, will keep you undated as progress is made

Cheep cola might work but has never worked for me hot oil seems to work the best .

matt

Cheers Matt ill pass your findings on to Graham and Gary think this engine is going to be trial and error

matt86 wrote:

Abes wrote:Engine fully stripped down crank out just the piston now left in, cant get to the piston from the top as now head removed just a small hole visable, Graham fully cleaned the block inside and out and has suspended it upside down and poured WD40 in there at the moment but said he is going to get a couple of bottles of cheap cola and pour that in as well lol, will keep you undated as progress is made

Cheep cola might work but has never worked for me hot oil seems to work the best .

matt

Abes wrote:Cheers Matt ill pass your findings on to Graham and Gary think this engine is going to be trial and error

matt86 wrote:

Abes wrote:Engine fully stripped down crank out just the piston now left in, cant get to the piston from the top as now head removed just a small hole visable, Graham fully cleaned the block inside and out and has suspended it upside down and poured WD40 in there at the moment but said he is going to get a couple of bottles of cheap cola and pour that in as well lol, will keep you undated as progress is made

Cheep cola might work but has never worked for me hot oil seems to work the best .

matt

least you have got the majority apart and now just the piston to deal with .

matt

i told them sunday when he came round Duck oil in the bore warm the block gently till duck oil boils leave overnight do the same again next day, i would put money on piston just pushing out of the bore, ask mike he nearly fell A over T when i did it for him and he went to put pressure on the crank and it had already unsiezed itself, never failed for me yet,
Ian

Cheers mate no mention of Duck oil this end bet he forgot, quick one Duck oil best place to get it please

ian webb wrote:i told them sunday when he came round Duck oil in the bore warm the block gently till duck oil boils leave overnight do the same again next day, i would put money on piston just pushing out of the bore, ask mike he nearly fell A over T when i did it for him and he went to put pressure on the crank and it had already unsiezed itself, never failed for me yet,
Ian

Abes wrote:Cheers mate no mention of Duck oil this end bet he forgot, quick one Duck oil best place to get it please

ian webb wrote:i told them sunday when he came round Duck oil in the bore warm the block gently till duck oil boils leave overnight do the same again next day, i would put money on piston just pushing out of the bore, ask mike he nearly fell A over T when i did it for him and he went to put pressure on the crank and it had already unsiezed itself, never failed for me yet,
Ian

from a ducks back .....

normally a engineering suppliers or even a agricultural merchant

matt

motor factors sell it, dorset auto spares, its on ebay and other places not cheap though, about 35.00 for 5ltrs i think ask mike he bought some,
Ian

I once used cheap coke and it did nothing apart from eat the piston away, so never use on an ally piston

Stu.

If your wanting duck oil to pour into the cylinder why not just use some diesel ....

alot cheaper and does the job .

matt

Here's the pics as promised

are you lads doing this during the day at work .... seems to be coming along quickly

matt

LOL no mate this project is nowt to do with me though would love to spend my day doing such things but as much as we would like to the credit must go to Graham who seems to be spending all his spare time after work stripping and cleaning though he says hes finding it a bit hard doing all the nuts and bolts as his drill wire brush is down too its last few bristles lol so having to do it by hand now

matt86 wrote:are you lads doing this during the day at work .... seems to be coming along quickly

matt

all i found in the hedge was ..............................................................weeds

interesting topic