who say cheap engines dont exhist no more ..... ( D type restoration )

My mum put me onto this one .

The farmer my mum works for as a cook / carer for who are in there 90's the wife has a cousin who has shares in a big dairy farm . My mum was saying about i collect old dairy equipment have you got any bits hanging around ? He had an old engine that was his dads , he gave my mum his number .

So i phoned up and had a chat with him , nice enough but very straight laced chap , called in today and i expected was a lister D as Lister wroughton plant was 100 yards up the road . Well it was indeed a d type . Complete and was last run around ten years ago before his dad died . It had alot of sentimental value to him but he said i might as well have it as it will just sit in his shed doing nothing , so rather someone take it and enjoy it . So i shook his hand and handed him £30 ! Loaded it in the van and there it is .

Some pictures









Dont come more untouched than that ... I think the plan will be to go over to dads on monday and he will give me a hand getting it on some skids . then i can get it out of the van . and get it sat somewhere if i have room or on the patio and give a libral coating of diesel .

Will be using this engine as my milking plant engine i think .

matt

Nice find mate are you going to leave it in its working clothes or going for a face lift

Abes wrote:Nice find mate are you going to leave it in its working clothes or going for a face lift

I think il face lift this one , do a full nut and bolt restro i think , as it going to be my milking plant will be staying for a while so might as well replace bushes and bearings if needed .

Im afraid its got to go green though lol as want a period set up . now the only problem is that i dont know if it was tank cooled or not due to i have been given another top with it for a hopper cooled and there is no tap in the block just a bushing to take a pipe ....

matt

Great find Matt you should have just give him £25 as the exhaust is shot

Stu.

stationary stu wrote:Great find Matt you should have just give him £25 as the exhaust is shot

Stu.

Stu i think i got it cheap enough as he thought it was worth a few 100 ! as its antique ...

But if you dont know anything about them you wont know what its worth ....

matt

matt86 wrote:Stu i think i got it cheap enough as he thought it was worth a few 100 ! as its antique ...

But if you dont know anything about them you wont know what its worth ....

matt

That's what most people think, if it's old is worth big money .... Wrong.

Stu.

Think he was a bit gutted when i gave him £30 ... but i said il give him a ring when its up and running again so should please him .

Whats the bet the mags dead then ???

Matt

You might get a nice surprise with the mag, we did with our D.
Nice find and a good price for both parties involved, I would say.

Cheers Ian . il be getting it onto a tempory trolley tomorow and out the van , so then i can start taking bits off and giving a soak etc

matt

a cracking price matt, - maybe the mag will just need a new condenser and a good clean,

steve w wrote:a cracking price matt, - maybe the mag will just need a new condenser and a good clean,

Maybe , as we speak i have sent a coil away for a rewind and thats for another RS1 mag but for a spare for my A type , so i could allways use that coil to get it running .

Matt

matt86 wrote:Think he was a bit gutted when i gave him £30 ... but i said il give him a ring when its up and running again so should please him .

Whats the bet the mags dead then ???

Matt

Sounds similar to a guy I won (ebay) a Jap 2a from, he was expecting hundreds so when I give £17.50 he did look disappointed, but once I explained that not all old engines are worth anything he seemed to understand a bit better. He was strange as he had 2 small industrial units and they were both filled with old motor bikes as if it was a salesroom for old bikes but none were for sale.

Matt can I give you a little tip, put some plastic on the van floor before you put an engine in, because if it leaks oil on to the ply it soaks in and if you put something on it that's absorbent it will soak the oil in and you can never get rid of the oil patch. I use an old vinyl sheet that was a car back seat to protect the seat when you have dogs on the seat. I already had the sheet but it works great and everything dirty goes onto it, even paving stones then it just lifts out when your finished using it, give it a shake in the wind all clean again or oil spillage can be easily wiped up.

Stu.

stationary stu wrote:

matt86 wrote:Think he was a bit gutted when i gave him £30 ... but i said il give him a ring when its up and running again so should please him .

Whats the bet the mags dead then ???

Matt

Sounds similar to a guy I won (ebay) a Jap 2a from, he was expecting hundreds so when I give £17.50 he did look disappointed, but once I explained that not all old engines are worth anything he seemed to understand a bit better. He was strange as he had 2 small industrial units and they were both filled with old motor bikes as if it was a salesroom for old bikes but none were for sale.

Matt can I give you a little tip, put some plastic on the van floor before you put an engine in, because if it leaks oil on to the ply it soaks in and if you put something on it that's absorbent it will soak the oil in and you can never get rid of the oil patch. I use an old vinyl sheet that was a car back seat to protect the seat when you have dogs on the seat. I already had the sheet but it works great and everything dirty goes onto it, even paving stones then it just lifts out when your finished using it, give it a shake in the wind all clean again or oil spillage can be easily wiped up.

Stu.

Cheers stu a nice little tip ... Will be keeping the van the rest of the season then its off down the road it will be going . going down camper conversion route and a nice trailer like ifor williams or indespension to tow behind when going to a rally .

matt

Been a bit of a busy lad i knocked up a basic frame on casters to get it out of the van ... was a bit flywheel heavy wish i made it wider

anyway , i couldnt resist taking it apart and see whats it like inside . Didnt take me long hour and half later im left with a pile of bits !

There was some filler on the side of the head so scraped that off and a i thought there is a nice frost crack in the hopper , it goes through to the inside too , so i think il get another head for it , the valves was stuck open but i have got them out so just left with a bare head with the guides still in .

Uhhh oh only 1 push rod !



Oh wait here it is after some more dimataling found to be in the crankcase fallen dowwn somehow .



Oh and this is a nice intresting point





She Is over sized by 20 thou . I would expect that as it was on a farm 100 yards from Swindon's Listers plant thats where it went to be bored out ... bey you not many engineering firms do that and put a brass plaque on the block !

Just left now with a bare block on my bench , have given it a wash out with some paraffin , going to take it to work and steam clean the rest of the block one day . the only thing thats getting to me is that plug in the water jacket hole ... I have heated it so its red hot and still wont come out

any ideas ?

I just want to get the outside bush out as was going to have this one as tank cooled as i think it may of been some when in its life .



Oh and the crank and flywheel assembelly . ~Got the 2 grub screws out of the v pulley , but now i have to get the rest of it off ... Do i give it a soak for a while and try pressing the crank out of the v pulley 1st ?
Or get some heat and a puller on it ? Or make up a slide hammer to see if i can get the key out 1st ??

Not sure which best way to go ...





Matt

My 1936 D has a brass plate in the same place as your one, mine was bored + 60thou but later on it was linered and put back to standard again.

Pete.

I bought a second D on Ebay, and when I went to collect, there were two sitting side by side. So an extra 320 enabled two to go in the trailer. Yes there are some cheapies about still it seems

But these two will have to wait until I get the 1st one going. Too many parts swimming about together if I start another before finishing the 1st.

thats nice to know Pete .

I think why you dont realise many engines have these plates on because there hidden under the tank .....

Does anyone have the contact details for David Edgington ? Just looked in a book and it was made in june 1939 so near when WW2 started .

matt

mm5aho wrote:I bought a second D on Ebay, and when I went to collect, there were two sitting side by side. So an extra 320 enabled two to go in the trailer. Yes there are some cheapies about still it seems

But these two will have to wait until I get the 1st one going. Too many parts swimming about together if I start another before finishing the 1st.

You payed £320 for 2 d types ??? Or for 3?

I seem to have loads of projects on the go at the same time .... My excuse is that im waiting for bits of got sidetracked to another project

Matt

Typo earlier. (3 and £ on same key)
Paid £20 extra.

Thats alright then thought you payed a bit too much then ...

Matt

anyone have any ideas what i could do regarding the plug where the tap should be gave it another dose of heat and yet still nothing ...

Matt

For my two penneth worth is the plug of a weldable material ?, as it's corroded in well I presume so.

How about welding a small piece of bar onto it so you can gently keep tapping at it, won't be so springy as spanner on there and the tapping action may get through to where its needed.

Good feed with penetrating oil, some whilst hot and a bucket load of patience.

Geoff

As a last resort in these situations, I have drilled a pug out and re-tapped the thread.
It's something you need the right tools and precision for - or a friend to help.
Graeme

the plugs made from Galv steel so could be welded but I want to leave options open, as I could drill a hole in middle and tap a thread for a drain tap. that would save me the hastle of trying to get it out.. I have filled the water jacket with kerro. I'll leave it for a few weeks I think before trying again.

got the conrod off the piston and the big end and small end got minimal play so there be ok. got all rings off but snapped the oil ring . ok give Cox and Turner a ring later to get another.

otherwise bottom end is looking in good condition.

matt

Your cracking on well Matt and it looks as if it could have been a quickie apart from the plug. I've been lucky that mine are ok but I still have some D's to sort that look as if there going to be a big problem. I did buy some of the plugs from Peter (other side) a while back so as when I do come to sort mine out I'll have a few options to try.

Stu.