Lister DR find

Hi all. I work on a large, privately owned estate near Falmouth in Cornwall. I was asked if I could do some clearing around an old well. While looking around I spotted a Lister DR and Climax water pump, asked the owner what was he going to do with it, he replied "nothing" asked if I could have it and now it's mine!
Went back later to have another look and take some pictures.  Engine is complete minus the mag (got a spare in the cupboard) and filler caps. Both the engine and pump turn over freely. I was surprised that both turned over freely being outside and being only a few hundred yds from the sea, admittedly they used to be in a shed till it fell down!
Engine last ran back in the 70's
The engine and pump were supplied by Farm Industries Limited, Truro.  I have the engine serial number and will be dating it soon.
As soon as the farmer harvests his crops, the sooner I can venture down to the bottom of the field to collect my latest acquisition!
Looking forward to restoring the Lister D R
Some pictures


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Nice find! Shame the pump has been damaged.

Thank you! I may be able to find or make a replacement! I'm hoping to get them both working as they make a great couple, lol.

The engine was supplied to Farm Industries Limited  Truro 2/1/1952, then installed on private estate where it pumped water for 20 odd years!

Managed to get down to the Lister D R today to make preps for extraction. Was very surprised that all the bolts came out relatively easy (no sheared bolts). Took everything off that could potentially get damaged when we lift the engine out with a tractor.
I took the oil filler/level cap off expecting to see a lot of sludge, oil was black but very little sludge. I would imagine that the engine had been serviced on a regular basis(unusual), I will ask the estate owner if they have any records of servicing in their archives.
As you can see from the pictures there is very little carbon buildup in the exhaust and inlet ports.









The only parts of the engine that I have concerns about is the rad and the cowl, the cowl being thin metal has rotted away along the bottom edge. I will flush the rad through and hopefully no leaks, if it does leak I'll have to get it repaired!

The whole engine was soaked in WD40 and then covered up, hopefully WD40 will start working on the rest of the nuts 'n' bolts!

Looking forward to getting the engine in my garage where a proper strip down and cleanup will take place!
I think I will be investing in a gib key puller.

Although you can run the engine without the radiator if you are not using it for heavy work it will be good if it can be made useable as D types with nice original radiators are quite sought after

Hi there, I intend to but the engine back as close to original as I can, if the rad leaks bad enough I'll get it repaired.  I know these engines will never work as hard as they did years ago, but it is nice when you see an engine with everything on it as it left the factory!

Hi, found out some more info today about the "D".  The previous custodian of  the estate said that the engine was not used a great deal, it was a backup for the  windmill driven pump. He said that he can remember going down to start the engine on the occasions the wind was not strong enough to turn the windmill!
I'm hoping that all the internals are all in good condition.. sounds like they should be!

Have now recovered the Lister and pump.
Got to make some serious space in the garage and finish my other D before I make a start on this one!
I did remove the valve and hopper covers and it's so clean in there, no sludge around the valves and only spider webs in the hopper.

I have now made a start on my Lister DR.  I spent most of the day making space in my garage and moving Other D's around that folk bid on and win and don't want! Anyways made space and then took D to pieces. Was very surprised that the engine is so good internally!
Everything will be striped, cleaned and re-greased including crankshaft.









I now have 90% of the parts for the engine and pump ( all in the black bucket under the bench). I Need to repair/ fabricate cowl for radiator, progress will be slow, also I have to go back and get the rest of the metalwork for the base.  I want to keep the engine and pump together and as original as I can, I know that there will be some parts that wont be original as they have long since rusted away!
I'm hoping to get engine and pump running by the summer, (not sure which summer)!

JCB
This story with the excellent photos, has all the makings of an excellent article for Stationary Engine magazine. Is that a possibility do you think? There are a few enthusiasts in Cornwall whom I know - or knew! - worked at Farm Industries.
EB

Hi EB, thank you for the feedback! Never thought about the Stationary Engine magazine, it may take a while to finish the article!
All engines have a history and it's good to know the history. I know the history of this engine as i work on the estate where it lived and worked. Fortunately the owner/owners/custodians of the Estate have been able to tell me about the engine and pump. I'm looking forward to seeing it run and pump water.

Don't worry how long it takes, take plenty of pictures and present it to SEM Editor Patrick Knight for print, there is nothing better than seeing your article and engine in print and I say that as somebody who over the years has had several articles in print, I happen to know the proof reader so don't worry about what you submit as he will see it through.

Maryalice

Thanks maryalice; an engine like this with a personally known history deserves to have its history and its subsequent restoration preserved for posterity in print. I know Patrick Knight would welcome it.
jcb - Fancy not "thinking about" Stationary Engine magazine, its the engineman's "bible", affectionately known as "the comic"!

EB

68jcb, good to see this being saved. As another local I wonder if this came from Farm Industries when my great grandfather still worked for them out of Helston. He was given a Lister bench on retirement from them.

I can only echo Cranium and Maryalice comments on Stationary Engine magazine, these find are only getting rarer. You are doing a good job documenting the find and recommission here, would only taking a bit of copy/paste and some editing to push it to print. I'm sure Patrick and his proof reader at large would give you a hand getting it to paper.

Good evening gentlemen, thank you for your positive feedback and encouragement!  I will be doing a little more work on the Lister in the next few days and will give the idea of this article going into the Stationary Engine Magazine some serious thought.
I know the engine came from Farm Industries Truro.

As a thought, it would be good to meet some of you locals and have a peek at your engines/projects, let me know what you think!  If you come to mine all you'll find is Lister D's.

I've emigrated, moved back for a while but left again a couple of years ago. Not that I have much to look at now I had a house buying sale....
M'uncle is over near Redruth with a few engines, if you are on faceache the Cornish Crank Ups is a good group to get involved with. They run a few crank ups in West Cornwall, they are venturing further north but needs the people up there to organise them. Even if you don't have an engine to take you can rock up for a look around and a chat, worth going to a Nance Sawmill crank up if you can.

69JCB,
Nothing wrong with Lister D's, until recently when I bought my very first open crank, I have rallied nothing but Lister engines, they are as good as anything else out there. I have several D's and other models.

Maryalice

I've had several D's over the years, great engines!

Work was rained off this afternoon so did a little more on the, D R.  I removed all the studs and cleaned the sludge out from the crankcase.
Unfortunately I snapped one of the head studs off and had to drill it out, I did use a little heat on the casting that made it easier to remove the studs apart from that one!  I thought it was going to be a pain to drill, but with a new set of drill bits, it was pretty easy. I have caught the threads but with a 7/16 bsw tap it should clean up like new.
By the time I finish the D R, I should have a very good selection of taps and dies, good old ebay!

What methods do others use to remove studs? I use the 2nut method, not sure about stud extractors as they seem to leave marks on the stud and I've seen them twist off studs very easy.

others use tourl=https://servimg.com/view/20171345/53][/url]

I personally have never found the need to remove the studs, I just clean around them and have never broken any.

Maryalice

Two of the studs were badly corroded, didn't want to take the chance of them snapping on reassembly!

I generally use the 'two nut' method myself. Every D that I have rebuilt has had the studs in the water hopper badly corroded and have required replacement, they look ok until you start cleaning them up with a file to get the rust off! The 'freebie D' I aquired last November following a tip off was the same, and two snapped off while extracting them as they were that wasted at the base and had to be drilled out.

Pete.

I've got a set of stud extractors as if I have to remove them they are being replaced.

Maryalice, Cranium - Having read a lot of Stationary Engine Magazines in great detail for Index preparation I can say the their "proof reader" needs the occasional jab with a pointed stick

Have you proof read your own posting by any chance, you'd better get your pointed stick ready

Maryalice

Who threw that stone ?, women are not allowed at a stoning.