New member and lister D for restoration

These a small engine or motor driven lathe just finished on fleabay, went for £15 I'd love to get a lathe but I wonder if a model makers would do rather then somthing as big as a Boxford.

Something like this would be nice but needs it's own shed LOL

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Metal-Turning-Lathe-Single-Phase-/271189209107?_trksid=p2047675.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D555001%26algo%3DPW.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D29%26meid%3D7140708180951365328%26pid%3D100010%26prg%3D1013%26rk%3D4%26sd%3D251263269992%26

Stu.

That's a decent size lathe, I've found that for all the weird things I do, a 12 to 14 inch lathe with about a 36 inch bed would do me for the rifles, the Chev and stationary engines very well.
I've been eying up some good ones, but can't buy one till I have my work shed up, and that's a whole other story!

J.

Yes lathes and mills are very useful machines, I was fortunate enough to be given my Boxford lathe - it had to dissapear over a weekend from where it was living - it did ! , my senior mill was purchased last year, had to part with hard cash for that. I was fortunate enough to serve a proper apprenticeship where the first year was spent in the training shop learning a broad range of engineering and machining skills, and they stuck considering I went on to be an appentice electrician. Anyway, enough of the sentimental stuff...

I have been carrying on with the mag, which out of the whole engine has been the biggest pig of thing to get apart, the inner bearing races on the armature are right up to a shoulder so cant get behind them with a puller, so after some google searching made a clamp up to fit round them, and pull on that - not a chance !!!, talk about super tight, which is crazy for what it is.

After quite a lot of trying it came to drastic action, carefully weld a piece of pipe on and pull on that with a slide hammer, and that still took some doing, god knows why they are on there so tight, even the smaller one was pretty tight. So they are now off. Just the outer race from the drive end plate, I dont have a blind puller and I don't fancy welding so close to ally, so may have to buy a puller. Its been my uphill learning curve for magnetos.

I have got the second coat of clear over the paintwork now, so thats now going hard.

I need to souce a new woodruff key for the governor drive gear, then I can get some bits together, but the paints got to go off for a while.

Been banished to work in Chelsea this week, and staying over so wont be doing much this week during the evenings.

Sounds odd to have to go through those lengths to get a simple bearing off like you say!

Always makes me think if there isn't some secret tool for that.
I like your ingenuity welding a tube to it, well done

Anyway you are making progress and that's what counts.
Good job staying calm Geoff ,

Cheers, John.

Well I have never had a small bearing as tight as that, you would think it was a half shaft bearing, remember pushing one of those off once with the press up to 8.5 tons before it shifted. I am going to ease the lands very slightly on re assembly.

It was a great day here yesterday, and what little breeze there was not into the workshop, so good for spraying, clearcoat this time, which I think makes it look stunning. The heads only in colour coat at the moment, as that's still hardening up and sinking back, and the tranfers when i get the need to go on with the clear over the top. The rest of the bits have had two coats of clear and now need to harden up. From the sad and rusting lump it was it looks much better...

We'll have to wear sunglasses if it gets any more shiny!

You do nice work Geoff, want to do mine? It almost looks like some candy coatings do.., Delicious!
With a coat or two of clear, you won't be able to hold on to it as it looks slippery already
Ok I had my fun.., it's a long way from what it came from, that's a fact!

I should be getting mine to reassemle soon and looking at yours, I will not attempt for mine to look like yours, that way I won't have to work so hard!
I was leaving mine till it has run for a bit to see if my Dutch engine rebuilding skills will hold up lol. Next season will be a painting one I think.
Good work mate, cheers, John.

Great paint job Geoff, that clear coat makes all the difference to the shine. I have a feeling this engines going to be up and running very soon.

Stu.

The taper pins arrived this morning courtesy of John (thanks very much), so when the time come the starter dog can be refitted.

It does look shiny and I am pleased with the way it looks, I am hanging back now waiting for the paint to harden up a little, allthough I have rebuilt the crankshaft assy and the carb at the weekend.

Been cracking on with the mag, got the outer race from the drive end. Ordered a couple of new bearings so waiting for them to show and I am going to have a bash at rebuilding it. Hopefully I can get away without re shimming the armature, but we will see.

Be a while before she runs yet Stu, the governor needs sorting out, worn pins and the linkage is in an awful state, new parts to be made there. Dont want to rush it, theres no hurry for me, and once i have done i will want to do it all over again.

Works getting very busy as well in the next few weeks, I've also had more responsibiltys (work) added to my job, the good bit is I have also had some more money added to my pay packet . I have also got my Dads old Ransomes mower in for a rebuild, strip, clean, repaint, relube and rebuild - feels like a vintage machinery resotration centre , kind of what I like.

I'll get some pics of what I have done so far, onwards and upwards....

Good to hear your still progressing even slowly is better then nothing, how long are you giving the paint to harden, some say about 3 weeks depending on the weather? Good to hear you've been given more money at work and what ever that entails LOL.
If you want to take a few pics of the mower overhaul and post them I'd like to see them also it might help in the future for any youngsters that's interested in a project and can't afford to start with a full engine overhaul.

Stu.

Geoff, you have a PM.

John.

Its been two weeks now Stu, and it is starting to harden up a little, going to be a minimum of three weeks anyway by the time I get to it again. The mowers a push mower, no engine so its as simple as they come, nearly finished that anyway, running repairs really.

Anyway I have done some with the lister, the mag bearings and washers turned up on Fri, so it was time to reassemble and see of the repair I did to the CB end housing was good. It all went back together perfectly, only bit I have not changed is the condenser as I don't have one yet, but it gives damn good spark, well happy with that bit, and something's back together and working.

I have also done the engine ID plates, re blacked them, polished and lacquered them. I have also part reassembled the carb.

I have removed the valves from the original head, they look good after a clean and will be going into the replacement head. I need to get the transfers, then I can get the head clear coated.

In the fun I managed to knock the chain guard off the shelf, it caught several things on the way down, resulting in plenty of gouges on it, needless to say the air went blue, very blue (or possibly green !!) and its been sent to sulk with the petrol tank awaiting to be re done. (where can I get a petrol cap from, I pinched the one from this one for the other d ?)

Anyway, some pics....

It's just too nice! It can't be that good!!! Can it?

Seriously, it looks terrific, really good. Far better than when it was new, it's a really good example of what you can do, a really good project, even if it does upset the purists they'll have to admit it's a proper pukka job.

You are going to replace that condenser though, aren't you?

Cracking work your doing Geoff, this is going to be a very smart engine when it's finished. Good to hear that you have all the parts you need now, the transfers can be picked up easy on ebay or I think Internal fire sells them and the money goes to a good cause.

Stu.

Thanks for the comments chaps, yes I am sure they never left the factory with that kind of paint job, I still think its a sympathetic restoration, just one that will hopefully look nice at the end, showing a nice piece of British engineering off.

Sure am going to change the condenser, as i have the feeling its 66ish years old. I have ordered the transfers, so that's going to be my weekend job and get the first coat of clear over the head with the transfers on.

Its getting there, I have got a whole new gov linkage to make for this, as the one on it was rotten and the ball pins in the gov. I am aiming to get the basic engine reassembled first and then work on that.

biomed32uk wrote:Thanks for the comments chaps, yes I am sure they never left the factory with that kind of paint job, I still think its a sympathetic restoration, just one that will hopefully look nice at the end, showing a nice piece of British engineering off.

Sure am going to change the condenser, as i have the feeling its 66ish years old. I have ordered the transfers, so that's going to be my weekend job and get the first coat of clear over the head with the transfers on.

Its getting there, I have got a whole new gov linkage to make for this, as the one on it was rotten and the ball pins in the gov. I am aiming to get the basic engine reassembled first and then work on that.

When I see your work ethics displayed by the pics.., I all of a sudden have no doubt that this may well be the best and most well restored engine around for a few miles lol.
Carry on,

Regards, John.

Done some more today, the mags now finished, new condenser fitted and producing a very healthy spark, amazing considering it had been dumped outside for a long time by the looks of the state of it back in Jan.

I have got the masking tape off of the block, cleaned the muck and dust out and put all the studs back ready for re assembly.

Timing gear assy is rebuilt, not much to say about that.

I put the waterslide transfers onto the head this morning, so hoping to get a coat of clear over that tomorrow. That's going to be all my Lister therapy for this week, off working all week away, and the early part of next week, be ready for a second coat come the weekend.

Looking good, shame progress is a little slow at present but I'm sure you'll get there as it's just going to be a case of putting everything back together all the hard work has been done now, so to speak.

Stu.

Been a while since I updated the progress on the Lister, and I now have a bottom end somewhat resembling a Lister D



The cylinder head has had the final clear coat done so I am waiting for that to harden up. Been doing some small jobs in the mean time.
Finally got float chamber top off with no damage and cleaned that up and out, cleaned the brass taps up, petrol, drain and made a new handle for the drain one, cleaned the tank straps up, filled the pits and painted them, made a start on the petrol tank, filled the few minor dents and sprayed it in high build, now waiting for that to go hard for a good rub down and level. (Stu - there's no sexual services involved there !!!)

I have put the waterslide onto the flywheel, clear coat that in and that's done.

The petrol tanks going to get one of these internal coating kits, there's no holes but there's some rust and if a jobs worth doing...there's also a company near me that does powder coating so I am going to have the exhaust high temp powder coated, bought a new one for it as that was missing and I cut the remains off when I picked it up.

I have purchased one of the ball turning jigs for the Lathe, so I am practicing making balls at the moment, and then I can start sorting the governor and linkages out.

great stuff, and that foot looks great

Indeed it does!

I like the shine and think it is a perfect engine to show in a museum kind of setting as it would stay as pristine as it looks!
I could never spend the time or the effort on such a nice job, I sour already after a break waiting for parts if that takes too long
I am the type to watch paint dry and tap fingers  
I seem to be only interested to have it "conquered" and running again to have it for later when I get into a painting mood.

I just went through a "fed up period" the last little bit because of all the little projects I have on the go and all the little things the Lister needed to be able to get it back to breathing again.
Working hard and being away is also a reason though. (Need to have the money to do the job , a catch 22 scenario lol.)

So back at it and carrying on.
What do you plan to do with yours Geoff? Are you going to do the rally thing, or is it going to be the ultimate conversation piece and a once in a while showing? Or maybe just a relaxer while barbequing?

I am still not sure yet if I'm going to travel and show mine. (Closer to being running soon) 
I have gone out and looked at campers and caravans, and love the idea of the rallys (and the camping out bit too), but am a bit undecided as to whether I would stick with it as the job would interfere with all of it and make it hard to enjoy. I went as far as to shop for a nice camper and actually had it on the truck, but decided to wait lol.

I also have a million other things to do and some of them hobbies also. I just bought a new Tig machine and a Plasma cutter, as I want quality cuts and welds for some of the other projects I am doing, and I wanted Aluminium capability. 
Those particular hobbies also take away from the "Just engines and rallys" idea.)

In any case.., back on the subject..., a darn nice job sofar, better than show quality IMHO.

Cheers, John.

Blimey! I bet even Lister's show engines didn't look that good! .

It's a real credit to you & the level of finish you can achieve. It's nice to go all-out on these projects sometimes, but don't do them all this good, you'll put us all to shame! 

I love it, looks really good. 

Thanks for the comments, nice to know that others appreciate the work that's gone into it, and there's been plenty over the last few months, promise I wont do them all like this, but I like things done properly.

Anyway, its been making small parts up time, and getting the governor sorted out, the ball head pins had worn away on one side, I bought this new ball turning jig for the lathe and had a bash at making some balls for it. I was going to make the whole pin assy, but had the idea of turning the worn ball off, cut a thread, turn a new ball and screw it on. It seems to be ok, and the parts that contact the central pin seem to run nicely on what I have turned. Running the engine will prove the point, if not then its make the whole pin from scratch.

I also had to turn up two new pins that the weights pivot on, badly worn. Theres some pics below of the governor, also of the new main bush for it I had to make, seems in much better state now.

Completely made up a new post, nut and hook for the speed adjuster - the old one sheared trying to coax it out if the head.

I have also made up a complete new linkage assy, the only bits I have reused are the arms on the bottom rod, they were salvageable.

I have also put a great deal more of the engine back together. I could have done with building it up onto a trolley, as its going to be damned heavy to lift when its done, shame Lister never thought of a lifting eye or lift point.

That's all looking really good. Every time I see a bit more it looks even better!

All I can think of, whilst reading about the troubles you've had, is "what on earth is my nephews' engine going to be like?!!" I can only bodge these things really, as I have no lathe. But it's amazing what you can turn out with a Dremmel, lots of time & plenty of patience! .

Can't wait to see her finished now. It will be heavy though (as you know). I'm a bit worried for you because not only are these heavy, they are very awkward to manhandle. You'll have to go to great lengths to protect that lovely paintwork finish when you come to lift it onto a trolley.

Building them on a trolley is a good idea, but then you need to be careful not to damage the trolley, or get paint on it, whilst building & finishing the engine.

Great thread & lovely pictures BTW 

Best way I have is to slide it on to the new trolley, no lifting then. You may have to jack up the engine on its existing wheels, which I do by tilting over and putting blocks of wood under that side tilting back t'other way and more blocks under there. Only snag is you really need 2 people to do this although I have done it on my own, carefully.
This is going to look very nice, best D for miles. Be interested to see the ball turning attachment.

Stamford24 wrote:
This is going to look very nice, best D for miles.
Be interested to see the ball turning attachment.

Possibly the best D in the country? (I might've started something there). By the looks of the pics it should win a few prizes. Might even take a trip up to a show there one day next season to see it myself (I've been meaning to branch out a bit & go to a few different rallies).

I too would be interested to see the ball turning attachment. Seems to have done a good job.