Lister A16

Well I have almost completed the A1 sold my motorbike and thought why not and got this today, runs sweet and the more I look at it
the more I say what have I done, going to be one hell of a project,
I believe its aged around 1929 engine no 73934  (Perhaps there is someone who could verify that) its a 2 1/2 HP at 600 RPM.
The fuel cap on the carb is not original as its flat and not domed shape but it has a bishops mitre head gear engraved on top, something different.
I am going to finish off all my small restorations first before getting into this one but at least I can take it out of garage now and again to let it run while waiting
to get it done, can't believe how quiet it is, that will please the neighbours.

Hi Rich I have one of these its a A29 engine No 258325 starts & runs nice but not looking as good as yours as time has painted mine and its turned out brown .But some thing seems to tell me it can only be original once

Good Luck Tony

That's a cracking engine Rich, are you going to repaint it or leave it as is? A mate of mine has a David Brown tractor in good original condition and he uses this http://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/product/owatrol-oil/ to keep it protected.

Bob

Hi Bob

Thanks for info, originally I thought about stripping and painting but the more comments I get I feel maybe just a good clean up
and perhaps either rebuild trolley or replace, it has had an older restoration but not sure when, problem with me is that once I start
cleaning and touching in I end up getting carried away, so at moment left in back of garage till later in the year, I have threatened the
neighbours that one day I'm going to get all my engine out on the lawn and have them running, but we will see.

well it has been a couple of weeks now that the valve caps have been soaking in penetrating oil and applied heat many times.
This is my set up for getting them out, which in the end was quite easy when its strapped to the van.



Glad I decided to give it a decoke as quite a bit of carbon build up on valves ETC and the guides will need to be replaced as
quite a bit of play, now I have done this it has made me think about doing the whole job paint wise and good strip down and check,
will post images as I go.  Richard

Update on Lister A, spent yesterday and today removing the hopper, fitting new valve guides, grinding valves, sanding down hopper and priming, made new fuel pipes ( lucky my neighbour who was moving gave me a roll of copper pipe ), cleaned up fuel pump and repacked.
When I took the hopper off there was a lot of oil around piston then I realised that the scraper ring was a standard ring and not a oil ring
I know on the early engines as this is they only had 3 rings no scraper but there is a grove for scraper so presume there should be one and the bore is only 3.75" which makes me think its original as later they changed to 4", ring gaps are to wide and am going to try and source some from Cox and Turner that's if I can get hold of them try again tomorrow.

Now the Lister B is almost complete just a decal for the tank to go on when it arrives, I decided to get the block stripped down on the Lister A and all looking good.

Good work , they are a nice engine and sound lovely when loaded up and working , keep the updates coming in..interesting !! Thanks

Janner

Update on Lister A

Had a few days off this week and have primed the block and painted plus the hopper, the magneto I cleaned up before Christmas, I have got all the small bits in citric acid as all the nuts and bolts will be left bare metal or may lacquer over, the valve springs have been left in Citric acid mix over night and have come up well they will get a coat of lacquer, am now stripping paint from rest of parts to get ready for primer and paint.

Just a few more pics of what I have been up too over the past couple of days.
I think at the time of her last restoration she was well rusty as you can see from the governor plate, all the bolt heads and nuts are well pitted with rust as well, so I have spent quite a bit of time sanding as much of the pitting from them.

Hi Rich
That's turned out Very well you/v used up a lot of time and effort but its all coming together at last for you . What make and what colour paint have you used Please . O and did you use brush or a spray gun as I like the finish you/v got

Thanks Tony

Hi Tony.

I am very pleased at the way its turning out and have plenty of time at the moment as I only have myself and the dog to worry about.
As for the paint I use Tractol 329 clearbase British standard / 226 mid Brunswick green, it looks a bit light in photo's but actually it darkens down with age/as it hardens. I use a combination of brush and sponge roller the key is getting the metal smooth before primer, less rubbing down and less top coat to get results, I use the brush in places that cannot get to with roller then one coat over all with the roller and before it starts to go off another thicker coat with roller then just keep going over with roller to smooth out, oh and straight from the tin no thinning, I have had lots of practice with painting as worked in a body shop for over thirty years as a painter and panel beater, plus restored a lot of rusty cars from the 60s mainly Jags.
The trick with stationary engines is not to try and paint to many parts at once as the paint will go off before you can get second coat on.
I still have many little parts to get ready for painting plus the flywheels and the tank needs repairing and will probably seal with por , by this time the paint should be hard enough to start putting back together.

Richard

Richard. Beautiful work , I too like a good finish and yours looks great , but I find your comment about applying the next coat before the last coat had dried interesting , as when I have done that I get minor orange peeling effect , but if the previous coat is dry and hard obviously that does not happen !! how come you can do that with no effect ? Thanks

Jon

Hi Jon,

To be honest if you look closely at the finish it does have minor orange peel affect but you have to get up close to see it.
Even when I have waited and applied the second coat I still get minor orange peel, I would prefer to spray as I have all the equipment to do it but do not have a large enough space for spraying any more, as it is I have 2 garages, 2 sheds and still not enough room, I did have 3 garages which meant I could use one for spraying but my lovely neighbor had to go into a nursing home.
Going back to the painting Tractol paint is excellent for playing with as I call it when still wet, that's why I keep going over lightly with roller until it starts to pull, then I just leave it to flow.
Not really answered you question as I really don't know the answer I just do it, if you know what I mean.

Regards Richard

Hello Richard,

I appreciate the chat on the painting - and I do understand what you mean - its your experience that shows - I totally understand the point you mention where the paint 'pulls' just where its getting tacky before it sets too hard.... lovely result - keep the news coming in!

Best

Hamish

Hi Rich
I like it many Thanks Tony

Thank you all for comments.

Had a few hrs spare today, to cold to be in garage doing any repairs and prep so decided to put heater on in shed and start putting her back together, now I need to decide whether to put piston in bore before lowering the hopper or attach piston to crank and lower hopper onto piston, not sure what will work best, any ideas on this one !!!!
The carb cap is not domed shape as normal but brass and flat with a Bishops mitre stamped on it something different.

I'll second the comments on Tractol paint. I recently painted two AEC Matador wheel rims with it and used the same technique with the same results.
I would personally fit the piston to the hopper, then lower it onto the block. The reason being that the hopper is quite heavy so you may struggle to get the piston in the bore while lowering the hopper onto the piston. By fitting the piston to the hopper first all you will have to do is line the hopper studs up.
Well done Rich, on both the restoration so far, and the informative reply on the painting.

Bob

Yup - my money would be as Nixie suggests - more control that way and less risk of damage. easy job - you'll have it running by tonight!

Best

Hamish

I wish Hamish, still lots to do before I get there, the little things are taken a while to do, plus tank need repairing and flywheels to strip and paint, plus need to sort trolley out and would like to be able to have steering on front making it easier to move around, I spent a little time today putting in valves, I used the dogs bed as its got a double duvet in it, I put a socket in each valve recess and screwed the bungs down until they held valves in place, then turned the hopper upside down, I was  then able to hold down valve springs with a screw driver and put pins in, have also fitted new rings to piston, will probably get head on by tomorrow night.
The tank is a bit of a mess but repairable, ( plenty of filler ), I think.

O Rich Don't use filler in the tank you/v done a brilliant job so far get the solder flowing more longer lasting than this modern tack

The joints have been soldered, I am only going to use filler to flatten metal work as its full of small dents, todays modern filler is a lot better than it used to be many years ago and have used plenty of it over the years, when I first started painting all repairs were lead loaded but that was when lead was lead and not what you get these days which is very poor quality. Todays vehicle repairs are now repaired with filler even the welded joints.

Hopper, carb, linkages put on this afternoon, bit of a nightmare lining up nut to put split pin in, on the con rod bolts , front one is ok, but the back took a while.
Rotating crank feels like it should just like new and made sure I lubricated all moving parts before fitting.
The linkage rods are made out of copper which seems unusual as my B were made from steel and both engines are around the same age

It's looking good. Was it easier to fit the piston to the barrel and lower the whole lot on?
I'm surprised at the copper linkage rods though. Has the engine been rebuilt before?
I must admit I do have a soft spot for the hopper cooled B engines, I think they have a good balanced look to them.
I had a 9hp L31, but I sold it to a guy about 20 years ago. He's done nothing with it, it is still exactly where I unloaded it. I keep asking him to sellit back to me but he wont!

Hi yes it was very easy, just dropped in nicely.

As for the linkage when I picked it up the guy said it was an early restoration but why they would make up copper rods
and then paint them beats me as they look good as they are.
What a shame about the L31 bit silly not doing anything with it, mind you I cant talk as collected a few engines now
I went and got 2 Lister D on Sat one is petrol paraffin very late one though 1948 and a 1928 D10 with ricardo head
but after reading up on it the D10 did not have a crank case door but mine has, plus the tank has been raised due to modern carb,
that is why I'm looking for the right one, but I should imagine they are like gold dust, the only perfect thing is the trolley they came on
which I will be using for this engine, will use original woodwork from this engines trolley and fit the wheels and steering mechanism
they are smaller wheels which should make it more stable like my B.

Spent some time today cleaning up the flywheels, main areas used a sander with a fine sanding disc 4" and then used a dremmel with a tungsten carbon tip to get rest of paint off, took a while.