steamraiser2

My money is on they are from the Alang and Bangladeshi ship breaking yards. We get emails from the yards every now and then trying to sell us a container full of ex-lifeboat engines. cheap enough if you buy 20 tons of them.

It is not unusual to find a little diesel in the injector pump sump. Just draw it out with a syringe and top up with engine oil. Keep an eye on it though. If the level rises noticeably in a short time it could indicate that the injector pump elements are passing. If they are you should get your pump overhauled. Don't ignore it as the pump cams will quickly wear if not properly lubricated and BPE pump camshafts are very hard to find these days.

Electrolytic action between two dissimilar metals will cause the softer material, in this case the whitemetal, to erode away. It causes pits in the bearing face which fail rapidly when loaded. It seems to be a common thing with Lister and Gardner engines (and many others) that have been laying around for a while. It seems to be worse in older engines with lower quality whitemetal than is commonly used nowadays. The magnetic influence of the planet also has a hand in this and it's pretty common to round up these effects under the term "brindling" The higher quality white metal in use today is far less prone to it but rest assured that even now engines can fizz away if the conditions are right.

It's a Lister.. and they have three torque settings , half a grunt, a grunt , and a grunt and a half ! ..except the flywheel nut which as my foreman used to say back when I was an apprentice " Nipper, poss it as ' ard as yer can with that gert 'ammer"

There wasn't an order, although there was a serious enquiry from the mines in South Africa for new engines. Sadly it couldn't be done to the delivery date and quantities required so the locos were refitted with Chinese made clones of Dorman engines (marketed as Riccardos). The South Africans were still managing to get hold of new 2LWs during the UN embargo back in the loathsome apartheid era. We recently had a South African 2LW come through the workshop which dated from the sanctions period. A country who managed to smuggle enough nuclear material to build a working nuclear power station and, allegedly, an atomic bomb would find engine smuggling a breeze. Psssst , wanna buy a Gardner ?

That is a common practice. Most of our engines going into narrowboats are supplied to the owner not the boatbuilder. As usual only the Brits worry about it. The Dutch ignore it entirely for private craft and make a token observance of the rules for commercial boats. It is not unknown for a compliant engine to be fitted for the original survey and then swapped for a vintage one.

"in the style of" ie just about every Hudson boat with a Lister JP in it

It is not a difficult job to change the coupling . Slacken the injector pipes where they fit on to the pump , or disconnect them entirely. The fuel pump is fixed to the engine by bolts underneath. They can be awkward to get on to with a spanner. Remove them , slide the pump back a little to free the coupling then swap it for the new one. Reassemble and ensure the injector pipes are tight. Slacken the injector pipes a little at the injector end remembering to hold the fitting into the injector to avoid it undoing. Crank the engine until fuel spits out at the injectors then tighten. That's it. Except.... If you want to be text book you should re check the pump spill timing... and it is a good idea to check the oil level in the injector pump while you are there. A temporary dodge to shut the clacking noise from the coupling on these engines, Dorman LBs and Ford 4Ds etc is to put a small squirt of silicone instant gasket on each side of the coupling "dogs" Let it set. Hey presto it's quiet. for a while!

As Richard says, run it on HP and worry about it when you get home. Take it steady and you will be fine.

Something a little different! We have just collected this very early Ruston Lister JP from 1934. One of the very first engines built under the Joint Project and well before Ruston changed them a little. I can't remember ever seeing an older one than this. Electric and hand start too!

Petter replaced the heavy, noisy, black smokey AVs with the heavy noisy,black smokey PH and then replaced that with the heavy noisy, black smokey PD ! Not content with that the decided to build the PHs and PDs at the same time following the time honoured tradition established by Lister of building engines that compete with other models in your own range! They(Lister) started doing this in the 30s when they build the JP range to compete with the CE range.Both capable in their own very similar target market At least they were both decent motors and far better than the Petter rivals.When the two companies merged (Ok Lister ate Petter) did they rationalise? nope duplicate the engine range and carry on doing it LPW, LPWS etc until administration beckoned.

Yes, only any good for bits. Not Lister Petters finest!

PD2 with all the cowlings missing methinks

Before you go and try battering the exhaust guide out , which is likely to be the source of your fumes, it will be as well to remember that the exhaust guide is screwed in. Don't attack it with a hammer and drift!

175 teeth, 8/10 DP, 7/8" face width, 20" +0.003" -0.002" ID. Make sure that the new starter has exactly the same amount of teeth as the old one and that there is about 4mm between the end of the pinion and the ring gear when the starter is in place.

Richard is right. Your gearbox is in need of TLC and changing the oil will not help.

Sounds like the pump seal, often leather, is worn and passing. Is your engine fitted with a thermostat, doesn't sound like it?

One for your grandkids to worry about then. Not even run in yet

Yes, quite a few of the bits are interchangeable with the LW; the liners and pistons for example. Block failure is their Achillies heel usually due to frosting blowing the water jacket off. If your boat is keel cooled you should be fine provided that you have suitable and sufficient antifreeze in it at all times. Take a look under "past engines" on our website www.marinepowerservices.co.uk where there are pictures of a 3L2 with a burst block caused by frost. Ouch!

You will need to identify exactly which Perkins V8 it is .There should be an id plate with an engine number on it fixed to the block. They were pretty common in the late sixties and early seventies and were fitted as an option to D series Ford trucks and the Leyland Redline range too (Leyland Mastiffs etc). They were a very powerful engine for its time. The filters varied by application with the Ford variants having a different filter to the Leylands. The same engine was used in certain hydraulic excavators too and they had twin filters. Nothing for it I'm afraid but to take them off and read the serial numbers as I seem to remember they were not the same elements across the models. They are fine engines and I have fond memories of them in our tipper fleet back in the day. They were very exotic compared to the Gardners. which were the everyday bread and butter of the time. Enjoy!

The LWs are a natural development of the L2 . Kromhouts , who built many Gardner engines under licence, developed their LS range using the best bits of both. The LS range are an L2 bottom end with an LW top. The larger Gardner L2 engines have thin block castings and are prone to crack far too easily. Spares are hard to find for L2s these days but if you have one that isn't rotten and needs a block you will be able to keep it going for years yet. We restore a lot of Kromhout variants both LW and LS types and have even had LWs built by the Nazis after they had overrun Holland in 1940. Bet you never knew that there are Nazi LWs chugging up the Grand Union did you!

Too much although not horrendous. Maybe needs consideration of rings or a de-glaze at some stage but not yet

"Propulsion"

The age of the engine is not relevant to the rpm. Throughout the production of the JP range they were available in various rpm's up to 1200. We have certainly rebuilt very late ones that were 1000 rpm variants.

Simply measure the rings against the specifications. If the gap is correct,the rings are not scuffed, and they are not sloppy vertically in the grooves in the piston you can re-use them. If they are showing any signs of wear throw them out and fit new making sure that the new ones are compatible with the Listard liners. Lister JK/JPs can be an asthmatic engine at the best of times so don't be tempted to run on with worn-ish rings . If they are not tip-top change them.