Levers

[Roxylass]

When I hand crank my lister sr2 one of the two levers is 

easier to throw over than the other one 

quite sure it is the one nearest the gear box 

is this anything to worry about 

kind regards 

[Roxylass]

I should have said compression levers 

[bizzard]

3 hours ago, Roxylass said:

I should have said compression levers 

The levers shaft might be stiff where it passes through the valve cover. If over adjusted the valve could hit a piston when the levers used.  To adjust.....  Remove the oil filer cap on the valve cover. Move the lever fully over towards the flywheell. ''decompress position''  Turn the engne by hand until the piston in the cylinder that that decompressor lever works on is on TDC firing stroke, exhaust valve closed.  In the the oil filler hole is a locknutted adjusting peg which operates on the exhaust valve rocker. Slacken the lock nut and screw the peg down until the valve head touches the piston and then unscrew it 1/2 a turn and tighten the locknut. To be on the safe side I'd unscrew the peg 3/4 of a turn.  You could first of all unscrew the peg and work the lever to check its free movement to see if it is the levers shaft thats stiff in the valve cover. Or remove the valve cover to check its free movement. This way you won't have to interfere with the adjustment., But is is best to check it.

Edited September 1, 2018 by bizzard

[Arthur Marshall]

The guy who rebuilt my engine didn't reconnect them, possibly deliberately, though it's a bit hard to tell as he didn't seem to welcome any further correspondence.  As I can't hand start mine anyway, it doesn;t seem to matter much.

[bizzard]

1 minute ago, Arthur Marshall said:

The guy who rebuilt my engine didn't reconnect them, possibly deliberately, though it's a bit hard to tell as he didn't seem to welcome any further correspondence.  As I can't hand start mine anyway, it doesn;t seem to matter much.

He probably didn't know how to set them up and adjust.  They're not used much with electric starters. although they are handy if the battery is low on charge or to use in winter to ease the load on the starter motor. Also useful for turning the engine round by hand for certain checks.

[Sea Dog]

10 hours ago, bizzard said:

The levers shaft might be stiff where it passes through the valve cover. If over adjusted the valve could hit a piston when the levers used.  To adjust.....  Remove the oil filer cap on the valve cover. Move the lever fully over towards the flywheell. ''decompress position''  Turn the engne by hand until the piston in the cylinder that that decompressor lever works on is on TDC firing stroke, exhaust valve closed.  In the the oil filler hole is a locknutted adjusting peg which operates on the exhaust valve rocker. Slacken the lock nut and screw the peg down until the valve head touches the piston and then unscrew it 1/2 a turn and tighten the locknut. To be on the safe side I'd unscrew the peg 3/4 of a turn.  You could first of all unscrew the peg and work the lever to check its free movement to see if it is the levers shaft thats stiff in the valve cover. Or remove the valve cover to check its free movement. This way you won't have to interfere with the adjustment., But is is best to check it.

What a cracking answer.  I suppose I shouldn't simply give it a greenie as it's beyond my experience so I don't know if it's right (I'll bet it is!) and someone might be along to say "not on the SR2...", but it deserves recognition.

 

Edited to add: said greenie applied following advice from Alan below.

 

Edited September 2, 2018 by Sea Dog
As above

[X Alan W]

4 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

What a cracking answer.  I suppose I shouldn't simply give it a greenie as it's beyond my experience so I don't know if it's right (I'll bet it is!) and someone might be along to say "not on the SR2...", but it deserves recognition.

Yes Bizz's answer is correct &1 of  the proper ways of setting up the decompression levers to operate correctly an excellent description of how to

[NB Esk]

4 hours ago, X Alan W said:

Yes Bizz's answer is correct &1 of  the proper ways of setting up the decompression levers to operate correctly an excellent description of how to

Bizz's answers are always correct ?.....

 

 

 

[Sea Dog]

8 hours ago, NB Esk said:

Bizz's answers are always correct ?.....

 

 

 

But not necessarily politically so, methinks.  Possibly one of his finer points!

 

 

Eta: Note that I did say  "I don't know if it's right (I'll bet it is!)" in my original post.

 

Edited September 2, 2018 by Sea Dog
As above

[Arthur Marshall]

22 hours ago, bizzard said:

He probably didn't know how to set them up and adjust.  They're not used much with electric starters. although they are handy if the battery is low on charge or to use in winter to ease the load on the starter motor. Also useful for turning the engine round by hand for certain checks.

I think you're right.  I had used them in the past with flat batteries, so was a bit surprised when I noticed they weren't connected.  He'd been such a pain in the arse over the engine rebuild that, as I was advised that it didn't really matter, I didn't bother to grumble at him any further.

[zenataomm]

3 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I think you're right.  I had used them in the past with flat batteries, so was a bit surprised when I noticed they weren't connected.  He'd been such a pain in the arse over the engine rebuild that, as I was advised that it didn't really matter, I didn't bother to grumble at him any further.

They are worth re-commissioning if only to allow you to listen to your injectors creaking at TDC.  That alone will allow you to determine if you have a blocked injector and which one it is. 

Also if someone at a point in the future needs to check your spill timing they'll need to re-instate your decompression levers first.

As they operate on the exhaust valves and it's those valves that get clogged first on an unhappy engine, it's very useful to be able to feel how smoothly they open and close manually by using those levers.  

 

I had an air cooled Lister twin years ago that used to run hot on one cylinder because a small thin part of the air shroud had dropped down.  The overheating caused the exhaust valve on one pot to get clogged. Feeling the action via the levers told me which one to concentrate on.

[RLWP]

On 01/09/2018 at 21:39, bizzard said:

 Turn the engne by hand until the piston in the cylinder that that decompressor lever works on is on TDC firing stroke, exhaust valve closed.

You can set the decompressor with the piston at TDC on either stroke. The lever pushes the valve beyond the normal valve travel

[Roxylass]

How do I know when the piston is at TDC

is it after the creak or on the creak 

[RLWP]

1 minute ago, Roxylass said:

How do I know when the piston is at TDC

is it after the creak or on the creak 

After the creak - best way is to use the markings on the flywheel