Micro CoGen.

A number of you old timers might recall that George published on his website a couple of reports I wrote to him and Joel regarding my observations during the assembly of a kit-engine they were looking at importing.  Following a version update, the software George used on his website lost about half of the photos, rendering the report pretty much useless. 

Since I retired last Fall, I had time to revise and augment the original report, which grew from simply a "put 'er together and tell us what you think" to a more in-depth discussion of what I saw as I subsequently stripped that engine down to bare metal, and then slowly re-assembled it.

There are presently Part 1 and Part 2 on the Utterpower website.  Part 3 is in the works, so stay tuned.  George's new website is something of a blog.  Scroll down to Jan 18 and Jan 26, 2015 to see the links for the articles.  http://www.utterpower.com/

I hope the articles are helpful, especially to the newcomers who haven't been around these past 10 years (has it been that long?).

Quinn

I have an ST-2 powering a 7.5 kW generator.  Was getting it ready for winter and noticed a couple of plugs that I hadn't seen before.  They appear to be lube points, but I'm not sure.  I don't have a manual, or even a diagram of the engine, so I'm in the dark about this engine.  Can anyone tell me what I'm holding in my fingers?

Thanks,

quinnf

Was reading through The Diesel Engine last night on Google Books http://books.google.com/books?id=2m1YAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false and found something that will knock your socks off.  

30-something efficiency of the prime mover is pretty amazing considering how new the technology was at the time.  But with heat recovered from cooling water and exhaust totaling 82% overall efficiency, that's really phonomenal.  



Quinn

I was driving somewhere last Saturday and I passed a sight that I thought I'd mention here.  An older fellow, evidently a proud veteran, because he was wearing a navy blue ball cap with the name of some naval ship (I presume) embroidered above the bill in gold letters, was navigating his electric 3-wheel mobility scooter along a bike path on the side of a 2 lane road.  He was probably 2 miles or so from the nearest electrical plug, and I immediately wondered just how he was going to get back, because he was heading out into the countryside and away from town.  As I slowed down to pass, I waved to him and he waved back, I noticed he was pulling a 2-wheel trailer made from a wheelchair.  And bungee-corded to a platform between the wheels was a Honda generator cabled to his drive battery. 

Pretty resourceful guy.  Wish I had a pic to post, but I was without my camera. 

Quinn

Regarding my stuck injection pump on my Changfa R175A which I talked about in this post:  http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=2577.msg29368#msg29368, I contacted George at Utterpower.com and asked his advice.  George very kindly arranged for me to get a replacement injection pump for my virgin Power Solutions Changfa R175A which had been sitting three years in an unopened shipping crate.  The injection pump was frozen from time and lack of use and I couldn't get it freed up.  Here's George's email to me:

Quinn, you can post the following if it meets your standard..

Quinn,

Thanks for volunteering to test the delivery of part(s) from our Associate in China who is attempting to source QC'd parts for us. My intention is not to mark up prices, but to help foster a business in China that will focus on North American Customers, charge a fair price for the best quality they can source for  we DIYers.

As for the old pump and getting it apart, I tell the story on my utterpower blog... along with a few notes so typical of these pumps. I didn't mention your name, and most who know you are aware that you don't miss much, it's true, I do own a bigger hammer than you do, and I did gloat a little :-) Had you been less of a DIYer, I would have found no joy :-)  Here's the link http://www.utterpower.com/a-frozen-injection-pump-fuel-rack-what-to-do/

The folks I've selected to deal with (in China) are just like us, they love tools, old engines, and the thrill of fabricating reliable power. These folks were educated in Oz, they have degrees in Business, but their hands on experience is what qualifies them to source QC, they know the heartaches of dealing with junk,  and they  know the ways of the West.  Sure thing, they might speak Ozzie instead of English, in addition, they speak the Chinese languages, and this is really the only way you find the better sources... language barriers kill you nearly every time.  These guys are excellent communicators none the less!  And among the more honorable people I know...

We just need wait till they get the payment system up, and it will likely be paypal of course.    

You will be the first to know it's ready to go, and when it is.. you can certainly share the news.

All the best,
George Utterpower.com
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That said, I ordered the part on February 10.  I expected to see it in a couple of weeks or so.  Check out the tracking timelines and note the miles this part traveled in just 3 days, shipped International Economy!  

Qingdao CN
Beijing, CN
Incheon, KR
Anchorage, AK
Memphis, TN
Los Angeles, CA
Irvine, CA
Laguna Beach, CA

I don't know what the shipping cost because the payment mechanism isn't yet in place.  But I'm impressed with how Fed Ex gets stuff to its destination!  Look at the tracking information:




Thanks, George and Lee and David for shipping me the pump.  I applaud your initiative in setting up a distribution channel to North America.

Quinn

I have a CF R175A that I've never started.  Thought it was about time, so I did a limited teardown to see how everything works.  I can see right away why these engines are famous for generating more noise than power.  The camshaft drive gear has fully 0.020" backlash between the teeth.  Flat cut teeth and backlash are a noisy combination!

One thing caught my eye, and that was the governor and fuel rack.  I can see how the governor works, but try as I might, I could not get the fuel rack to move.  Took out the injection pump and found the rack was stuck solid.  Some wiggling lubricated with penetrating oil managed to free it, but it still takes probably 30-40 lbs of force to move it.

Anybody know anything about these injection pumps?  The diagram included in the manual is virtually useless.

Thanks

Quinn

For what it's worth, here's the mount I machined for the electric starter for my 6/1.  It's made from 1/2" aluminum and made to accept a starter from a 1987 Camry.  I chose that starter (because I had one and it was a great car), and because it had an exposed shaft well supported by two ball bearings, and because it was cheap.  Ebay is your friend.  I removed the pinion gear and found the shaft is 12 mm (1/2") so it was easy to machine a bushing to adapt it to the 1" I.D. of any of a number of drive wheels available from McMaster. 

The starter mounts to the face of the upright piece below, which is hinged in the lower left corner on a 3/8" steel long-shoulder bolt.




The assembly pivots via a 7/16" bolt passed through another hole, which takes the end of a 2" pneumatic cylinder. 



More pics when I get it installed.




1987 Toyota Camry Starter:

Does anyone have a genuine (preferably old) Lister 6/1 piston and rod that they can accurately weigh?  On the other forum, 38ac weighed the cast-in flywheel weight on a genuine English Lister 6/1 as 33.5 ozs, and I'm interested in determining how Dursley determined the proper amount of weight to add to the flywheel rim.  One way to do that requires knowing the weight of the piston and connecting rod.  I have those weights from Indian components, but not from a real English 6/1.

Does anyone have those figures?

Quinn

Anyone have a recommendation for what to replace the flimsy doghouse on top of an ST generator with?  Can't seem to find a suitable electrical box that's big enough to make connections in, but not gi-normous.  I need to mount a terminal strip inside to make the connections. 

Quinn

Howdy,

Last February, I loaded Old Silver, the St-5 and the engine bed into my trusty '89 Toyota p/u and drove everything up to the wife's place in Gig Harbor, WA at 25 mpg!  I had installed AirLift airbags earlier for the trip and I've gotta say having the extra support in the back end made the truck drive like it was on rails.  Silver had been disassembled into crates since I had other projects going on that had to take precedence. 

Last visit to the wife's place, I got Silver put together and running (what a glorious sound it makes!), so I'm working on a starter.  I have a couple Gast 4AMs as well as a Toyota starter that I can use.  But in laying out the starter mount from 1100 miles away, I found that I need one measurement before I build it.

With a 6/1 sitting on a level surface, can anyone tell me what is the clearance between the bottom of the flywheel and that surface?  In other words, how much clearance there is between the flywheel and the flat surface the engine is sitting on.  As I recall, it's about an inch or two.

Thanks,

Quinn