Micro CoGen.

Jim is a good guy, I have been dealing with him for a while now.  He will provide good service even if he has typo problems!

Casey;

We are going minimalist.  Maybe a 4x4x4 to get stuff in that we need (like my two big coffee makers!) but that will be it.  Everything else goes.  When we move it tends to be radical, we don't need much to get by.  There will always be stuff to do and buy in the next place.  If yer gonna change, do it right!

Quinn;

Can't get the solar panels in the suitcase unfortunately...Would be a good place to have them though, even in the rainy season there is some sunshine - unless you are in the rainbow belt up around Volcan.  It's just time for a change and with Jocie retiring and us both being in "relatively" good health, now is the time.

Power outages "seem" not to be too bad.  But remember - no need to heat or cool if you are in the Hills, cooking is done with gas, so what's the worry?  A good fridge and freezer will keep food cold for a couple of days and of course, there will be a "toy" or two.....

Bill:  The climate in Panama ranges from very hot and sticky in Panama City to cool enough that you may need a sweater in the mountains.  Tell your wife to look at the Boquete region - it is at a much higher elevation than Panama City and is only 35 minutes away from the second largest city, David, where air flights are easily available.  From what the expats tell me there are few bugs there, but you gotta remember NOT to lick the blue frogs - some things are poisonous.......

If you go a little higher up the mountain you get to the coffee farms.  I'm a coffee freak, imagine picking and roasting you own beans then crushing your own oranges for morning juice.....

One other thing we looked for - no hurricanes or other nasty climate surprises.  Apparently Panama is out of the hurricane zone.  The old volcano, Baru, is dormant (last eruption 500 years ago) but there are hot springs so it is not dead.  If it is my luck to be there and alive when it blows again, well I guess God really wants me.....

Tom;

The usual for our type - stable yet non-intrusive government, warmer weather and adventure.  The big one for me (and I don't want to get into a heated discussion over this) is the government thing.  When our guys here in Ontario, at the Provincial level, practice race-based policing by allowing natives to do whatever the hell they want it becomes bad for my blood pressure, especially when they are doing it with my money. Similarly, at the local level we have Councils giving away free diapers while claiming they are broke.  That is just a euphemism for "they don't have ALL my money yet".....Need to get off the mad train of overly developed social guilt and go somewhere that I can do my own thing.

HMM, off my soapbox......As I said, I don't want to start a fight with anyone, it is just my opinion and I'm going to back it up by taking my money away from what I consider to be bad government.  Heaven knows, there is little else we can do. 

Well, after many years of happy tinkering, a sudden lifestyle change means that I am getting out of the engine business immediately.  Nothing serious healthwise, just bored and need a change (and maybe a change of Country).  I'm heading down to Panama in April to check the area out, Central America has been on my radar for a few years - NO SNOW!  It's been a blast working with and talking to "most" of you and I leave much wiser than I was when I arrived. 

Thank you all and good luck in your future endeavours.

John Ferguson.

I run a greasecar conversion in my '97 2500.  Works well and the engine seems to handle it without a hitch.  Early '98 should be as high as you go, the 24 valve and all the electronics were introduced then.  When I was researching kits I saw that the greascar kit for the pre 98 1/2's was $3k but he 24 valve kits were over $3k - apparently the fuel pumps are much weaker on the 24 valves and need more help.

My mistake - I quoted the pre-98 cost at $3k, should have read $2K!  Fat fingers.......

Bob;

As you now know, that's WAYYYYY too many tomato plants!  Better perfect the concept of "drive-by tomato-ing", I got really good at it a few years ago when I planted too many.  Hint - convertibles are great targets, you can leave pounds of the things on the seats and make a quick get-away......

Guys;

The people on the Chinese end are the same contacts I used when getting my shipment of engines.  They are very trustworthy and will make sure you get what you need. I recommend them highly, they were invaluable in getting me good quality engines.  Having said that, the usual disclaimer - no relationship through marriage, no baksheesh no nuthin'.........

In '04 the engines were test run at the factory.  Wasn't till around '07 that we wised up and insisted that they be delivered without having been run.  To make sure of that we told the factory to ship them with the flywheels loosely fitted so we could space them properly on the shaft - good excuse but it worked.

Have a look at my webpage, www.woodnstuff.ca for info on the 1115's and availability.

Maximum I ever got from one of my engines was 26,000 hours - but I put a LOT of time and effort into it.  Certainly wasn't unattended!

I've had one of these things for over 10 years (not a Cadillac, but a Pacific Western, now out of business) and I find they work well.  Mine will heat up to 10,000 square feet and I have it connected to 6 buildings in my "compound".  The main reason for getting it was that we had a house fire caused by a poorly installed wood burner chimney and SWMBO would not have another wood burner in the house.

I like that I can heat multiple buildings with it but here is the BIG downside - it can be a a pig on wood, in the coldest days of the year up here (around -35 C at night) it can burn 1/3rd of a face cord a day.  My buddy has a smaller unit and it also uses a fair amount of wood, but obviously not as much as mine. 

Nowadays I tend to use my WMO boiler for most heating and use the wood furnace if it is going to be cold to supplement.  I'm getting too old to cut and split all that wood!

DieselG;

I have all the specs regarding differences in the camshafts and the exact measurements for camshaft placing.  To get to this point myself and my U.S. partner have spent a good deal of money - stuff that we will never get back no matter how many improved camshafts we sell.  While everything is completely documented you can appreciate that it is proprietary information.  My U.S. guy used some of the best (old as dirt!) racing camshaft designers to get to this stage.  As for documentation, what are you looking for?  I sent three 12/2's down to Tennessee to have them retrofitted, I do have a movie clip of one of them after the new shaft was installed. Let me talk to my U.S. guy and see what he thinks about releasing technical details.

The Indians don't break shafts per se.....It is merely a result of the assembly process.  Holes are drilled into the shaft (to start with, a very poor quality steel with virtually no hardening) probably using old and worn equipment.  I doubt if the shaft is filed first to ensure a blunt drill bit doesn't wander, and this results in the holes being off centre.  Meanwhile, the cam collars have been drilled in a seperate process - the cams are then mated to the shaft and even if the holes are off, the pins are drifted in.  This results in stress risers on the smaller (weaker) side of the shaft.  That, coupled with the misplacement of the cams (again, especially in a twin) and the soft camshaft steel eventually leads to a shaft failure.  Nothing strange about it, they are just set up to fail.  The problem is that no-one can see the problem, the cam collar hides the misaligned hole in the shaft.  Similarly, unless you have someone on the ground in India actually measuring the degrees of separation for each cam, you will not be able to tell from a superficial look how far out they are.

A single can usually get away with misaligned cams but likely will not run very smoothly.  A twin ends up with each cylinder fighting against the other one causing extreme back pressure a flexing on the camshaft.  Breaks generally occur at the cam gear pin and funnily enough the first clue is that the cylinder on that side stops working due to the fact that the IP is not operating.  The rest of the engine will run for a while until the gear breaks with inevitable results.

Buying only parts is the best way to go, but as you note it sure does drive up the cost of an engine.  I have had camshafts manufactured in North America and my break-even point on them is around $300.  The camshafts I have have been precisely machined so that each cam is within a couple of thou of where it should be - the difference between an engine running an original shaft and one of the new ones is astounding.