OK, I think I have gone and done it now...

[Ronmar]

Found this genset on Craigslist last week, and went and looked at it today.  Then I made him an offer and took it home on the back of my truck...  It is a Changchai S1100A2NM engine belted to a brushless 10KW generator.  He said it had never been ran, and by what I see, I believe it.  Engine plate says 1999.  Battery terminals are unscratched, it had about 1/2" of throughly separated oil(tar on bottom, honey on top) in the ol pan when I pulled that this evening.  Cam shows no apparent signs of wear(or rust thank goodness).  It was also still bolted to the bottom of it's original shipping crate.

Did I mess up?

[Carlb]

I guess weather you messed up or not depends on how much you gave him for it. It looks like a nice setup to me

[Ronmar]

Oh, forgot that part.  I gave $750 for it.

[Carlb]

You didn't buy it you stole it,  Nice job

[Ronmar]

Well thanks, I do have quite a bit of work to do.  It spent the last 8 years in a barn/shed and the last 2 of those in a dirt floored shed, open on one side next to a tractor.  That shed was less than 200 yards from puget sound, so it has a bit of rust.  I was pretty amazed yesterday when we first got to look at it, that there wasn't a mouse nest in the generator head:)

I am guessing that it has a poppet or reedvalve style crankcase vent like the lister, so it appears to have kept the crankcase from breathing the moist air too bad...  I think it set with the valves closed also, as what I can see of the upper bore past the open intake valve looks clean and bright.  In fact the only internal rust I have seen so far is on the top of the intake valve, and that only a little bit...

Pulled the valve cover last night, and it looks good up there also, apart from the rockers not aligned up evenly on the valves, but my 6/1 was that way also:)    I am going to go pull the end cover now and see what the big end looks like.  Hopefully it looks as good as the cam does.  Thanks to Vdubnut I now have a S1100 manual to reference, so the rest of the investigation can be done with a little more confidence...

Help... Help, it's sucking me in........

[vdubnut62]

Ronmar, man I am so sorry!
If only I had known in advance, I could have tried to talk you out of buying that boat anchor.
Tell you what though, I do need an anchor for my johnboat, so I'll be glad to come pick it up and get it out of your way,
at least then you will be able to sleep nights knowing that horrible mistake is not lurking in your shop...just waiting for you to trip over
it and inflict awful damage to yourself.

Bazinga!

Ron

[admin]

awe yes!

another changfa owner! 

along with the usual suggesting relating to the engine mounted radiator, oil line support, valve cover stud issues, and rocker alignment
i would definitely redesign/remount the engine sans the cast iron "shipping " legs.

too many of them end up breaking, and if both should fail in a catastrophic way, you got a serious problem with an engine wanting to run
all over the place until it runs out of fuel in the pump/lines/filter.

and yes, you stole it!

the 1100 is capable of some of the lowest fuel consumption numbers per kwatt produced of any engine in its hp class, certainly will beat the socks off a lister/listeroid in this regard.

and i bet it will make 10kwe all day long at your elevation.

good score indeed

bob g

[playdiesel]

Good deal! I found a similar unit last summer although mine is 195/ 5KW brushless. We use it at our off-grid farm. It had a bit more use than yours, owner said only time they used it was it ran for a week during a power outage. Best part of my deal was it came with over 100' of 10-4 SO cord plus the twist locks and RV type receptical for the house. The cord and recepticals are very close to worth what I paid for it I think? $350  Also came with a a bunch of spares for the engine.

Just keep watching craigs list guys, they are around for bargain prices.

[veggie]

Ron,

Don't run it!
Get rid of it before it gives you trouble. !!
I can help....
I will be over later today to take it off your hands.  

Seriously though.....nice find.
Should give you many years of service.

veggie

PS: I like the radiators. I have had 4 of them and no problems have resulted.
    Do drain it off and add an antifreeze mix or some form of inhibitor. Should be just fine.

[Ronmar]

Too late, it runs, so it has me now:)  Spent all day sunday going thru it, very easy to work on.  Got the end cover off and could find no signs of intrnal rust, just a little bit of tarred oil up in the lower cylinder, and some tar like gunk up in the oil pressure indicator in the valve cover.  Was able to wipe this out with bilge fingers and a rag, blew out the valve cover passages, and confirmed the pathway to the head was not clogged.  I had already cleaned out the oil pan, so I filled it with kerosene and used a compressed air pipe down thru the dipstick hole to blow that all over the inside of the case(Marlett oil bomb, pattend pending:)) to wash it out clean  Went thru the electrical system a little bit and cranked it over with the decompressor wired open to circulate the kero thru the oil system.  It primed and pumped fluid to the valve cover immediately.  Squirted more air into the oilpan and cranked it every now and then throughout the day while I checked fuel filter and did some outside cleanup.  I drained off some distinctly darker kero from the oil pan that evening.  Blew air back thru the oil line to the head and blew the oil pan as dry as I could to get as much kero out and added clean oil. 

Added fuel to the tank, and checked that I had fuel in the filter.  Went to crank it a little to circulate the oil and make sure I had oil pressure, and the starter wouldn't crank.  Found the issue, but in doing so released the decompressor, and when it did crank, the darn thing just started running:)  Let it run a few beats, saw I had oil pressure and closed the speed control, as I hadn't had a chance to add coolant yet:). 

Just added water for now till I make sure the O-rings are providing a seal.  Restarted it after filling the rad, and ran it to get it warm and the radiator built pressure, which is a good sign.  The headlight even worked.  I think I am going to leave the rad for the time being, as I am not sure exactly where I am going to put the beast.   

Next step is to re-drill the base frame, as the pullies are horribly mis-aligned.  They are not even parallel, let alone in the same plane, and I cannot rotate the engine enough to bring the pullies into parallel.  Once that is done I can go thru the generator...  Ah, the things we put ourselves thru for a few KW's

[Ronmar]

Well it seems to make electricity also:)  Went thru all the connections and inspected the inside of the generator casing and doghouse to make sure nothing was horribly amiss.  Got the pullys into the same plane and spun her up.  Made VAC, but it is a little hot at about 132VAC at 60HZ.  This generator has a voltage adjust screw on the head, but turning it down only got me to 130V.  Need to go thru all the connections and make sure they are all clean, and disect the adjuster box.  Since I am unable to find a schematic yet, I will draw up one.  The connections and hardware are a little "crude" to say the least, so I am thinking this doghouse is outtathere, with only the voltage adjuster and main circuit breaker staying on the head  in a smaller more rigid housing.

The 12V alternator dosn't seem to be working, and I will try to fix it, but am planning on removing it anyway in the interests of simplicity.  I think it may make a good spare for my tractor:)

[bschwartz]

Over voltage is EASY to fix on the ST head.  A large (150 watt 25K rheostat) in line with the Z coil will allow easy adjustment.  Under voltage is MUCH harder.

[Apogee]

Argh!!!!

I offered him $650 as a starting point on that setup figuring he'd counter back when he first advertised it and he said no.  I asked him to let me know if he decided to lower the price...

You scored!!!!

Congrats.

Steve

[Ronmar]

Over voltage is EASY to fix on the ST head.  A large (150 watt 25K rheostat) in line with the Z coil will allow easy adjustment.  Under voltage is MUCH harder.

Sadly it is not an ST.  It is a brushless TFDW with an AVR.  After starting to draw out a schematic and get my brain around the wiring, I am thinking there is probably a poor connection so the AVR is not sensing full generator output, or there is a problem with the AVR.


Sorry Steve:(