Lister Va

[Chris]

 This is part of a post I made under ? living off grid inverters etc. I thought I would copy and paste for those Lister freaks like me.
Regards

Chris


My main power supply right now , cooler time of the year, A/C not required, is a Lister VA (The air cooled version of a 8/1). Which I use to charge batteries, lights, water pump for about 5 yrs per day, with a little solar.  This is an increadable machine. It has been in my family since about 1962. Lost control of it for about 6 years after our familly property was sold. It sat abandon in the gen shed for 6 years. The connecting rod bearing was just about worn out and the air cowling rusted out ,stuck injector pump, bad injector, etc. After the new owner decided it was not worth fixing and with a little prod from me, he gave it back to me. One weekend while he was away I spent about, may be an hour and had it fired up, very temporary. I had to move it by boat off the island it was located on, spent a few week ends repairing the air cooling cowling. I was able to get some new connecting rod bearings from Phil at Central Main. I am looking for a replacment crank shaft, sleeve bearing type, which is different from the roller bearing type that most Listeroids have. If any one out there knows where there is one in this part of the world, let me know. The crank has probably more than a 100,000.00 hours on it. This unit was in service at one time for about 8 hrs a day for about 35 years. A few replacements of bearings, rings, heads, liners etc. I have been messing around with this engine/generator since I was 15 years old, now 59yrs. It's my baby. It's the love of my life after wife, kids and grand kids.  There are still a few other units around here that I know of. Many with broken parts of one sort or another. I will try and locate some pictures I have and post somewhere.

Regards,

Chris

[AdeV]

Chris,

Some pictures would be great when you get them.

I saw a VA a few weeks back, for the first time. That cowling makes the engine look much bigger - and a CS is pretty daunting the first time you see one! I'd love to have one around for those times you need power & can't be ars*d with the cooling system...

I can try to find out about VA parts here in the UK, if you're struggling to source them from closer to home.

[dubbleUJay]

Cris, if I look at the manuals of the VA & CS the cranks looks identical, so know that a Dursley crank from a CS will work. (I'm 99% sure )
That said, an "original" clone crank with clone main bearing housings should also fit.
Got no idea how much that would cost though

[BruceM]

Chris, how is the "bark" of the VA? What is the rpm of yours?

[dubbleUJay]

Now trust Ade to show us how to do this!  So simple, but I would've never thought about it, thank Ade!
In my case "small things DOES amuse small minds"

[XYZER]

Cris, if I look at the manuals of the VA & CS the cranks looks identical, so know that a Dursley crank from a CS will work. (I'm 99% sure )
That said, an "original" clone crank with clone main bearing housings should also fit.
Got no idea how much that would cost though

Did the VA have timken bearings?

[dubbleUJay]

Did the VA have timken bearings?

As far as I know, the VA from the cylinder barrel down is the same as the CS, except for the vane on the one side where the one flywheel fit. (Give or take a few mounting studs exec) Timken bearings was not available in the 40's&50's I would think!
I don't have a clone Lister, but does the roller/taper/pin/needle bearings of the crank they use on the clones not fit into the two bearing cups on either side of the block
I said "original" clone, what I mend was "Standard" as I believe there are a lot of variations out there.
Other stuff to watch out for is which method were used for balancing, but the attached pictures should tell the story.

I could be wrong about my assumption though

The Listeroid picture comes from this site:
http://oldstylelisters.com/parts.html
They should have the equivalent crank with bearings and housings if I believe the manual and also be able to verify if they will fit an original ListerCS. I'm not in the US, so I don't know the guys at all, I'm just thinking of a solution for the original poster!

[oiler]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crgu6kG1VIQ

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=lister+va&emb=0&aq=f#q=lister+va&emb=0&aq=f&qvid=lister+va&vid=-6427646589919028004

VA's running

[Rom]

Hey Chris,

I'm on MoW, and know of a fella that might have an original Dursley crank laying about. I have been trying to contact him for some time, but he hides well, purposely.

I just took part in the overhaul of a VA that needed a new crank for the drive flywheel had worked itself loose. I bought the bearings, new housings that have a modern oil seal and the crank from Atul Patel of Anand Enterprises. Obviously if I had known of your issue at the time, I would have ordered two cranks. I do, however have the conrod bearings, crank bearings, cam bearings, gasket sets that include the felt seals n such for your original, aswell as new housings with the modern seals here... I bought them with the intention of refitting other Listers as I aquired them.

From what i've seen of these VAs, the crankcase deck and down is 8/1. Head and cylinder is obviously air cooled with fins. cylinder block gaskets are solid copper it seems, and are not compatible with any engine except the VA series. No fancy bearings of any kind. The cowls bolt onto the same studs that hold the bearing housing on the fan side, and the ducts are held via loops over the head studs and smaller mounting holes in the head. A very good engine for backup in the Bahamas, hot enough to get the engine to temp most of the time. Not sure about alternate fuels and such, mind you I would be weary of doing that, I havent found a source for cylinder blocks for those machines yet. They arent sleeved, just a single piece... so when its worn, its done.

From my reading around the net, I have come to the conclusion that the air cooling is what made the VA a short lived variant in the Lister saga. While we can enjoy them for years here in the tropics, they never reach operating temperature in the North, and would wear much too quickly.

Ok, ok, das nuff ramblins...

[dubbleUJay]

I've gota feelin' tha a CS barrel & head might almost fit straight on, justa feelin' thou' 

dubbleUJay

[Rom]

That depends... I've only had hands on with the VA and a Powerline. Are there 5 bolts in a 'star' pattern to hold down the block and head on a water cooled CS?

[potter]

No the VA block  has five stud holes the cs only four .
   potter

[potter]

Oh I live on Hope Town .
  Potter

[dubbleUJay]

Rom, I checked the VA manual and I see what you mean, I can make out 5x studs, the CS had only 4x studs in the corners, the other 3x studs (Dursley) are screwed into the barrel.
So there's a problem, sorry, I was wrong in my assumption! 

If I had nothing else to go on or no spares available, I suppose one can make a plan instead of scrapping it, IE filling and tapping new holes/thread as a very last resort, but that's just me!

[Rom]

Yea, I must say I thought of filling it in and retapping, but I think theres enough original 8/1s laying around that we shouldnt have to sacrifice the rarer breed. I would either have a new barrel made, somehow refurb the old, or retire the engine to a museum style setting.