The British Connection

Mr. Peter Arnold was instrumental in this blog. Having spoken and known my dad after paying me a visit one evening, he insisted I must write a biography of my dad for the rich experiences and war history he had gone through (picture below showing Mr. Arnold enjoying dinner with my parents. I am the photographer so I was missed out).

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He felt that the younger generations are deprive of these history and preserving it in writing is my due responsibility. As my ex boss, I have no other choice but to agree to him with a resounding Yes Boss!

As a young British cartographer who came to Malaya before turning into a very successful business man in the early 60s; he was the man that revolutionaries industrial cleaning in Asia. Mr Arnold bought in the KEW pressure washer agencies that change the industrial cleaning technology overnight. Industrial cleaning then was high volume low pressure cleaning using up to 60 lit water per minute at about 10bars pressure from a multistage centrifugal pump.

With high pressure washing, one uses pressure up to 150 bars at usually a fractional volume of 10~15 lit water per minutes with much better result.

Instantly, every car wash in Malaysia/Spore was turning to install a blue color KEW pressure washer to conserve water with better cleaning effectiveness. The first unit of washer introduced was a 6 cylinders boxer design HS1500. When I told him in early 2010 I have 2 of these surviving units still running having rebuilt/restore from scraps together with my dad, he had to see it himself.

The above HS1500 was in its original condition despite being sold by Mr Arnold company to a Singapore base shipyard engineering customer in 1971.

I was working directly with Mr. Arnold as the product manager for KEW when his company was bought over by my then employer, Jebsen &Jessen SEA in 1993.


Mr. Kew in Denmark despite his success; decided to venture into electric car manufacturing and hence the Kew name in industrial cleaning is relatively unknown today. My 2 units of HS1500 is probably the only known surviving unit in original condition in Asia.

As for my dad and myself, we continue to build high pressure unit as our hobby horse in keeping our cars and home spotlessly clean. Seen here is a Yanmar L90 diesel belt driven to a modern 6 cylinders boxer unit almost ready to be put into service. One of those weekend project the father and son had worked and enjoyed together.

Lister Startomatic set

In the late evening of early Jan 2008, I lost my job of 9 years in KL by surprise.

With that, I took a difficult decision to return to Kluang where my parents reside; where I left 35 years ago. With my dad approaching 77 while my mum not any much younger, I am left with little choice but to stay with these two lonely old folks.

My eldest kid was in second years of uni and the 2nd is about to enroll into a uni too. Bringing the family back to Kluang is no longer possible due to my kids education and the cruel fact that my wife is not in good terms with my mum.

Putting these 2 hard headed ladies under the same roof would be 3rd world war in the making so I packed and came home alone while commuting back to KL on weekend seems the best option available.

Not having to stay with my family give me the time to indulge what I wanted to do with my dad - to rebuild engine together again.

The Lister 6/1 Startomatic above was history remaking as I last overhauled a similar unit with my dad when I was just 11 years old in 1971. He was the king of Lister during that era of his life and I was his trusted apprentice until he left to work in Indonesia working on heavy equipments for the logging industry. The above pic was taken in May 2009, 6 months after I bought it from a scrap yard by the weight. Fully restored and ready to put into service again. This unit with a serial number 8327616 was manufactured by Lister of Dursley in 1956, 3 years my senior.

I ran the engine for few hours 3 months later to coincide R.A. Lister of Dursley 100th years celebration in September 2009. 

Back in the 50s, the senior British estate managers are privileged to enjoy the Lister Startomatic set. All his wife had to do is to switch on a minimum 40 watts lamp or electrical load and the engine will slowly come to life on its own. As long as electrical load is applied, it continues to run until all electrical loads are switch off, the engine then switch off by itself and hence the name Startomatic! This is quite an engineering feat before the days of electronic or the transistors.

As a side note, I read a true story of great amusement when the Startomatic failed to stop. The estate manager's wife was planning to have a amorous night and excitedly switch off the lights when the husband is ready for bed. The engine did not stop and the wife then insisted the husband to put on his pajamas to switch it off manually the engine housed some distant away. By the time he returned, the wife was sound asleep. I can only speculate the mechanic that service it a few days earlier must have been severely reprimanded!  

To see how the Startomatic work, please refer to the below YouTube link;

http://youtu.be/wBhjwEBBuo4

The whole process of starting and stopping is shown in the above video.

My CS, before restoration.

The Lister 6/1 is a legendary engine. It must be the coolest diesel of all time spanning a production period of over 6 decades by Lister of Dursley until the factory was raged down by fire in the early 80s.

It was made before diesel fuel was widely available and the engine was initially designed to run any combustible oil or fuel from ground nut oil to palm oil directly. Currently there is a wide circle of enthusiasts running it on waste vegetable cooking oil or waste motor oil. The engine is so basic, reliable and with little routine maintenance, would easily outlast 2 generations of ownership.  

Fully restored to original condition.....minus the coat of midbrunswick green of all Lister engine.

Hawker Siddeley that bought over the company in the 60s from the Lister family than merge it with another diesel engine maker, Petter of Yeovil after the fire and called the new set up Lister Petter.

However, the range of engine soon change to more commercially viable models at the expense of original character of the old Lister.

All done and ready for service to another generation to come!

The Lister 6/1 in Startomatic form or the light flywheel version is currently changing hand at USD4000 for a running condition unit in North America where they are most sought after by enthusiasts and collectors.

The Other Holy Trinity

This blog was created to reconnect myself to my aging dad with a hobby we both shared over 5 decades. The love for stationery engine is very evidence in both our blood.

It all started a few months just before my impending birth in August 1959 when my dad took up secondary job of an engine driver to supplement the family income in anticipation of his bigger family count.

Many of you may have not heard of an engine driver. This is an occupation of manning a diesel generator set in a British rubber estate before the national grid was put in place.

The writer's 1967 Yanmar NT110 vintage driving a Chinese ST5. This is how electricity was generated in the day before the national grid was put in place.

So this became our common love since my birth as dad would bring me along to start or stop the generating set as soon as I am old enough to walk. The engine then was a huge 3 cylinders 40hp Ruston Hornsby  driving a Swedish made Asea 25KVA generator at 1000rpm.

To start the engine, one has to activate the compression release lever acting on the 3 exhaust valves. Hand cranked it with a starting handle with brute force and when the flywheel gain sufficient speed and momentum, the compression release is deactivate and the engine burst into life with cylinder 3-2-1 firing in sequence.  

The same experience of watching the engine started by my dad for the first time was repeated when I first saw Stars War movie back in the late 70s.



For many years, the engine room was filled with activities. Mum would dry our clothes during the raining season as the heat of the engine is perfect for drying albeit the smell of diesel on our clothing.

Outside, there were 2 unit 600 Lit cooling tank for the engine. Since the main engine drive an electric water pump too for fresh water need of the community, it doubles up as a fresh water supply to the cooling tanks. With the heated water from the cooling tanks, we took our hot bath there to save the fire wood needed to heat water at home.

After close to 25 years of service, the Ruston was decommissioned and replace with a Lister HA3 aircooled unit driving a Stamford 25KVA brushless generator in 1979. The modern medium speed Lister HA3 running at 1500rpm create a ruckus every evening when it was fully loaded. Somehow, my dad and I missed the slow rhythmic rumbling of the old Ruston. And we missed out the hot water shower too!

My Lister CS6/1 in the condition i bought. It was left to the elements for years and bought base on the weight. It is now in original working order after a thorough overhaul. 

The piston was completely seized by the weather on my CS6/1 but this is was no big deal. The cast iron (not aluminum alloy) piston and cylinder liner show hardly any wear after close to 40 years of service when it was freed and reused with a new set of rings.