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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
Very interesting blog you have here. Can you still find original Lister CS spares in Malaysia, or did you have to resort to using Indian parts to resore your engine?
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