Peter.N. wrote: ↑23 Nov 2017, 15:34
I can remember in the '50s the drivers lighting a fire under the engines to get them to start in very cold weather.
Yes, now you say I remember dad telling they did the same and even lit fires under the fuel tanks as the diesel would begin to gel in the cold...
My dad had a LWB diesel Landie when he worked at Dinorwig Hydro station which used to get a fire lit under it in winter. I remember it from being a kid.
The landie met it's fate when he forgot to put the handbrake on one day up Snowdon..
My Cars: 91 BX TZD Estate. Dead but loved 407 HDI 136 auto C4 2l petrol coupé 2010 Dispatch III HDI 90 AND a 1980 Z1000ST AND a 1983 GPz1100 inj AND a 1995 Zephyr 1100 AND a 1980 Z650 (my moped)
This can be a problem on small single cylinder air cooled diesels but it shouldn't be a problem on your van. The small engines run cool unless they're under a load of maybe 60% this can cause excessive carbon build up and wet stacking. The 1200 rpm is a good idea.
myglaren wrote: ↑23 Nov 2017, 19:22
I did wonder briefly if a dedicated diesel genny might fit the bill but the bill would probably be too big - they 'aint cheap
Diesel generators are like women, good ones arent cheap and cheap ones arent good
Those Field Marshall tractors are something else...single cylinder two stroke diesel of something around six litres in capacity. They tend to make the ground shake at idle...
Current fleet:
06 Peugeot Partner Escapade 1.6HDi, 88 Renault 25 Monaco, 85 Sinclair C5, 84 Trabant 601S, 75 Rover 3500, 73 AC Model 70.
One of our local farmers has a 'Field Marshall' tractor and we can hear it running from two farms away!
A friend of ours who lives over the border in Devon has a wonderful collection of tractors and old stationary engines of the 'hot bulb' type, you have to heat up the bulb with a blowlamp until its pretty well red hot and then swing the engine, if its hot enough it will start. He also has a tractor that you start by unscrewing a holder from the cylinder and inserting a rolled up piece of saltpeter impregnated paper, this continues glowing after you have refitted it and if you are lucky it fires up when you turn it over.
This is the same chap that dug out our 300 year old well and reinstated it, what he doesn't know about country crafts is not worth knowing, mind you he is the same age as me so not quite so active now, also has a broad Devon accent.
I think the Field Marshall is similar to the Lanz Bulldog they were hot bulb engines too but semi diesel, they run on any kind of oil. Great sounds at vintage shows
Yes Iv'e seen a few of those 'engine start' engines on you tube, mostly Caterpillar but another engine that Iv'e never seen but read about was the 'Hessleman' engine, a low compression direct injection engine with spark plugs, I wouldn't think it was very efficient but you could run it on practically anything that burns.