DIYer Commuter Vehicle
If you read Sunday’s post, you might know a little more about the design.. are we finished reflecting on Noel’s experience? Do we know what temperature he operates the engine? does he use bleed water, does he use a thermostat?
I’m still trying to sort things out in my mind..
Reality is that the LG6-8, GM90 design CAN go the distance! We’ll read posts in forums that all India has to offer is junk. We are able to make the distinction between bad designs, and poorly made parts. We know how some of these defects are created.. often by people who are paid by piecework versus the hour, and who have no understanding of the parts they pour, hammer, and machine. As I close this AM, I am still thinking about that collection of stories called ‘Fairy Dust.’ We could all contribute to that work!
Accurate reporting, it’s not always the case, Matangi is a treasure for us all.
As for DIY forum posts.. I reflect on a moniker ‘Polaris.’ At first I thought he was blinded by a lack of education as per the basics of AC theory. What he had done was take a 70-year-old Petter design, fit a set of Valves, change the compression ratio a bit, and report a 30% gain in ‘real power’ out of the generator the prime mover was powering!
A number of us attempted to tutor him, and of course I reflected on a few posts I made long ago. Once I had shared some data on a load I was driving, and I asked, “what am I missing? this seems like a lot of power production I’m seeing here”.. It was an hour later, a DIYer politely slapped me alongside the head with reality, my resistive load coil was heating up, changing resistance, and my ExI calculation was no longer valid… what an embarrassing oversight that was on my part.
But as I look back, my focus was on understanding what was going on, or at least I thought it was.
Back to Polaris, he had no interest in our input what so ever. In fact he was down right annoyed, and his close circle of friends were praising his work. The debate was over, we were the Ass Hole deniers who were reluctant to give him his due.
Why was it he didn’t want to discuss his method of measure? Why was it he was allowing himself to be deceived? I flat didn’t understand! Was that 10 years ago?
Today I might better understand. I think back about the Moniker itself ‘Polaris’ the guiding star, a gift to us all. One who leads the way. I reflect on a few days I wanted to change my moniker to ‘dumbshit’, and then I reflected on my ‘alter ego’ ebay moniker which is about as self righteous as Polaris.
Polaris… his focus was on selling parts and services, he absolutely refused to accept our input that he needed to calculate real power with the real formula, and that is P=ExIXPF, and his load of choice was likely a .7 PF! I’ll leave it to you as to whether Polaris is/was a Narcissist or not, but I do recognize a few in our forums who would be certified same with so little doubt in my mind.
My moniker ‘Dumbshit’, I might link that up in utterpower. I have been curious about the behavior of one individual who I am forced to study. About 20 years ago, he told me of the total nonsense of telling a white lie. In his mind there was no reason to spare a person hurt feelings, if a fat women ask you if she was fat, you best tell her up front, and if she was ugly, why not get that out in the open too? At the time, I thought maybe he was dropped on the head when he was a baby, how did he live so long, and not understand the value of the white lie? Why did he not feel the same compassion other people displayed?
It’s a fact that the Narcissist personality is everywhere, and I didn’t know what a Narcissist really was until I was well past 60. Just how many of them rise to position of power in our government?
So.. here I set attempting to diagnose my own affliction…. No DIYer will ever be accused of being normal, we were born skeptics.. and often known as deniers in other circles. I’m not sure there’s reason to feel pride for all of my afflictions, and I am purely ashamed it’s taken me 60 plus years to learn what others knew at such a younger age… but I am proud to be a DIYer, and to have always been one.
I remember building a gravity powered car with neighborhood friends at eight years old.. I was wishing we had a drill so we could make holes in the axle and not have to bend the nails over from each side. I’m sure my Third Grade Teacher (Mrs. Deal) wondered what I was thinking when I stared out the window in class, “George off in another day-dream”.. I’m sure she might of thought.. “this kid was likely dropped on his head.” Little did she know, I was just wondering where the hell us kids were going to find a drill, it seemed a more important concern than Art, and I could think about it till she handed out the weekly reader…. I really liked the reader at the time. priorities….. so little time and so much to learn..
GB
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May be “Dumbshit” is okay, one could be an “UtterIdiot”.
Jack,
Maybe I’ll build out both dumbshit and utter idiot and see how much mail I get 🙂 Hope all is well in your part of MT.
Hello again George,
“We are able to make the distinction between bad designs, and poorly made parts.”
YES! My thoughts exactly,,,, but sadly soo many that can’t or don’t, or maybe it is their vision has been clouded by the sheer stupidity of certain seller’s claims??
Just yesterday an Indian CS clone was seen advtertised as able to run for 30 years continuous with out overhaul. Why that’s only 262,800 hours?? shouldn’t even need wiping off or shrome polished yet??? Gesh.
I have just purchased a 20 HP Chinese diesel engine from your friend John F and the quality is outstanding! I cannot wait to get it in service. He has doone his homework on these engines. I wish you would get one and write it up.
Later,
Butch
Uh, proof reader needed. Must work cheap and be able to take abuse. No others need apply.
This commment was at the top, I read it forst, and was hoping you wear volunteering to correct my six milion typos and grammer errors 🙂
Butch, I’ll leave in your typos, as it makes me feel better to know I’m not alone 🙂 As for the claims Dealers make, these are not exaggerations at all when we compare them to what the criminals we elected to office make every day! Free energy machine, machines that run forever, Free money machines, Health care programs that cover twice as many people for half the cost, it’s all the same lie, and it’s told because people want so badly to believe in; and vote for the impossible dream 🙂 Anyone can get rich, all you need do is sell the impossible, customers will line up, they’ll vote for it. I attempt to share reality in this light for a reason, it’s true! Snake oil sells! I had a guy tell me I was a little bit nuts for not realizing that my PMG would run on it’s own under the right conditions. He had read proof of this on some free energy guys website, they even made reference to the PMG found at Utterpower 🙂
The engine you bought is a work horse of the Orient, it provides good service when properly built, and fitted with quality bearings. John has felt the pain of receiving less than promised by his suppliers in past years, and we all learn that lesser machines ARE a problem for dealers on down. John Ferguson has no interest in selling anything but the best he can source.
Here’s what I suggest Butch, you have the engine, why don’t we put up an article about your experience here? I’ll be happy to tell you my experience, and help co write the living pages, our DIYer friends can help us.
The first things to check , and the tools to have on hand will be an important section. One of the first things you want to do is locate the piece of iron in your tool kit used to pull the flywheel. The flywheel is on a very nice taper, we learn from our Cousins in UK about tapers, many British Leyland engines used them, (Austin Mini for one). The flywheel can marry (friction weld) the crank shaft if left too loose, or when surfaces are not perfectly clean and dry. We need bring that nut up tight, so there’s no movement between flywheel and crank. If you use the stock bar puller, you will remember to watch the threads and not compress them or mash them down. Making a nut with three times the threads to screw on the end of the shaft could be useful, put it on, and set it just flush with the end of the crank before you put the puller bar across it. Common sense here, make sure your pulling studs are fully screwed into the crank! You need every thread possible helping to unseat the flywheel.
Now for that piece of iron, some people smack it with a hammer to shock loose the flywheel off the taper, this will likely split the iron in half, and then you need make a new one, and might as well make it out of thick steel bar. Maybe we’ll leave it to our friends in Asia to tell us how they remove this flywheel? Where do they deliver the first smack? Soon Wah Lee, I put your name here so you might find this ? Ask your Dad, and let us know what he does ?
The reason you will remove the flywheel is to check the cartridge oil pump, and check the wear at the pin drive. The bearings on the balance shaft are well loaded as I have said in other articles.. some DIYers replace these bearings as a precaution, some choose to check how they are wearing, any new noise in this design is worth investigating fully.
Recent reported failures have been caught before damage occurred! Always note that different sound. We’ve had two failures where the cage that separates the ball bearings wadded up, part of this cage eventually ends up between the bal and the outer race, and if not caught, total destruction of the bearing follows. When that shaft starts running off center, the pump drive pin wears rapidally, and sooner or later, the drive fails all together, and many internal parts start to weld together with the pretty steel blue color.
OK Butch, At least 30 of us have elected you as lead research dog, and reporter..
All the best,
George
Well I guess I can pull it down and inspect but writing??? I am already getting butterflys in my stomach. I am green with the engines in hours of operation but not green with engines in general. I own a truck load of Chinese horizontals from 3 to 25 HP of about any make I have read about and this one does stand out. It is much like the experiance my first real Lister 6/1 after 3 Listeroids,, it is that good.
Butch
How about we fore go the tear down, and once you get it framed and running with a load, maybe you’ll share soem pictures and your experience with same. I know that John and I have been working to source better stuff, and that shoudl be at the heart of what we do here. Report on the function and quality of the build. Let’s stop here and build a page.. Butch’s 1115? what name you want to give it?
Hi George,
on the DIY commuter reliability….a little local knowledge here….
the red rectangular paper just infront of the bamboo/wooden ROP structure. that is the Chinese talisman paper for blessing. safety and trouble free motoring. this is our way of getting divine intervention.
i folded my piece neatly and stored it in my car too.
i guess now i know why Chinese engine work so much better in China.
HI Lee! just so readers know, Lee makes reference to this wonderful vehicle I posted in this article. I would say it took devine intervention to make a vehicle that runs out of such a collection of parts! He has my respect, and don’t we know that 2nd class driving beats first class walking any day! A true DIYer he is.
Lee we Americans need all the help we can get, where can we order Fu? I think this link will tell us more about your message 🙂 http://www.openexchange.org/archives/JAS08/yong.html
also, those who read Lee’s message, here’s a post with a picture of Lee and his master DIYer Father… https://www.utterpower.com/pmg-frame-building-secrets/