Lister D cooling tank - size?

Further to my previous posts about cooling etc. I have since obtained of ebay a new tank cool top cover plate. (the old hopper type one had a massive crack anyway). In previous discussions we talked about not changing something original but what i intend to do is make a reasonable sized tank to attach using existing bolt holes etc. thus allowing the engine to be changed back at some point in the future if needed.

Anyway, i have various quantities of steel to hand, including some suitable offcuts allready what i think a suitable size that can be used...

but my question is on tank size... I found somewhere on teh web about the correct specifiied size and found that apparently a Lister D should have 24 gallons!!

further investigation on this site states about keeping tanks small as possible to keep the temperature correct. (ie boiling)...

anyway, I was thinking of making a tank abou 12 inches wide x 9 inches deep x 20 inches high.... this would give a capacity of 8 gallons.

this size seems to be something that would look in keeping with the size of the engine, and be okay to use the fixing bolt holes on the block.

I suspect the link you've seen stating a 24 gallon tank is for when the engine is to be mounted in an engine house thats left to run with little or no attention from the operator.
Some D's had a fairly substantial tank mounted above the flywheel like this > http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lister-D-TANK-COOLED-stationary-engine-RUNS-WELL-/130826573197?pt=UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item1e75df158d&nma=true&si=hTblUV4LNtVgTzHolKMQaPfruOc%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 I would say that you could fit a 3 gallon tank and that would cool it adequately for light loadon the rallyfield .
I have a Wolseley wd8 that has a fire extinguisher fitted as a cooling tank and that doesn't boil even when driving a generator and water pump.
Hope this helps, Dan

Ok, thanks for that, the one in the ebay link you posted is the sort of size I was looking at, but as you mentioned under light loading then it will be okay with a smaller one, and in addition I will be in the vicinity of it running anyway.....

I think as I have lots of spare offcuts of steel then I will have a go making one and testing it and see how it gets on.. luckily I also "found" some correct sized steel pipe fittings the correct size to screw into the block... it was a nightmare to heat and remove the old plug that held the original drain tap... I eventually welded a massive nut onto the plug itself.... and the heat from the weld got the plug red hot... then had to put the airgun with an impact socket on that for about 2 minutes before it finally came out... the initial attempt with socket and long bar actually bent the bar.... but the airgun finally removed it...

I think that had been the first time it had been removed since 1945......

We have discussed cooling tanks in the past and what wdf is saying is correct, it was found that anyone who has built a tank have made them way to large thus the engine can't warm up enough causing problems to the engines running with the plug fouling up being the most common fault.

The size of the tank your saying about making sounds spot on for external running. Most of my water cooled engines take less then 2 gallons to fill, so a 3 gallon tank (IMO) would be acceptable and not over cool the engine. If you do have a problem you could maybe not add as much water to the tank maybe only half fill it.

Stu.

an update to this.... I have now finally obtained a correct tank off ebay....

And there's a correct bottom pipe on ebay at the moment too............

I have been looking for one of those tanks for a long time with no success, either stupidly priced or in the wrong place at the wrong time, they were fitted to engines supplied to Gascoigne and Alfa-Lavel for milking plants to provide hot water for washing the dairy equipment, and also the operators hands, at the finish of milking.

Pete.

blue cat wrote:And there's a correct bottom pipe on ebay at the moment too............

would be glad for a link to this have searched under everything an cannot find it.

Foden wrote:I have been looking for one of those tanks for a long time with no success, either stupidly priced or in the wrong place at the wrong time, they were fitted to engines supplied to Gascoigne and Alfa-Lavel for milking plants to provide hot water for washing the dairy equipment, and also the operators hands, at the finish of milking.

Pete.

this was the second one have seen in 2 years.... the last one went for about £78 so i had to have this one.......

The hot water washing idea is good... this will give me an excuse to run the engine for an hour if i need to wash my hands with warm water when i am outside in the winter............. or maybe this could be the "Whole Salmon cooked by Lister" recipe.......tightly wrapped the same way you cook one in the dishwasher....