Three Dead Flies - Listeroid Diesel

Listeroid/Lister

I started out on this journey looking for a backup power source to run our small ranch whenever the power went out due to storms that frequent our area every year. I didn't need much; just enough to keep some of the lights on, the well pump running, and the forced air heater fan running.

After looking endlessly at 5KW Hondas, Yamahas, Generacs and Yanmars, I stumbled onto the Lister diesel engine. I found pictures of big green engines with huge flywheels on both sides and a 55-gallon drum as the cooling radiator. Even though these engines weren't portable, the idea of running one of these monsters was truly intriguing to me. I decided to give these Listeroids a closer look.

Finding one web site led me to another, and another and so on until I ended up finding discussion forums where Listeroids (copies of the original British Lister design) were discussed. Below, I've listed some of the best (and only) Listeroid links I found:

•	George B's UtterPower
•	Flint Hills Diesel & Biofuels
•	Anand Enterprise (Lovson)
•	Basant Products (Vidhata)
•	Vijay Engineering Works (Ashwamegh)
•	Prakash Diesels Private Limited (Fuking)
•	Sensitive Industries (Satyajeet)
•	Vibha Exports Private LTD
•	JK Group of Industries (JKSON)
•	GG Automotive Gears LTD
•	Rocky Mountain Power Source
•	EcoDiesel Canada

•	Central Maine Diesel
•	photo album of some boys building up a 16/2 and an ST 12KW gen head
•	Old Engine Shed
•	John Culp's Listeroid 'Dolly'
•	Lister Engine Forum
•	Ken Boak's alternative fuels page
•	Belleghuan LTD
•	The Watt Shop
•	McQuaid's page
•	Listeroid New Zealand
•	Rebuilding a Lister Cylinder Head (photos)
•	Hotater's Lister 6/1 Build-up (GREAT slide show!)

Tue, Nov 6, 2007: After reading numerous accounts of inadequate shipping methods, overpriced and poor quality engines and parts, and other low-quality engines coming out of Indian Listeroid manufacturers, I came upon one forum where a guy talked about buying an engine from Joel Koch. The writer went on to say that Joel sells the very best Listeroid engines available in the US and won't sell anything less. (that's one...) He also said Joel has even gone to the extra effort to get the Chinese manufacturers of ST genheads to improve their assembly methods and the quality of parts they use so the ST genheads imported to the US will meet our more exacting standards--and they did!

I was in contact with George Breckenridge in Kent, WA of UtterPower.com telling him I wanted to buy a Listeroid 6/1 engine and ST genhead. He didn't have any in stock. I asked him who he trusted to have high quality engines and he told me to go to see Joel Koch. (that's two...)

I went back to the web and found another forum who gave a link to Joel Koch's online eBay store with a comment stating that he bought one of Joel's engines and it was great! Very high quality and Joel was easy to deal with. (that's three...) He also stated that Joel imports the engines as parts and other guys are out there re-manufacturing (cleaning up) other engine parts that will complete the engines. I continued reading as much as I could find and I drew the conclusion that the engines are imported as "parts" and not "engines" to avoid the import restrictions currently imposed on US importers of diesel engines due to pollution concerns.

Then it all made sense. I've drawn this conclusion: If you want one of these engines and you want to buy a new one, you have to buy it in parts and assemble it yourself.

I went back and emailed George Breckenridge. I asked George about the custom pulleys he has which when mounted to a ST genhead and driven by a Listeroid turning 650 RPM will turn the ST genheads at precisely 1800 RPM. His answer: if I would send him money, he'd send me the most perfect pulley he'd ever sold. He also referred me to Russell Groves of Flint Hills Diesel & Biofuels in Hillsboro, KS for a direct injection cylinder head. He said Russell had the best cylinder heads available.

I emailed Russell and he told me he had a cylinder head to fit Joel's Listeroid 6/1 and if I would send money, he'd send it me the cylinder head. I did.

Next, I contacted Joel who lives just 200 miles south of me and asked if I could drive down to his place and pick up the engine and genhead in my pickup truck. He gave me a date and time (11.20.2007, 09:00) and I'm going.