Stuart Turner queries

I've noticed again recently that Stuart Turners had an odd way of going about things. Having just sold my two P55 marine engines with high chain driven hand starting, I remembered that there is an electric start version with a special crankcase half with a piece designed to carry both electric starter & 12 volt dynamo.

My point is that the electric starting crankcase casting is a special & must have cost a fortune to make up. How many engines were produced I wonder & what sort of profit margin did ST run on? They were in business for a long time & were a diverse and innovative bunch.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn.

- who would like to find an ST flat twin ;o))

Reply to
Kim Siddorn
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They certainly did not seem averse to producing variations of their basic engine themes - marine, stationary, with and without gearbox, water pump, governor etc etc and many of these did involve changes to major castings. One feels that had a production engineer ever crossed their threshold he would have been appalled at the lack of intechangeability and consequent mushrooming parts inventory.

Reply to
Nick H

On Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:12:59 -0000, "Kim Siddorn" finished tucking into his plate of fish, chips and mushy peas. wiping his mouth, he swiggged the last of his cup of tea, paid the bill and wrote::

......... and there is also a version using a Dynastart with a belt drive to the flywheel (and presumably special mountings for THAT).

Brian L Dominic

Web Sites: Canals:

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Newsgroup readers should note that the reply-to address is NOT read: To email me, please send to brian(dot)dominic(at)tiscali(dot)co(dot)uk

Reply to
Brian Dominic

AHA! A correspondent asked me about the dynastart version & I'd never heard of it. Anyone got a picture, specs etc of that variation?

Regards,

Kim Siddorn.

"Brian Dominic" wrote>>

Reply to
Kim Siddorn

I remember going to look at a twin Stuart (probably a P55) about 10 or 12 years ago. It was a Dynostart model but with a triplex chain drive. I didn't buy it as I considered it to be to damaged for show purposes. The side of the block had corroded away and been repaired by machining down and covered with a 1/4" MS plate screwed on with Hex socketed cap screws (not pretty). The chain drive sprockets had nearly 50% of the teeth missing. The carb and a few other bits were soaking in a tub of very black diesel. I ended up with a Lister G1 hopper cooled instead, which he was also selling.

Regards

Andy M milestones snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

Reply to
andyengine

On Thu, 23 Feb 2006 20:42:28 -0000, "Kim Siddorn" finished tucking into his plate of fish, chips and mushy peas. wiping his mouth, he swiggged the last of his cup of tea, paid the bill and wrote::

'sfunny you should say that - there was one fitted originally in the narrowboat I used to own, and there was a picture taken for the boat's review in Waterways World. I've found it (no mean feat on its own!) re-scanned it and put it at:

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- take a look!

Brian L Dominic

Web Sites: Canals:

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of the Cromford Canal:
formatting link
(Waterways World Site of the Month, November 2005)

Newsgroup readers should note that the reply-to address is NOT read: To email me, please send to brian(dot)dominic(at)tiscali(dot)co(dot)uk

Reply to
Brian Dominic

Not necessarily. They were working on a much smaller scale than a car plant. Although they don't have the Ford-scale benefits of real mass production, they also have less to lose for a one-off.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Hello Andy, you're back ;o)) the job is really eating into your life, innt?

It's the way they went about it. They could have made considerable savings if they had standardised the rear crankcase casting and produced a separate bolt on gearcase that could be inserted twixt gearbox and engine when required. I've not actually tried it, but I suspect the P5 & P55 share common crankcases & the 55 twin has an extra section in the middle.

They seem to me to be particularly subject to corrosion. I've had little contact with marine engines in a wider context, but the ones I have seen don't seem to suffer quite so badly as the ST twins. I have yet to see an ST twin cylinder block that is not cracked open above the gallery cover - and I bet it ain't frosting!

The original barrel of one of the two I've just sold was utterly useless, it had more cracks than a Van Gough, including one where corrosion products had forced the cylinder inwards. I found it a decent spare - and even that was cracked above the gallery plate as usual!

I wonder why? Surely, there must be people still alive that worked on them when new?

Regards,

Kim Siddorn.

"Andy Dingley"

Reply to
Kim Siddorn

The _job_ has nothing to do with it 8-)

Wouldn't that also need a lengthened carank / tailshaft though ? (I know nothing of the Stuart Turners of which you speak).

Castings, and their patterns, are funny things. Sometimes they have a swappable section in the pattern that makes quite a different casting. The overall dimensions are the same, but there's a large protuberance that comes and goes without much overall effect on the rest of things. You can machine up the flanges at each end without re-jigging and there's no need to insert spacers or shaft extensions when you assemble the innards.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

"Andy Dingley" wrote(snip):-

In the R series marine engines with reversing boxes have a much longer drive side mainshaft than those with a centrifugal clutch, so S-T was obviously not averse to changes of that sort.

Good point, apparently major changes are perhaps not as complicated to achieve as they might appear, S-T were certainly masters of the founder's, and presumably pattern makers, art.

I know I've posted this link before, but this little piece about the early history of the company is always worth re-reading:-

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It gives a good sense of just how flexible and responsive a small business could (and can?) be - four weeks to turn the P4 stationary engine into the P5 marine!

Reply to
Nick H

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