Disconnect the injector pipe from the top of the pump and remove the delivery valve and spring. At this stage fuel may flow from the pump so rotate the crankshaft a few degrees either way until the flow stops. Replace the delivery valve holder onto the pump leaving the valve and spring out.
Rotate the engine backwards until fuel flow out of the top of the pump, then slowly rotate the engine forwards until flow stops. This is the firing position and the timing marks for firing should now line up. If not, adjust the tappet under the pump to get the correct firing position.
Once this process has been repeated after adjustment and you are satisfied that all ic correct, remove the delivery valve holder from the top of the pump, replace the valve and spring, refit the holder and reconnect
the injector line.
Some other diesels ( no Listers that I'm aware of ) use the same pump but have shims under the pump to adjust the timing instead of the adjustable tappet.
The wick filter in CDs etc was probably state of the art and very efficient when these engines were made but now that we're in the '90s an easily replacable cartridge that fits into the original fuel filter may be more to your liking. Click here to see the finished article
First get your old filter apart. The wick and cage that holds it can be discarded if you like as they will no longer be needed. Remove the fitting from inside the top cover that holds the wick and discard as well. Now get all the buildup out of the bottom. I glass bead blasted mine but you may have another method you prefer. Whatever you do make sure you get it really clean inside. As good as new will be fine. Wash out the inside with thinners or shellite or some other totally drying solvent.
The replacement cartridge is a Ryco R2061P. It's meant to be a fuel filter cartridge for some models of John Deere tractor and a few other applications. The modification to the filter housing consists of building up the inside bottom of the housing, leaving a smooth, flat surface for the cartridge to seal on. To do this I used a product produced by Selleys called Knead It. It is a two part epoxy putty that you knead for a few minutes to mix it thoroughly and it sets in about fifteen minutes. I spoke at length with the people at Selleys and they assure me that once this stuff is cured it is totally impervious to diesel fuel. The other thing you will need is a good release agent. The people who make Silastic ( Dow Chemical ? ) make an excellent silicone release agent meant for use on fibreglass molding etc.
So, you have your clean housing, new cartridge, epoxy putty and release agent. Apply a liberal amount of release agent all over one end of the cartridge. Get plenty on the fibre washer ( particularly the edge ) and go up the inside and outer edge of the cartridge by about 5mm also. Next knead up about half of you stick of Knead It or about a ball the size of a golf ball. Once it is thoroughly mixed make it into a "snake" of about 10mm diameter and lay it in a circle ( do not overlap the ends, just touching, cut some off if nescessary ) on the end of the cartridge with the release agent. Get it as close to the outer edge as possible but dont let any protrude over the edge. Next get the clean housing and place it over the top of the filter cartridge with the putty end going in first then slip a finger under the cartridge and push the cartridge in until you can feel that the putty is well in contact with the bottom of the housing. Now turn the whole lot over and see how far down the housing the top of the cartridge is. Hopefully if all is well it will be nearly level with the top or only a few mm down. Now get the cover and the bolts that hold it on. Put a washer about 1 mm thick at each corner over the bolt holes, then put on the cover and do up the bolts. The washers make a gap that will be taken up by the slight compression of the cartridge once the job is done. They should be about three times the thickness of the gasket you intend to use. This ensures that the sealing surfaces on each end of the cartridge are fully seated all the time when in use.
Now that the top is on turn the whole lot over and have a look through the bottom drain hole. The putty should be squeezing in towards the centre and partially obstructing the drain hole. Stick your finger in there and push it back into the gap between the housing and the bottom of the cartridge. Next let it set for about five minutes and then stick your finger in there again to see if the putty is hardening. Once the putty is at a hardness where it is hard to dent with you finger, pull the top off and have a look down the centre of the cartridge. Some of the putty will probably be up the centre of the cartridge so get a screwdriver and lever the putty out of the way so that the cartridge can be removed. Now carefully remove the cartridge. It should come out easily if you put enough release agent on. Once it's out use your screwdriver to clear the bulk of the putty blocking the drain hole then let it set for about half an hour.
Once set, file and sandpaper out the rest of the putty blocking the drain hole, wipe out the release agent and clean it off the cartridge, then give the housing another good clean in shellite. Re-install the filter cartridge, put a new gasket on the top of the housing and bolt the top on.
That's it. It sounds longwinded here but it's really easy to do. If you want to have a practice with the ammount and placement of the putty, do a dummy run using Blu-Tak and see if your ammounts are right. The thickness of the washers is very important as a bit of compression on the cartridge is nescessary or the filter will be very ineffective.
If anyone thinks of a better way of doing it, please let me know and I'll update this page with that info and credit you for it.
Replacing the Lister wick fuel filter with a cartridge
