Never thought I would ever be the type to restore one of these !
It's a Mower !
It's about a 63 model, victa.
The reason I'm restoring it is because I will not buy a Chinese mower!
I found this vintage mower on the throw out some time back and I now have it running , but the carbie needs a gasket and it's in the post from eBay so I need that before I can try this out. It's 57 years old ! I just can not bring myself to buy a Chinese mower.
I managed to track down the right paint for this old gem and I will spray it to original after I test it out in a few days .
I know , you think I'm nuts!
Pete

I know a few people that have restored old Victa mowers, including the ones with the recoil starters on them. With the early ones there is an oil seal underneath the engine that may need replacing but if the mower has been sheltered and not left outside, this is sometimes all that needs doing apart from a new spark plug.

Pete, my lawnmower is a 60's 2 stroke Victa.
It has the external alloy carby with single jet. and cork float gasket
Yes, re-new the plug and blades.
Pull the blade plate off and unwind any fencing wire, coat hangers and rope wound into the shaft (that can bugger up the seal Brad mentioned)
You may have to pull the flywheel and check the points are clean and opening/close ok.
If it is a hard starter, check the vacuum decompressor valve in the exhaust port is free to move, not stuck.
I use super fuel with a dash of 2stroke oil, just enough to blow smoke on full throttle but clear when putt putting.

The only trouble I had was when I was stupid enough to put that s**t 10% ehthenol in it.
The stuff attacked the only plastic parts in the system, the dip stick on the cap and the filter in the tank!
(also was so stupid to put in Morris , had to strip ALL the fuel system clean out and replace the nylon float in the tank (it warped and sank) , also it ate the nylon in-line filter in the electric pump...…...…….. grrrrrrrrr)
Anyway, forget the silly thimble filter in the tank cock, remove that cut the pipe and put an in line filter between the tank and the carby.

That's it, engine still has original rod and rings, I pulled the head off twenty years ago looked, and put it back on again.
Every now and then do a full throttle run on that long grass in the paddock until the smoke clears and the plug then self cleans to grey colour.
The muffler rusted out, I de-coked it (full of soot) pop riveted a plate over the rust hole and put it back on.

Starts on about the 3rd pull every time.
What more could you want.
My son bought one of those Bunnings s**t brand mowers, first time it hit a rock (that the Victa would bounce over) the crank bent and it vibrated all the way to the dumper bin!

Fred.

It's a utility, looks the same as the 50s victa with the round base plate.
It's either a 62 or 63.
I've done the motor .cleaned up the bore and put new rings in it.
The carbie is a very simple thing and I cleaned it out and the set the float but I'm waiting on the float bowl gasket. I could of made one but who knows which box of junk my gasket paper is in .
I actually have 2 of these mowers so that was a big help.
It's the early round base before catches.
I have had it started a couple of times, actually it still started after I picked it up off the throw out. Just that she was pretty tough so I decided to restore it.i actually don't like new things at all , so even if I could buy a Australian mower new I would prefer a old one .
No mowers are made in Oz anymore.
It's all china now ,. Hmmmm don't get me started on that topic.

Pete

I have repaired many of those and actually still have the workshop manual. Crap wrapping around the shaft is common with most mowers, but fishing line is one that gets into the crankcase seal and once you lose compression in the crankcase it will never run.

If you take the barrel off, fit new rings as they are liable to break otherwise. Do not use engine oil to make the fuel mix, it picks up water & will become incombustible & go white, plus it will generate soot which fouls the plug. Most of the 2 stroke fuel I consider too lean on oil. The oil will have an effect on octane rating and therefore timing. I often put Flashlube or upper cylinder lube in the 2 stroke fuel & some of the four strokes as that seems to stop the fuel going off.

Some of the engines here were never designed for the confused unleaded fuel we have. That has caused a need for adjustments to timing to compensate and the 1951 tractor has just had the hardened valve seat inserts fitted to its cylinder head to compensate for the loss of TEL.

The problem with higher octane fuel is that it burns slower. Therefore the ignition needs to be started earlier, or you will actually have wasted still burning fuel ejected into the exhaust pipe. Example: I did like the old "Gipsy engines" on the DeHaviland "Rapide", as it idled little tongues of fire would waft out from the exhaust pipes. Fascinating at night.

Most of my two stroke stuff runs 25:1. As before 50:1 I consider too lean for the heat of Australia. The two stroke petrol chainsaw here was built 1976 and it often gets to cut logs the diameter of, being greater than its 24" blade. The oil should be the proper BIA type.

The other enemy is the Mud Wasp. They will mud up the fins and the exhaust. They also like radiators and air intakes on Audi A4 and any car with similar.

I've rebuilt a few Victa's over the years.
The one that stumped me for a while was a VC160 Mustang which used to yank your hand back violently when pull starting it.
It eventually broke the plastic gear in the pull start mechanism.
Finally traced it to half of the magnet on the fly wheel missing which upset the timing.
Another rebuild was after I lent it to my father in law.
After he had used it several times he made the comment "Do you need special fuel for this mower"
Alarm bells rang and sure enough he had been running it on straight unleaded, not 2 stroke mix.
The piston and bore were totally ruined.

Hi Marc, problem in the city is 2 stroke fuel is not available.
They sell you the low ash oil in a bottle and you mix your own.
The useage of 2 stroke engines has plummeted in the last 5 years.
Grass cutting guys now use 4 strokes and write them off each couple of years and buy another one.
Only sad people like us use 2 strokes
Locally one of the two large lawnmower shops has shut down.
There is not much repair work to do, more jobs lost.
Just buy onw form China via Bunnings and smile!
Fred.

The rotten greenies again !
Over the past few years the government has come down on 2 strokes and the regulation is much harder now.
Most of my life I rode 2 stroke comp motorcycles ,I only gave them up 4 years ago when my daughter was born.
But over the last few years any power band reed valve type motor has become harder to buy in Oz due to the restrictions. KTM still make them for other countries,but it's getting less each year.
Hmmmm save the planet ,shoot the greenies !

Pete

Bunnings seem to have managed to get hold of a lot of brands & are running the little guy out of business. The local petrol station here sells two stroke oil.

Do not buy a metal can, whilst dangerous goods may be a factor, the slightest bit of water, they are dead. For decades I have mixed my own as it is rare to use a lot. There are only a blower, whipper snipper and a chain saw that use it.

In summer the blower is the most common user. Trees & limbs on fences, in summer are more likely to be inverter & electric saw, plus axe.

Reptile & others have a small green plastic approved two stroke container. I normally use chemical jugs & cylinders to measure.

Marc

Two stroke, according to labels on containers, has limited life, so I also mix small quantities as I only have a whipper snipper to run.

Mower is a 4 stroke Aldi self propelled several years old. Self propel isn't worth a pinch, but the motor is very reliable, starts second go every time. Have had to replace the starter twice due broken spring. Parts readily available. Also carby when I knocked a lever off going past my trailer.

The motor is identical in appearance to some Honda motors I have seen. Uses little oil compared to my old Rover that is kept as a spare - it has always been a real oil burner.

Yeh STC,
My experiance with Korean and Chinese motor design was for electric generator work so we are talking about small stationary motors here.
Both motors I had dismantled for engineering survey and found to be dimensionally identical to Honda G models.
That is you could fit the crankshaft assembly of the Woohaafookmee motor into the Honda crankcase and vice versa.
And any other part you cared to try.
My life test for the W*******e engines consisted of 2 days in the dyno room and by that time the two engines were rooted (that's a technical engineering term for worn out). Life span measured in hours!
Of late as noted in this web site I replaced the carburettor of a Chinese Fookasheema engine with a Standard Jap part number carby, bolt on no change of jetting required!
They are great so long as you don't use them too much and then bin them at the end of the year.

Fred.

Pete,
My Victa is a "series 70" proudly marketed by "Waltons" and fuelled by "BP Zoom" and fitted with "ZIP" start!
That's what the stickers say anyway.
I also have a Victa petrol lawn edger I found by the side of the road, what a piece of rubbish.
It has massive vibration issues and that stupid carby that is plastic and part of fuel tank with foofer valves that don't work.
One of these days i'll push it out to the kerbside, take off the wheels, (the only good part) and see how long it takes before a scrappy grabs it.
Fred.

Fred,
Probably it would be grabbed fast Fred.
There is a bit of a demand for the old ones .
I saw a odd one the other day with the catcher on the side , it looked like a motorcycle and sidecar. I was amazed to see it sold on eBay for 400 bucks !


Pete

One of the worst things for clockwork springs and those is to have no lubricant on them. I have mentioned that I was told that running the B&S "ride on mower" engine here on mixed fleet oil, as used in the tractor & ute, plus motorcycle would cause it to burn oil & it was probably only good for 600 hrs.

Ok it might just glaze the bore? However, the 1989 Honda mower cops a real hiding, puffs a bit of smoke on start, but it's a horizontal engine & that B&S loves oil however, its over 900hrs. There is a 1979 B&S & its supposed to be decoked every 100hrs so it was on oil burner from day one.

Those engines like aero engines & other commercial engines (not cars) are balanced & often governed to run at a set speed. It is often folly to run them away from that speed, as being out of balance destroys them.

The only thing I have with a two stroke engine now is my chainsaw, which annoyingly requires a 40:1 mix. It makes it hard to work out the ratio and either 25:1 or 50:1 is much easier for me as maths isn't a strong point and I never have a calculator on hand when mixing fuel.

The other two small engines I have are two generators. One is a 1kVA unit which runs on unleaded and the other a 5.5kVA one which also runs on unleaded. Both are good units despite not being name brands and the bigger one has a remote control electric start and always starts first go. My only issue with it is that there is no way to charge the battery when the generator is not being used for a long time. I always need to unscrew the lid to charge it.