What I did with the Tractor ages ago was to score a 6V solar panel. It has no hope of overcharging its (6V) battery. Hanging from the shed beam is a cable with a Din plug: That plugs into a Din panel plug, on the tractor & that keeps a trickle going into the battery to see that it does not get the opportunity of going flat.

Husqvarna; https://www.husqvarna.com/au/forest/when-working/usage/how-to-mix-2-stroke-fuel/

Have a list of mixing ratios 40:1 will be 25ml per litre: That sort of thing is written on the blackboard in the shed, where it is mixed and the equipment to measure it is.

Some bad 2 strokes from our past.
Honda Zot ! Oh what a car that was!
Heap of Ss!

The Suzuki 4x4 .
The Honda mini van !

The best ones were motorcycles .
The Kawasaki Mac 3 known as the widow maker and today it's worth a fortune. Nice machine!
I'm sure any of you guys in your 60s or 70s would know it. There were lists of 2 stroke motorcycles that were performance machines both road and track that are worth a mint today. But as for 2 stroke cars ,yuck

I have a number of unrestored Atco 'lightweight' 12 and 14 inch cylinder mowers from 1940s and 1950s in my workshop taking up far too much room. At home I have a half-restored 1920s Atco Standard which I bought from the family who imported it from England back in the day and which mowed the lawns at their Hunters Hill mansion until it became part of a school.

Albeit pollution laws are catching up many locomotive & ship engines are two stroke diesels & many were extremely efficient. I still would not like the fuel bill considering some ship ones are putting out 5000HP per cylinder. Interesting that the "crosshead" as used in steam engines still survives (with good reason) & I think some of the Wartsila pistons with crosshead, as a result are around 5 tonne.

How things have changed: A quote from CSX rail.

"Fuel efficiencies of rail are good for CSX’s business, its customers and the environment. In 2016, CSX’s fuel efficiency improved, due primarily to shutting down extra locomotive power whenever possible, running longer trains, trailing unit shutdown and utilising technology solutions. In 2016, CSX moved a ton of freight 474 miles on a single gallon of fuel on average."

Do note a US gallon is a British wine gallon: 1 US gallon (gal) = 0.83267384 imperial gallons (UK)

Hi Marcc, you mentioned one very important thing with engines, the running in of the bore and ring pack.
With vintage engines it used to be crucial not to GLAZE the bore surface by running with pressures too low in the break in period.
Modern car engines don't suffer so much, the bore and ring pack "bust in" from design, just change the oil and filter quick after 10 hours run to get all the metal out of the engine!!

I saw customers ruin engines by running them on a light load from new because they thought they were looking after them!
Ever after the cylinders would blow smoke, use oil, suffer from excess blow by, all the evils.
I would strip down, hone the bores, fit new ring packs and run the engine hard on dyno/pump/generator/load for several hours.
Then the engine is set for life. Easy with a generator, race or aero engine , you can go to 100% throttle easily.

For a small appliance motor like a lawn mower that just putt putts over a manicured lawn its a death sentence.
A four stroke that glazes will just drip oil out the exhaust and empty the sump real quick.

My Victa must have hard a hard life when it was young, when I did pop the head off the bore was un glazed and "right" looking.
Pete, give your re ring some good hard running on 3 foot paspalum!

Hey....we are now a Vintage Lawn Mower Web site, better fit a 80 rectifier to the Victa!

Fred.

Ripped the head of a neighbours Fergy 35 that he had just bought (blown gasket): What a mess! Its bore was glazed. So its running a straight 40 Mineral oil, to break the glaze.

Good thinking Marc.
Don't tell anybody but very occasionally I ran a glazed engine on the dyno with turpentine in the sump for a burst. Well judged that could wipe the glaze without stripping and honing. Don't tell the boss!

Vintage engines always ran with straight oil from new , from Lister Diesels to B&Stratton petrol.
As the new sooper dooper oils were introduced (1980's) we had hells problems with customers using the stuff.
So full of anti friction additives the ring packs would never break in, engines used oil and coked up.

Then customers were abusing Castrol etc that their new oils were crap!
We would tell them to go back to straight oil, don't listen to stupid reps promoting the latest super oil.

Even on our turbo engines, just use straight oil and you will be sweet, "but the rep said better fuel consumption, better wear, better efficiency.
I used to hate reps only ever listened to the tech guys who actually knew what they were talking about.

Fred.

The 60 year old mower now mows again.
I just finished it and mowed the lawn .
It would never pass work safe , 202O or even 1970. The base has no side edges and it sits off the ground hight with the blades having very little cover if any .
No wonder it's nic name was the toe cutter.
Runs well and is easier to push than a modern mower. The lawn was long and it had no problems cutting , no catcher of course , not on this early model .
Not bad for a 60 year old mower.

The best part is that it's not made in China!

Chinese-made mowers are probably on the tip in six years, never mind sixty.

Pete, the mover you have would be a Victa Utility? and would have a cylindrical petrol tank on the top adjacent to the handle?
If so it's quite collectable.
They are simple and bullet proof but can fling rocks through windows as they have no skirt.
Don't mow the lawn in sandals!!

Irext,
Yes it is ! It's relic like me . everything I own is old , nothing is new. I suppose I should of spoke to a head shrink about refusing to own modern items and living in 1960 ,but it's been fun all these years. Pete

Next purchase Industrial steel capped boots.

There was a optional skirt ring, I bought one for our Utility back in the 50's.
Sorry I don't have the Utility or the ring any more.
Odd thing was I hung the ring up on a nail in the workshop and it just hung there until I had a clean up about 20 years ago.
Don't need that, into the scrap!.
Its just a ring of metal, green coloured, I think 4 bolts and clips to secure it to the metal base.
Maybe ebay or gumtree?
Fred.

Pete: There's a lot of good Victa (and other brands) knowledge on the OutdoorKing Forum here: https://www.outdoorking.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm

Thanks G I will have a read of it.
Pete