Today I picked up 7 Cane Rods ..... !920s 30s Rods in very good condition I had one many years ago but I dont know alot about them . I also picked up a 1958 Victa Rota mower toe cutter and I have it up and running already ,, Darn thing started up 3rd try ! talk about loud ! hahah

Pete

The original "Victa" that made it, also built Aircraft; so be careful since you have remembered that these things did, like the plane, really "take off": Mainly toes.

Marc

Marcc, Oh yep I have heard the stories long ago about the Toes ... 60 years old mower off a throw out ! I took the plug out and put some Oil down the bore , Turned it over a few times by hand with no plug in it . then put the old plug back in and primed it with fresh petrol and after 3 goes she starts up !!! THE DONT make them like that anymore !! Bloodly beauty !

Pete

It'a amazing what still works when stored right & is provided with some TLC. I have a transit level that after some minor work is actually reasonably accurate despite being Circa 1914, Tractor is 1951 & needs its second Major overhaul (last 1985) Ute is 1958 Its head was repaired in 1983 its motor is still "first life", re-conditioned fuel pump to go in. Still has its original rego plates. I have a stirrup hand pump, thought it had real issues when the plunger washer went. But it turned out to be leather cut as for a steam engine so at the ripe old age of around 100 its still a goer & easily fixed. Even the Valve tester is circa 1938.

Quite a bit of old stuff here.

Marc

"1958 Victa "

I think they had some of those lime green LAWN BOY mowers marketed in Australia that used Evinrude 2-stroke engines right up til the 1990s, refusing to go 4-stroke, insisting 2-stroke is better for mowers. They have a cult following now!

Two-stroke was probably better in the days when Victa mowers had recoil starters on them, where you wound up a big clock spring and then let the catch go to release the spring and start the engine. Victa called it ZipStart. There's very few two-stroke mowers now. I haven't looked at new mowers in recent years but before that I noticed that most brands just use a 4HP Briggs and Stratton engine which is four-stroke.

Was just looking at the old Evinrude factory (NW cnr of Capitol Dr & N 27th St) by clicking the back-in-time clock icon Street-View before the city made them demolish it and see it had its own power substation! Ironically, the present complex to the north of it is a Briggs & Stratton facility!

Victa & several others have been absorbed into B&S. Pollution laws are catching up with a lot of two strokes albeit the Wartzila engines are some of the most efficient in the world. Some produce something like 5000HP per cylinder. There are still a lot of Two Stroke Locomotive engines out there. However, if you want to see exhaust pollution; don't know what Diesel Brand is in them, but it realty has a unique sound.

However, have a look at the Indian Railways ( & some USA) ALCO's. I sometimes think they can outdo a heavy laden steam loco for black smoke. And Diesel soot is like glue.

Newvista
Hello , Yes they do have a following and its quite large ....Some of them bring crazy money .. It was just a bit of fun for me and I will pass it on to someone soon /

As for 2 stroke Engines and putting mowers to the side for a minute ,, who remembers the 2 stroke cars ??? hahah Heaps of shit they were !
But than lets look at Motor bikes Ohhh different Kettle of fish , I rode Bikes all my life up until 4 years ago and for a for a Dirt bike in terms of power and weight there was nothing better or more of a thrill ... On Road bikes a 4 stroke wins hands down in terms of riding .But they also made a few 2 stroke Rockets with amazing power over the years ,, one famous one was the Kawasaki triple 500cc MAC 1 ! Nick named the widow maker with unmatched speed , worth a fortune today ... The are others to which are highly sort after for their speed and power / I got to ride many 2 stroke bikes and its quite a experience on some of those Rockets . As for mowers is does not matter really as we all know us blokes hate mower the bloodly grass ! Pete

The Victa Zip Start was the first mower to have a decompression valve to make pulling the start cord quite easy.
Once the mower fired up the valve was held closed by compression.
I retired my 1970's Victa 160cc when it kept back firing whilst trying to start it and wrenching my hand violently.
After much pulling it apart and putting it back together (with much swearing) it turned out that part of the fixed magnet on the flywheel had disappeared causing a timing issue.
I could have fixed it but instead bought a new Masport with a 190CC 4 stroke motor and a cast chassis.
Much quieter and mows better than the old Victa ever did.
Still the old original 1950's Victa Utility mowers are quite sought after and collectable and usually still work!

With age & my 1970's chain saw has done it. One can get issues with the crankcase seals the highest probability of failing is the bottom one as it normally gets dirt, fishing line & various other unsavoury materials wrapped around the shaft & it ends up stuffing the seal.

If the Two stroke mower does not have compression in the crankcase, it will not blow the fuel into the cylinder. The other major cause of fail to start is the mud wasp: It likes nesting in the muffler & exhaust pipe and and other orifice including the cooling fins.

"Two Stroke Locomotive engines"

Happened upon the display of a cut-away Napier Deltic engine at the National Railway Museum in York, UK and thinking at the time "this is the best engine ever!" - all pistons & power, single crankshaft, no cams or valves!

There's a good youtube on the fate of Evinrude: They eventually went to a German patented direct-injection 4-stroke, but couldn't make it reliable.

Knew a guy who once worked in engineering at Harley-Davidson (located at Juneau & N 35th St.) back when they were owned by AMF and near bankrupt: He said "they had engine balance problems and had the design re-blueprinted by an Italian firm."

Worked with a guy in the late 80's who's father was a research engineer at Briggs & Stratton (located at Burleigh & N 124th St.) I asked him "what does he do there?", he said "right now they are pulling apart a Honda engine"!

It is interesting to discover who built what & how well. Some Norton & J.A.P. engines were designed by an Australian as were the first rotary engines in aircraft & then they realised that they were inside out. Whilst spinning the cylinders may have aided cooling, it was a fantastic gyroscope.

I could well understand why they would pull apart a Honda engine. It would actually show them how to build a proper engine. Brother gave me a Chinese mower engine to see what went bang!. On looking at it they had plagiarised one of the worst B&S engines I have seen for having the governor assy fly apart: And that's exactly what this one did. One wonders how they let some motors loose? I have a 1979 B&S motor that according to its manual needs de-coking every 100Hrs. That's the type that you ensure is running an ashless dispersant oil.

One dealership did tell me that the 12HP B&S motor on the ride on would be lucky to last 600Hrs. Ok the ignition module died at 500Hrs & I had to repair the carby butterfly at 360 hrs. However, its run on Shell diesel spec oil, all its life & is now going through 900Hrs. I was told that running it on that sort of oil would take the carbon out of the rings & it would burn oil. Yeh! its getting a bit of a "cluck" & burning a wee bit of oil but if its 300Hrs+ over self destruct, we continue. Two of the Honda engines also run on that and are both around 1989. The Inverter
is a bit different like the Ute. Its specifying a 10W for the bottom so the bearings must be fairly tight. It runs on Honda oil whilst warranty applies. Ute specifies SAE 20. It has no catalytic converter so it also runs on Shell Tractor oil as it has more anti wear additive & detergent so after 61 years that motor is still very clean inside (first life motor).

What is interesting with the really big motors like the Wartsila (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXHvY-zY9hA) (Poor quality image) they actually retain the "crosshead" like a steam engine. One does not want 5+ tonne of piston wobbling too much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awJIvdzL5dE This is a Big Wartsila Sulzer running.

The on going war of opinion that has been kicking around since the the year dot regarding 2 stroke Vs 2 stroke ..Hmmmm
I love both ! But the answer to that very old question all boils down to what the motor is going to be used for ,, Over the past 20 years 4 stroke technology came along way in terms of power , One of the reasons years ago that 2 strokes were liked so much was because anything under 500cc could be made to go like a rocket with only just few preformance changes plus you had the advantage of the weight being far less . Pop on a decent Exhaust and some good Reeds and throw the air box in the bin and you had a Rocket . The other advantage was that a 2 stoke was a loverly thing to work on, so simple and you could have the motor all in bits in 30 minutes on the kitchen table ../
Having said that though , I'm relating to bikes under 500cc ,,, If we look at things like whipper snippers , Honda make a beauty and its a 4 stroke ,, Reliable as the day is long ! Yep and the day will be long too , because the bloodly thing is so heavy your Arm is dead after an hour on it !! So there is anther application where I feel a 2 stroke is more for me . One issue I do have with 2 strokes though is Vibrations ! I love the 2 stroke motors ,, But I'm wary of the vibrations both for me and the motor . One sad point about many of these engines we are mentioning above in this forum is that years ago many of these little motors had a great name and for good reasons , Honda and B and S both had great names ,,Now many of them are heaps of shit made in china on the cheap and six months later they are on the throw out street piles ! Just look at the begining of this post , Its about a 60 year old mower that still goes !!! You wont get that happening in 60 years from now with your chinese bargain ! Not a chance in hell , The best motors were all built in the past in my opinion ...... I guess thats why my Daily driver is a 20 year old Toyota ute !!! .Pete