Hi Grumpy. Followed all your advice and also stripped down the fuel bowl to the carb and checked the needle per the earlier thread. I found through vibration (I guess) that the needle had ground a very shallow indentation in the soft alloy seating so I tweaked the seating very slightly by lifting it with a small screwdriver and after putting it back together made sure it operated correctly before fixing the fuel bowl. You were correct in saying the bowl would be full - it was when I removed the carb. Replaced air filter, fuel filter and spark plug and hey presto it fired up and runs pretty well. Also found how the choke linkage works (per your site) and fixed that too. I have replaced all the belts and again thanks for the advice on how the belt comes off of the gearbox pulley (another thread) bloody fiddly but it is a good feeling to have got it all done.
There is a but however. Starting and tickover is fine, increasing revs generally ok but the engine sometimes labours as if the choke was pulled on and slows before recovering. I noticed this was happening when I engaged the cutter blades before doing all this work. After a short few revolutions the engine picks up again and runs sweet. Is this a problem? or is it they way the thing works? I haven't touched the carb tuning so wonder if it needs tweeking? I looked for a tip on tuning but can't find it if it is there as it would mean reading through many pages of non related advice because some headings are like mine starting out with one problem but ending up with a heap of good and relevant help from you guys.
Thanks once again and please let me know if there is anything I can do about the engine revs. Cheers Tank
