Hi Pummerz,
Well nice to have another Bonnar owner on board.
I note that this one was purchased from the fortnightly Thursday deceased estate auction at Mason Gray and Strange on Torrens Road. At $50 you can't go wrong.
I'll start by saying that this one could've been made anywhere between 1968 and 1970. The Kirby powered units are not as easy to identify the manufacturing date as there are no codes on the engine that indicate a time, the ID plate tells us not much as there is no database left from SB to work from, but I guess that as I have had quite a bit of experience with these over the years there are certain characteristics on the machine which will give me a better idea as to what period its from, thus my time frame that I've given. It's definitely made in the early stages of Model 45 production with it being a solid deck machine.
The clutch still has the original cast iron half that's attached to the PTO shaft and that's a good thing as those clutches if maintained will outlast the machine itself.
Also as the engine is running and hopefully in good shape you're on a winner as it's the higher powered HK30 engine which many of us desire on the early 45.
This one would definitely make a great restorer as it's just past the visually attractive condition point for the use as a daily driver and thus would be great to start over from the beginning and make it look just like it did the day it came out of the Holland Street Factory at Thebarton.
Cheers,
BB.
PS. There was never a service manual made available, only the owners manual which you can look at here. Please note this one is for the slightly later Model 45 which has a few small running changes and the Briggs & Stratton engine in place of the Kirby, but the principles are still the same.
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/u...r/2675/filename/manual_operator_sb45.pdf
