Just to explain what I have been getting at with the flywheel screen. I wonder if the original screen on the KX-D was stationary or rotating (fixed to the flywheel) and also whether it was horizontal or vertical?

Sadly these screens were often the first things that people threw away or lost when doing some maintenance. Most vintage mowers no longer have any screens. They were possibly more of a hindrance than a help if truth be told, and they did significantly cut the amount of air flow back by as much as 40-50%.

The only illustration that gives us some idea is the one in the manual, which suggests a vertical (upright) screen that was separate from the flywheel. I can only guess that the screen was fastened to the recoil bolts, but the illustration does not really show this. Perhaps the screen tucked neatly under the opening in the cowl and there was a metal ring that held the screen firmly in place with the recoil starter bolts. Otherwise I am at a loss to know what could have held it in place and prevented it from making contact with the fins on top of the flywheel (presuming of course that it was not spinning with it, which seems highly unlikely).

Is this design unusual? I have been unable to find anything like it on any other engines from the period, but then again, I admit I have not seen many. It seems to have more in common with more modern concepts of a "finger guard" than a grass screen. This is what makes me wonder if it was a stationary screen. The way the illustration shows the screen fixed to the cowl and separated from the flywheel does suggest that it was a stationary fixture.

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Last edited by vint_mow; 05/02/17 07:23 PM.