Hi BS,
I must admit that in your first pictures you put up I somehow felt that there had been some sort of repairs done at some point in time but was hoping it would be nothing more than oil and dirty, sadly it wasn't.
With it being an Ex-Council machine it will have worked rather hard throughout it's distinguished career.
Your first job will be to remove it's engine and clean the repair site to remove all traces of that black sealant so that we can accurately see what's been done and also what else can be done to solve this problem, also if it's indeed a problem still.
If it does require further metal fabrication work then this is going to be a bit of an issue as this frame is powder coated and not painted and PC doesn't take too well to welding and the heat that's created by this process. In saying this there is some good news and that is there is a commercial paint available that is a near perfect match to Rover Red and you may have to strip the whole front rail and then mask the machine up so that you can repaint the single rail on it's own and this way it won't be that noticeable.
As far as that lead is concerned they were always just left hanging or rolled up and tied.
I feel that the primary clutch assembly has been changed at some point in time as it would've been the original one that eventually failed and caused the fatigue issues showing up in that front rail.
As far as brightening up die cast finish is concerned it would have to be acid dipped in a controlled solution,
Immerse in a solution of 24% hydrochloric acid for 2 to 10 min, and then rinse in cold running water
The average person doesn't have access to this sort of acid nowadays due to safety regulations and other issues but in saying this doing the above process will only be temporary as oxidisation will set in again pretty quickly. The best option will be to paint it in either Gloss black (all 3 clutch components) or silver would look ok as well to make it stand out from the rest of the machine. The gloss black was what most of the Rover Reds had the clutch assembly finished in as was the cutting reel and the front roller frame assembly.
Now your drive train all looks pretty much as it should. The cutter sprocket does show signs of wear but will survive a while longer I feel.
I guess this is a bit to digest for now so I'll let you have a think about it all and we'll see how you want to progress in your next post.
Cheers for now,
BB.
