OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers "NEW" Victa VC Autodrive

Mystyler, which tip shop? I can give you a fair indication of what the 2 north of the river are like. Hope you are going up to Tamala Park

Hey Tyler, I was going to have a peek at the Balcatta one. I've taken a whole heap of stuff there, but never had a look around. Not a decent selection?

Sometimes you just get incredibly lucky!

Ok, MS, explain how you got your slimy hands on it.
I think your efforts I the mower has lead to divine intervention.

MF, I happened to pass by an old mower shop on my way to get some bolts for the Pope that I know has there for donkey's. They had one, single wrecked 160cc FC out the back amongst a pile of power torques! Got a few other bits for it too.

However, the Mower Gods giveth, and the Mower Gods taketh away. Shortly after that photo was taken, I had my last aerosol can of Hammered Silver let go about 10 seconds into spraying. What a mess. OK, no worries, I took it back and they were most understanding. There were no more cans of this paint left, so I got it exchanged for a small tin of the same stuff. Light applications with a decent brush and I ended up with bristles pulled out everywhere and a sag line on the arch to round it off. I think I'm going to get it blasted again and TAKE IT TO THE BLOODY PAINT SHOP.

It was looking incredible, now it looks backyard.

Oh well.

Oh no!!
Hammered paint is very forgiving -at least the Ultra Color brand I got. They are horrible for stopping a quarter the way through. Don't t give up yet Mystyler!

I succeeded in reactivating mine several times enough to finish my gold high arch base you saw earlier.
I used carby cleaner (which is basically acetone in a can) with a straw to drop it down the tube in the can and run some though the nozzle before getting a few more seconds spray time and doing it again.
I'd sand the run and go over it with the reacivated spray can if you can get it running. You have nothing to lose.

Yep - thats how any of my paint projects end up

MF, your Gold base turned out fantastic. I can't complain about the finish quality of the stuff I got from the cans. And I'll certainly put my brush technique down as "needs more practise". But geeze, this has been an exercise in frustration.

I'm thinking I may just have to concede that this battle has been lost. I have no real work area and setting everything up to protect the surrounds takes longer than the action of painting. I can't use solvents in the storeroom as it is connected, bizarrely, to the kitchen via the stove extractor fan. If I use anything too volatile it ends up stinking the house out.

It seems I also bought the last can of Hammered Silver around me until they can get stock in. So I'm snookered there.

I shan't give up on the mower, but the painting process may have beaten me. I promised last time I would outsource my painting. Except that job turned out very well!

I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

I painted mine in a beach tent in the back yard with flyscreen windows that I covered up with the built in window flaps each time I did a pass with the can.
The base was suspended off the canvas floor on 100 mm thick scrap pieces of wood. Unfortunately as I was down the road, heavy gusts of wind decided to start and the tent was blown over in my absence. The paintwork was chipped off in four little spots around the left side of the base. I touched them up with a brush dipped into the gold paint squirted into the cap but shows as bright spots in certain light. It still bothers me but it's just not worth it to possibly risk further ruining it by another pass of the spray after months of curing. I'm hoping the height adjustment rod on the left side, which passes near the blemishes, will draw the eye away.

A drop sheet with weights around it will provide a work space almost anywhere.

You guys are enablers. I'm going to attempt some sanding, and then I'll try another brand of spray can.

God help me!

Might have to leave it for a few weeks so that it fully hardens otherwise you might get a reaction and then you would have to strip it back to bare metal

I take that to mean you will recoat the entire thing, as it will not likely match the Hamnerite's shade of silver.
I would try and get that Hammerite spray to start by the method I succeeded in using. Then you can just spray the affected area with careful passes and it should blend in seamlessly while the existing coat you already applied is relatively uncured.

Hello Norm and Mowerfreak, yep, she's been put in the sun and I'm going to recoat the entire bloody thing. I'll put the engine together instead, and work on getting the Pope running properly.

Won't hurt MS. Can't have too much paint on a mower frame.

Started the rebuild today of the motor. Popped the old seals out no worries. Got the top seal in, no worries. The bottom? Well, it seems to be putting quite a bit of drag on the assembly when you try to rotate it. It does not feel like a bearing problem, and only occurs when the bottom seal is in place. They're a bit of work getting in properly.

See if you can spot anything incorrect? I don't wish to go any further if I have to pull it apart again.

Umm, yes mate.

In Victa terms, that ain't an 'early model'. Those were ~15-20 years earlier. So, the VC has 20mm seals top and bottom.

If you have a shop manual, IIRC it describes a technique using two self-tapping screws to remove bottom seals.

That's the one to use, when you don't want to split the cases.

Thank you Gadge!

This is why I ask. I wasn't convinced it was an "early model" but it's all relative. Something must have been lost over the phone when I was ordering them. I have more 20mm seals so that's not a worry. I suspect they'll be a ton easier to fit!!