OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Tip & Curb Side Finds A Good Scrounge

Hi all

Bloke advertised a picture of his front yard piled with stuff for free. I could see some mowers and a few catchers scattered about and thought they would all be gone if any good as it has been a couple of days since the ad was posted. I sent him a message earlier today to see if anything was left and he said he didn't think anyone had been so off I went. Half a dozen good Victa catchers including a Twin grip with magic eye still in tact and not a crack on it, it was buried under a pile of other stuff.
Were there certain models these were specific to ?
The other catcher I dont recognize so hoping a member can help. The top section may have been modified to fit a specific mower ?
picked up pull start assemblies, toggles, starter cord, good drive belts, set of victa wheel caps, fuel taps, coils and other bits. Sitting under the bonnet of an old Victa ride on was a complete, with snorkel and throttle Victa 2 stroke off an 85 Mustang, end broken off the decomp but it pulled over fine and made the right noises so that came home.
Just need to find room to put it all.

Cheers
wce

Well done son!

That thumb latch catcher will basically for on any non self propelled victa high arch that takes a thumb latch type catcher.
That is the weak point with those Victas it's missing our damaged catchers. That will be very handy.

The second catcher is a Masport, I tried giving them away for free for nesting boxes but in the end I just cut them up and put them in the household rubbish bin

Yep, and it's for one of the older models, that's very uncommon nowadays.

Interesting what you say about nesting boxes Norm; the 'pink front' secondhand shop in Traralgon sells old catchers for just this purpose. And she has trouble shifting them, too - and there are a lot of folk who keep chooks around here.

For those who don't have experience with chooks, they like a 3-sided, roofed nesting box for laying their eggs.

Thanks Gents

I felt like Frank Fritz, climbing over things, lifting up things you shouldn't but it was a bit of fun and got a few bits that will be useful, recycling at it's best !
Any idea what Masport model the catcher it suited to ?

Cheers
wce

Very interesting bit of information about the chooks preferred nesting box construction

wce,
I think it fits this type of base, I had a big pile of Masport catchers and Big Ted came and took all the later rounded type I had but left all the square type. I cut those up and binned them. I have never bothered to see what the difference is between the rounded and the cut those up and binned them. I have never bothered to see what the difference is between the rounded and the square

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/hei...lawn-mower-alloy-body-and-axles-only-no-

I've never seen a Magic Eye grass fill indicator with green before. (Desperate to steer discussion away from that brand across the ditch -though a comment I wanted to make!).

Thanks Norm

The item must have sold, the link just goes to Gumtree.

What colour are the magic eye's usually MF ?

Cheers
wce

Hey wce,
all the ones I've seen have an orange mark.

Don't stress about it, put it outside your gate and if you are really lucky somebody may take it

Hi Norm

Good solid advice as usual, thanks mate, but ill hang onto it for a bit just in case a member or anyone needs one and then ill chuck it out after a few years of looking at it.

MF

Did they ever make non genuine after market replacement Magic Eye parts ? It looks original enough to me but Iv'e not seen one in the flesh before.

Cheers
wce

I very much doubt it wce. It's not exactly a vital general wear component. I'd say Victa revised it at some point during a production year. You never know though.

wce,
and I know this is bugging MF but what the hell, those Masport catchers must be made from some very special material the Kiwis came up with because I have only ever seen one cracked, they are always in perfect condition, and I probably have at least 10 here once again since my last clean out.

Thanks MF

Have you got a picture of one you have so I can compare the sticker and general look of it to ?

Cheers
wce

Here's pics of the three I have wce. First one is a 1970's mid arch catcher, second one is one I had scavenged off a1970's VC-Mustang and replaced a missing one on this 1980s yellow Vortex catcher and the last one is a 1980s Powertorque thumb latch catcher original AFAIK. All the same design as yours, apart from the colour.

NormK, at least that relates to the plastic used on Victa catchers. I cut open a 1980s SPFC Mustang thumb latch catcher and was surprised how thick the plastic is (about 4mm) and yet they were so prone to cracking.
I expected it to be way thinner.

MF,
I have no idea what plastic the Masports use but it is far superior to all the other catchers combined. They may be marginally thicker that the Victa/Rovers but not enough to make the difference. They are a beautiful catcher, pity they can't be used on anything else.

Norm, they use High Density Polythene, as the other mower makers do, but there are different grades of HDPE available.

Seems Masport aren't quite as much ruled by the 'beancounter mentality', that of cheaping out on every raw material, as their competition.

This is where spending just a little more on raw material, produces a far superior end product.

A bit like the reason I very much favour Penrite oils and lubricants.

As a small company, they'll spend that little extra, to get the far better quality end product; than the beancounter-ruled major players in that market segment produce.

G'day Gadge and NormK,
After buying Penrite oil for my cars, I won't go back to others. They run noticeably smoother and I know the engines are in good hands with that lubricant in them. My mechanic uses it also.

The Masport steel bases hit a Victa for a six in their sturdy construction and design. Pity the wheels are a pest to replace.

Thanks MF

They do look the same, interesting.

Cheers
wce

G'day MF,
Yep; in my older [97 XH model] Falcon Ute, which uses a little oil [as a Ford 6 should do], Penrite's 'HPR 30 Gas' noticeably reduces oil consumption, compared to Valvoline XLD 20W-50.

In one of my several labrat past lives, I used to run a wear metals oil analysis program, for piston aircraft engines.
So I'd slip used oil samples, taken when I changed the XH's engine oil, through with the aircraft samples as a 'foreigner job'. Really liked the wear metals results/trends I saw with the Penrite!


Only because of those pestilential 'push nut' retainers they use.

On my personal mowers [my everyday is a Masport Maxicatch 550 alloy deck], the first time the wheels come off for lubing of ball wheel bearings, the axles get cross-drilled for split pins and flat washers. Or if axle length is a bit tight, they get the 'aircraft/racebike lockwiring' treatment.

Lockwire only requires a ~1mm diameter hole [it's ~0.8mm diameter stainless steel], so it can be used where there isn't room for a split pin.

Hey Gadge,
even sine of the Chinese mowers are better on that front with simple nylock nuts and a washer in a thinner threaded end.
I wish I could see what this lockwiring looks like. Sounds like an easy solution to the Rover/Masport push ring folly.
There's someone around here with an XH survivor. Very clever of Ford how they disguised that aging XD based ute body shell with the EF nose. It fooled me for quite a while until I looked carefully at the windscreen and doors. That SOHC six is a smoothie. I think they retained the EBII -ED engine on those instead of using the revised EF one or am I mistaken? I'd like to find either the last model with the XF nose or a VR Commodore ute. I understand the Ford can take a pallet where the Commodore of that era can't.

Wce, no trouble at all -except the last shot on top of a shelf. That took five attempts to get the photo hahaha.

In the sedans (from memory) sizing is the reverse - the XD couldn't fit a full size esky (height wise) in the boot, whereas the commodores could.

Both solid cars though

G'day MF,
I'll take some pics of some lockwiring I just did on a UHF CB antenna for the XH.

Yeah, the XH is quite a 'bitser', really.

Front panels are modified EF, to mate up to the XD body shell. But underneath, it's all EL front end - K frame, front suspension and steering, engine.
Ford went to coil pack electronic ignition for the EF, then switched back to distributor + electronic module for the EL and XH!

I'm just about to get a quote to get some rust issues [sills beneath the doors] fixed as a cash job by a local panel works.
I've done a fair few upgrades to this one, and it'll last me quite a while longer, as a backup and dirt road car.

It's a 'Longreach One Tonner' model, 6cyl, 5 spd manual. The manuals aren't real common in this model, and even less so in any later series Falcon Ute.

It's had fitted: an extra rear spring leaf; conventional LSD [not the almost un-fixable 'fluid coupling' LSD's the Longreach Outback models had]; OEM Outback engine sump bash plate and EF type alloy front bar; Impco Dual Fuel with a full width LPG tank in the tray; XR6 instrument cluster [that adds voltage and oil pressure gauges].

I do have a 'Donaldson clone' Outback air cleaner for it too, but I'd have to change to a different LPG system to fit that.

It would cost me multi thousands to upgrade to a later Falcon RTV model [those are factory lifted, and have an electric locking diff] ute, and this one has a driveline that's in very good nick - reco engine head and diff within its last 20,000k's.

The OEM shockers/struts were stuffed when I bought it [@ < 200,000km], so they were replaced by Monroe Gas units - still fine at 350,000k.

That's interesting regards being an EL from the firewall on. So essentially, instead of going to the development cost of a completely new ute body, they just exploited their existing old XF ute architecture to make a ute. They must have figured they could keep using that ageing design for a largely commercial market and get more mileage of of the initial tooling investment all that time ago in 1979. They wouldn't have produced the same volume of utes and panel vans as passenger cars so this was a way to catch up.
Times sure changed with the FG when utes were seen as vehicles for leasure as well as commercial use. Their tray back range would have accounted for many sales also.
All those upgrades are for your own set of benefits customised to you so it's in your best interests to keep it going as long as you economically can. Plus you alone understand appreciate what had been done to the vehicle where a subsequent owner likely won't to the same extent.
It's relative rarity these days could serve to at least help maintain it's value as well as it's uses as a ute.

Lockwiring examples

A couple of recent minor jobs I've done, where lockwiring was indicated.

Securing battery isolator
As the ute is not in regular use, I've fitted a battery isolator [~$10, Jaycar Electronics] to it.
Had to fit it to the +ve terminal, due to space issues.
The clamp type design looked less than secure to me, as this is a 'rough road use' car.

Solution: run a loop of locking wire, through an existing hole in the isolator 'post' side, and twist it up.



Securing CB antenna
This was done with the intention of securing the antenna and base against unscrewing - either from rough road vibration, or casual 'hydraulic individuals'. Hydraulic? The buggers will lift anything they can, given the opportunity.





There are a few tricks to drilling the holes in this situation, which I won't go into just now.
And the twisting is best done using a pair of 'lockwiring pliers', like these ones. Can be had for <$30, via the Bay of Fleas.

G'day MF,
The change to the 'cab chassis' design occurred with the successor model to the XH, the AU series.
This was a first for FoMoCo Aust; all previous Falcon Utes had been 'stylesides', with monocoque bodywork.

The change to cab chassis also meant the demise of the monocoque Ford panel van.

G'day Gadge,
thanks for showing me the various uses for locking wire. Is there a special place to get the wire?
It looks like a bit of an art form.
Could you show how you used it on your Masport when you explain the drilling?

Regards FoMoCo's cab chassis the regular styled rear tray was under the same chassis as the one tonner tray back? It appears that way from observing. Ford were very smart to develop that as it was a hit for Ford. No wonder Ford stuck with the cab chassis variant but didn't develop a wagon variant of the FG series.
They wanted to get more mileage of their tooling and development cost of the cab chassis and there were far more private sales to be made.

I never liked Ford because so much of the bracketry looked like it had been made in somebodys back shed but they were very clever using the same chassis and internal body mounts so that various body panels could be fitted

Norm, there's a reason Ford rhymes with double edged sword!!