OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Victa Two Stroke Engines New engine & drive pulley

I've decided to repower my victa pro 550sp and want to know if I can buy a new victa 2 stroke engine - the most powerful one available. I will also need a new drive pulley to suit as the old one won't budge - tried heat, the hammer/anvil, more heat, soaking in penetrol etc - so a new engine.
If the drive pulley will fit, I'd probably prefer a Briggs 625.
Are these available from Outdoorking?

its too far gone to rebuild, done 1000's of hours & is falling apart. According to Victas' website,the engines are still aussie manufactured, I'm a little doubtful though - rather a 625 briggs if it will accept the drive pulley (assuming I can get one)

where would I buy a new briggs with a victa crank?

Briggs sell their engines in various configurations. In particular there are two fairly standard crank lengths: the distance between the engine's mounting face and the end of the crankshaft, and the difference is more than an inch. The reference to the Victa crank was in relation to crank length. It did not refer to the diameter of the shaft, whether it is parallel or tapered, whether it has a tapped hole in the end, and whether it has a keyway. On Briggs engines, generally the diameter of the part of the crankshaft where you attach the blade, pulley or whatever, depends on the size of the engine. It gets bigger as the engine gets bigger. You can't just buy a bigger capacity Briggs and expect it to have the same output shaft diameter as a smaller capacity Briggs. Then there are the differences in the detail of the output shaft, as well as the diameter.

this is starting to do my head in!

I don't think the project is as easy as you want it to be Redeye. The easy solution is to get your local mower shop to put a rebuilt Powertorque on it, or better still if they have the conversion parts, a Honda. It was available new with a Honda, but may have used a different pulley attachment - the Victa output shaft looks a bit odd to me.

Hi grumpy and redeye, now your talking mate, a Honda is great advice...one pull starting....
Viva La Honda!

Deejay, I gather Redeye wants to use this for serious commercial service, and as far as I can tell, "ordinary" grade Hondas may last longer in that service than "ordinary" grade Briggs. It may be a different story when you look at commercial Briggs models, made in the US with the iron cylinder liner etc. All I can say about the idea of using a Powertorque for heavy duty commercial service, is good luck. That comment does not apply to the old full-crank Victa 2 strokes of course.

From the inquiries I have made, I gather that Victa engines are assembled in Australia, from parts made in China.
Also, all Rover mowers are now manufactured in China. I feel that it will take some time for the manufacturers to get up to speed and good quality products to come from their factories.
(Just as it did in Japan, with the Honda engines made wholly in that country). It is a shame about the Honda quality now coming out of China.

Ended up buying a new power torque for it. Not a fan of honda's,they're under powered (and over-rated!) in my opinion,alright for domestic work...I would have needed a plate to fit a briggs apparently & just needed to get it going asap - time will tell about the new victas' quality, fingers crossed

Well, it gets you out of trouble and might last as long as the previous one did. That isn't all bad.

Hi grumpy, I didn't know that some of the professional grade Honda engines use a cast iron sleeve (for higher power levels) or that the Victa VSP160 2-stroke is a purpose built mower engine featuring a fully cast-iron engine block.
Click HERE for more info.

Deejay, I think Honda is in competition with Briggs for the small engine business, and they can't play in that game without offering commercial-grade engines for those who want them, and will pay for them. I didn't know that the Victa 550 had a commercial-grade Honda engine though, and I certainly didn't know that Victa made a commercial grade Powertorque with a cast iron cylinder. Since it still has a cantilevered crankshaft, and presumably a plastic carburetor, I'm not about to develop any enthusiasm for that product, though.

My only concerns with Japanese-made Honda engines are that they are very complicated, which can have maintenance implications, and they are relatively expensive. (Sort of a modern equivalent of the Lawnboy 2 strokes). If I were a contractor wanting to use a push mower I think it would have a Honda engine. The question of made-in-China quality to me is a temporary, transitional issue: Honda is not in the business of selling unreliable products, and they'll make sure the problems are fixed as soon as possible. However for the person who just wants to mow a small grass area at home, I think Briggs has traditionally offered a better deal than Honda: cheaper, easier to maintain, cheap parts (in the US) and a reasonable lifespan in that kind of service.

And all of that is just my opinion based on the things that matter to me. If Redeye has had good service from his half-crank commercial Victa 2 stroke, that is what counts. If it ever needed repairs, aside from the silly carburetor, the rest of it seems easy to work on - and I wouldn't say that about a Honda.

all powertorque motors are a complete cast iron block. I originally had no time for them but I have been using one for my mowing run (4-5 lawns a week) and apart from the time it went for a swim it has given no trouble at all. Not bad for a late 80's- early 90's engine, although it does have some modifications.

Thanks for the replies guys, It's good to learn new things, I didn't know that all Powertorque's have a complete cast-iron block, from what I gleaned from the Victa article, I thought that only applied to its commercial grade heavy duty engines. Thanks for that, Joe.
Grumpy, I think you're spot-on with your thoughts on the chinese Honda, the quality will improve, after all, no-one wants to supply a defective product, do they.