OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Victa Two Stroke Engines Questions about Victa 2 stroke

Hi All, new member here.

I've just got myself an edger with a victa two stroke engine. It has been painted, but underneath, the blower shroud is orange/red and the starter housing is white plastic. The carb is metal with a black plastic vane. It looks a lot like this:


Except:
The blower shroud is 'asymmetric' when viewed from the starter.
The intake is on the other side.
The muffler is turned 90 degrees.

My questions are...
1. How old is the engine?
2. Is the vane on the carb a governer? Does it normally need adjustment?
3. There is an electrical connection (male spade) under the vane on the throttle cam. What the h**l is that for??
4. I don't know too much about two strokes. There is a valve on the head with a tube going to the intake manifold. Is this a reed valve?
5. Coming out from the flywheel region is the spark plug lead and another wire with a female spade connector. Does this plug in under the vane? What is it for?
6. What is the fuel/oil ratio for this engine?
7. What is the correct spark plug for this engine? It looks like the one I have is too short.

Thanks! I look forward to any info.

Luke

I cant make out the carby from here, but it sounds like you are describing the victa G3 carburettor. The mower is a Victa Imperial Reel type mower, and usually, when fitted to this mower, the G3 carby was modified at the factory, and did not have the governor vane.

The orange piece on the engine is the cooling cowl, and those did come in that color, and i have seen that colour on that mower.

When fitted to a normal mower, the starter is on top, and the engine points down, therefore the carby is fitted differently (turned 90 degrees) and this puts the plastic vane up, and inside the cooling cowl, where wind is deflected off the flywheel to the governor vane.

on these mowers, the carby had to be turned to keep the float horizontal, and the governor vane is useless as it does not get any airflow from the flywheel.

In the manuals section you will find information on both this carby, and the one that would be expected on this machine.

the engine is a series 70, MKI, MKII or MKIII, factory modified for the imperial, it is from the 70's, i would say somewhere between 1972 & 1974.

I'll have a dig around, i might even have the original sales brochure for this one.

The electrical connection is the cut-out system, and is what stops spark to the spark plug, when you want to stop the engine.

The valve on the cylinder head is a de-compression valve, it is opened while the mower is off, and closes once the engine starts, this makes starting easier, by reducing resistance on the starter cord, and achieving greater starting speeds.

the extra wire connects to the above mentioned cut-out spade, under the vane.

the fuel/oil ratio is 25 parts fuel to 1 part oil, easy mix is 200ml 2-stroke oil in 5l fuel.

the correct spark plug is quite short, i tend to use champion cj8.

oh, and if you could post a picture of the carby, that would help identify whats going on allot more accurately.

the muffler is correct, it would normally point down on a rotary victa, but the again, so would the whole engine.

Wow! Thanks for all the info!!
I'd better reiterate that the mower in the pic isn't mine. What you said about the governor makes sense though. It seems like the cutout wont reach the plug either, it's probably redundant.
I'll get some pics once it's back together.
The guy I bought it off said it stopped running. I'm guessing its just a dirty carb and old fuel. Anything else on this sort of engine that would stop it running?

Ah, I see, I mis understood, any chance what we are talking about looks like this?





Again, if you can somehow get a picture up, it would help.

I'm guessing the carburettor pictured in these pics is not the same as your carburettor, sounds like someone has fitted a G3, where a 3S would have once sat (These were not governed, and were often seen in these sorts of applications before the modifies imperial G3 was produced) again, information on this carburettor is easily available in the manuals section.

Using the one you have now will be fine, it will just be un-governed, so adjustments will need to be made for that (we can get to this once it is running)

Start by taking the carburettor off, and cleaning it up (Make sure not to get any muck into the intake port. then, take the rectangular bowl on the bottom off, by removing the 2 screws from its corners, you should have a white plastic pin, a gasket (may be attached to one of the faces, if you can get it off un-torn, it can be salvaged sometimes) a copper jet, with a rubber o-ring around it, and a float, either black with a copper hinge and hinge rod, or a one-piece white plastic float.

Check the copper jet is not blocked, and then look into the hole it comes from, there will be 3 tiny holes of this, again check they are not blocked. If they are, clean them out with a plastic bristle (i find plucking a bristle from a stiff boot or floor brush does the trick)

Clean out this chamber, and re-assemble, making sure the fork on the float locks over the end of the fuel pin.

Check that when you move the vane gently by hand, the butterfly valve inside the carby moves comfortable and freely without stopping, skipping or jamming. (If it jams, let me know, and we will deal with that issue)

Re-fit the carburettor, and remove the decompression valve (the valve on the cylinder head) again making sire no muck gets in the engine (you will need to pull off the dress cowl to remove this valve)

Clean the valve over, and making sure the tube is firmly attached, gently suck on the end of the tube, while watching the end of the valve that goes in the engine.

With only gently suction, the poppet should pull in, closing the valve, if it does, we will leave it here, otherwise, say so, and i will tell you how to fix this.

re-fit the valve, connect the line back to the nipple off the intake port, and if you can extend the cut-out wire to fit to the cut-out spade, do so (making sure no metal of the connection, can touch any engine metal.

If you can’t, then just make sure it can’t short out as above.

now, pull out the spark plug, tidy it up, and wedge it on the engine so you can see the tip (with the lead attached) pull the cut out wire back off, and put a little electrical tape over the end of the wire, and pill the cord, making sure the spark plug outer casing (metal) maintains good contact with the engine body (not the painted parts as this may interfere.

If you see spark, we are good, if not give it a couple more goes, and if still no luck let me know, and we will work that one out.

now, do the same spark test, with the cut out re-connected (if you cant do this, just skip) and the throttle at full, you should see spar still, and no spark when firmly held in the stop position, if you cant get spark with this connected, leave it off and taped for now. (Make sure the wire can’t get pulled into the engine.

Put the spark plug back, and re-connect the line, put the engine back together, and see if it will run.

This should help with the carby:

Here we go, i just found these pics, another one, but this one has the modified (Flagless) G3 from the Imperial Mower Range.

Thanks for your help mate. I'm pretty familiar with engines, I've got an old kirby, clinton and honda, so I'm ok with carbs and 4 stroke stuff. Definately going to need help with all this crazy 2 stroke stuff.
It doesnt look like any of those pics. The blower shroud is different, and it has the funny shaped black plastic tank. Its in pieces at the moment so I cant get a pic. Next time I'm out in the shed I'll get some of the parts.

Luke

No worries mate, let us know when you have some pics of the parts, and i'll tell you what i see!

well it could be similar to this,

this is my ebay score from a couple years ago got it for $36

Haha nope. Not anything like that!

I have to admit, I'm getting quite curios now...

Ok well I must be on something. The blower shroud is the same as the pictures (ie. symmetric).
I wouldn't get your hopes up about the edger itself, it's not that pretty!

One question I do have is regarding the starter. It seems to be standard for a victa, but it's not like the ones on my other engines in that the pawls inside don't positively engage anything in the starter cup. It seems to slip more than turn the engine over. Is there any way to fix this, or is it more of a technique thing?
Pictures will come soon, definitely some time over the weekend.

Try opening up the small end of the starter (dont pull out the pully or spring) and turning the pawls aroung to give them a fresh edge.

In this image, the pawls are part 19.