OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers Twins & Compact Restoration

Wow wish I could find mowers at $10 for all I wanted.Anyway this is really going off topic.
So let me put it back on topic.
Here's the Compacts and one Twins engine at the end of today.
Compacts engine.





Twins engine.





Cutting discs in there original colour.



I know I know strange colour but that's what colour they were originally.
I didn't choose it I just colour matched them.

Mmmmmmm....I like Shiny!

Nice work Blumbly, I think that's the 1st pics I've ever seen of a Compact and Twin engine actually cleaned up! good stuff looking good
Lots of alloy I bet there was a few hr's of fiddly hard work getting them to shine like that....

Oh chris125 you have no idea on the cleaning and polishing involved in them.So many small groves,so small very hard to get into them.I found cotton buds are a god sent in getting in between everything.
Like the twin engine took me just about all day yesterday to do.I'm really not looking forward to the next one,but it has to be done.If I'm going to restoring them,then it is the only way and it must be done.

I hear ya I've done the polishing up alloy until my fingers bleed and don't work anymore lol....Without industrial equipment there is only one way and that's perseverance/patience and pain! ....

That sure is true,but it sure is worth it when it's done.

Mmmmmmm, Shiny is good!

Yes Shinny is good,it means it worked.

they look fantastic Blumbly, nice work indeed, shiny looks great

Thanks squizzy I appreciate that,as I'm fairly pedantic when it comes to making it look right.Where most would say that's good I usually go no I can get it better.I know they wouldn't have been this shinny when they were new.

Wow I did it again I have spent the whole day polishing the second twin engine.
As I may not have mentioned before I do believe there were two different models of the 500 Twin and I'm restoring both at the same time.
Here's some pictures of the second engine.



This time I kept an eye on the time.It took me almost 12 hours to just polish this engine.
It would have been very close to the same amount of time for the first one.
So I guess there is almost 24 hours spent just polishing the two twin engines.
The hardest part to polish is the heads.Just very fiddly and hard part to polish,but it's done now.Until I decide to do the green supreme and the gold twin.Thankfully I have a few ahead of those two first.I just don't think I could do that again right now.




Here's some pictures of one of the rear flaps after the electrolysis and before spraying some primer over it.


Very nice clean and rust free.After those pictures were taken I ran a wire wheel over it and then hit it with the primer.

Of which it then looked like this.Then the primer.
And here the old meets the new.




The old doesn't look very happy at all.

amazing stuff. you definitely have more patience than me

Thanks Gizmo yeah I guess your right it does take a bit to get the job done.
I think out of all the engines that I have polished these twins do take the most time to do.I mean to do a 125 or 160 full crank engine can be done in way less than half the time it takes to polish these ones.I do prefer to do those ones,but these just had to be right.

Mmmmm...More Shiny! Impressive work Blumbly. The later smooth cast victa engines polish up much nicer than the Rotos and Specials, and without the risk of polishing out the rough casts patina.

Shiny is goood:) Great paint finish also.

Well done Sir:)

Thanks Blue whooppss sorry HT6.I do appreciate that.Yes the series 70 engines are by far the easiest to polish.I really just don't like doing Twin,Lightweight or Compact engines.It's not they don't polish up well it's just they are so fiddly.
The colour was just a high gloss enamel.These mowers weren't done in hammertone as others around this era were.I have noticed since working with the Twins the casting of the bases were very poor in quality.I don't if it was the quality of the alloy or bad moulds but not the normal quality for a Victa base.

Hello Blumbly.
i just managed to pick up myself a twin. it doesnt have the catcher but seller is looking for it for me.he said his mate might have one?
best thing about it was when i got it home i turned on the fuel tap and after 5 pulls away she went. so i mowed my front lawn with it.

Totally awesome find there Gizmo well done the green supreme's are really starting to become very hard to find.There wasn't a lot of them to being with and after all this time there would be a lot less.
So well done,good to see someone else taking an interest in these awesome twin cylinder mowers.

Didn't do much on the weekend,but I did get to put what I call the series II engine together.
First the crank and pistons all cleaned and almost ready.

Bearings and seals put on ready to go.
OK lets put it together.

Taarr dumm.
Done all together.




Not the best photos but you get the idea.

wow that looks great as it is. I have got a few twin engines so I might have a go with one.

very well done, this is a restoration to the highest standard, cant wait to see the mowers completed. I have a compact that has a nos motor and cowl, that needs final assembly, I will complete it this weekend and post a photo

cheers

chris

Nice work mate. I reallly want one