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

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

Thanks guys for those kind words.
I have had a bit of a delay thought as I have made a big mistake.
As I was trying to do them up as original as possible,in my haste I polished two twin engines,as I'm restoring the first 500 Twin and the 500 Twin with the updated engine(what I call the series II).So after I had polished the two engines I then what I went to put them together and realized that the first ever model twin had a completely different engine to all the others.This was due to the problems of the first engine.As even when the mower was returned for a service Victa automatically swapped the engine for the new updated engine.So to find one of the original engines is rare.Now one that I have had a busted piston (I think I put photos up already)which scored the bore.So in my haste I selected another engine that turned out to be a later updated engine from 1977.Not the first engine,from what I have found is that the first engine numbers would start as 12475 after that they were all the updated engines.So now I have to polish the only other first version of the Twin engine that I have,this one is certainly taking some time to clean as it was very very bad,but I am winning.
So sorry to seem quite but I have been trying to get this done at the moment.
Also my air compressor motor died as well,but that's another story.

I have a few spare engines, if you get in trouble let me know I can assist, I will check engine numbers out tomorrow . more than happy to assist

cheers
chris

bunipper I'm in trouble this one I'm cleaning isn't the greatest missing and bend fins as well as a fair bit of corrosion.So yes look please.

there hard to read a lot of 12776 engines and 12475 got one, its on a semi complete parts mower. so I will strip the engine off on the weekend and make sure there is no damage. the mower base does not have the heat plate on it. compared to some other bases with the later engines. talk soon

cheers
chris

can I ask a silly question, I have a early motor twin e/number 12475 and it has a added plate on the frame just near where the serial number is on the motor, ie a heat shield. when did these come into the mix, early or late.????
cheers

chris

The one without the heat shield with the number 12475 does sound like the one I'm after.
The heat shield was to stop the heat getting to the carby as it was causing the fuel to evaporate in the carby.They where added when the mower went for a service and had the updated engine installed.So it was (I can't remember the date) but was early in 1976.

do you need the engine ???

cheers chris

Sent me a PM and if you could some pictures of it.As I will be able to work it out from photos of it.

Also speaking of engines.
I won an eBay auction for a Lightweight/Compact engine (Which I think was a Lightweight engine) and was hoping that I could save my Compact engine as I had to steel another engine from a spare Lightweight I have.



So I thought you little ripper solved my problems.

The more I pulled it apart the more excited I got.
...Until I pulled the piston out,my happiness turned to sadness real quick.
As when I pulled the piston out I found the rings fused to the piston and massive groves in the bore.
Bugger that's another loss.
As I found out from the engine number it would have been a lightweight engine as the number started with 409.
A compact engine (from my own observation) should start with 277 or 278 (depending on year made) then two letters
and then two more numbers. If anybody has one there not needing I'd be happy to hear from them.
I did get some good spare parts but I was really after the engines crankcase not spare parts.

i will get some pictures, I will also post you pics of a spare light weight engine I have as well

cheers

chris