OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Reel-Type Mowers Another Qualcast P1 restoration

Hi Bob and Jack,

Not sure about the effects of the bath on the cylinder surface, rings and gaskets may be available from 2 sources locally

John at Rustic Spares. rusticspares.com.au

Stephen at Vintage Air Cooled Engine Spares vaces.com.au

Hope this helps

Got carried away cleaning up the flywheel. I spun it in the lathe and dressed it with WD40 and sandpaper ranging from 80 grit up to 400 grit then spent some time on the polishing mop. Not original I know but I'm sure it will dull off soon enough. It started out looking like the other flywheel in the photo so I'm happy with the improvement.
Thanks Paul for the contacts. I have new rings on order so that should help with compression when the time comes to put it back together.

wow thats awesome

Looks great, who is supplying your parts?

I'm getting the rings from Vintage Air Cooled Engine Spares. I've laser cut the gaskets I need so will try those before I buy a kit.

It might etch the bore slightly; depends on what current is run, and how long it's left in the bath. Your query has sent me off looking at scientific papers relevant to this type of electrolysis...

I get the impression that there are both direct electrochemical [reduction of rust from Fe203, but not all the way to Iron metal] and physical [from Oxygen gas generation on the workpiece/cathode surface] processes in play here. The gas bubbles will physically loosen the rust from the surface.

This gas generation occurs over the entire surface of the workpiece, but not uniformly - the closest bits to the anode will have the highest rate.

G'day all
Many thanks to GM Gadge for investigating electrolysis on engine cylinders.
I know many restorers use bead blasting for this. I guess I asked a serious
question - about electrolysis and its effect on machined surfaces without rust.

The main issue with the Villiers 4G (with suction feed) appears to be the
desire of a sound engine to make the carburettion work.

Having said that, Carinabob has produces another great photo, this time
a sort of before-after-shot of the flywheel.

It may be 'over-restoration' but, as CB says, the finish will dull off.
It looks good to me!

Just imagine that beautiful light green - that accentuates the detail of
this complex machine - being reflected in this beautiful flywheel finish!

This is a great story and many thanks to all participants.

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Jack

G'day folks,
CarinaBob, there are clear spray coatings made, for use on polished alloy motorcycle engine parts, around that would work well on that flywheel.

Soda blasting sees a lot of use on alloy parts these days, as it's not as harsh as beads, and doesn't leave beads lodged in blind holes and crannies.
The piston aero engine rebuild industry still uses bead blasting, but there's a lot of meticulous after-blast handwork involved in ensuring that absolutely no beads remain in the components.

Thanks all for the replays re the electrolysis. I checked the cylinder today and there doesn't appear to be any damage. My bath runs off a 12v battery that is charged by a couple of solar panels on my shed. I don't have a multimeter so I can't tell what the current draw is but judging by the small amount of bubbling in the bath I would say it's fairly low. There was much more activity when I had the reel in the bath.
Thanks also for the tip on coating the flywheel. I'll see how it goes and if it just needs a quick polish every now and then I'll go with that.

Starting to look like a mower again. Lots of paint touchup to do but almost there I think. Later next week I'll connect up the throttle cable and fuel line, throw some fuel in the tank and see what happens. I fitted new rings so the compression is good now.

Hi Bob,

Looks great, how did you get on with the rollers?

I haven't adjusted the rollers. When I looked at them again I decided to run them at 66mm diameter as I thought the stance of the machine looked OK. It's unlikely but if I want to mow grass with the machine I may need to re-think. Did you still want rollers turned? If you want some, send me the exact measurements you want and I'll see what I can do.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the offer of turning the rollers, I will measure the length of mine tomorrow. Do you have a healthy spark from your magneto?

Yes I have good hot spark. Didn't do a thing to it except replace the plug lead. I'm surprised the coil is still good after so long. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Hi Bob,

I didn't get to the shed today due to the heat, I will get there tomorrow.

Hi Bob,
If you can make me a set the same length as your ones but at 60mm diameter that would be great. Thanks very much, did you find some grips?

Haven't found any grips yet. As a temporary thing I bought a length of that foam insulation for copper pipes from Bunnings. Some short lengths of that will get me out of trouble for a while. I'm not working Thursday so I was thinking I might try to run up the engine then. I'll let you know how I go with the rollers. They will have a 12mm hole for the axle and I'll leave them bare timber so you can finish them however you like.

Hi CB and Paul

This is such a great topic posting!
The light green really shows the detail.

The original hand grips probably were these.
I guess you're after a simple design?



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Jack

That's the one Jack. I have some of those but in very poor condition.
I'll keep my eyes peeled and hopefully some will turn up.

Started her up today and she ran like a top - well like an oily top! After spending quite a long time cleaning up the mess I remembered why this will be a static display mower!
Anyhow it's been a lot of fun and thanks to all who have helped along the way and to those who have followed the restoration. The old girl is not perfect by any means and the restoration is not in the same league as some I've seen on this site but hopefully a little bit of history has been brought back to life.