OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Other Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers Southern Cross KXA Two Stroke Restoration

I saw this basket case in one of Vint_Mow's posts and asked him what his intentions were for it, it is very rusty and the engine is seized solid. After a nice drive up to Ian's home I came home with this

I soon realised why it was on the trolley as all but one wheel was rusted up solid. This is what it looked like when new

First step was to remove the engine from the frame and then start stripping down the frame, going well so far. I had to hack saw off most of the nuts etc but luckily Southern Cross made nearly everything to last a few decades out in the paddock

:-)

I have now stripped down the base and luckily managed to remove all the parts, now I have hours of der using, repairing and painting ahead of me.

The base is very good, the adaptor plate for the Villiers Torquemajor is behind it

I have found green paint under the blue, original colour but I feel that this model may have been over painted blue from factory to help with sales as the green was very unattractive. I have seen three mowers the same showing green through the blue. Here is the four stroke version in green with a blue catcher

I think I will go with the blue.

Call me daft, but I think that green looks good but I agree. Go with blue.
Love the adaptor plate with the three hole pattern.

Great start on your build, which is understandably not without its problems and will need lots of elbow grease and hard yakka. But at least you have a good foundation to work on, as the deck looks in pretty good nick.

Paul, I have found the same green paint coming through blue on some SC mowers. I have only seen one older KXD which was more greenish than blue. I wonder if this was an early colour that was over-painted, or if the overpainting was done for some other reason. I have found KXDs with the blade discs painted green. The original colour of the frame was like an aquamarine, not perfectly blue, but had a slightly greenish hue. Kind of like a Whitsunday's ocean colour. I have never been able to replicate it exactly, so have just gone with straight blue hammertone. Blue really gives these mowers a lift.

G'day all Southern Cross lovers
This is a great example, and I thank Paul for preserving it.

There is new information here ...
There was an alloy adaptor plate to fit the Villiers - most unusual.

I think vint-mow has raised some challenging questions...

Cheers
--------------
Jack

Hi Jack and Ian,
Jack raises an interesting observation there about the adaptor plate, this base was for a new mower complete with a modern rear catcher. The base is drilled to take the Villiers Lightweight four stroke engine and an adaptor plate was used to fit the Villiers Torquemajor two stroke as an option.

Southern Cross did not have success with the Villiers four stroke and decided to fit their own robust four stroke in its place, this required another adaptor plate to be cast. You can see the adaptor plate under the engine in the pic below. This is a friends mower who is also a Southern Cross Collector.

The Southern Cross engines are a very basic design and therefore a very easy engine to work on. Even the gaskets are so simple that anyone who is a bit handy with a pair of scissors and a sharp knife could cut one out in no time. They were also virtually indestructible. Most of the screws and bolts were also basic imperial, being a couple of fairly standard UNF bolts and then 1/4" UNC and 5/16" UNC nuts and bolts in the main, and with a big 3/4" nut/coupling on the bottom. I don't know how many modern engines I've pulled apart and you end up with about 10 different spanner sizes and sometimes even different thread types. I guess Southern Cross had farmers in mind. Farmers are generally handy and have at least a basic knowledge of machinery and engines. Also, farmers can be located a long way from the nearest town or service centre. So the parts had to be robust but also fairly "user friendly" and "user serviceable". The KXD truly was the ultimate "bushies" mower of the day, but also attractive enough to look good mowing any suburban yard too.
The beauty of the KXA, you also then had the advantage of a big rear catcher. The KXD models had the side chute and only a relatively small catcher.

One question for Paul, which I may have asked before. Apologies if I have.

What was the purpose of the narrow horizontal cut out on the bottom side of the cutting deck? You can see this clearly on the side of the mower in the above photo.

Hi Ian,
I have wondered about that cut out and have no idea, perhaps there was a concern of grass building up on that edge and fouling the blades and disc?

G'day all
In fact, it's a pretty basic idea harking back to the toe cutters.
It's a edging port - to get the blade tips close to walls.
Note how it is on the LH side (with blade tips moving forward).
The RH side has a discharge port, making this a true side and rear
discharge lawnmower (to be used as desired).



Both Victa and Pope had edging ports on some models.
After 1968 they were considered not safe.

Cheers
---------------
Jack

Thanks Jack, didn't know that's what it was for. I spent the afternoon outside cleaning and painting

And the model designation is underneath unlike the KXD which is on the top rear of the base

Pretty happy with how it's coming along particularly as it was very rusty, some parts I am unable to replace so they bare their scars but with a derustuse and fresh paint :-) I have bought new bolts etc from Bunnings for the frame but will have to go to a specialist supplier to get some UNF nylock nuts for the axle brackets.

I will have to make some replacement stub axles and also the handle bar rod that goes through the side supports. It was totally rusted away.

It's the rod below the rubber cover wire in the pic below

Hi Paul and all
I feel many folk are learning from this one.

I, certainly, have come to appreciate the KX-A design more...
- it's a medium arch design [that rear arch is quite high!]
- it was a dual discharge design [side or rear]
- the 2-strokes had an alloy adaptor plate [a foundry part]
- it had a rear safety guard
- later variants had snorkels, necessitating port reversals
- it had a modern 10 position height adjuster
- it had a complex colour scheme

The images are fantastic.

Many thanks
-------------------
Jack

Coming along nicely Paul.

Thanks for the information on that slot Jack. Mystery solved! I'd been scratching my head over that one for a long time.

Said it before and I'll say it again, love that adapter plate.

Hi all,it's starting to look like a nice mower again , the mower probably has not been
this clean since it was new.

Does anyone know if this Torque Major is the right engine for the base ,because the
black and White image at the top of the page is a Torque Major with a front
mount air filter and a Magister ignition,just wondered if the engine was changed at some
point or this Southern Cross mower had a few different Villiers motor options from the
factory.

Hi Maxwestern, the mower in the pic is a publicity type one. The engine was available with snorkel as well as the front fitted air filter. They did have the magister ignition fitted and I note in the KXA manual a parts list is given to convert back to normal Phelon ignition.

Not being smart but how can you tell from the pic that Magister is fitted?

Today's progress, removed the rusted up stub axles. This was done by grinding the weld down that secured the axle to the bracket and then applying heat to the bracket and hammering the axle through the bracket. I made up a jig to hold the bracket secure while belting it with my heavy copper hammer, a press would be nice when I have room

Blade plate cleaned up and painted

Handlebars came up really nice, the chrome was gone so I used aluminium paint on them
:-)

Hi Paul_c,Ok thanks I am always interested in knowing the engine
options on Vintage Mowers.

I thought if you see a front mount air filter on a Torque Major it was the
De-Luxe motor that was fitted with the Magister ignition.Every Torque Major
engine I have seen with the front mount filter and the fuel tank built into
the cowl has the Magister ignition.
Glad to be corrected if this is wrong.

Cheers Max.




The pics are from Jacks research on ODK.

G'day Paul and Max
Well, it's an interesting read for sure.

I have never been able to document the Torque Major Deluxe's use of
Magister ignition. We now know that Supa-Swift and SC offered it.

Max, do you have any images of the Magister as Villiers used it?
It appears to be physically quite different to SC's use of it on their own engine:

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=37014&page=all

Paul's info from the KX-A manual is stunning.
It may be that it offered no advantages, or it encountered problems in service.



Paul, are they rusted stub axles or what!

Cheers
--------------
Jack

Hi Max and Jack,

Scot Bonnar also used the Deluxe with Magister as well, it is funny but I am yet to see one of these Magister units in the flesh. I have three Deluxe engines and they have all had snorkel and points ignition system.

I wonder what the timeline was like for the Magister to fail in service? Did they go along for a number of years and then fail or fail in a matter of months. For SC to mention it in their manual suggests to me that the unit failed quite quickly and was pulled by Villiers. Would be nice to know.