OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Tip & Curb Side Finds Found Today: Celestial & PT

I was driving along Empire Bay Road, Empire Bay on the NSW central coast when I came across these about a kilometre apart.
The first one was the Powertorque Victa. I had a load of bottles in my car, so grabbed the catcher and engine cover with the intention to grab the mower on the way back home. Then lo and behold I see a Celestial 160 on the side of the same road a further kilo away!
Again couldn't fit that in the car, so got out and folded the handles and stashed it behind a barrier in the hope it would still be there. I took the picture where I stashed it. It had been sitting as plain as day right by the roadway.
I managed to load both mowers into the car and then home afterwards about an hour later.
The PT appears to have a good rust free deck but the motor is seized. Should be able to make a good mower form a donor motor. It still be a good source of parts.
The Celestial has a G3 carburettor and everything appears complete, though badly sun stroked.
Time will tell if out will start. It looks like it's had a hard life going by the trashed wheels and worn deck.

Good score there MF, lots of good parts on the PT even if the motor is siezed, plastics,pull start, good base and catcher. The Celestial doesn't look too bad either, should run as long as it hasn't been straight fueled

NormK, I've partly dismantled the Celestial to clean out the fuel tank and it was nice to find a cup starter 160 with an undamaged cooling fan for a change!!
Gave the old Waltons label a wipe, using the old water laden fuel from the tank!
The snorkel is good condition, though a little degraded as it bends near the carby but ok. Only problem is its partly off as shown by the arrow.

Hopefully the water in the tank did not get past the fuel tap.

Nice finds there Mowerfreak,

I seriously haven't seen a 2 stroke mower dumped around these parts for a very long time. I do sometimes see the odd 4 stroke dumped on nature strips but I don't bother to get them.

I reckon I have driven past about 20 assorted 4 stroke mowers dumped on nature strips around these parts in the last few years.

The Victa 2 strokes I think are getting rarer to find around here. Well at least I haven't seen any to find for years now like I have seen the 4 strokes all the time.

Cheers!

In the last 12 months the number of mowers on nature strips has certainly reduced quite a bit, what does interest me is where are all the 12 month old non working Chondas ending up, they are not on the nature strips either

Well NormK, the tap was in the off position so there is hope. I notice when I hand spin the motor, I can hear bearing noise and can feel them grinding a bit too.
Should this motor run, I think I'll have to remove it for storage as the base is very worn with a lot of play in the front axle and catchers for these are harder to obtain than the thumb latch series. I was thinking of transferring this carburettor over to a VC 160 of mine that is having carburettor issues.
Converse, I actually let off a giant sigh when I spotted the Celestial as I stressed over having to load TWO mowers into my small sedan, how to pull off safely on this very busy winding two lane road to load them up and whether I'd even get them! Another case of mowers finding me.

Haha I wish some mowers would find me Mowerfreak, especially some older Victa full cranks. Gees mate it's a risky business salvaging old mowers on the side of the road that's for sure.

Hey NormK, yeah I don't know where those Chondas are ending up either, most of the 4 strokes I have seen here are the older classic red Rover style 4 stroke mowers.

You know I think I have to check out which councils around here still have yearly hard rubbish collections. I might have a better chance of finding an old Victa during these times.

Cheers!

Did the degreaser in the plug hole test and got to hear the Mark 3's note. Nice!!
No fuel squirting out when I press the tickler on the G3, suggests dismantling required. Ugh!!

No fuel coming out the tickler means the needle is stuck in the seat, no big deal, you just have to pull the brass fuel inlet stub out and the needle is in behind it. Give it a clean, put it back together and see if fuel comes out the tickler

I did as you advised Norm K and fuel came out the tickler alright -non stop. So I removed the brass stub once again and repositioned the needle -I pushed it in too far. This time the fuel came out only with the tickler down and after a few pops it came to life.
Now only a few small things to sort like the kill switch, the loud exhaust, replacement blades, front axle shims to arrest the awful loose play and replace the front left wheel and it will be ready for work on the front patio.