I'm hoping to get the rear roller and engine mounted on in the next few days, so stay tuned. Still have to clean up the grass deflector and chain case cover, once their painted I just have to get the handle bars sent off for chroming and reel and bed knife sharpener. The rest is just fiddly stuff like cleaning up sprokets and chains and linning it all up. I will do the catcher last as it needs a bit of work with rust dents and a few holes, it's something I can do slowly as I feel unmotivated every time I look at it. So once the mower is restored and looking beautifull it might get me off my back side and finish it off completely.
There's a few 18v mowers poping up around my street as well as those cheap Bunnings no name Chinese plastic rubbish brands. Funny thing is people look at me funny when I got the Rover Super Four 53 out with the side cart catcher and I'm walking behind it one handed. Could also be the fact that the 5hp Briggs screams so loud at full throttle you can hear it two suburbs away.
I would do the rear roller and sole plate from start to finish before you install the engine. This way you'll find it easier to do the alignment as there'll be far less weight in the chassis to have to muck around with.
If you were here in Adelaide I'd come over and motivate you.
Cheers, BB.
Last edited by Bonnar_Bloke; 11/02/1908:06 PM.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
BS, please don't run that B&S at full throttle, you could be seriously injured in the legs when the rod comes out the side. Just remember with a B&S the piston is designed to go in and out a certain number of times and every time it goes in and out is one less time it will
Just worked that out tonight BB, just finished installing the rear roller and its got some weight on it with out the motor. What's an average price to get a reel grounded and bed knife sharpened? Would love to get them done so I could install the sprockets, chains and adjust the roller level. So close but yet so far.
Curious with one aspect which some of the others may confirm; shouldn't the counterweighted rear roller half be on the transmission side to offset the engine weight?
Um good question. I looked at a diagram and it appeared to be on the engine side as to opposed the clutch side, if anyone else could confirm that would be great.
Done some lurking around - and from the various photos I've trawled through of 14 inch Model 45s, seems you've got it right B S. All of them are showing the counterweighted half on the non transmission/engine side. So surely it's unlikely the majority are set up incorrectly...
I've got an old 14" roller and chassis at home stashed away in the shed. All the photos I've got of it on my phone aren't exposing the bolts on the side of the roller, so I will check the orientation of it tonight and report back too.
If it is indeed the case, looks like I'll be pulling my own 14 apart for some minor surgery! That being said, I've gotten away with it installed incorrectly for a good six months as it's shown no signs of off balance in the cut results. But it's best done right.
BTW that's a real popping colour you've used on the chassis there B S, what paint did you go with?
Thanks for confirming, I was having a heart attack when you first said it was on wrong. To be honest I wasn't 100% sure when I put it together as I dident take any photos or record which side it came off when I first stripped it down. Most things I have been taking photos before pulling things apart for future reference but I dident realise there was a left and right roller and only one weight when I took them off as I cleaned and painted one roller at a time. I could only find a parts diagrams for a 20" SB that showed the weight on the right hand side viewing from behind the mower, so im guessing all 45 models are on the same side. So for anyone doing a full tear down document everything before you pull it apart.
I wonder how many people are now going to check which side they put their weight on after reading these post.
Apologies for misleading on that one B S! It got me thinking back to when I assembled mine, and I was in the same predicament - didn’t take photos of it all properly when stripping it down. I didn’t have the spare chassis and roller to compare it to at the time. And I had only previously restored 17s. So I made the assumption of the counterweight offsetting the engine weight. So, gladly seeing your nice example here sparked the memory, and solved the puzzle!
From how I've always understood it the counterweights are to compensate the weight of all the trans components being on one side and nothing to do with the engine.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Ok here is the newest update and the suprise I mentioned before. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I have come this far with keeping it original so why not. Still haven't seen a restoration with the original black wrinkle colour scheme so hoping to be the first, and inspire (or frighten) others who own a mid model SB.
My Dad bought me my first new reel mower - a 14" model 45 with black chaincase and handle nameplate. I was a teenager.
I found this black finish very nice and a brilliant contrast to 'Kirby orange'.
I guess folks do not reproduce it because no one has offered advice as to how to reproduce it!
For me, it was not 'hammertone', but more of the crazed finish I would see on old typewriters.
Yours is the first credible attempt at this - and it has brought back old memories. That finish must have taken a lot of thought before you found a 'wrinkle' finish - in a can!
Thanks CyberJack, I always had in the back of my mind to replicate the wrinkle finish. As you said no one has attempted it so I was winging it and to be honest the can in the picture was my second can and I had to strip back the first attempt as the finish was not how I Invisioned it to look nor did it match the original paint on the back of the chain case. I followed the directions on the spray can and the results were great if you were painting a valve cover on an engine but not a chain case for a SB. The first results I got turned out to look more charcoal with a rough texture like sandpaper or a grinding stone with a Matt metallic rock look. The way I over came this to get a more smooth black satin finish was to do lighter coats with a short mist spray and a flick of the wrist rather than a heavy sweep (as instructed on the can). I only did 2 light cross hatch passes after waiting 5minutes between coats then allowed the paint to almost dry but still be wet and smooth. The secret is then to heat the finish so it wrinkles but a heat gun or my baking oven is to hot for this finish look so a hair dryer that's not to hot is the key and to make sure you let the paint craze rather than crinkle so its not to rough and the paint has that satin smooth look (remember the wetter the coat the rougher the crinkles so let it dry a bit). It's not easy to get the finish I wanted, I made it up as I went along as I said i had to buy another can and re-strip the first attempt. It's also important not to spray on a hot day as the paint will crinkle while you watch it with the heat of the sun ,best to do it in the shade either early in the morning or afternoon/night (better still during winter) as the paint will stay smooth and dry out slowly untill your ready to heat it to the finish you want.
Below is the first attempt that looks like and feels like a grinding disc that was baked in the oven as instructed from the can label, the second pic is my attempt that's more of a smother black that has a leather/vinyl craze look.
I must admit that this black chain case look is also growing on me rather rapidly, but I guess that's because it's all looking super fresh and rather contrasty opposed to how most of the examples out there in use or rescued units now look.
Everything I've seen on original mowers has a horrible appearance after 43 odd years as these were made back in late 1976.
As every component is a different colour on your rebuilt just makes this one look ever so much more striking in its appearance.
I'm glad there's a difference in the shades of the engine and reel because truthfully that's why everyone paints the reel red and not Chevy Orange. Contrasts are something that the human eye really likes.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
I agree with you there BB about original ones looking gastly as they are mostly faded and rusted up. The good thing about the wrinkle paint is that it covers up all the pitted steel that was really badly rusted on the handle bar plate. As good as Hammertone paint is to obscure imperfections on uneven surfaces, my plate looked like it had chicken pox scars when it was de-rusted. I did consider filling the pits with filler but the wrinkle paint went straight over it and you wouldn't even know. I have seen some resto's where the pitting comes through the hammer gloss finish. The paint finish looks alot better in person than it shows up in photos and I'm glad I ventured into unchartered water's as I now love the look and texture, it should also pop once the white SB decals and red/white 45 go on the black chain case. The brass decal should also pop on the handle bar plate.
That reel is also more red than it shows up in the photos compared to the engine, however if you saw the reel on its own with out the engine you would say it's orange.
You are spot on regarding how all the black chain case examples appear nowadays.
It's strange how they all rusted up so much and the only good part left on them was the surface inside the case. This tells me that whatever black paint they used in Holland street was some really cheap and nasty non resistant stuff.
This colour scheme lasted for the small part of a year before the release of Scott Bonnar's all new "Apple Green" colour being released across the full range of mowers.
In saying all of the above this will be the first time I have ever seen an attempt to faithfully reproduce this limited release colour scheme as all the mowers that sported this look have always been returned to the former all over Alpine Green appearance in the restoration process. I do feel that most restorers of the Model 45 never did like the Green and Wrinkle Black look, but in saying that this is only because of how bad the existing examples looked at the time prior to restoration and also how different it made the 45 look from the original Series 1 appearance which most folk are trying to replicate.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
I personally love it B S. Can't wait to see the finished product!
Did these limited run machines also include the catchers in the black? As I have come across a number of 45's in the marketplace over the years (in a non restored state) with black catchers.
