OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Question On Scott Bonnar Cylinder Mowers Rover 45 cylinder: Age, ‘electronic ignition’ and general info sought

Hello team,

Hoping to pick your big brains for some info on a rover 45 cylinder mower that I just acquired please.

ID Plate info is: 45058 342109
Engine numbers are: 90112 0007 01 960124FA

Any idea what age this is? Also any other general info you could kindly provide?

On the panel on the handle bars where you would usually have a rover or SB sticker it has an “easy start - electronic ignition” sticker which I cannot find any info on anywhere.

My plan is to give her a good clean, new fuel, oil etc to test her out.

Thanks in advance all

Hi Buffalosoldier!

I cant provide a great deal of info, i can tell you that it is a 45058 model 45 Reel. This may help atleast with your google search.

There is an absolute wealth of knowledge here within the members, someone for sure will be able to provide you with a little more information.

Maybe post a picture or two while we wait

Good luck!

Cheers blended. Good idea re pics. I’ll get some more on here soon, but for now these are what I have:
Forgot to mention previously that she’s running the 3hp Briggs and Stratton.

She’s a dusty, rusty oily beast but will hopefully scrub up well.

Hi BS,

Your engine was built on Neil Diamond's birthday, that being the 24th of January but in 1996 and not 1941, so from that I'd say that the machine itself was probably built somewhere prior to June of that same year as by then the model 45 had nearly come to a stand still and Rover probably had a fairly small amount of horizontal shaft engine held in stock.

Your machine certainly looks pretty much original without any changes that Rover brought in during the last phase of model 45's. It didn't have the plastic cover fitted as there are no screw holes for it's attachment but the big safety factor hadn't kicked in as yet by 96. That came a bit later with them changing the position of the clutch lever to the rearward facing version just before ending production in around 2009.

I can't see any reason to say that the engine is not original and also some of these Rover Reds came out without black paint on the primary clutch assembly as it looked better being bright die cast finish which looked far better against red and black than all mechanicals being black. BTW it has the "Magnatron" Ignition as all the Briggs engines had by that stage as they discarded mechanical points and had the "Easy Start" slogan opposed to their earlier catch cry "Easy Spin". Yes normally Rover put a "45" decal on the handlebar shield, but maybe it was an initiative by Briggs to have the user promote the new ignition on the end product and receive a reduction in engine pricing.

It will be interesting to see what is under all the black gunk on the front engine deck rail and if there is any signs of fatigue setting in. I hate seeing mowers being sold like that as it hides many sins.

With a reasonable amount of TLC yours will scrub up nicely and the chrome will make it POP against the red and black livery that was the last Model 45.

Cheers,
BB.

Thanks BB!

Really appreciate your efforts and wisdom there in providing that info. Champion!

It does appear that she's had the right royal treatment my friend. But, maybe without the Royal part....... What do you think? The repair site is painted over with some sort of black paint/sealant.

Also, in that shot with the lead hanging down, any idea where that should live at all? Also, have you heard of any good methods of cleaning up the primary clutch assembly to get that bright die cast factory sheen back?

Please tell me if i should be scanning the forums for that type of info :-)

Thanks again for your efforts mate.

Cheers

BS

Here's a peak at the guts. Coming from a laymen, the sprockets etc seem OK. Got to try and scrape the 'Council of Boorandara' sticker off of the outside of the chain cover and attempt to maintain some original Rover sticker too if possible.

Hi BS,

I must admit that in your first pictures you put up I somehow felt that there had been some sort of repairs done at some point in time but was hoping it would be nothing more than oil and dirty, sadly it wasn't.

With it being an Ex-Council machine it will have worked rather hard throughout it's distinguished career.

Your first job will be to remove it's engine and clean the repair site to remove all traces of that black sealant so that we can accurately see what's been done and also what else can be done to solve this problem, also if it's indeed a problem still.

If it does require further metal fabrication work then this is going to be a bit of an issue as this frame is powder coated and not painted and PC doesn't take too well to welding and the heat that's created by this process. In saying this there is some good news and that is there is a commercial paint available that is a near perfect match to Rover Red and you may have to strip the whole front rail and then mask the machine up so that you can repaint the single rail on it's own and this way it won't be that noticeable.

As far as that lead is concerned they were always just left hanging or rolled up and tied.

I feel that the primary clutch assembly has been changed at some point in time as it would've been the original one that eventually failed and caused the fatigue issues showing up in that front rail.

As far as brightening up die cast finish is concerned it would have to be acid dipped in a controlled solution,

Immerse in a solution of 24% hydrochloric acid for 2 to 10 min, and then rinse in cold running water

The average person doesn't have access to this sort of acid nowadays due to safety regulations and other issues but in saying this doing the above process will only be temporary as oxidisation will set in again pretty quickly. The best option will be to paint it in either Gloss black (all 3 clutch components) or silver would look ok as well to make it stand out from the rest of the machine. The gloss black was what most of the Rover Reds had the clutch assembly finished in as was the cutting reel and the front roller frame assembly.

Now your drive train all looks pretty much as it should. The cutter sprocket does show signs of wear but will survive a while longer I feel.

I guess this is a bit to digest for now so I'll let you have a think about it all and we'll see how you want to progress in your next post.

Cheers for now,
BB.

Thanks a lot BB! As you suggest a bit to take in here. I’ve got some reel sole searching to do 😉

Appreciate the info and support. Will keep you posted for next moves.

For now my intention is to generally polish and brighten her up a little and go from there 👍

BB, acid for swimming pools is (from memory) 28-32% hydrochloric acid - would that do? Normally it is around $30 for the 20l bottle now

Hi Tyler,

Yes pool acid will do even if it is a tad more diluted, all it'll do is work slower which is better anyway.

Cheers,
BB.

Thanks BB

Will remember that for the next time I deal with dull diecasts

Regards
Tyler