This one wasn't going to the tip............... Got some spare time today, blew rubbish away with air... and degreaser. Had spark. Fuel tank had rusty water inside... took it off and saw light through the bottom, a rust hole , pretty common with old ones left outside.. Lucky I had a spare carb and tank unit in my B&S box.. Needed a throttle cable , had one... a cleanup of the flywheel with sandpaper and the govener plastic vane was stiff so took it off and cleaned it... Tightened the handles and straightened the blades.... It started , let it idle for a few minutes, to get it memory working... Mowed the front lawn, drained the oil after it was hot , put some Moreys oil treatment in with fresh oil, sharpened the blades.... Nice aluminium base . It would do me for a mower but a friend need one.... speedy
........................Keep your blades sharp......................
G-day speedie, amazing how little work is needed to revive a charity case. I chanced across this red Mayfair base Victa with series 80 engine and what looks to be Rover wheels fitted, in a mechanics workshop the other day. I have seen people take their mower to a car mechanic before. This could be one such case.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
This is one of my 'charity case' mowers. $15 at the tip - everyone else was too busy fighting over the clearly buggered Honda SP mower or the near new briggs cheapie with a bar blade that had hit something solid
Added 200ml oil, some fuel, and primed it with a screwdriver handle (small split primer) and it went first pull.
Ended up new air filter, plug, oil change, blades, sandpaper coil and flywheel, rpm adjustment and carby clean. Fills the catcher so well that the front wheels will bob off the ground at idle.
Does have a slight knock, but starts first or second go every time (good for a 1993 briggs engine) - good for doing the verge with all the little gum nuts
Have another near identical one from curbside I havent done much to yet - changed primer, added fuel and oil and went third go
Its a 2 blade on a narrow blade plate, now called the 'quickcut' system I believe. The wheels are plastic bushes, not bearings. It definitely feels quite a solid mower
From memory, the other one is a Masport '200/4' 2 blade, classic 35, alloy deck (I think, I honestly put in in the boot, drove it home, added fuel, oil, change primer and took out the CJ6y and put in a j19lm, ran it for 2 minutes, and it somehow ended up right down the back of the shed).
Yeah, funny how that works, eh! Masports tend to be keepers, and always were.
One thing with the quickcut cutter bar though, they do tend to get clipping buildup in the ends, on the top side. That promotes fairly rapid rusting out, so I always lift the rear flap and hose them out after use, after doing the washport cleanout.
Cheers, Gadge
"ODK Mods can explain it to you, but they can't understand it for you..."
"Crazy can be medicated, ignorance can be educated - but there is no cure for stupid..."
G-Day all, I found a Masport steel deck with dead Briggs 375 with no catcher and noticed how much better it was than a typical Victa steel base. I would have kept it if it had it's catcher. I regret throwing it out now as the steel base was good with good tyre tread and no axle play evident.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
