OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers Rotomo 18 as a useable classic

Hi Guys, I'm a newbie, so thanks for having me along. I normally stalk the turntable forums as I restore vintage high end European and American turntables, so I'm a bit out of my depth with these things.

Anyway, this came up for sale near me. It belonged to a nice old lady who has had it in her family since new. She was moving into a retirement care unit so she was clearing out her ex-husband's garage. It came with a pull starter, the Victa spark plug tool, and a set of blades. She wanted to give it to me as it looked so bad and was full of cockroach nests and dirt. She said the cord had broken on the pull starter so her husband had put the cord starter on. Apparently, it came with both starting options? It was in use until around 2000 apparently and she had used it herself many times. Unfortunately, there must be a turret or some part missing as the pull starter has nothing to engage with.

Anyway, I got it home and hosed off the cocky nests. It seemed to have good compression, which was good, if a little stiff. I squirted some engine oil into the cylinder to free it up a bit and that seemed to work well. I checked for spark. All good, it was sparking and the plug was OK! The tank had oil in the bottom and varnish was floating around in the slime, so I took off the tank and washed that out thoroughly. The o-rings are somewhat worn, but miraculously the fuel tap is still working! I figured if the tank was that bad, the carby would be the same so I pulled that off, took it all to bits in the kitchen (gee, I love my wife!), and dumped the parts into the ultrasonic cleaner that normally use for cleaning records. Even the spark plug went in. I just used a water/detergent and vinegar solution that worked a treat, and all the parts came out sparkling clean. Judging by the crud that floated to the surface, there was a lot of gunk in that carby! To finish it off before assembly, I gave all the jets a squirt with carby cleaner and then put it back together.

After putting it all back together, the moment of truth had arrived. I mixed up 500mm of 25:1 and added a little squirt of fuel to the cylinder before putting the plug back in. Two pulls and there was a cough on the second. On the third pull, to my total amazement, it fired and screamed off at very high revs at what was quite an embarrassing noise level. Sheesh, what a racket, it almost put my neighbor's Harley Davison to shame! Man, Sundays in the '50s were not very quiet lol. On deceleration, it backfires a bit so I'm guessing that might be the points that need adjustment and cleaning? I didn't check those as I have no idea how to get at them.

By the way, there is a drain hole plug at the bottom of the engine. Why is that? Do I need to put some oil in there?

OK, so the engine is good, I think, and it cuts the grass just fine. However, I don't think this is a candidate for much more restoration as the deck has a large crack, and axles are worn. As you can see from the pics, I've stabilized the crack with a screw so at least the base is rigid so that it's functional. The wheels are shot so I'm thinking I will just replace them with some 6" Bunnings wheels for now and straighten the axles which are quite worn and bent. Then, maybe just a scouring pad and sealer coat, and I'll have a useable classic. I don't really want to go down the path of "This was my grandfather's knife. My dad replaced the handle and replaced the blade". What do you think?

As found:


As found:


As found:


Note deck repair screw:


Cracked deck: