OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers My Grandfathers VC Mustang

That green mower started a lifelong love affair with the Victa brand. As I entered my teenage years, where most boys would want a BMX bike or a PlayStation for their birthday, I wanted a lawn mower! I remember riding my bike all over town visiting the lawn mower shops, but there really wasn't a choice to be made.....................I wanted a Victa. My parents eventually bought me "my" first lawn mower, which I still have to this day. That little red Corvette would go on to start my business and made me a power of money in my teens and early 20's. I only recently put new piston rings in it, I had basically wore the thing out. From a financial point of view, totally not worth it. But for sentimental reasons, totally worth it!



I mention this in relation to the old Victa VC because if it wasn't for that mean-green-machine, I wouldn't have gone on to buy countless Victa's over the last 20+ years. After trying so many different brands, for whatever reason, I just keep coming back to Victa's......................they cut and catch the best.

About a year ago, I decided I wanted to see if the old VC Mustang would still run. Dragged out of the shed, the first task was to get it clean. Being an OCD (Obsessive Car Detailer), I had plenty of appropriate chemicals that would get this mower clean again. For cleaning, I used P&S Brake Buster, which is an alkaline wheel and tyre cleaner, teamed with a boars hair brush. Following that, it was rinsed, then dried with my EGO leaf blower.







From here, I threw some fresh 25:1 fuel into the tank, pulled the cord once and off she went! However, it quickly became evident something was wrong. The engine would idle but would choke out once the throttle was open. Thinking it was just old fuel remnants, I persevered by letting it idle, thinking it would eventually clear its throat. However, it just wouldn't rev up. At this point, I was assuming something was wrong with the carb, but I then remembered I've had the same symptoms with my Stihl's over the years......................which always turned out to be a blocked spark arrestor in the muffler. So, off came the cowling for full access to the muffler.





On initial inspection, the exhaust port was fine, but the muffler outlet was partially blocked. I eventually managed to extract quite a bit of dried carbon from the outlet and into the muffler body. The really strange thing is, when I last ran this mower, it worked just fine, so I'm not sure why this happened without any use, perhaps the carbon hardened up over time?



With the muffler cleaned out and reinstalled, I put the cowl back on, turned the fuel back on and pulled the cord. BINGO, I once again had the thing revving out properly. I have to laugh, I don't think my grandfather ever had it revving that hard!



Idle speed............................



Full throttle...................................