A neighbour had put this mower out for council rubbish collection.

[Linked Image from machinegunkeyboard.com]

[Linked Image from machinegunkeyboard.com]

[Linked Image from machinegunkeyboard.com]

As you can see, it's a Scott-Bonnar Diplomat with a Briggs 3hp engine.

I've never played with one of these before, so I have a lot to learn.

It appears to have been rather lightly used but hasn't run in several years. Seems to have been out in the weather for a while.

Lower blade & reel are in good shape, aside from a bit of rust from disuse.

Recoil mechanism on the starter is probably rusty as it retracts the cord very slowly.

I've pulled the cylinder head off to get a look at the bore. Looks OK, no scuffs or scoring. The motor doesn't spin very freely, bottom end might be full of water. There's no spark when cranking the motor. I'll be pulling the motor off the mower and having a look inside the crankcase next. The petrol tank was full of water when I brought it in the garage.

Haven't been able to get the left side cover off yet so I don't know if it has a belt or chain drive. Penetrating oil is doing its thing. When the park/drive lever is set to 'drive' and the motor is cranked, the mower moves, so whatever is in there is still working, it seems.

I have a brand new Tecumseh 3.5hp engine in a box in the garage, bought for a minibike that didn't get built. I have reasonably good hopes that I can make the original B&S engine work, though. It doesn't really look too bad so far. I'd like to put the mower back in service with the original engine if possible.

Any advice or information you can offer on this mower is most welcome.

Thanks!

-Brian