Thanks again for that, Grumpy.
I've gotten a better look at the reel & knife blades today; they appear never to have been resharpened. The paint isn't even fully worn off them. The rust is only light, surface corrosion. They don't appear to have been sitting in a puddle or anything. I should be able to take that rust off with a scotch brite (green plastic scrubber for dishes) or at worst, some 0-00 steel wool. Don't want to use emery cloth or sandpaper on it.
Just pulled off the cooling cowl so I could see the date code data. It reads:
MODEL TYPE CODE
80202 0880 01 82022303
From this I guess it is from 1982.
Still haven't been able to break loose the screws holding the drive belt cover on. They're slot-heads and are not budging even though I'm tearing the heck out of the slots. May have to Dremel the heads off and replace them with something else.
Thanks, mate
