Hi Simmo, and Welcome.
Finally good to have a Victorian on board in the Model 45 area as there are hardly any here due to a shortage of machines in that state.
Now as far as the two machines are concerned I'm going to burst your bubble and say that the condition of the Solid Deck machine is superior to the Twin Railer.
Why is that I hear you say ??
Well If I'm correct all is not good with the twin railer, I feel that it has stress fractured rails as there are small tell tale signs in the paint, yes the overall look of the twin railer is better but the underlying issues that appear in Twin Railers create quite a bit more work in the long term than the Solid Deckers.
The condition of the main drive chain and cutter sprocket is better on the older machine with the Twin Railer showing a bit more wear on the cutter sprocket.
I also note that your Twin Railer is showing signs of an ID sticker being attached in the area where the alloy ID plate is usually fitted and it certainly looks like it was like this from day one as there are no witness marks in the pre-drilled holes of rivets ever being fitted. Now if that engine is the original unit fitted and I don't see any evidence that it's not, then this is the earliest sign of the ID stickers being used that I've come across and as such I've entered it into my Model 45 timeline database.
Now before you go any further I would like you to gently unbolt the Briggs engine which incidentally was made on the 17th of October 1978, thus dating the machine as a very late November, early December assembled mower and take some really good close up photos of the rail area around the bolt mounting area after you've cleaned all the foreign matter away. Sadly I feel this may be the case as the clutch half on the engine side has been replaced as this particular part flogs out and then induces vibration which in turn creates stress fractures in the mounting rails.
When removing the engine all you'll need to do is remove the four bolts and then slide the engine along with the clutch body off the transfer shaft and sit it on a milk crate behind the rails with the throttle cable still attached at this point in time until you've finished with the photos.
I look forward to to seeing the shots and also could you please edit the photos into their correct positional orientation prior to posting them up onto the thread as that way it makes it easier for other members to view in years to come when they use these forums as a informative database for their restorations.
For now,
Cheers,
BB.
