OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers "NEW" Victa VC Autodrive

Hi Tyler,
the slots are a complete game changer for the cup starters, no slip and pull the cord 50mm and it grabs every time

Hello gents,

Not much happened today. Just picked up the 1" impact socket. I have more time tomorrow before work to fiddle. I'll try to at least get the motor off the base so I can start giving the base a good clean, and maybe a bit of protection from the elements. I've gone so far as to use Aussie made Car Care products on my restored SB "daily" and it really does help keep it tidy. Bowden's Own make some awesome gear if that's your thing.

Tyler, not to worry. I'll clean the cup up a bit more later. I squirted some INOX onto the spring. The things you learn. It was working a treat before I tried to protect it! If worst comes to worst, I'll do what Norm has done - appreciate the pictures Norm. I didn't know about the black knurled knob either. The G4 seems nice though as it has an idle adjust on it too. I've unclipped it from the motor, but otherwise left it. My experience with these (LM, anyway) has been if they are working, leave them! And you're right, even though it's "just an Ozito" it doesn't really matter. The feeling is the same! While I'm here, would you spend the money on a new piston and rings? Get a rebore? Just a hone? I don't want to say "cost no object" but I don't spend my money on much else. I guess my goal would be maximum reliability and service life.

Gadge, that was the most anyone has been able to explain about the "problem" with powder coating. I appreciate the time you took to type that out. Thank you. Guess this one will be painted or just hit with something to prevent more rust, as has been suggested. Will newer model discs fit this shaft and base? I see that the disc nut and washer are different to PT models.

In the meantime, I'll certainly be leaving that 'box alone. I was never going to attempt disassembly without some form of reference material. And as luck would have it, I found a copy of Gregory's #424 on eBay. A little greasy but good otherwise. Now here's hoping I don't have to wait a month before it gets here. Same as parts from ODK. Will certainly be supporting them. I'll leave the rest of the frame as well. There are a million springs everywhere, at least compared to what I've pulled apart previously. I'm sure these were built to a price, but that price was probably pretty generous. Solid unit.

I must say that it cut the grass really, really well. Especially for a two blade jobbie. Speaking of blades, I have a few packets of OEM Victa 18" blades, but for mowers 1984 onward. No chance of them fitting this disc? I'm fairly sure I know that answer and no biggie if not, they're not expensive.

Grease wise, I'll see what I can find. I have some Penrite Molygrease EP 3% at hand. If that's not the same as the BP stuff, I'll keep looking. Kinda glad I chopped off the drive belt, I can only assume the grease is dry, caked and no longer where it should be. "Sealed for life" - man I hate components like those, no matter the field.

I'll see what I can find regarding my fuel. Funny thing is, I think my PT should have blown up by now if I had mixed it incorrectly. Maybe I'll just dump it in the car. Fuel is stupidly cheap at the moment.

And just for interest - a Pace with a thumb latch catcher popped up on Gumtree for $149 from a deceased estate yesterday. Looks like it had a dicky rear wheel but fairly clean otherwise. I reckon it went within the hour. Unreal.

I would definitely spring for new rings and give it a light hone whilst you have it apart - piston doesn't look that bad. I am quite sure the PT piston is backward compatible so if you have a spare.

That being said https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/engines...iston-assembly-en72843a-en70718a-150-077


You would pay $15 for just a standard set of rings - this way with a hone, new piston, gudgeon, rings and clips, you effectively have it all sorted. There is the issue with the bore wearing oval in the 160's but It doesn't look that worn out (judging by the body).

$36 is SFA in the scheme of things if you plan on keeping it for the long haul



And it only cost me $2 haha.

Got a Talon hedger, 2 whipper snippers, the ozito blower, 3 beach umbrellas, and 3 new in box umbrella bases for $20 - best deal I ever had at the tip
Had a tankful of water


Are you sure it doesn't say 1974 onwards? - I don't know of any 1984 blade change. Judging by your photos, the regular blades you fit to 18in PT engined mowers will fit - they are just standard Victa blades


With the grease, doesn't it have to be some 'brass safe' stuff? I dont know about grease - I just use penrite hi temp bearing grease in everything from kingpins to trimmer gearboxes and chainsaw tip sprockets. If I come across something that may need special grease, I look into it and get the right one.

I have ripped apart several 15-20 year old gearboxes of trimmers which don't have grease points - have to manually 'split the gear case'. Bolens/troybilt 31cc Brush cutters if you are wondering.

The grease was so dry it was cracked - and all flicked into the crevices away from the gears. Repacked with HTB grease and much quieter




Thats what they reckoned about my transmission - never need to change it. It was black and the magnetic sump plug had a 8mm coating of thick metallic mud. They also say 'oh, you must use the expensive SP3 Hyundai branded oil or your auto will blow up'. Well, in went 4L of Penrite Full synth Trans oil which 'Exceeds SP3 Mitsubishi and Hyundai'.

Shifts better than ever

G'day all,
Be careful in ordering there Mystyler - yes, the Powertorque pistons fit the earlier full crank 160's [but not vice versa], however, this link is actually to a 0.040" oversize piston.
If your barrel has been rebored, the oversize will be stamped into the piston crown.

These are the correct blades for this machine:
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/lawn-mo...lawn-mower-swing-back-blade-set-ca09306s
Or the blade and bolt set is https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/lawn-mo...s/victa-blade-bolt-set-cao9506s-900-056p

I might as well do this update here; the original grease Victa used, 'BP Energrease A0', was a 'semi-fluid' Non-EP grease with an NLGI rating of 0. This has a 'somewhat runny' consistency, so that it will flow freely into the nooks and crannies of the gearbox internals.

The appropriate Penrite replacement product is their 'Semi Fluid Grease', rated NLGI 00 - just slightly more on the 'runny' side. It's also safe to use with 'yellow metal' [i.e. the brasses and bronzes] gearbox components. And it's available in small quantities too - 450g cartridges or 500g bottles. Other manufacturers do make suitable greases, but only have them in minimum 2.5kg or 20kg pails.
HTB type greases are essentially 'non-flowing' and 'non-melting', and are not suitable for this application. These properties are desirable in disc braked car hub bearings, but not here.
Yep; even the semi-fluid greases can 'go off' in this way in time - we here at ODK see this a lot in gearboxen like the Foote 35 F-N-R ones fitted to older Rover ride-on mowers.

Yer, the 'chuckaway society' thing - another detester here!

Hello Tyler and Gadge,

Thank you again. I'll double check my piston when I clean it up. Would it be worth the rebore if it hasn't been done so already? $36 for a new piston and ring set won't break the bank, and I don't think a rebore will either.

I was slightly out with my blades - they are from 1982 onwards. I suspect they won't be compatible but I've attached a photo anyway. Part is CA09506B, different to what is linked.

I also managed to get the engine off today. It's a 1977 model. I'll give the base a good thorough clean in the coming days. I think progress will be slower than hoped. You can see my tiny work area, and I don't think my manual or parts will be getting here quickly. Rather than try to solve the delivery problems, Australia Post would much rather just tell us about them. Hey, I could do that for $2.6m/year as well if I were the boss! Ok, that's enough of that...I have mates out of work because of this Wuhan Flu mess.

My problems are trivial.

Hi Mystyler

You may have issues finding anyone to do the rebore - half the places just don't seem interested

I can't see the differences between these blades and the 1974 onwards ones, but happy to be corrected

I would suggest putting in an EI module as well whilst its all apart - bypass the point and you will never have to worry again

That's the last iteration of that body before the powerplus model with the VC Sports base and island engine cover. Then they went back to a more comprehensive engine cover again with the next model.
Makes you wonder why they didn't go with a black VC Mustang full cover instead.

G'day folks,
Well, it is a subject on which I can bring some professional expertise/experience to bear. That meant that I didn't need to look up any of that info...

Maybe treat it the same way I'm going to do a Mayfair Ute base underside soonish, after a suggestion from NormK. Power wire brush, grit blast any pitted areas, brush on coat of 'fish oil' anti-rust, final coat of bitumen paint after the fish oil has dried. Bitumen paint doesn't 'set hard' when it dries, so it won't chip off.

Not sure offhand about PowerTorque disc compatibility - but the blade sets for your original disc are easy to get anyway.

Blade carriers can be swapped around as long as it has the boss with the 2 ears on it, the thing is the nut is different between the PT and F/C. One thing I haven't tried is fitting a boss from a sidepull F/C on one of the really early motors. If anybody wants to know I can check it for them, never really looked.
Regarding the powder coating of bases, I stripped a Victa mower down yesterday that had done a minimal amount of work (wheels, bushes all as new) and the only reason this mower was dumped was because the body looked so bad because of the rust that had grown under the powder coat. This mower would have been in much better condition if the customer had bought the thing with no coating on it whatsoever. It would have had surface rust but nothing like it had. This mower was not that old because it had very late model wheels. I guess the reason manufacturers powder coat mowers is to speed up the rust process.

G'day folks,
Yes, it is indeed difficult to find someone who does 2-stroke rebores - there is one bloke around Garfield in Vic that I know of, who does these for the 'Forgotten Era' class of classic 2-stroke racebikes.

However, what Victa servicing dealers used to do, back in the heyday of the full crank 2-stroke engines, was to stock 'service exchange rebore' barrel/piston/ring etc kits. When we fitted one of these kits, the barrel removed from the mower went off to the reconditioners for reboring, and a fresh kit was returned to us. A Victa barrel can have several rebores, at oversize increments of 0.020"/0.5mm, before it becomes unserviceable BTW.

Now, the point of all this is, that GA Spares still offer these 'service exchange rebore' kits, via their dealers.

You take/send your old barrel to the dealer, who inspects it to determine whether it is OK for reconditioning, i.e. that there is no damage/over limit bore etc, that would render it only fit for scrap.

Or, you can pick up the kit, and pay a 'core deposit' - which is refunded when/if you take in your old barrel, and it checks out as OK.

Edit: And in re the Electronic Ignition module fitment; it's simplest to leave the points and condenser in situ - that way they're still in place as a backup, if that should be needed.

Mystyler, that's the correct blade/bolt set you have - the final letter of the part number is just a supersession code.

Hello Tyler, MF, Gadge and Norm,

Your comments are appreciated. If worst comes to worst I have a few mates who are into their karting. One of their engine builders has a shop about 20 minutes away from me. Maybe they can blueprint and balance my engine while I'm there...!!! I'll check with my local mower shop. They're pretty bloody good, so I'll see.

I had half thought of putting on EI. That would require removing the flywheel? I don't have a whole lot at my disposal to get that off, let alone the correct tools. I'd hate to crack it, it's in really good nick.

I'm starting to think I should not have powder coated my Scotty! It really doesn't see water, and I love the finish, but I'll be keeping an eye on it. What are your collective thoughts regarding vapour blasting? Again, just throwing ideas around, but getting the deck blasted that way could leave it with a really cool finish. Kinda factory, kinda not. Bitumen paint the carrier and deck underside and it'll probably outlast me.

Bring on that service manual.

No, the whole point of EI is you never have to remove the flywheel again - just cut a wire and splice in the module, then rivet module to engine

G'day folks,
They'll have the gear to give your barrel a hone, so get that done. If this cleans up the bore OK, and the bore is not worn 'oval' near the base, no need to rebore it!

Edit: the Garfield bloke I mentioned earlier charges $90, for a rebore and hone only. Customer has to source and supply the piston kit. Not bad value; the GA Spares kit for your motor seems to run $140-180 [changeover basis] from online dealers.
Flywheel removal on a Victa full crank doesn't require many tools anyway [unless the rust gremlin has been to visit] - just two flat blade screwdrivers, and a 13/16" AF socket to undo the retaining nut. It doesn't seat on a shaft taper; the shaft is parallel, and has a keyway for a square section steel key cut in it.
The later external coil full crank engines didn't even have a key, just a flat machined on the shaft, and a 'D' shaped flywheel bore to match.

PS: Haven't used 'vapour blasting', but my bike mechanic recommends soda blasting for alloy components; and bead or grit blasting for steel components, depending on the surface finish desired.

Tyler and Gadge, cheers. I ended up with a 13/16th impact socket "just in case". Didn't realise it'd be that simple to remove the flywheel. And if just splicing in a wire or two will give me EI, I will perhaps just do that.

Slow going otherwise. I've ordered some parts (gaskets, muffler, drive belt) from ODK for a start. I'm hoping they will arrive not to long after my manual. Fingers crossed! Going to try to clean up the engine and deck a bit this weekend.

G'day Mystyler,

Here's a pic of how to position the screwdrivers. This is an external coil 160, which still has contact points under-flywheel, but the same technique applies to the coil-under-flywheel models.
I haven't removed the nut for the pic, but you'll see the ratchet drive in the background, with a 13/16" AF spark plug socket on it.



The vital bit of this method is, the flywheel is raised by lifting the handles of both screwdrivers upward simultaneously.
If it doesn't move straight off, you can apply a 'rocking' motion by alternating the upwards pressure - that usually shifts them.

This technique isn't mentioned in any of the workshop manuals, but it sure works a treat!

Gadge, I find those generally just lift of, maybe with a bit of a tap on the side. It is a good design, it is the earlier one that I have to use a puller on, some of those can be super tight on the taper.

G'day Norm,

Agreed, these external coil flywheels almost always come off very easily.

Back in the heyday of the coil-under-flywheel FC Victas, the workshop in my family's Cobram, Vic OPE business [we owned it 1973-83] used this 'two screwdriver' method as routine, and rarely had to resort to the screw type puller.

I'd guess that you'd encounter more 'rust-bound' flywheels on these motors now though, than we did back then.
Because these flywheels actually aren't on a tapered shaft, they are actually more prone to becoming rust-bound, if any water gets in there.

And I even had a sidepull that I didn't have to remove the nut, just lifted straight off. Not sure why the crank would break up there.

I broke one recently trying to get one off a weather exposed impact starter Corvette with a two prong puller.

My Gregory's #424 arrived today! Time to get into a proper pull down!