OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Reel Lawn Mowers, Atco & Villiers etc. Reel Mower ID: [1952 Atco]

So far,
The condenser arrived and I thought we had it beat. Still no spark.
I remember when I was much younger but probably not any wiser declaring that I would never own anything that required whit worth spanners.
At least it is fairly easy to pull the flywheel off, but I am not sure how much more the flange nut will take.
Pulled it apart again today and retested the coil and condenser, renewed all of the insulation on the wire from the points to the coil as I had originally used a piece of fuel line and it was a little larger then desirable underneath the pad which insulates the points. Resoldered that wire onto the coil (it was only hanging by a few wires) and refitted the spark plug lead and reassembled. Tested the resistance from inside the points when open it is a reading of 350? which I think would be the coil and condenser combined and 0 with the points closed. Still no spark according to my spark tester. I was that confident that I held onto the spark plug lead. Eureka we have a small spark but to weak to jump a 0.015" gap or to see it, but I can feel it. I use an electric drill to turn the motor over so speed is not an issue.
The only thing I can think off is that the magnets in the flywheel are too weak, or with all of the cleaning the gap is too big. I did note that the inside of the flywheel opposite the magnet is also magnetic, not as strong as the magnet but still magnetised. This seemed a little unusual but I do not have another flywheel laying around that I can check it against.
Open to any suggestions

Silly question, you have cleaned the points, bit of petrol on a rag dragged through the points?

Thanks Norm I will try that next but I think if there was a problem I would not have had nil resistance with the points closed but it could be stretching the spark

Where I am at.
It seems that if the coil, condenser, points and magnets are all working the only thing left is the gap. I have continued to overlook this as there is no obvious way of adjusting it.
I discovered that one side of the internal contents of the flywheel (I have called it shoe on the picture) was striking the ends of the coil. You can see in the photo where it had been rubbing, I had earlier discounted this as the occasional piece of grit getting in there. Either the flywheel is not actually round, or the hole in the centre is off centre or the shaft is not round, no idea how that could have happened.

As the shoe is coated with an insulation I am hypothesizing that it ran for a little while until it wore off the insulation and corrosion which was on it when I first started it. This is assuming that with the pieces touching I would get no or a weaker spark. I don't actually know.


I sanded the ends of the coil and also the piece in the flywheel that I have called shoe, (that was before I realised that the coating on it was insulated). Put a little grease on the ends of the coil reassembled and tested it. Disassembled cleaned it and tested it. No luck, so I started testing everything again and now the coil is not working, no resistance between the points lead and the earth. In hindsight I should have removed the ends of the coil before sanding them, as it may have been this that shorted out the coil or it could have been numerous attempts to test it with the flywheel hitting it.


Regardless I am going to think about this for awhile before handing out 87 pounds (probably plus freight, and maybe even GST) for a new coil. I would feel better about it if I knew I had solved the problem. A mate of mine has said he would like to have it as a veranda ornament, all I have to do is deliver it.


An interesting note, inside the flywheel there are two magnets with a spacer in-between them. Fortunately there is only 2 ways that the magnets can go back in as they have a different bevel on each end. You can only change the position of the magnets by turning them over and swapping their position. So you could only have North (N) South (S) and North South or SN/SN I was wondering if this would determine if a motor had a positive or negative earth, or if it would make any difference.

Wish I knew what I did, so that I could pass the information onto the other forum users. I sent the coil and the magnets to Peter Scott Motorcycles in Seven Hills. Peter rewound the coil and remagnetised the magnets for me.


Although there is no adjustment for the gap between flywheel and the coil I think that as they were touching that was probably the core problem. I could see that it had been taken apart before and in hind sight I should have been a little more suspicious. I cleaned all of the seats with a light sand before reassembling and I think the problem was with the fittings on the ends of the coil. There is a little room for them to move in and out. Only a couple of thousands each but that was enough. Ultimately it comes down to a pretty tried and trusted system, so if the coil, condenser, points and magnet are working all that is left is the gap.

I have a spark that you could weld with, the mower started straight away and I mowed the lawn. They must have been close to the ground fast moving people in 1952 as I have to hurry to keep up with it at an idle. I think you could take it out on the open road at full speed. I cannot see any obvious way of slowing it down (other then engine revs) but it is possible there could have been a different drive pulley or gear for it.

Thanks to Tyler, NormK, Cyberjack, Sir-Chook and Gadge.

There is a great deal of joy in seeing it run and I could not have done it without your help

Peter Scott does have a good reputation, he is the go to on magnetos

Im new to this forum but felt compelled to thank you guys for posting. I was relieved it wasn't me head scratching for once but equally relived that you solved it. Great resource.