OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers My First Attempt at a Restoration

I'm a complete beginner with engines, and a lot of tools, but I trotted down to the local junk yard and found the mower you see pictured below. I'm not a 100% sure of the model, but I think it's a late 80's Victa 160cc 2 stroke. Enlighten me please. I stripped it all down, cleaned and/or repaired each part and reassembled it with a few replacement parts. I'm happy with how it looks, but I'm troubleshooting why it won't start, which brought me to this forum. I'm sure I'll nut it out with the input of you knowledgeable folks. I've checked for spark and not getting any. The sparkplug is good (checked it in another mower), the leads all have continuity (checked with multimeter), just tried a new ignition module as well, and pulled the kill switch from the carby, all without luck. I've just ordered a replacement coil as it's the only thing left that I can think of. Oh, the gap between the magnet on the flywheel and the e-coil is fine as well. Australia Post is a little slow at the moment, so hopefully I won't have to wait too long before I get the replacement coil.

I kept a photolog of the project, which you can see here if you're interested. Mower Restoration Project

And can anyone tell me what the numbers on the cylinder mean?

Howdy okidoke,
I looked at the Flickr pics showing the different stages of your rebuild and love the artistic licence you took with the bright silver used on the base and was impressed with the axles. I need an 8" bench grinder off my own now.
Leaving the cowl in natural metal was very left of centre and it looks nice that way. The wonders of clear coat!
I never knew that style of plastic dress cowl came with the blanked off cup starter to make way for the side starter. I thought they only did that to the similar more rounded style cover and the rest were the covers developed especially for the side pull engine.

What silver paint(s) did you use on the base and the handle bars? I want sine as bright as that.

on a job well done. Incredible how good the results are with a clean up and repaint.

Nice job okidoke ,
Those wires on the plastic carbs can be a pain...
With the flywheel gap, I wire brush the side of flywheel and coil as rest etc can alter the gap.
good luck
speedy

Hi Dan,
I would assume the numbers on the barrel mean March 1971

Thanks Mowerfreak, these are the paints I used. Anything rusty around the engine I cleaned up and sprayed with the clear, while the chassis and handlebars I sprayed with the silver. Be mindful though, it doesn't like fuel being spilled onto it. I painted the top strip of the handlebars with Satin Black paint.




Cheers Speedy. I'll doublecheck the magnet for any grime.


That's interesting Norm, considering I've been told the mower is a F/C model most likely made in 1980/81. It's a bit confusing lol

Hey okidoke,
I appreciate you taking a pic of the cans. I never knew heat resistant clear was available!! As for fuel affecting the silver paint, perhaps it needs more time to cure. If that doesn't work, try running some Rustoleum 2x clear where the petrol spills and leaks are likely to occur. Speedy uses Rustoleum 2x coloured paints on his decks as they don't get affected by petrol.
As for age of mower, a very small window of time for the manufacture date of that machine, due to the adapted 1970's cup start plastic engine cover. 1980 -81. Maybe 82 if Victa wanted as much variety as possible and kept producing alongside later style engine covers a little while. I very much doubt a 1971 160 barrel was fitted due to it having a different inlet port fit the older G3 carburettor.
You are definitely right about this mower being firmly anchored in the very early 80s, 1980 -81 financial year most likely.

Thx for the painting advice. So I wonder what the numbers on the cylinder are then. To me it looks like there’s a degree symbol after the 3 if that sheds any light on the query.

G'day all sand casting lovers
My reality is that these cylinder casting numbers are
factory in-house and probably relate to mould identification.

This would be important in tracing defective castings for
warranty purposes. Maybe Mould No 3 first used 1971?
Who knows...?

I do not feel they are meaningful to mower identification at all.

Cheers
----------------------
Jack

It has a G4 carby so I doubt its a 1971 cylinder (although Norm can show how a G3 cyl can be made to take a G4).

I am sure 3-71 was a bynorm number, so maybe it was recond back in the day

As a side note, the victa genuine part for these barrels is en70714a for regular, then slightly different for +020. Wouldn't surprise me if it was a recond

+1 to CyberJack on this one.

Realise that those integers are cast in by being present 'in relief' on the 'pattern', which was used to produce the sand mould used to produce the raw casting. Not stamped/engraved after casting.

While not a qualified metallurgist [it requires some serious surgery, to turn an Industrial Chemist into a Metallurgist ], I do have a sound working knowledge of that area of expertise.

Wow !!! , You have done a great job , I bet you wish your grass would grow quicker so you could use your restored mower more ,
Well done ,

Thx for the info. This is all very new to me.


Interesting.


I'm always astounded by the ingenuity of the past.


Sort of lol. I have an acre I mow by push mower, and it gets a bit tiring, but hopefully I can get her started and try it out. Thx.

Hi Tyler,
that is a G3 stub, the G4's are plastic so it is fairly early.
Dan, if you have an acre to mow think about hunting down a 24/600 they handle that sort of area with ease, so much easier to push and they just smash their way through it.

Thanks Norm, but then I'll be doing no exercise at all hahahaha

Hi Dan,
I don't consider pushing a high arch full crank mower over an acre as exercise, I consider that is just making hard work of a job that isn't that pleasurable, to most it is a chore.

Norm, I agree it looks like a G3 stub, but this mower has a G4 on it (in the slideshow) so its a bit confusing

Okidoke, Have to agree with Norm. Its too good a mower to be getting beaten up doing that much work. And it would get you pretty knackered by the finish.

My first suggestion would be a super 24, but if you want a bit of exercise get a 2 stroke Victa Pro utility. Plenty of guts, and a big 5l ish tank. Save this FC for good lawn around the house

Hi Tyler,
I would say that that barrel is not off that motor in the first pics, it has a snorkel and I doubt anybodys else apart from me has gone to the trouble of fitting a G4 stub onto a G3 spigot. I have probably done half a dozen and haven't had any come back so I guess they are still working ok.

I've been using this one for 20 years on my acreage without issue. I don't mind at all.

Oh a Tecumseh on an alloy deck!
I recently bought a second Tecumseh steel deck Victa to get the carburettor to get my first one I found going.
They're a pretty gutsy motor. Has your one had issues?