Another roadside find, plenty of rust but runs OK for a few seconds with a bit of fuel tipped down the carb throat.Came with a reasonable catcher and a full tank of fuel.
Did a search to find out what it is and although there's an number of photos of Victa Corvette 700s they are either two strokes or unlike this one, some of the ones with red covers had the carbs and mufflers on opposite sides to this.
Any clues as to why I can't find anything similar?
That one came out in about 2012ish. I remember seeing an ad for it in a wheels magazine I have around here somewhere, it was when the toyota 86 first came out.
Yours originally had a red cover as well, it clipped into these slots on the cowl and were fairly easily pulled off by low hedges.
Don't think they sold many of that model as most people were smart enough to go for the mustang at that price range
At the time, they were above the side engine quantum engined corvettes, now they have OHV briggs on the corvette range (muffler on opposite side
Dov means direct overhead valve - basically it is long cantilevered lever arms for valve actuation.
Interesting to see the video, all that hype about the "direct overhead valve" system :-) Looks like an overly complicated way to do things, reminds me of some "high cam" designs of the 1920s, just adding an extra gear to drive the camshaft.
This machine will be getting flogged if/when I get it running properly, no intentions of restoring it to concours condition. It will have to survive without the clip-on cowl cover.
Gave the carb some very sorely needed TLC, put an in-line tap in the fuel line, sharpened the blades and the Corvette is now performing extremely well.
One of the springs associated with the choke crumbled into dust and I was about to remove all the throttle governing system and just have the throttle cable directly control the throttle butterfly but it is running perfectly without that spring.
I find it very satisfying to be able to save abandoned machinery from landfill, even if just temporarily, for minimal cost and a bit of time and effort.
One thing I haven't seen on any of my other B & S motors is the spring loaded tensioner which I presume automatically adjusts the choke when the ambient temperature is low.
The deck is rather rusty. Any ideas what other Victa (or other) decks could easily accept this motor?
Only problem is the way the blade carrier is mounted. There's a two eared thingie on the end of the crankshaft which fits into a couple of shallow grooves on the carrier and it's not possible to see or feel if things are lined up exactly when tightening the bolt. I take off the carrier to sharpen the blades when needed and too many times the carrier has come loose and rattled around next time I mow because it wasn't perfectly located, and this is chewing up the grooves.
Right now it is sitting perfectly and I don't want to touch it, so can't see if the crank end bit can be removed and replaced with some more common part and married to a more common blade carrier.
They are a minor PITA but you have to just put them on with extra care such as carefully checking it's located fully as you tighten with the other hand. Once tightened, spin the blades slowly by hand -making absolutely sure the spark plug boot is well away from the plug end, and look carefully the blade carrier is spinning true.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
As MF said it just takes one hand to hold the plate and the washer into position and when you turn the washer as you put the washer into position you can feel the washer lock into place then tighten the bolt with your other hand holding a rattle gun.
As Max said very easy to get them locked up using the rattle gun. I just put the blade carrier on, put the washer on over the tabs holding the washer in place, start the nut then put the socket over the nut and push it on so the socket helps hold the washer and the pull the trigger on the rattle gun, job done.
With the Sanli I did recently, hand tools worked fine as they use a 17mms bolt along with two 16mm bolts either side as well as a D shaped raised bit that keys with a corresponding D shaped hole in the carrier. With a Victa, a rattle gun is a major advantage.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
A bit different to what Max and Norm suggest, there's no tabs. "Bolt head side" is stamped onto the square dished washer which has just a round hole, not the cross shape in your photo Max.
It's a B & S motor with a 23 mm shaft. The coupling is keyed on with a single slot. Looks easy enough to get it off.
Problem is the double eared coupling does not fit exactly into the carrier grooves, there's a few degrees wobble room and I can't see or feel if it's in right from below, then even if the bolt is snugged up tight the carrier eventually gets loose and rattles around, and the ears have chewed into the grooves.
Just wondering if there's another easily available coupler/carrier arrangement off another B & S mower which I can put on when/if this gets too chewed up.
So why does the washer in the photo Max has posted differ from what is on mine?
It looks like it would fit over a splined spigot on the boss, and perhaps the blade carrier would also have a crucifix shaped center to positively locate it.
I think most of us have had this type of boss and plate it's just the older type is more common and without images the first type will come to mind first.
Yep I've had a lot like that ,there is a bit of a knack to fitting the blade plate , you just hold the plate up with one hand and turn the plate so the drive side of the boss lines up with the plate and tighten the bolt with your other hand , I'd suggest using a rattle gun to tighten the crank bolt if it's not tight enough it will come loose.
Once you line up the plate with the boss you can mark the boss and plate or use a centre punch ,that way next time the plate is off you just line up the marks.
I have used the old boss with that blade plate , the old boss being round with no drive tangs , if you swap the boss you also swap the washer to the old cross washer I put up before.
I've also used this boss with the two drive tangs and cut the tangs off to use a plate that doesn't have the drive tang position on the plate.
I've had quite a few of the early round boss mowers when the blade plates had to be thrown out , as there is not much support on the boss shoulder to the blade plate and the blade plate will bend easier when people misuse the mower.
A few blade plates of mine were slipping on the boss and had worn the metal thin so no matter how much you tightened the crank nut the plate would slip but I expect someone before has used the mower without tightening the crank nut enough
It looks like Victa used a larger surface area on the boss mounting face to support the larger heavier 4 blade mulch plates and made that a standard so used the same boss even if it was .a smaller oval 2 blade plate and then added the ears to the boss for more support and the ears would also stop the plate slipping but as Norm mentioned if you don't abuse your mower by smashing the blades into unmovable objects then you aren't going to notice the difference with the 2 extra ears on the boss.
The 2 ears could also be an extra layer of safety to stop the blade plate bending if someone hits something solid with the blades.
Would still like to know if there's any other type of boss which fits onto a single slotted 23 mm B & S shaft.
Have managed to get this working satisfactorily, as you've advised it's just a matter of accurately lining up the driving edges of the two ears snug against the stamped plate grooves, and holding the wobbling bits in place while tightening the bolt with your third hand but not being able to eyeball the pieces as you go :-)
All of my other rescued mowers have a system of positively locating the blade or plate carrier to the crank boss with tabs, splines or several screws and the centre bolt just holds the boss firmly onto the crank. Same with all of the slashers I have worked on, and a gazillion other couplings.
A consumer item should not need an impact device when performing routine maintenance.
