OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Victa Lawn Mower Frames Twin cylinder Victa

I was wondering what these Engines are, as I have never seen one before, Where they based on the single cylinder engines or where they an entirely different engine, Did they take the same 25/1 fuel oil mix as the single cylinder models. And did they have 2 carburettors and 2 muffler's, one for each cylinder. And where they used on conventional push mowers or self proplelled types. And how powerful where these engines.

Regards Ben

[This message has been edited by Ben G (edited 13 May 2002).]

Hey there Ben Iam sure Bruce will provide yopu with all the info you want on the Victa Twin He is a mine of information This is a very interesting topic and wwill be good to see how it expands JOe

Ben,
If you e-mail me on this site (Spare Parts) I will forward you a parts list which shows you most of the details.
The mixture is 25 to 1 for the twin.

It only has the one carby,coil & muffler.

The mower to my knowledge was only use as a push mower as they had a slight problem with one cylinder running hotter than the other.

Hope that this is of some help to you.

Regards,
Bruce

Hi There brice
Are you sure the twin only has one coil? If so would it have ytwin leads from it? Dont commit yourself unless you arte sure but then if you have a parts list you would be able to check it easily enough . I found a muffler for one the otherday They seem to be made of some type of alloyand in as new condition .Joe Brown

Joe,
If you read my message I said that I can e-mail Ben a copy of the parts list and it shows the details that I was taking about.
I am still trying to find some spec's on it but it could take some time.

Regards,
Bruce

Bruce

Thanks Bruce on your offer to e-mail Me a copy of the parts list of the Victa twin.
you can e - mail it to my address which is vl_calais88@hotmail.com (Underscore beetween VL and Calais)I would really appreciate this as I am thinking of trying to get one of these engines or the complete mower. Are there any around where you are? Any condition will do, Going or not, as I can recondition it. Please let me know.

Regards Ben

[This message has been edited by Ben G (edited 15 May 2002).]

Joe

Have you got any Victa Twin cylinder Engines or mowers

Regards Ben

[This message has been edited by Ben G (edited 15 May 2002).]

Hi Ben Yes there is a Twin left down in the shed or most of it .Dont know where you live though.I will have look at it today and get back to you Joe

Hi Ben Yes Ben there was a twin in the shed and it was complete. Bruce was right about it having only one coilI have since sold the unit complete to Brett Lawrence who will restore it . P;ease reply to me if you want me to find one for you Regards Joe Brow

Hi Ben,Iv'e got a victa twin, in need of a little TLC. First mower I ever bought, and that was second hand. The coil has gone and I find parts difficult here in the UK. It was such a good machine that iv'e overbored to the next size up, with new pistons etc. Just need to get a coil, or find someone that can tell me how to make a new one or wire up a coil from a single.

Hi Stephen Nice to hear from someone in the UK. For the benefit of all who are interested in the Victa Twin issue can you please tell how you sourced the over size pistons and was it much trouble. I would suggest thet you could get the coli rewound by a specialist shop . Dont know if the can tell the specs by examing an old coil. Regards Joe Ex Brum

Hi joe,
got my local piston supplier to re-bore and supply new pistons. Can't remember the sizes, will look if I still have the boxes.
Local re-winders don't want to know about the coil, too much hard work, not worth the time it would take etc.

Hi Stephen Benn off line for a while now due to moving house.How are you going re the twin coil. I will keep a lookout for one for you if you still need one Joe

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Joe

Hi Joe,
The Twin is back together and running on a coil from a single! It starts and runs fairly easilly, but the power is not there, I reckon the spark is only going to one or other of the plugs, it finds the path of least resistance and jumps that spark. This was proved by taking one HT lead off while running, the lead would short against the chasis, but taking it off the plug resulted in no change to the engine speed/note at all.
So still looking for a working twin coil.
Hope the move went well, hope youv'e got a decent lawn, probably drier than Brum!

I found one of these recently, although I do remember them when they came out, and I also recall they did have a problem with the rear cylinder overheating.
I intend to get mine going. It is missing the carby and coil, mainly, plus (probably) a heap of smaller accessories. I need to restore (and redesign...) the muffler, since I don't have a carby, "something else" will have to suffice. As for the coil, because of the difficulties these engines experienced with one plug firing and therefore taking all the spark energy, I intend to use two coils, in a "kettering (auto)" arrangement, but triggered by the one set of points. If this works, a small "SLA" 12volt battery will provide enough power for the average mowing session.
I have a small Mikuni carb, hopefully this will pass enough mixture to get the thing going (certainly to see if the project is worth while). The exhaust I will redesign, but because both cylinders fire at the same time, there's no point in designing "extractors" as such. A decent tuned length system should do.
I was talking to a proffessional mower repairer recently about my plans: he was very helpful (he told me about the plug problem, and how they quite often, run on one cylinder etc) and I commented that the engine didn't seem worn at all. His explanation was that nobody got them going lomg enough to wear them out!
Jeff.
PS: pnce running properly, they must have been very smooth, with both cylinders firing in opposition, there would be no vibration.

Hi all new and fellow members, there is always interest as to this mower (TWIN 500), I had the pleasure to purchase a complete unit from the old faithful JOE BROWN, it needed rings, bearings seals etc, carby overhaul and the decompression system put back into service to make it original. It has been restored back to near new condition,
I have no trouble with spark or overheating, it runs perfect and I run the front lawn over with it now and then to give the motor a turn over.I`m very happy with it and find it is harder to find then a 1955 V1. I have the workshop manuals and original start up book, they brought out 3 models in the late 70`s. They did run hot as I have found out in the Front Cyl. They were to run at 50: 1 (Start Up Manual) and this I think was not enough lubricant for such a motor. They also had a problem with the air/ fuel mixture in the crankcase (1st Model) which as I`m led to believe gave the rear cyl a richer mix and the front cyl a leaner mix,hence the seizer on the front cyl. Victa then brought out a new type of crank with paddle type arms forged onto the crank shaft to mix and disperse the air/fuel mixture more evenly in the crankcase and then to each cyl. If anyone is rebuiling one ,go for the later crank (with the padddles on it) and run the motor on a semi synthetic oil at 30:1 and you will have a reliable motor without any problems, the motor was way ahead of it`s time and is a real hoot to rebuild and to own one. Due to mass production there were some designs of the mower which do not bring the best out,such as exhaust system that is too big and complex , exhaust ports too small, this is only my opinon ,but you can see why Victa had to let it go as it was too expensive to mass produce. Hope this imformation can help, if any of the info can be added to please do so , I have photo`s to email if members want to see what it looked like. Cheers Brett.

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Hi Stephen,

Banta small engine parts and accesories in Canada have new coils for the twin. Part no 440-229. Description, brown atom ignition. The price quoted on website is $19.64. Just search for Bantasaw.com
Hope this helps you out.
Ches.

Hi Stephen. I thought you may like to know another way I have got my twin going on 2 plugs. I checked out the Bantasaw suggestion and from what I see it's only an ignition module NOT a full coil. Here's whats working for me. Get 2 coils off power torque motors. Your local mower shop should oblige getting some second hand ones. Pull one coil off the "U" shaped former and push it onto the twins old "E" shaped former. (twin coil removed first of course). Bolt it on as the original twin coil would, but here is the magic. Wire the second coil primary IN SERIES with the one up at the flywheel. Hook up a Victa ignition module as per normal. Mount the second coil up the front near the front plug, and the lead from the back coil should reach the back plug. Mine fires up well on the back plug and the front plug comes in quickly when the motor starts to warm up. I have acheived full power no worries at all. My hope is the ignition module will live a long life. Lets hope. If you need more info I'm happy to help.

Hi. I'd just like to refer you to my new post on the Victa twin thread. Too long we've struggled with the "no coil" problem. My suggestion of using 2 Power torque coils and one ignition module has been added. One very happy twin running on electronic module and no battery needed. Need some more to try this to determine long term reliability.

Hi Steve, it seems as you have found a winner for the elusive problem regarding the Twin coil, at the moment I have 2 original coils, one on my Twin and one on a spare display Twin motor, so it may be a while before I try this solution out. I do know of 2 other people that will have to try this new idea, sounds good to me, I have printed this info and filed it into my Victa file, it`s good to other members finding and sharing problems on this site, keep us up to date with the reliability of the new coil system, if you could take some photo`s of the front coil mounted on the Twin this would be a great help, I will post on this site my email if you are interested in sending any photo`s, cheers Brett

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