OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers VC-160 Mark I,II & IIIB Restoration

Can you get to a sand blaster? Just a thought, I have ready access to one. If you want, I've probably got the same heads here, I could clean them up and do a trade when you come down.

Cheers.

Yes I have one here.That's how I tried the soda blasting.Just couldn't keep the [Censored] stuff out of my eyes.I just can't find the spare nozzles I have.

Maybe you could grab some of the 'pink stuff' when you are here Jeffery. Give that a go.

Pink Stuff?? What is this pink stuff of which you speak?

Class 8 degreaser.

Put it on shiny aluminium and its not shiny anymore and you have to polish it.
Put it on dirty aluminium and it gets the gunk off and its still not shiny but you can polish it up.

Hi All,
I used Kenco heavy duty degreaser on the head of the Model 5 Victa....came up a treat....available from Auto One.
I soaked the head in it overnight and used a fine wire brush...no probs.

Cool so where do I get this Pink Stuff? and what is it called? Let me guess pink stuff.

Cool thanks Deejay I know where I can find that one.Also has anybody used that CT18 or is it C18 degreaser on alloy? I have used it to degrees car engines but not alloy.I don't have any left here to try it.[Censored] dear stuff,but it's good.

The pink stuff is a corrosive degreaser called 'shock treatment'
You get it out of the 20L drum ive got in the back shed. lol


Im pretty sure its the same stuff.
CT18 Is it alloy tec or something, comes in a litre bottle. Alloy cleaner or something. I did buy a litre bottle to clean up a crusty bullbar once and i worked out that its pretty much the same as the pink stuff.


Stings your eyes and any sensative skin. If you dont wear gloves and you play with the stuff your skin goes all funky and soft.

Hi Bob, I think you said it all when you said corrosive....most probably a very strong alkali....be careful if you get it on your skin or in your eyes....

OK then I'll give the CT18 a go and see if it will do the trick for me.

Actually i think CT18 is just the blue truck wash.

I think its CT12 thats that alloy cleaner.

Maybe I got the name wrong.I was thinking of a strong degreaser which is pink in colour.Very strong stuff,even tingles the nose.

Sounds like the stuff.

Cool I might give it a go then

Hi all I haven't been on-line much as I have decided it is time to get some of my mowers up to where I'd like them to be.So I have gone back to restoring my VC-160 Mark I,II and III.In the move to Brisbane the bases didn't make it in great condition so they had to be rubbed back and repainted,which worked out better as the end result was better than they were before.I'll show you how they are so far.I'll have to do this in a few posts.Lots of pictures.Let me know what you think.Wow,it's a lot of work,but so far it's proving well worth it.
This is my VC-160 Mark I 1970.









This starter ring wasn't in the best shape,but at least it was all together and strong enough for all the bending and twisting required to do with installing and removing from mower.I tried to work out how long I had spent on cleaning it up this part.I believe it was the best part of 10 to 12 hours.I think (Hope as well) the time and effort speaks for itself.




I had a bugger of time trying to match the colour of the tank.The problem is the the base and the other plastic parts are suppose to be close but not exactly the same colour.The problem I have is the plastic has changed it's colour to much that they are completely different.So I settle on this colour which I think would have been very close to the original.There was now way of cleaning these tanks up.I tired.After all the VC-160's I wrecked for these mowers it would seem that I kept the worse tanks and chucked out the better ones

About Bloody Time!...Less Yapping and More Restoring....Beautiful Job So Far Blumbly,Very Impressive! The 3 done will make a beautiful display,and maybee almost unique,as ive never seen all 3 together in fully restored condition before. Blumbly's Motor Mower Museum Is slowly building Momentum..AWESOME!...That colour is almost a Mirror to My HG Palmers,Great minds Paint Alike???? Lmao.

Im trying to tidy up my mark 1 vc160. What paint did you use to paint the base? An the engine cowl did u clean it up or paint it?

Yes Bluegmhtmonaro your right it is about time.Bugger it's a lot more work and time than I thought it was going to be,but very much worth the time.I can see why people restore the older ones.Less parts to clean and make look new again.Every single piece I have cleaned up,there's not one piece yet that I haven't spent time with. nathan_867 The paint was actually a colour that I had specially made up.From one of the bases that didn't see much sun.When Ty got his N.O.S VC-160 Mark III.It just showed that I couldn't have had a better match if we had tried any harder.Wouldn't have had a better match.So as to what colour it is I have no idea.As far as the cowl I'm assuming you mean the dress cowl.The cooling was painted as they do loose a lot of paint and just don't keep there blackness.The dress cowl was in fact not painted.As when I had a close look at it (especially the Mark III's cowl).They do have like fine fibres you can see in them,and I know if I painted them they would loose that look. I'm not sure what they are made of as they aren't plastic and they aren't fibreglass.They must be some sort of carbon fibre (not sure) they do have a little weight to them.So I looked for a few minutes and came up with a plan.I first degreased them as they were dirty,then sanded the heck out out of them to remove those deep scratches,marks etc. Then due to sanding I had taken the shine of them.So to get that back I just coated them with some clear and you can see the results.Mind you they look better up close than in the pictures.It does take quite a lot of time to do this,but the finnish product is well worth it.

Ha ha,The Beware the Unwary.lols...As for the older ones being easier,Hmmmm way more repairs as they have 30 years more wear and often parts need remanufacturing,and yes EVERY single part needs attention in its own way.You will learn procedures for all aspects as you go along,many tricks and tips can be learnt to make things easier and much faster,The Hg im about to post took me 15 hours.i have spent 8 hours before just in polishing alloy parts,painting is quick as is prep,I have a sand blaster and I mostly use a gun,but that can make its own work as sandblasting shows pits which then need to be filled and repaired and so on.You cans spend hours on bases to fill and prime or lead wipe and sand to get a perfect result. So may aspects to consider,people dont realise. I spent $30.00 for parts and 40.00 for new wheels on my last resto,its almost ridiculously cheap. BUT 15 hours at a really low labour rate of say 50ph...equates 750.00 doesnt seem so cheap anymore does it? lols. Anyways your doing great and as you said it can be very rewarding. I cant post pics for some reason at the moment,but my Last HG is Finished see what you think,cause trufully,your work so far at least equals that of mine...Well done,and keep them coming :)

Thanks Bluegmhtmonaro,it's good to get a great acknowledgement from one of my peers.It helps and is uplifting.Makes you want to polish more.
Anyway have some more pictures to add.


This is the Mark II's engine all ready to go onto it nice clean and refreshed base.






...and here it is bolted and secured waiting for the rest to be assembled.



The Blumbly

So here are some more of the Mark I and Mark II.Mainly the Mark II,Mark I is in the background.





This is excatly how the mower looks tonight.I think I should take some pictures during the day,they would properly look much better than they do in these photos.Might just do that tomorrow.





The Blumbly.

looking good ,wich one are you going to mow with 1st?(only joking)... I like the colour its a good match..

There will be no mowing going on here now. Would only damage the paint and burn the clear off now. Yes it wasn't easy to get this colour but I do think its close to the original.

Here is some updated pictures of how they are looking.I have got all 3 just about complete minus wheels and handle bars.Which have there own set of problems.
This is my Mark III as it was going through the assembly process.

Here is some pictures.




VC-160 Mark I,II and III


Mark II

Mark I

VC-160 Mark I

VC-160 Mark II

VC-160 Mark III

they look amazing to say the least , great work man !!! so the speckled look on the mk111 is orig' ? it looks so good it should be ... again , great stuff

Thanks Man and yes that speckled look on the Mark III is the fibres that are in the cowl.Not sure if it quite looked like that from new.However I'm sure over the years it has come out a lot more.The Mark III originally came out with two types of Cowls.One was the same as the Mark II and this one.This is the original cowl from this mower so I thought it only seems right to put it back on.That's one of the reasons why I didn't paint the cowls as I would have lost this original fibre look.

Blumby have u got pictures of the finished projects? They look great so far.

I haven't taken any pictures to stage that they are at presently.Still haven't got there handles re-chromed just haven't had time in finding anybody to the job. I will,but they do have wheels on and have had the Victa painted red as they should be.Will add pictures soon.