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I have picked up quite a few mowers lately.One of which was a Victa 4 stroke with a Tecumseh engine on an alloy base.Now when I got it home the engine didn't work (it may I don't know yet).I also had picked up another Victa 4 stroke with a Briggs on a steel base.It's engine did work.However it did have quite a few problems.The front axle was not attached handle bars were hanging off and a fair bit of damage underneath.Such as cutting disc was bent out of shape and the boss had both teeth snapped of.What to do then a light bulb appeared above my head.This is what happened.










So this was the end result.A mower that is 10 year old but looks almost brand new.Here is a YouTube video address.
[video][/video]
That video was taken before it's final clean.So you will see some dirt on it.Tell you what you think.This is the perfect example of a mower that was descented for scrap,but now has a new lease on life.I like it that much that it is now not for sale,but it is going to stay with me and mow my lawns.That way I know it will be looked after.I couldn't bear to see this one look bad and that dirty again.

It looks stylish Jeffrey, but I hope it had oil in it when you made that video. Sounds appalling.

Yes it does in the video.If you hear it here or direct from the cameras memory card it sounds completely different.I don't know what you-tube are doing at the moment but all of my recent up-loads come out sounding shocking.They have a feature that says (we have noticed some shacking in you video.Would you like us to take it out?)I always say no cause if you say yes it sounds and looks worse again,so I'm not sure why it turns out so bad.Yes it has oil I gave it an oil change.

Thanks for clarifying that. Aside from the tinny clatter which has been caused by Youtube, it misses shots from time to time, but Briggs engines do that. In fact the only mower engines I can think of that don't, are OHV Hondas. So, if the engine runs as well as that mower looks, you have a good one there.

Ahhhh....Viva la Honda!!

Yes well I think I've done well considering it was bound for scrap.Actually it doesn't look as good on camera as what it does with the naked eye.I mean besides some scratches on the base it looks brand new.Not bad for a 10 year old mower.

good job....looks like a good daily driver

Better get it's Backyard cousin cleaned up and put them together for a photo shoot, now that you have finnished it!

2-stroke for the back, 4-stroke for the front, not bad, particuarly with the matching set!

Had to do some changing of parts today but all done will take some pictures shortly.

OK I have taken some pictures of my 2 mowers that actually mow my lawn here they are together.







The 2 stroke is a 2009 model.I don't know how it happened but the 2 stroke has ended up with a name.I call it Mow Mow.Don't know how it came about but it stuck.I would love to get a sticker made up to put on top of the cowl,with it's name on it.
I will try and get pictures of them during the day.As these were taken tonight,and yes they are both sleeping inside tonight.Hopefully I can get them in the shed tomorrow.

I know I'm revisiting an older post but it is still a current one.As I still have this old girl.Now just recently it started to run a little funny and wasn't going well.Also it was going through oil,not burning it.So I did a pull down,I followed the oil tray.I found that there was a gasket that was leaking,see below the circled area.

After fixing and giving her a good clean up and making it look how she did.I put her back together now she just won't start,wtf?What have I done?I have spark she getting fuel.
What I'm thinking is here.

Now I didn't touch the coil pack,but just by removing the flywheel is it possible I have changed the gap between them?Maybe reduced the spark quality?
What size is that gap suppose to be?
Help please as I'm really just scratching my head as I just can't figure out what I have done.

Blumby, there is a specific air gap but i dont recall it off the top of my head. The gap has a fair tolerance to deviation from the specified norm but i found an everyday ordinary business card to be the perfect size for the job. and you can do both sides at the same time, otherwise you need one of those long, flexible feeler guages. The card has never let me down in the past.
Also some obvious questions for you and i apologise in advance if they seem trivial. 1) have you got spark? 2) Is the keyway/flywheel in place and in good order? 3) have you tried some starter fluid in the plughole to see if that gets it going?
It can't be anything too drastic as you haven't done anything major in the repair.
Good Luck!!

Air gap as specified in the briggs manual is 0.15 -0.25mm

Yes it has spark (blue in colour)Yes it has keyway,yes all good.Also yes I used some start you bastard not even a bang at all.Yes thanks for the gap measurements I'll give that a go.

yep normally the brass feeler gauge is the one, thats why its brass/non magnetic, sounds strange to me if you have fuel, spark and timing is right,valve timing is the only other thing that may be stopping it have you checked the valve clearance?

Well I checked the cap it was only 10thou so I set it to 20thou.Sprayed some more start you bastard in. Managed to get it to kick about twice then stopped.Put the fuel tank on gave it some fuel..............Nothing.I might tomorrow check make sure the spark plug is OK.I just don't understand I fixed a leaky gasket and it the bloody thing doesn't want to go.Unbelievable.

Yeah, you got me stumped, given what youve done. Change the plug and go from there.

Yes I know it just doesn't make sence. It was running not well,but not too bad and now nothing.

havnt given the kill wire a little tug somewhere by mistake maybe ?

If you don't mind me saying check your key for the keyway this has got me in the past. Have a good look at for wear of the key especially if your flywheel is very easy to take off. Good luck

No the wire is fine it has spark.Just apparently not enough to start.
roebuck the keyway is fine.This engine hasn't had a lot of use and the flywheel is on correctly and no signs of wear.

Blumbly, Is it possible that the ignition coil could be bad? I know you have bright blue spark, but you said that it was running poorly. Maybe it was slowly breaking down and now will not work under load. Just a suggestion, swap a coil from another known good quantum, and go from there. Then you can verify that the ignition coil is not at fault. If this doesn't work try disconnecting the kill wire and give it a final starting.

This may be the problem, we do have an ignition tester at work, to test these, but as you don't, swapping a known good one will do just fine and setting the proper air gap.

Well I'm at a lose now have pulled it apart again.Just can't work out what is wrong with it.Has a good spark (so I can't see anything wrong with the coil pack).The key-way is all good (a nice tight fit).Spark plug seems to be working fine (gave it a good clean).The gap for the flywheel is fine.Fuel not a problem either,everything points to a running mower,but not.The only thing that does seem to be not quite right is I gave it a spray of start you bastard and it tried to fire,only problem was it's timing was out.Now if it was a car I'd say I had the distributor out by 180 degrees,but it's not.However I'm thinking it has something to do with timing.Now that is a problem as I'm not to crash hot with four strokes.I'm a two stroke guy,give me a two stroke and I'll get it running.The only thing I can think of is the cam would be out slightly,but how it was running I only pulled it apart to fix an oil leak.I've even gone back to the basics which is how an internal combustion engine works which is. Suck,Squeeze,Bang,Blow,now from that I'm thinking that the bang part is not right.Please help if you can I'm really stuck on this.

seems funny as it was running before. your timing shouldnt have changed too much.only thing i can think of is maybe it has a stuck open valve. if its firing incorrectly it would probably misbehave like back fire or something?
the first stroke the fuel valve opens to let in fuel. you said its getting fuel so that cant be stuck closed.the exhaust valve needs to stay closed till it fires then open on the exhaust stroke to let the the gases out. maybe the valves are broken or stuck open.
or the timing is 90 degrees out and its firing on the exhaust stroke.

I just don't know,it just doesn't make any scene to me at all.

OK weird yes that's right weird.I don't know what was going on,but I have a motto.That is never give up,so keeping that in mind I decided to pull it apart again right down to pulling the plate off and resealing it.Not that it needed it,it was all good.I put it back to together except the fuel tank.I sprayed some start you bastard and pulled the cord,it fired.I thought, WHAT??So I put the tank on gave it some fuel and right there on the first pull away it ran.Like it never had a problem.So I'm happy to say that the mower affectionately know as Brum Brum is now back to running.I don't know what was wrong but it's not now.I'd like to thank everybody for there help.There was quite a few good ideas in there.It's great to know that when these problems come up there is people that are happy to help.
Thanks all.

wow. far out. well the mystery will forever remain a mystery. i am glad its running good for you now .

Lol. Good to see that it is running.

I used a similar solution at work once when the brake pedal on a Bolens ride on wouldn't depress at all. Completely stuck. So after lubricating things, I decided to completely dismantle all the brake linkages. Everything was free at the gearbox. It did not make sense to me why it was sticking. So after seeing that nothing was wrong, I reassembled everything, and it all worked perfectly. I didn't do anything but disassemble and reassemble. lol.

Sometimes when working on mowers. Stuff just happens. Lol

Yes, a lesson for all of us. Sometimes you just have to do things twice.

Yes but still doesn't make sence. There must have been something but I couldn't find it. I guess alls well that ends well. A mystery it will remain.