OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Other Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers Pope Rotary valve 2T

Looks great chris! That barrel looks solid,very similar to my 35s.

How was the bore and and ring gap? Can just see the lower ring and it still looks like its got a bit of meat...Not bad for 45+ years...Does it look oversized or original?

Cant wait to see this done, I think it will look a lot more appealing as a whole wgen its all done...Shame about the orange though. You gonna go original or change the shade...Rocket red or chev orange might be a good alternative....Even wattle delicious if you wanna red it up:)

Bore is about 54mm stroke is about 55mm all looks good and I not worry about ring gap as the rings looked good and I've had it running and it's very strong feels like twice the power of a Victa 125, but I put that down to no governor / massive crank weights and the blade disc is so heavy easy 2x the weight of an old Victa,once wound up sure would take some slowing down! lol.. It's up to the operator how many revs they feel it needs...Myself I was not game to hold it at full throttle for too long feels like an old Suzuki Pe175 engine bolted to a mower ..oh yeah going with chev orange its very close....

Not much of an update but it's kind of looking like a mower again..

That looks Awesome!!!!! The Finish is beautiful. This is gonna be a valuable resto for the Archives Chris!

There was/is an engine on ebay...but since yours is running I let the info pass.

Thanks Blue this old Pope has grown on me.. I wasn't sure if I liked the styling but I'm liking it more now it's looking kind of as it did way back when and from my working out I think this is what I'd call the 3rd generation Pope mower??. I will be keeping my eye out for anything Pope from now on....Few pics I'm getting there one pic is under the fuel tank and the original orange paint, also there is a lot to be said for remote air filters the piston and bore are in great shape even though the so called filter is just some mesh! lol....Cheers

SHIIIINYYYY....I love shiny!

Maybe you should buy that engine on Thievebay?
Yeah from what Jack has said, it appears to be Third generation.

Im sure your other engine sits on a similar if not the same base as this one. And then there is that hideous looking First Model....I dont think that would ever grow on me!

Looks Near flawless Mate....And like I said previously, it will be far more appealing once its restored...And correct me if im wrong, but Im thinking this is the first of this model ever to undergo a full Resto...

Hi Chris125 and ODK members,

I don't know if your a 'smoke and mirrors' man or what...
It's rare to find this level of talent in re-producing the 'spirit' of a machine.

That Pope logo is a mirror of the original!
The paint is as alive as the original Pope Persimmon!
Look at how you have solved the problem of the missing height adjustment covers!

As I have said before, your talent in industrial photography is also exceptional. I mean (for example):



Great work Chris and one for the ODK record of these great lawnmowers.
I hope more folk start collecting them before their disappearance.

All very inspirational.
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JACK.

Thanks mate as far as I can tell the 2nd generation base has a hole for the muffler and the height adjusters are slightly different, apart from that they seem to share the same base..

Thanks Jack I find I'm getting an eye for what looks right but I still have a long way to go but I'm getting better at restoring things,It sure did not happen overnight so many tricks too it all and I try to keep cost low the Pope has cost me about 50 bucks so far...oh yeah I restore a mower to be a working mower just add fuel and mow as they where made to do...

G'day guys well I'm getting there not much to do now, few sneak pics before the old Pope lives again! ..I'm a fan! also I found a better muffler with way less rust pitting

Dont look at the paint...Nooo dont look. But, but its sooo beautiful! Drools Homer style* Mmmm pope...Baahaaaa. You officially now suck, as your restos are bettering mine sobs.

An amazing resto Chris, you should be proud of your ever increasing skills.

A perfect and worthy Machine to showcase Pope for the Archives!

Well done Mate:)

Thank's Mal but I'm still an apprentice from what guys like you and alwil can do restoring a machine I look on in awe... With this old Pope I'm working on who knew there was such a proud old Aussie mower under all the years of crap it's awesome!.. On a side note this old Pope is on the bay and has the shark teeth look going on, and looks from the factory to me did the one you have look anything like it maybe not a home done job?.. Cheers here is a pic..

Lols....Yep thats him Mate, Hideous creature. No its definately no home job and is the same as mine. Why the teeth? No idea, except for less resistance in longer grass....More likely its just to scare away the deaf crickets and frogs so they dont get chopped?

While your model still retains some style, the same cannot be said for this model! Its a really ugly machine! I saw this a week back, but thought not to pass it in lest your eyes be blinded and you turned to stone, due to its Gorgon type qualites. Oh and it was in Melbourne and really overpriced.

The only good thing about mine was the fact it had a villiers mk3 on it....

And Just a heads up....If you were thinking of befriending this Creature, then Ill be forced to retract every nice comment Ive given! Baaahaaaaa.

Hi all,

I think the 'teeth' styling was meant to make the mower look more aggressive -
like it's eating devouring the grass ...

What is interesting for me is that an Australian mainstream lawnmower manufacturer was using
Clinton Engines - with their roller bearing bottom end ...

p.s. Chris's machine and Blue's SB 35 would look awesome in an ODK Calendar!



All very interesting.
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JACK.

Chris125

You get my award for style in recording your restoration, and
the stunning restoration itself. ODK is very lucky to have talented restorers
of garden machinery. They show the rest of us how it's done.

It's an art form:-

Thanks guys, and buggered if I know how you did that Jack .. Few pics not done much been to busy mowing lol.. Got the tank shroud decal done never made decals before (not easy ) think they look ok kind of made it up as I went along ...

Decals look amazing Mate! Now whats with the Victa parts eh? Choke clamp and thottle control....Any idea what throttle this Pope ran Chris?

Now being rarer than hen's teeth I even picked a few of them up off the lawn today hens teeth that is lol.. I was hoping you could tell me what the correct parts looked like I may have them in the bottom of a box if I knew what they looked like.. I tried the snorkel under the handlebars as I think it should be (from pics of old Popes I've seen) but it just looks nasty with the Victa clamp ...At any rate I've seen a lot of old mowers in the last week most I have never seen or heard of before crazy how little I know of old mowers but no old Popes to finish this one off .... Fingers crossed I will find an old Pope with the parts I need..

Hello Chris125, Bluegmhtmonaro and ODK members,

Keeping the issue of hen-related dentistry to the side , I would like to thank you again
for the magnificent restoration of this machine.

You have asked about the air snorkel and how it looked and I do want to say something here...

The inverted "V" handle and Pope carby are signifiers of the Pope model you have.
I think it means this is a 320-5 model, or maybe later.

I believe that this handle design did not have a snorkel at all.
I think it should have the Pope torpedo shaped paper-cartridge filter mounted off the carby.
In any case, I can find no evidence of any snorkel used without that primary filtration.

I believe the throttle control is machine correct.

All very historical.
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JACK.