OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Victa 2-Stroke: Looks Like the End

In todays Herald Sun page 17

"The iconic Victa two-stroke lawnmower will no longer be produced in Australia because it cannot pass proposed new carbon rules.
The two-stroke has powered millions of Victas since 1952 but production has slowed to a trickle at the plant where it is built as customers migrate to models with more modern four-stroke engines."


This should make any of the 2 strokers more collectable

They haven't been produced here for years. Victa is owned by Briggs in US and engines built in China.

It's going around the world. 2 strokes have been out of production in UK for years. They were still making the Seagull outboards until that law came in!

Pete

Never stopped the facts from getting in the way of a good paper story

G'day Norm and IHWS

That's great news Norm. My understanding is that Victa announced this to dealers
a couple of months ago, but this is the first I've heard of a public statement on
the matter.

It should be of no surprise, but these issues impact on more than just lawnmowers.
I have found two documents that have been helpful to me in understanding why
some two-stroke designs must go.

They are the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement prepared for the Environment Protection and Heritage Council in May, 2010. The second is a document of the comments made by Briggs & Stratton (Australia) in July, 2010.

I have attached both reports below, because they do make for some shocking and fascinating reading.

Currently, there are no national regulations in Australia that restrict emissions from non-road spark ignition equipment and engines. In contrast, national emission standards for motor vehicles have been in force since 1972.

The US introduced regulations for non-road spark ignition engines and equipment in 1995 and Europe established regulations in 2003. Australia has not been quick to act on this.

Some Facts & Statistics
Air pollutants emitted from non-road spark ignition engines and equipment include nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide [CO], air toxics including benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and particulate matter. These emissions result in direct health impacts, and some also contribute to indirect health impacts through the formation of ground-level ozone, an indicator of photochemical smog. These engines also produce emissions in addition to exhaust gases that can impact on water and soil quality. For example, carburetted two stroke engines can emit up to 30% of their fuel unburned into the water or atmosphere, and these high-emission engines are prohibited on some lakes in California.

For example, one hour of operation of a brushcutter certified to US standards produces around the same emissions of air pollutants as ten cars operated over the same period.

Garden equipment and recreational marine equipment are major contributors to urban non-road emissions of air pollutants. Figures 2.1 and 2.2 illustrate that the contributions of these combined sectors to urban non-road emissions of CO and VOC are 59% and 66%, respectively.





I know many members will be keen to read these docs from cover to cover.
The Briggs doc is 6 pages, the Report is 62 pages.

Here is a bit more of todays article.

"Tom Rugg, managing director of Briggs & Stratton Australia- the US-based small engine giant has owned Victa since 2008-said sales of the Victa with the Aussie-built two stroke motor had plummeted to less than 5000 a year, casting doubt on the viability of a redesign to meet the new standards

Hi Norm

I don't know what you think about that but at least one key reason for the
plummeting sales of Victa 2-strokes has been Victa's own long-term strategy.

Since the 2008 takeover of this once Aussie Icon brand, Briggs has systematically
reduced the range of 2-stroke mowers on offer - not in response to consumer
demand, but to lead and manipulate consumer preferences and taste.

After all, Briggs has always been a 4-stroke company, and Victa - and the
once great AUS mower manufacturers - are just branding names, shadows of
their former selves.

An emission compliant Victa 2-stroke could be possible ... and viable ...
if there was a will to make it so. Victa is not an Australian company,
so no point flogging a dead horse.

Had Victa remained in Australian hands, an argument could be made to
preserve the Victa 2-stroke engine, but I see no point in it now.

Perhaps the real issue is the decline of Aussie manufacturing, ingenuity
and ... ownership, and ... icon sellouts.

All very nostalgic.
-----------------------
Jack

you guys need to get some facts straight before you sprout it.....!

I'm honestly a little surprised the 2 strokes lasted as long as they did. Especially since they were bought by B&S, the long time reigning king of small 4 stroke engines. And I guess people also just find the 4 stroke an easier engine to live with. Still have a fascination with those old 2 stroke Victa motors.

Well folks, it's not just B&S' agenda at work here.

What's behind this, from the regulations point of view, is a Federal Government plan, under the umbrella of the 'National Clean Air Agreement'.

As CyberJack has said, at present there are no emissions rules at all for 'small engines' in Australia [unlike many other countries].
But that is planned to change in 2017, and will effectively spell finis for the 2-stroke mower engine here. This has been in the pipeline for a fair while now.

The applicable Work Plan is HERE - 100kB PDF.

THIS Outdoor Power Equipment Association Aust doco has a more detailed rundown on what to expect.

The 2010 Regulation Impact Statement, and many of the industry submissions made on it, are available HERE .

While the technology exists to build a compliant 2-stroke mower engine, I don't believe it would be price-competitive with existing 4-strokes. Unlike say outboard boat engines. Particularly now that mowers have essentially become a 'disposable' item, rather than a 'repairable durable' good.

By the way, these rules will not apply to existing engines, just to new ones offered for sale.

just to clarify a point here chaps......when did the victa 2 stroke engine stop being made in Australia???
and who said it's being made in China???
according to Victa themselves, they have around 2000 2 stroke blocks left that they think will take around two years to clear, and as sales have fallen away, they wont be redesigning the engine for the future emissions laws,
this is customer driven, more so than some scheme on Briggs part to do away with the Aussie 2 stroke.....as Gadge has said, it's more to do with the modern consumer in their throw away world! a case in point.....person brings "cheap" mower into shop and bawks at paying $45 to have new blades fitted because the mower didn't cost much more than that. The current new 2 stokes are already expensive because of high production costs- in Australia- and low sales, so it's no wonder Briggs arn't prepared to regig them......and if you look at the four strokes , they are constantly being updated to meet standards, hence the demise of the mighty side valve's...
For my mind, Briggs buying Victa was the best thing that could have happened, as it has kept the company in Australia and they have the money to keep it ahead of the rest, it could have easily gone off shore, the 2 stroke is no different to the Commondore and Falcon, no one buys them so out they go!! We should be supporting Briggs and so in turn supporting Victa....we'll always have a 125/160 to play with, and if you want a new one, then buy one NOW!

At the end of the day, in 10 years we will still be on here talkin of repairing and collecting mowers. That's what it's all about. It's not good to wast energy on something we can't change.

It's all rather interesting I must say, so one asks the question, How much longer is 2 stroke oil going to be available for ???

Cheers,
BB

I don't see that as a problem, given that there are emission compliant
2-strokes in use on all sorts of equipment. As Gadge has nicely explained,
the issue here is the desire to make 2-stroke lawnmower engines emission
compliant ... it's just not viable, given that we have compliant 4-strokes.

What Gadge said was something I wish I would have said:
For whatever the coincidence, Briggs ownership of Victa did not spell the
decline of the Victa 2-stroke. It was a governmental fete a compli.

It's still an interesting question you raise.
How about: how long will Internal Combustion lawnmowers be made?
I wouldn't throw away those SB45 electrics yet.

There's a nice pun in that Heff!

Cheers
-------------------
Jack

Bruce would probably have a more exact idea of the timeline, but the casting and machining of the PowerTorque blocks was offshored to China before 2000, for sure. And it may have been as early as the mid 90's.

So since then Victa have only assembled these engines here.

There are some telltale characteristics, like cylinder fin spacing, to tell them apart, as in the last post in THIS thread.