OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Rotary Pope 320-01 Rotary Mower

This mower was sold on EBay as part of a collection near Toowoomba, then it was not wanted by the buyer of the collection who relisted it on EBay. I was outbid on it then and the winner brought it down to Brisbane, it was then swapped to a friend of mine who on-sold it to me. It remained untouched from the first sale

First up it is a bloody heavy mower ! The tyres have gone flat from sitting, Pete aka ihatewetsocks is generously sending me some replacement ones. I stripped down the carby and air filter assembly giving them a good clean. They are very well made items, the carby is very interesting and a bit of a mix between Victa and Villiers in make.


The fuel tank had the usual gunk inside and took a lot of persistent cleaning to get it to an acceptable level, the original braided fuel line broke in half so I will have to have a replacement made up.

I removed the flywheel to clean up the ignition, my plan was to replace the flywheel with a spare that I have but found that the original one was considerably lighter with some different machining. After servicing the ignition a healthy spark was present.

The spark plug was badly corroded into the head and when removed it stripped out the thread, after removing the cylinder head I found that it has the same stud spacing as a Victa one. Problem solved and now the Victa head is in place until I helicoil the original, the engine also had very little if any compression.

When I had the head off I cleaned the bore and got some fresh oil and Inox down the side of the piston to lubricate the rings a bit. I figured that perhaps the lack of compression was due to a dry bore and rings.

All back together and fingers crossed, after a few attempts at starting the engine limped into life. A bit sick at first but the revs picked up and it settled nicely, the fuel ran out and I mixed a slightly oilier mix to get a bit of oil where it was needed. Glad to report that compression is very healthy now :-)





Very happy with the engine now, just need to sort the flywheel, having the shroud fitted makes it a bit tricky to get to the fuel tap and primer

The handle bars fold nicely but it necessitates the removal of one fixing bolt and the loosening of the other

Not sure about the two holes in the cowl near the larger opening, perhaps there was a flap or grill than swung down to cover the opening ? I think this mower had a short life due to a quick product progression and cost of manufacturing, the cowl and cast base were a luxury. Much cheaper and easier to press out a base and no cowl made things cooler and a lot more user friendly.

All in all I am very happy to have this example as part of my collection, it won't be getting a restoration just a thorough cleaning and tidy up :-)

I wanted that one Paul!! Grrr.... This mower has traveled around a fair bit now, maybe it should make one last jump to my place haha!
I'm sure you will make a great restoration on it Paul! and a quick one, none of mine ever seem to happen quick... These are a super cool mower, one of the coolest in my opinion!

Im the one who brought it

G'day Paul, Kye and CT

Talk about movement at the station.
That's quite a complex trail of owners there!

I find these 320-01's interesting in that there are so many ... details.
It's the first time I have noticed the 'tickler port' on the shroud
to access the tickler and tap. A different tap might make for better access...
Here's one with an original tap and line ?)



I have a question - the two small holes above the port serve
what purpose? I note that Pope's Pope also has them.

Paul, I also note your comment on the weight of the machine.

The handles also seem to have a 'floating' feature, that some
operators might have found annoying.

Great videos - as always - and I will link to this post
from the History record.

Kye, I can't believe you missed out on a mower ...

All very Papal.
--------------------
Jack

it is a through bolt jack , same or simillar as the just a little later popes handles . it just folds the handles but locks them in place when upright

I know Jack!!! I got outbid on eBay by $5! It had 2 Southern Cross mowers (one with its catcher) and a bunch of reel mowers an parts, would have been great. I wonder if those Southern Cross mowers went to the Southern Cross museum? They sold to someone in that area, and all they sold on after that was the Pope (not sure if the reels got sold).

Hello ODK members :-)

Funny how things turn out. Jack, I do not like the way the handle bars float. I see on the next model they solve it by putting a set of really ugly bolts there for adjustment.

The two holes are countersunk leading me to think that something was on the inside not the outside ?

Gizmo may hold the answer to the two holes, looking at his cowl there seems to be a cover over the access port ?


Interesting, also an instruction decal on the back of the cowl. I don't think there would be a Pope decal there as in Popes restoration as there is such a prominent Pope logo on the front of the machine. I would like to see some better pics of Gizmo's cowl if he reads this.

G'day Paul

I guess that's likely it; given that the alloy cowl is both
decorative and functional. Perhaps a cover was needed to
stop escape of fan air before it did its cooling job?

I have not been able to find Patent 30128/57 that might have
shed light on the access flap (?).

p.s. Yep, I'm no fan of 'floating' handles either.
It'd be like holding on to a wet bus ticket.
[Probably a good feature on Flymos though.]

All very interesting.
--------------------------
Jack

this is a rubber insert .i guess the 2 holes are what keep it in place.

nice score there Paul. looks in a lot better nick than mine.
my tyres are flattened out as well.must've been the batch of bad rubber they used.
i also am not sure how some of mine is supposed to look as it has quite a few bits missing. (fuel tank) carbie. part of air cleaner etc.
anyway heres all the pics i have of it at the moment.












the last pic is of an external home made capacitor it had on it to make it run i guess.
i removed the flywheel housing and cleaned up the original parts and removed that ugly piece of crap. thats all it required and it has great spark and fired up using a victa carbie.
and thats about all i have done to it thus far. i will keep my eye out for those elusive bits.

Gizmo I have been told by someone that they have NOS Pope wheels, only problem is I will have to wait until Nambour Swap meet, and even them I will have to find them, and then they might forget the wheels or they might have not had them in the first place or they might not be Pope.
But if all goes to plan and I do get them I will message you about it, unless I find myself a 320-01 before then! I don't want any pope mowers besides the 320-01 so I am sure that you could use them better then me.

^^^

Kye; That would be me with the tyres. I'll be mailing them to Paul tomorrow so gone now On;y 3 through so it's a bit inconvenient!

Pete.

I met these people at Blackbutt swap meet Pete, they said they had a set at one point and they will try to find them and take them to Nambour. Fingers crossed I can get my hands on them and they are whole wheels. I can't wait for Nambour!
I got a box of B&S parts, a Victa Deluxe Super power cover and 2 wheels to match my Gardener for only $7 of them! Very happy!

Hi Kye,
Keep an eye out for that Ogden base that you saw last time, I would love to put my engine back onto a frame.

I will Paul, wish I got it now, I have handle for it here...

the wheels on these i think are one of a kind.as i now have the model in the pic below.
these wheels look the same in the pic, however the 320s are a larger diameter.

I will have to see what size they are if I get them then Gizmo.

cheers kye.
the one i got from you still has a couple missing.so if they are cheap grab them mate .i will use them for sure.

Will do Gizmo, there other stuff was cheap so hopefully they we be as well. Has any progress been made on the old girl since the last time I saw her?