OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Reel-Type Mowers New Scott Bonnar 45 Restoration

Hello all,

I have just acquired my father's old SB45 reel mower with intentions of restoringto it's former glory.

The mower is an SB45 14" twin deck with Kirby-Tecumseh 2hp engine. According to the old man's timeline, he purchased it in about 74/75 making it over 40 years old. It has not been started for about 20 years.

I think it's in pretty good nick for it's age, apart from rust and paint peeling.

From what I've read here so far, you blokes are an absolute wealth of knowledge on these great pieces of Australian history and I look forward to sharing my project with all of you.

Anyhow, here are some pictures of the machine when i picked it up.

PS - When I was uploading the pics, some of them appeared sideways/upside down etc (even after I orientated the pictures correctly in picture manager)so sincere apologies if they show up this way on my post Is there anyway to fix this?

Hi Baumy,

Firstly welcome to the ODK Forums, you're certainly in good hands here.

Anyway another Adelaide example of a nice Model 45. I will probably have to correct you in saying that it was more likely that it was purchased sometime in 1975.
Yours is in that period when they changed the ID plate to two plates for a short period of time, the last of the Brass plaques and the introduction of the Ally plates until they put both lots of numbers onto one single Ally plate, also it sports the black coloured Handle bar Shield and chain case cover which were eliminated around the end of 1976 when a whole new colour change was introduced across the range.

I see yours to be a rather straight forward restoration with it being more of a cosmetic resto than a mechanical one as your components all look rather good apart from a reel grind and a bed knife replacement.

Cheers,
BB.

Thanks BB, glad to be on board.

I'm in the process of removing rust from the reel and sole plate and I have a question about paint. I have seen some users have used enamel while others have gone for powder coating?

Which would you recommend? I'm going to get the paint matched this week.

Also what would you recommend as primer/undercoat?

Cheers,
Andrew

Hello Mod BB and Baumy

A warm welcome to these forums.
You are in good hands with BB. I'm sure he will have some colourful
words at hand for powder coating...

This machine is in great original condition, but I would get an air filter
pretty quickly.

This model has particular interest for me - because it was the first
Scott Bonnar 'I' owned - bought by my Dad.

I have a technical question directed to BB:-
The black paint finish was a Matt Black - 'crazed' (I think?) like on an old typewriter.
Any ideas on the paint process? Was it Hammertone Black?

----------------------
Jack

Hi Baumy and Mod CJ,

Yes well I'll use very black & white words regarding powder coating..........................."Don't" use this process on a lawn mower.

The surface becomes Hygroscopic when compromised and allows moisture in under the surface and sets up invisible corrosion which only becomes apparent once it's too late. Paint does not suffer like this and as such is far more protective. Check out the amount of steel based rotary mowers that have been Powder Coated and see the affect on them and how they've suffered. Many have hit the tip and scrap yards a few years after assembly and that's something you certainly don't want to have happen to what you're doing.

I know some earlier members on this forum have promoted this process but after years of service in the field they've all come to the same conclusion, "Don't Do It".

Now as far as your sole plate / bed knife is concerned I can't see in your photos what state the blade is in and as such it will probably be severely rusted which doesn't give good results when grinding it in the sharpening process.

I would strongly suggest that you put all the panel work, reel and sole plate in for blasting, but ask for it not to be done in super aggressive grit as this means you'll get a nasty finish at the end.

Paint your reel afterwards using a good etch primer and then use a good quality enamel in either "International Orange" or "Signal Red". The green you have there on your machine is "Alpine Green" in Hammertone which should be colour matched using the inside of the chain case before its blasted. The base paint used is Silver Hammertone and tinted green as required. There are no formulas known as these were all destroyed when Rover took over manufacturing at the Thebarton plant here in Adelaide around 1980. I have still had no luck with any of the original Adelaide based paint manufacturers, eg. Solver, Dulux and Berger with their old records, nothing shows up under the name Scott Bonnar.

Now as far as Jack's question is concerned this one hasn't been addressed as yet but it is on the cards to be identified as it is a rather peculiar finish and to this day I still don't understand why this particular paint was used or this colour chosen as it certainly isn't SB's greatest colour scheme in the marketing area. Mind you that SB was owned by the Challenge Bank Group at this point of the companies history and they did some strange stuff as they weren't lawn mower people, just money men that didn't have a clue about the industry.

Cheers,
BB.

Hi Jack and BB, I remember back in the seventies you could buy wrinkle finish paint, you sprayed it on as normal and as it dried it wrinkled up. I have never looked for it or seen it again, maybe this is what they used

Hi Norm
That's interesting.
You use to see this effect on old typewriters too.
It is sometimes called 'Wrinkle' paint or 'Crinkle' paint.

BB will be much better at understanding this than me:-
https://www.autobarn.com.au/vht-wrinkle-finish-black-sp201
http://www.frost.co.uk/how-to-use-vht-wrinkle-finish-paint
http://www.build-threads.com/general-car-stuff/diyhow-to-wrinkle-texture-paint/


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

Hi Guys,

It's definitely not that VHT branded product as that is rather rough in it's finished texture and would do nothing more than catch dirt and grime. The finish that was used on the Scotties was a far smoother finish when you ran your hand over it. As I mentioned I will look into it as I think I do have a mower here with that chaincase and shield on it. I guess I've just never looked into it as I dislike the colour scheme and have never had an interest in replicating it.

Cheers,
BB.

Hello BB
That may be in the application of the product...?
The images of the Lotus Cover (red) was not as pronounced in its effect.
I wonder whether there might be a difference, too, on pressed steel surfaces?

------------------------
Jack

I'm on to it guys !!

The black was definately an interesting colour scheme - I don't really like it as it just doesn't seem to 'fit in'. However I do want this beauty to be original.

One thing I can't seem to find anywhere are the original fuel tank decals - there are some on eBay but they all have the "horsepower" printed in the middle while my original does not.

Any ideas?

Hi Baumy,

The sticker yours has is the later sticker that was used on the Briggs and Stratton engine line up and the last Kirby's.

This proves that yours is a late 1975 machine with its original engine just prior to the engine line up change over.

One of our members "willingworker" has these decals for sale so it's probably best you contact him via the PM feature on this site.

Just out of interest, the artwork used on your transfer was a direct copy of the decals used on the original 1968, 14 inch Briggs powered Model 45 while all the other size machines used Kirby's with those other HP rated decals. Odd isn't it ??

Cheers,
BB.

Thanks BB, contacted the bloke selling them in eBay and he was more than happy to recreate a sticker for me.

As for my progress - the reel, sole plate, chain cover, handlebar cover, fuel tank and catcher are down at the sandblasters getting all ready for paint. The bloke at the sandblasters has actually restored an sb45 so I'm in good hands.

I found my dad's original manual aswell which I will upload later tonight. I also have the original Kirby-Tecumseh manual which came with the mower.

Thanks everyone for all your help so far, long road ahead but I'm having a ball so far

Hi guys sorry for the delayed post - these pictures are from the original manual

PS - Can a moderator fix the picture orientation?

Cheers guys,

Hi all,

Interesting to see the fuel tank mounted on the side of the engine above the pull starter opposed to the normal opposite side to the exhaust position.

Cheers,
BB.

Hi BB,

Yes I noticed that aswell, definately unusual.

I have just seen my sandblasted and primed bits and pieces and they are looking a treat. They'll get painted this week.

I do have a question regarding panel beating.

Do ou know of anyone in Adelaide who will actually do the panel beating at a reasonable cost?

I've been to several crash repairers near me and either they won't do it or it will cost over $200.

You can see the catcher and chain cover in the first post of this thread.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers,
Baumy

**Sorry keyboard slip - I've actually been quoted mostly around or above the $500 mark***

I guess you can take that as proof nobody wants to do it. From memory somebody is making new catchers for a lot less than that. What you have there is no big deal to repair the damage, just nobody can be bothered repairing things these days

Hi guys,

Sorry I havent posted in a while, been pretty busy with study over the last 2 months.

I managed to find a bloke on gumtree who does panel beating on weekends. Did a pretty good job and got the catcher and chain cover straightened out nicely.

I have received some parts back from the sandblaster/painters. I went for Hammerite dark green hammertone for the green parts and international orange for the reel and other orange parts.

Im currentlyin the process of removing all the old paint from the engine. What is the best way to prep the motor for painting. Is it possible to sanblast? Or will that process ruin the motor and atttachemnts (such as bolts/screws/springs etc). Would I have to completely strip it down andtake off all the little bits and pieces?

Pics of my refurbished parts are below:







More updates to come. Thanks for everyone's help so far - I'm having fun andlook forward to sharing more.

Cheers,

Baumy

Hello Baumy
What an impressive result for the panel beating.
I feel you have shown what is possible here, and you
most certainly will help others.

Many thanks.
-------------------
Jack

Wow ! That looks Super Dooper ! (sorry Jack)

If I may ask, how much did the bloke charge you to do the catcher ?

Oh, and Paint stripper is probably the best method for engines along with loys of scrubbing, poking and prodding all the small recesses etc.

Cheers,
BB.

Hi BB,

The panel beating was about $200 for both the catcher and chain cover.

It's still expensive - all of the sandblasting/priming/painting done so far was only $150..

I had a feeling that would be the case with the engine. I've already stripped most of the paint, just getting into the nooks and crannies is a pain.

My plan is this week to remove all paint, then apply rust killer, then prime and maybe even top coat if time permits.

Cheers,

Baumy

$200 ??? you could nearly buy a new one for that. I personally think it's a tad over the top being that its cash in hand work.

Is he the guy in Brahma Lodge by any chance ?

Regardless it will look superb in the end I'd say.

Cheers,
BB.

The bloke was in Camden Park I think, yeah it is a steep price but I really wanted to keep original parts as best I could. The main problem was getting anyone who actually wanted to do the job - pretty much no one else would touch it. Obviously I'm very happy with the result - decals go on next week so it will start looking a million bucks very shortly