I have inherited a Scott Bonnar with a Briggs and Stratton engine and a Victa Imperial Mark 3 from my grandfather. They both worked about 8 years ago to my knowledge. A little run down and needing some tlc.
The SB appears to be complete, while the Victa Imperial is missing a fuel hose and clutch cable. Both of them seem to have spinning clutches when pulling on the starter cord slightly and both of the blades/reels spin when pushed by hand, although very tough, needing a grease/clean and maybe some new bushes or the like if they use these either side of the roller?
My father-in-law is a very handy fitter/turner and can fabricate just about anything if we need to replace nylon bushes or steel pieces etc. I will be roping him in for these projects for sure!
I dare not attempt to start either until I have replaced spark plugs, air cleaners, dismantled, cleaned, lubed and replaced seals etc. Will give a lick of paint too.
Will a standard victa fuel hose/tap from ebay do the job for the Imperial, and can someone share a pic of where to attach a clutch cable and fuel hose?
I think I have found the spigot that the fuel hose will connect to on the carby/throttle body, I am not sure if the mechanism where the clutch cable attaches is missing/damaged though. EDIT: I figured this out this afternoon, can see what remains of the clutch cable in one of the pics attached... The throttle cable and plastic switch body up on the handlebar on the imperial seems to be ok, just the clutch handle missing its cable.
Looked at the 125cc manual as this appears to be the motor on my Imperial labeled as a mark 3.
The SB has a 3 horse power engine sticker on the side of it. Not sure if that helps identify the model, but this mower appears to just need a clean/service. I am right assuming that the briggs stratton is not original on the SB?
Lastly, there's an oil filler lid on at least one of them. Is one a 2 stroke and the other a 4? Or do they use a wet clutch or something? I have no idea, except I always thought they were both 2-stroke, certainly the briggs motor is, and the 125cc on the imperial should be right?
Aaw my Grandfather use them to cut his pristine santa ana lawn many times as a wee tacker... Cant wait to resto them and see how they both turn out.
I really appreciate the manuals and the Victa history pages, excellent forum/resource. Also appreciate any assistance with my numerous questions, thank you very much.
Will a standard victa fuel hose/tap from ebay do the job for the Imperial, and can someone share a pic of where to attach a clutch cable and fuel hose?
Hello Bolt Yes, a standard plastic fuel tap should do the job.
Why is the SB more rewarding? Easier to maintain and manage the blades, 4-stroke smoothness etc?
PS, on the weekend I will clean up, then take some more closeup pics of the SB and look inside the chain case to see that the sprockets and chains are all ok and there's no dodgy repairs etc.
After reading another resto thread on here, I'm guessing the condition of the reel and bed knife are equally as important. Fortunately I think they are in better nick than the Victa. They have both been stored in a small tool shed for about a decade.
I'm also thinking it's fairly likely I can get a new set of gaskets etc for the Briggs and Stratton ? I might head down to my local mower specialist and see what they have in stock. There's oil staining all over the SB but I think it has dripped off of something else in storage.
Given the poor condition of the catcher I will have a mate who is an excellent sheet metal worker knock me up a new one. Unless anyone has a second hand one around Adelaide?
I will start a new thread on the SB specifically with pictures of any irregularities I might encounter.
Never quite understood using a 2 Stroke on a Cylinder cut mower. Victa did it because that's all they used on any of their mowers back then, but they really weren't that successful.
The Scotty with that engine on it if running correctly will go forever I'd say. It has replaced what I'd feel was originally a Kirby H4.
As Jack eluded to .......and that is that the SB45 is far more rewarding to use and service, but then I could be seen to be biased I guess.
Cheers, BB.
PS. do you have a brother named Andrew ?
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
As far as your question regaind the rewards of the Model 45 is concerned,
The ease of operation of the machine with it's hair trigger drive clutch and the availability of spare parts for servicing is just far more of a viable proposition than any Imperial. The Imperials generally fetch very little when they come up for sale while the Scotty's have gone through the roof in selling prices in the past 2 years. Not sure how much longer this will last but it's keeping the availability of spare parts well and truly going, which is good from us 45 owners perspective. Not good for anyone wanting to buy one though.
I wouldn't be visiting any lawn mower shops for parts as they are just charging over the top prices for any parts and at the rate they are going more and more the way of the Dodo.
As far as parts are concerned check the huge range of online sellers including our own online store and you'll find that prices are far cheaper than any shop front store.
Keeping parts pricing low is what keeps our machines viable, as soon as they go through the roof so do the mowers start heading to the hard rubbish pile.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Gday bolt. i have a couple of those with the victa. i must say the victa runs it too fast for easy control. my 2nd victa someone has modified the gearing to make it move slower its much better to use with the extra low gearing.
If my collection is complete ( then how come i keep buying stuff ? ) 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
I have started with the SB and took the sprocket housing cover off today and cleaned it out, all looks good in there.
I took the briggs motor off and the clutch came off with it, so my father-in-law helped me with a massive gear puller get it off the drive shaft from the motor. All good. We changed the oil and spark plug and drained the crud out of the petrol tank. Only bad part is that the cork inside the clutch was covered in grease and the bearing is done. It spins but makes noise and does not spin very well on your finger, so will order a new one. This is called a clutch thrust bearing? I might as well order new cork as well. The engine otherwise looks great, all the seals seem to be in tact and in very good condition, so we're not touching the exhaust nor the head bolts, just leave them all be unless there's an issue.
Question: Do I need any sort of adhesive or grease inside the clutch? Or is it meant to be dry as in the outdoor king video on youtube?
I have to order new air filters, the paper one I can get at bunnings, but cheaper online and also coming with the pre-filter foam pad, as that disintegrated in my fingers - quite brittle with age as expected.
Steel wooled the handle bars, coming up very nicely I must say!
Tomorrow going to remove the chains and pull the reel drive sprocket and disassemble and remove everything basically. Have a tin of primer and another of green hammer tone, an engine enamel red for the motor, and some orange enamel for the reel. The reel and bed knife are dirty but seem ok.
Lots of sanding to remove surface rust to come.
Getting excited, hitting it with degreaser already reveals how well it has actually aged. Not many issues under there. One weld to tack up on one blade, one is slightly bent, but all in all its not too bad, it still sliced paper in a few places in its current terrible shape.
Im a little concerned about the adjuster screws being wound all the way down on each side, but after removal cleaning/painting and refitting, I will see what happens. At this stage will probably back-lap the blades and see what this produces before I worry about a new reel purchase or professional sharpening if I can even find anywhere that will do it for less than the cost of a new one.
Im getting very excited, there's some hard work left in it but should come up trumps. May bench test the briggs and stratton tomorrow on idle to see how easily/poorly she fires up. Must not have been started in about 15 years.
Also, I gather it was replacing the original Kirby, but the model no. off the Briggs and Stratton engine are as follows:
Model: 82232 Type: 4016 01 Code: 90071803
It uses a Champion RJ19LM, or NGK 5798.
I have attached the PDF I found for the engine part numbers in case it assists someone else one day...
