OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Tip & Curb Side Finds My Victa And Some Hard Rubbish Finds

G'day everyone,

Hey Mowerfreak thanks for that mate! Believe me I was smiling when I heard that engine running! I haven't even cleaned up the mower at all, it still the way I found it. I don't know about the fuel tap, I have used it now and I really can't be bothered going back to the mower store and asking for a refund, I don't want a replacement as they are all the same. It's funny as these are sold as genuine Victa fuel taps. But these new one's don't have any Victa stampings on them or any Victa part numbers at all. All they have on them is "Made In Australia" on the side. They are not like the earlier genuine Victa taps with the Victa stampings on them.

Also I noticed a little difference in the actual diameter of the hole where the fuel flows from the tap, the inner diameter of the tap where the fuel flows is just a tad larger on the older tap than on these new ones, it's not much really probably a bee's [Censored] difference. But who knows it's those tiny little differences and also a slightly less restrictive fuel filter that can make all the difference.

Hi NormK, yes when I saw it at the scrap yard I still can't believe how something in such good condition was just scrapped. I mean the deck isn't even rusted. I mowed my lawn with the blades that are on it they are that good. It has the longer style genuine blue aussie made Victa air filter in it. I don't have any long style filters here to change it out so I just left this one in it until I get some new long air filters. This mower also has a NGK BM6A spark plug in it as I found it. It runs great with it so i'll just leave it in there.

Cheers!

And I am very suspicious about that sort of thing with "Made in Australia" stamped on it. I remember years ago a friend of mine was in India I think it was at some factory looking to import some items and he was asked where he wanted it made stamped on the things

I'd rather made in New Zealand if I'm honest.

G'day everyone yes you'd think when you go to a mower shop and ask for a genuine Victa fuel tap and you pay that bit more for it that it will work perfectly. I have read on here that others have also had some issue's with the new yellow handle fuel taps being faulty.

Even with the one that I have used now it was luck that I even had it, I found a broken and crushed red Victa powertorque top cowl on the ground at the scrap metal yard and the only reason I grabbed it was because I saw that it still had the original fuel tap with the long white filter inside and the petrol tank still had the cap on it, as I knew the tap was broken off at the bottom on the red mower and I could possibly use this tap with longer style filter as my other scrap find was missing these parts.

Yes there you go anything you find for the old Victa's you should salvage, you never know when the parts will come in handy.

Cheers!

I've even used the bearing sets from worn out wheels. Even worn wheels can come in handy for temporary replacements for completely knackered wheels!

Hi Converse,
Without me going back over and reading the 5 pages on this, from what I recall with your new "Made in Australia" tap,was this the one that would allow half a tank to flow before stopping? If this was the case I would think the tap was not the problem if it allowed that much fuel through before the problem arose, my suspicion would be that the filter was causing a problem, allowing fuel to flow through the top of the filter while fuel was above it but not through the sides

Yep what Norm said or the cap breather is blocked.

G'day everyone,

Hi NormK you could be right mate, yes it was the brand new "Made In Australia" tap and filter I was using when this happened, like I said the mower was running fine up until the fuel level dropped a bit then it started surging badly and fast revving on it's own like it was running out of fuel or something. I checked the tank and the fuel level was about to top level of the fuel filter.

Hi Maxwestern, I did check the petrol cap that night after it happened and it seemed to be venting ok. I removed the fuel line to see how it was flowing with the cap tightly on and also with the cap removed. The fuel flow seemed to be running at the same rate.

But what I did notice was as the tank was getting lower and lower, the fuel flow was also getting slower and weaker, towards the bottom of the tank the fuel was just trickling out. No way near as much flow as it was when it had more fuel in the tank.

I took some photo's of the new tap and filter and also of the original broken one that was in my tank for comparision between the filter sizes. Also on the older style tap it's just a little bit longer in the thread area which actually makes it fit better in the tank when compared to the new one. These new taps are sold complete with the filter. You know I also have another new same yellow handle tap and filter which I haven't used, it's exactly the same as this one which I removed. I have a spare tank in the shed maybe I can try my own experiment on the bench to test the flow between this one and the other new one? Can you just use tap water for the test or should I use 2 stroke mix for the test?

Also forgot to mention the fuel tap and filter that I have installed in my tank now which works great is the same style as the broken one I removed and have pictured here with the long white fuel filter.

Cheers!

G-day Converse,
they have skimped on materials with the new one, for sure. Maybe try swapping the filters? They just slide off.
As for water, no no no no no no no. Fuel is a totally different viscosity with completely different flowing dynamics.

Hi Mowerfreak yes the older fuel tap sure does look more beefier in the plastic mould and it's got a slightly larger diameter pipe where the fuel flows. Also the earlier one's at least had "Victa" stamped on them along with the part number, the new one's are just delivered to the mower shops now in a large plastic bag with about 100 in each bag. I found a link to Bunnings that still has the older one's pictured that looks to be the same style as the one that I am now using except mine has an orange handle which is probably even older than these yellow handle ones. I don't know if they are still available from Bunnings stores though. It says you can special order it online maybe? I think I will check out my local Bunnings but I don't think they have these good old Victa fuel taps in the stores anymore.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/lawnkeeper-fuel-tap-and-filter_p3400383

Haha yes thanks for that on using fuel instead of water mate, that's why I thought i'd ask what I should use as I wasn't sure.

Cheers!

Always a pain in the butt when I weld up motorcycle petrol tanks, I have to test them with petrol then if there is still a weel or a leak I have to go back through the whole cleaning procedure again and on some tanks I might have to do this 2 or 3 times. Wish I could test them with water

G'day everyone,

Well I tried a little test on the 2 new fuel taps and filters that I have here tonight and it seems that they both flow the same. I just used 2 stroke mix and just let it flow and I couldn't really tell any difference between the 2 taps and filters. I filled the tank so the fuel was sitting a bit above the fuel filters for the test.

But what I did notice after I finished I removed the gold coloured filter off the new tap I spotted something a little different in their designs. The new tap and filters with "Made In Australia" on them with the gold coloured filter actually sit a little higher on the tap. So basically almost the bottom half of the gold filter is blocked by the plastic moulding on the tap. So when the fuel level gets to around the half way mark on the gold coloured filter, you can expect the fuel flow to start slowing down somewhat as the plastic underneath won't allow the fuel to flow through no longer.

Now on the older style tap with the long white fuel filter, it looks to be a much better design in terms of letting you use more fuel from your tank as it gets near empty. Because the lowest point of the long white fuel filter sits around 8mm lower than the new tap and filter. So the old taps with the long white filters will let you use up that little bit more fuel as it gets really low in the tank when compared to the new one's.

So there you go I guess I stumbled across something different between the older and the latest fuel taps and filters...lol

Cheers!

G'day everyone,

I got the good old Victa Commando full crank out of hibernation today for a run in the backyard. I think it's been sitting around for 6 months. The last time I used this mower I used Penrite 2 stroke mineral based oil in the mix and there was some still left near the bottom of the fuel tank. Problem was after sitting so long it actually looked more like a brown sludge mix. First thing I did was to empty the tank of that sludge and put some fresh 2 stroke mix in it. I am now back to running Castrol 2 stroke mineral based oil in the mix again.

It took probably 3 attempts and quite a few primer bulb presses to get it going, it ran then stopped. Tried again and it ran fast for a bit then it smoothed out and went back to normal running. It's a tough old beast this one!

I captured some video of it at a slow lumpy tick over idle, then fast revving before turning the fuel tap off to stop it.

Hello Converse,

motor has a healthy throaty rumble to it. You can tell it's been rebuilt just by hearing it, no undue noises and clear exhaust, even at tickover.
I never expected it to have the older type wheels. The later builds had wheels with the larger orange covers with the spokes on the edges, like the ball bearing wheels have, except they are still pure nylon bearings, which you can tell by the plain tyre tread without the moulded splines.
It's nice to know this has been in your family since 82, a year with some great film releases such as Blade Runner, ET The Extra Terrestrial, John Carpenter's The Thing and many others.

Nice Commando Converse. Sounds great with a smooth idle

MF, my 1983 (i think but might be late 1982) commando has the old style wheels as well

Here's the one I got going courtesy of a doner ignition module I got off a siezed PT engine sitting in the yard.
The guy who threw it out said it had sat for 20 years and the engine sounds like a low hours engine. It doesn't tickover like Converse's. I'm now inspired to try and get it to after seeing the video!!
Note the wheels on it.

G'day everyone,

Thanks for that Mowerfreak and Tyler, yes it's had a hard life it's a tough old mower that's for sure. Yes those wheels are original from factory on this mower, I have removed and re-greased the shafts on them quite a few times over the years...lol When I had the engine rebuilt I also changed every rubber seal on the engine and also the carby inlet seals and it also got a brand new genuine Victa decompressor years ago. Even after all that it still had a fast idle and after I added those 2 brass washers in the carby as was mentioned on here years ago it fixed the idle speed perfectly. The carby still has the original internal parts including rubber diaphragm from factory. All I have changed is the primer cap,float,needle and jet with new items. Even these I was changing them out years ago thinking that they were affecting the fast idle speed. In the end I probably didn't need to change all them out but it runs great now anyway.

I noticed those wheels on your Victa Charger there Mowerfreak, I looked at the catalogue in the link below and it seems the Charger in the brochure has the older style wheels on it like the one's on my Commando. But back then they were fitting these wheels to the powertorque mowers and also brochures could have been printed long before the production run of that mower and they would have probably just fitted what they had available on the production line at the time. Hey notice the picture of the new powertorque engine in the brochure it seems they had moulded a clear see through carby housing for the marketing of the new powertorque engine, and you can see they have mounted the primer cap on upside down as you can see the white float sitting at the top side of the carby and also the primer bulb is on the opposite side.

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/70751

Also speaking about the great movie releases from back in 1982, what about all the great music from 1982 and also that era. One great song from 1982 that I remember would have to be "Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor", could be a song for old the Victa Commando I reckon..lol Also another great song from that year was "Eye In The Sky - The Alan Parsons Project", you know I always wonder why they never ever seem to play this song on the radio anymore, not on the oldies station or on the new hit stations...? lol

I would say yours is one of the last FC Chargers MF, as it has superstart EI. They initially had points as they were base model.

That being said, I have a 1984 MSAA craftsman standard (which is a straight fuelled completely stuffed curbside pick up parts machine) with points and the new style wheels.

Converse, I have looked at that brochure several times and never noticed the primer plate on upside down haha

Converse mower has EI as well and yours should too Tyler. Any machine with the round super start sticker should be EI.

Oh yes MF, mine does as well, its just the earlier (81,2,3) chargers (not commandos) had points. All the commandos had EI as you note

I read it in a brochure here somewhere 'zipstart with conventional points ignition'