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Had a run over to a little classic car show held near Penrith, Cumbria. This is held every year and usually has a good turn out. Unfortunately the weather this morning was very wet and windy. So I expect more than a few cars didn't leave their cosy garages. Anyway a few photos of some exhibits there. 

About 3yrs ago I acquired a rather sorry '75 Raider 10. A none runner but complete. I got it going but it only ran briefly before stopping and refused to restart. After the usual spark and fuel test, and having no cover on the flywheel I tried to turn it over by hand. Turned one way but locked up the other. Off with the head and the piston was at the top of the bore. Pressed down on the piston and down it went with no resistance. Yes, you've guessed it, broken rod. On stripping the engine I found the sump had quite a lot of sludge in it. When the oil was last change is anyone's guess. So most likely that was why the rod broke. Anyway, the engine has been sitting completely stripped on a shelf and the rest of the tractor stripped and in a heap in a corner. This morning I thought it was about time I did something about the engine. The crankshaft has been checked and is fine. So is the bore. So I did the valves and started cleaning up other parts. Finally the turn of the head. The gasket was still attached and had to be pried off with a scraper. No wonder really, as it was stuck to the head with SILICONE. So out with a piece of plate glass and sheet of 180 grit. The first photo shows the start of fattening the head. The second after about 2hrs.   I did bit more after the last photo' and it looks a bit better. There's still a bad patch at the bottom between the two bolts holes, but most of the rest is mainly clear. I'll finish it of tomorrow and order rod, rings, seals and gaskets next week.

A bit more than I could deal with without finding more large tooling like bending rolls and a larger welder Norm. A long search for the correct size may be the only way. I reckon sorting the mower will be quicker. Not sure if it was worth the wait for people, but hope it is seen for what it's worth. An overdue update which has established the drive chain dilemma and now has at least linked the Counter Shaft to the engine, so it can be turned over with the handle. Also, I mentioned I was not happy with the badly worn split bushing that holds the Armature plate on the engine's crankshaft bushing. Marathon job for me, machining it from 40mm solid EN8 bar. Pressed out the old one- Careful measuring so the new one fits as well as the old one and the bore finished undersize (0.9970") to fit the crank bushing with an interference fit- Loads of swarf later, moved it to the Mill still in the chuck to put the first slit in- Could not see why the slit needed to be as wide as the original, so kept it 1/32" (.8mm) and back on the Lathe for parting off- I could then fit it in a machine vise for the second slit and pressed it back into the plate- I bottled out in the end and replaced the HT Coil - Points wire just to be sure, so was now confident that it was as good as I could get it Mag- wise. The Armature Plate went back onto the engine as planned, a good interference fit with zero movement on the bushing before tightening the securing screw. Final check/clean and the flywheel replaced to set the points gap and timing and the anxiety was building. I knew the magnets were reasonable and had 'Keepers' fitted while work was done. So had no excuses left and started to check for a spark. First few cranks of the handle produced nothing, then next turns, spotted a few faint, inconsistent sparks. I knew the mag needed to be re-energised and could take a while. That was last week. Today, I set to it again and more cranking and checking. Finally, the sparks were more consistent and brighter, but not sure if strong enough. Went for it and primed the cylinder with some petroil, shoved the original Spark plug in. Cranked it up with the De-comp open, then closed it and it fired up briefly !!!. So after over 80 years, the old Villiers has a pulse and a brief mechanical heartbeat. Next week, I'll hope to run it for longer and get some heat into it. It will be a while before I can run/drive it....nothing to hook it up to yet.

collected my latest toy yesterday from a very nice gentleman in Derbyshire a Shay Rotogardener 80 in very nice condition nothing to do to it Has anyone got a manual for this machine? I have one for the JAP 80 engine

Some photo's of some of what was there. I took these Saturday morning before it got busy. I didn't realise how many I'd taken, so they'll be in more than one post and no specific order. More to come.

some nice photos there Norman I have a few to add

A few pics from our local event, the weather was kind to us. My little display... The blue machine is a lawn edger, I was told the other one is for mowing a strip on a sports pitch before painting the white lines.

Tractors all ready to go. Got camping gear out of storage. Just got to fill up the Disco with diesel. Get petrol for the tractors. Food. And last but not least a few bob. Load up tomorrow and good to go early Friday morning.

Finally got it finished today. It's probably take something like 5hrs total. Worst bit was the patch in the first photo'. With a straightedge across you could see daylight. The second photo' is how it looks now. I decided to temporary fit the head just to keep things together, till I get the parts I need. That is when I found another PO's bodge. One of the head bolt holes by the exhaust valve, has been tapped out the 3/8th UNC. Plus the bolt used is slightly longer with a longer shank. Not much I can do about the hole, but the bolt I will cut down to the length of the others and run a die down the shank, to get the same amount of thread. I get any parts from Meetens, Preston, Lancs. I've found them very good and help full.

Hi All, This is my 1st post as I am new to this forum & hope the knowledge within will provide answers to my ?'s. A friend who grew up in California recently gave me this Toby Cart he used as a kid. It was produced by the Halicki company in Gardena California, sometime in the 60's. The motor is an Ohlsson & Rice, J II .85, the carb, & gas tank are missing so I am on the hunt for both. I have gone thru the motor & all is good to go! This is meant as a display piece so there is no panic or urgency to grab parts. You won't catch me or anyone I care for trying it out! Would the carb be the same as the J I & J III? if so what source if any? where could I get a steel tank? There is not much info available about "Toby Cart" on the internet period. This is what I've researched so far & hope I have it correct. Toby Halicki moved to California when he was 15 & started pumping gas, within 2 years he owned his own body shop & eventually ended up with his own wrecking yard, he started building hot rods & custom cars, fixing wrecks etc, he took real estate classes & ended up buying commercial properties, later he was tapped to do stunt driving in movies & eventually caught the acting bug. He took acting class & ending up writing a script (1974) to a movie titled "Gone in 60 Seconds". The movie was not that successful in N America but Europe loved it & he made millions. Unfortunately Toby died while filming Gone in 60 #2 (1989) on location in Buffalo, a stunt went wrong & he was hurt by a downed telephone pole. An avid collector, Toby also owned one of the worlds largest toy & automobile collections. Thanks for looking & feel free to correct or add info. Sincerely, Don M Ont Canada

On Sunday the 19th of May I took a ride up to the Scottish Borders to a rally at Kelso, here are a few pictures

A bit of background... about 5 years ago my Uncle passed away and left me the contents of his garage. Now bear in mind that he had lived in the same house for about 60 years and in my Dad's words 'Never tripped over owt'. Due to time and space constraints I had to be selective about what I saved. To give you some idea, I did about 4 runs to the tip with my Cortina estate loaded to the gunwales and when my mate collected the scrap to weigh in the back end of his truck was on the bumpstops. I ebayed some things and saved some bits for myself, including these 2... Rotary Hoes 5 ton jack, now a garden ornament. 'Mastabar'(?) guillotine, I assume this would be for cutting soft metal sheet?

Barfoprd Powerscythe unloaded pulley tensioners freed off cutter fitted JUST tyres and engine to sort

We had the chance for a little more progress on the 900 today, mainly aligning the steering and starting to look at the engine

Youngest Son-in-Law asked if I could collect a ride on mower, the owner of the holiday site he works at had given him. Also could I sort it out for him. Somethings not right with the steering he said. Not right was an understatement. It didn't. Anyway we picked it up this morning. Westwood S1300. B&S 12-1/2hp with mowing deck. Age as yet unknown and in need of a good clean. On investigation I found the gear that engages the steering quadrant was badly worn. So worn it was not engaging the quadrant. New gear and quadrant needed. £80 off that site. Engine runs sweet as a nut and the oil is clean. Needs a battery clamp and that's about it. Deck needs a good pressure wash underneath e seems sound. Not bad for free.

Had some of these eyebolts in a box of junk. They gave me an idea for when the tractors are loaded on the trailer. First of all I had to drill out the eye a tad so the strap hook would fit. Next job was the turn of the tractors chassis to have a hole drilled out. The end result. One each side.

We had a flypast at this years tractorfest - still have goosebumps now!

A few more. Here we have the intrepid Smith family as can be found engaging in their usual rally activity. From the right. Ewan, (Meadowfields son). Mark, (Meadowfield) Frank, (Meadowfields father) Ian, (Meadowfields brother) Jake, (Ewans twin brother} That's your lot.

A few more. More to come.

Its arrived...

Getting there Joseph. Hope Dad is still watching and picking up tips from you.

A bit more progress on the 900 today by rebuilding the steering. A video update

Good Evening all Here is some pictures of an old Landmaster 88 super Cultivator which has now returned home after a holiday I got this Machine some years ago as it needed a Cylinder head. I got a second hand one and fitted it and it ran ,2 other heads came in the bag .Spin weeder and Deep digging blades this machine is very original and even has the bone type spanner on the back panel the man I got it from used to hire this machine to customers for £20 for the weekend hoping to get it going soon , one not to paint

The drive shaft and clutch on the Bolens 900 were rebuilt and refitted but then we hit a big problem. Already out of time, we continued to search for the solution

Managed to sort it, the drive chain was running slack, which caused poor alignment of the shaft the clutch is on. There was a fair bit of end float on my engine, I ended up using 5 M13x0.3mm shims to eliminate it so the job is defintely worth doing. Hopefully the photos are useful for anyone else doing the same job. Thanks for all your help Wristpin.

FYI, I just bought an original 1971 Keene Engineering prospecting catalog that shows the Model 1501. I’ll try to scan some photos when it arrives.

Initially we said we would focus on the engine of the Bolens 900 because we could not understand what was stopping the clutch from working. The aim being that a working engine would help diagnose the clutch issues. We now have a better idea of the clutch issues so we have changed direction and are now investigating the clutch.

I did put a v8 in the back of a mini pickup truck many years ago 😂

No sorry, you do not have enough clout here, yet. Moderator please remove this. Go Blues! Joe in St. Louis

Finally finished the tow hitch, the hydraulics and added some paint. volvo C30 tow eye heavy duty drawbar on bendy

Park bench is now finished and back in it's place on the green. It could do with three more slats in the seat, but that was all the wood I had. One day it may get some if I come across some suitable wood. 

Another fine mess you got me into Stanley. I went to collect a Barford Power Scythe from north of the border and ended up with this lot which went to a gentleman in Edinburgh. A quick look at my Barford Powerscythe, needs new tyres, engine turns, coil dead (but saying that it is a Villiers ) very good cutter bar good project

The parts from Bonnie arrived yesterday, as the '1000 engine rally' I was due to go to this weekend was cancelled (due to the field becoming waterlogged following heavy rain for most of this week), I had some time today to sort the parts into a spare drawer unit I got from work. About half way through I went searching in the shed for a full width drawer for the above unit, I came back to find the parcel being CAT-scanned. David

For reference here are some pictures of the cover that retains the gauze for the carb opening on one of my Aquabug's, looks like a new piece of gauze can be fitted. Paul, I've sent a PM about the spares from the donor engine. David

Thanks, and yes I did briefly mention the condenser situation in post #14 on page one. I agree with you on the later canister (m1750 type) versions regarding their reliability/inconsistency. If this engine had that style, I would have replaced it irrespectively.. I don't have a pic of the back of the brass condenser/points box, but it is solidly filled. The condenser, being the original patented design of 1921 is constructed using Mica sheets in between the aluminium plates (according to the 2 Authors of the books I have). On this version, the whole unit is fitted into the box and then flooded with molten bitumen, so it's hermetically sealed within. Modern Villiers condensers (mid 30s onwards-ish) were constructed using waxed paper as an interleaved insulator and these have a tendency to break down quicker (as per the books). I decided to give the original one the opportunity to prove itself in it's quality/reliability based on the condition of the original points faces (platinum), where there was only the slightest sign of 'arc pitting' (coil/condenser side) and tiny peak on the earth/ground side, which could indicate a possible slight over capacitance when it was last running. There are statements in the books that say these old versions rarely fail . I'll know where to look if a problem shows up. The progressive condition of the spark was consistent using several spark plugs (non resistor). So with a few backups, I'm going to run it initially on the original plug (Champion 8 com). The worn Points Heel was likely to be a possible problem, but on assembly, the clearance/lift was way more than enough to set the points gap . Thanks Norm. For the few revs it's done so far, it seems to have a bit of a 'bark' to the exhaust note. I'm expecting this to run at around 1500-1750 rpm, so a sound like the old vintage Bikes of the age and a bit noisier .

Picked up this little tool yesterday. Obviously old but does anyone know how old it might be.

Tanks Nigel, but after taking the quadrant of it is ok. Just the gear needed and Kris has ordered one. £20 and his boss was going to scrap it. Just wondering what a should charge him for labour? Got it dated off the bar code and it was manufactured 08/7/2004.

Wow that head was a mess but it looks like you are doing a great job with it. Do you buy your Kohler parts in the UK or in the US?

Cool! It’s funny, the Tiny Tiger generators seem to be one of the more common O&R tools and yet I still don’t have one in my growing collection. Some day...

Found this today amongst some literature lent to me by a friend Now copied and in place in the display by the machine itself...

A friend lent me a load of O&R related literature to copy today, amongst which was this...

Ummm, I have moderator status now and you're tempting me to ban you from the forum!

I agree. That's something that gets neglected.

Well, those of you who have been watching this have seen glimpses of bits that don't really mean much. So I have decided to let you know what this thing is, despite having a fair way to go before (if) any mechanical life can be breathed into it. It's 90% there, but still have the drive chain hurdle to overcome. So bearing in mind that it's nothing really spectacular, it is uncommon. This is what it is - This ad is from the Tatler Magazine of Aug 1922. I have other images, but are copyrighted and not for public use. Designed to provide assisted (Ride-on) power to existing, manually pushed lawnmowers at the time. So it can be called the first known British Ride-on that was available to the average domestic household. Earlier large private Estate/Municiple ride-ons were available. They were built by Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies for the MP Co. At the start of this Topic, I mentioned the condition and it's neglected existence, albeit virtually complete. This is what it looked like- Not my pics, but shows it was in a bad state. It's debatable whether to replace some damaged/missing parts like the (left) lower end section of the Fan cover- I suppose it is really part of it's existence, hard knocks 'n' all. What I have found strange, is the varying immunity of certain sections to corrosion. Some very thin metal sheet parts are hardly eroded, but heavier, thicker spring steels are heavily pitted?. All exposed to the same levels of weather. Suppose it's lucky to be able to save/use most of it. Today, I've made up the Cables for Carb controls. Tricky job and I decided to set it up in a way that would be easier to manage. Bolted the Carb to my Lathe tail stock barrel and the Levers to a bar in the Chuck- The inner cables were different length from a donor source and I had make them both the same length and produce new outer bowden cables. Lots of careful measuring, as the 1926 Carb manual says never dismantle the Lever and cables !!. I had no choice. So with a lot of cleaning to get the solder to take on the shortened inner cable, all the ends soldered up and the bits fitted correctly- And relieved to say everything operates/adjusts correctly - Most of the control levers were in a bad state as mentioned way back and showed the end result, but here are a few of what they were like- ...... the Counter shaft - So here is what it looked like as assembly progressed- And to date- If I can get it running, it will be one of only a handful of working examples in collector's hands. Hope to have more updates soon

Here are some pictures of mine, the guy I bought it from did have the sluice box but as it got sold separately it didn't head my way, they didn't have any of the other bits though. David

I found an old O&R Kenco Model 61 M pump today on a local Craigslist posting. Just got it home. This thing has had a hard life and has either been dropped or had something heavy fall on it. Unfortunately the starter rope guide has been broken off and the side of the front cover and engine cooling fins are crushed a bit. It’s missing the air cleaner and the tank is beat up. I think it’s still a pretty cool unit and I’m looking forward to giving it a good bath. In the last photo I spent maybe 10 minutes trying to wipe off some of the heavy caked on grease and grime just so I could bring it into the house. I’ll do a proper clean up job here some day.

Had to remove the contact breaker cam to get the crank out but there wasn't much room between the cam and the crankcase, luckily I had an old puller that I could 'modify' to get it started. The remains of the gaskets were well gummed on, but I remembered a trick from when I first started in the motor trade. ...Followed by a sheet of 150 grit wet and dry laid flat on the bench with plenty of lubrication.