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Seems like only months since my little boys sat in my quad for this shot. 12 years later, I took the same shot! God I feel old

Started the task of painting all the parts in Green today Here is a couple of piccies...... You don't realise just how many bits there are??? Will leave the paint to harden for a couple of days before starting the re-assembly........

Just a few I took. My hotel for the weekend. Sutton Haulage in the arena. I would have liked to have taken this Gunsmith home. The line up. A motley crew.

A non pictorial update on the corrective repairs. The Shiny new Piston has been installed. Had to ease the fit of the Gudgeon Pin as it was tight in the new Small End Bearing. I had swapped the new rings that were in the engine over to the new piston. Turned over real smooth by hand and nice compression. Started 2nd pull, a small amount of fine carb adjustment made it run perfectly. Vibration issue sorted. Spent most of this pm installing the back up Cylinder (Reel) and Drive parts. Now back on it's replaced wheels (and rollers). Plenty of clearance now between the Blades, Underside of Deck Panel and B/Blade adjusters. Just the fine adjustment to the cutting/scissor action do, and they already look pretty parallel to each other. On the downside, The paint is lifting around the neck of the Petrol Tank !. Must either be a pinhole in the Soldered joint, or the paint/Fuel proof lacquer did not bond to the brass well enough. Repaint job . Had over yet again!, found that the 0.030" oversized piston came back with Standard size Rings fitted !!. Good job I took them off and checked them in the new re bored Cylinder for the spare engine. Ring gap should only be a few thou, not 0.125" !. You have to be so careful nowadays, sadly, it seems you can't rely on anyone. Now we have had some rain, I'll do a test cut when the grass begins to grow again.

As Ive now have almost finished my other Power Packs (just waiting for a couple of little parts to finish), I thought I'd turn my attention to my Panther 101. The main reason I wanted one of these packs is that the chap who designed them sold the Solite rights to JCB then went straight out and set up a new company and designed this, changing it just enough that JCB couldn't stop him. Hopefully this should look good with my display The machine is very rough, however it does run very well with a slight blow on the exhaust. I thought I wasn't going to be able to date it as the i.d tag has fallen off, but by luck found a very faintly stamped set of numbers somewhere else on the chasis which puts it at 1985- exactly the same age as my wife! Ive managed to obtain an original manual- and by chance Ive discovered that I know the chap whos legs are in the second photo on the cover. Tonight I stripped all the rust and the minute amount of paint that was left on the chasis and given it several coats of etch primmer followed by Tackechi Red top coat ( The closest match I could find).But the photos of this will have to wait as I forgot to take my camera with me today. Although the engine is almost the same as the Solites, it should be a lot less of a headache to sort out as theres no electric start fitted to this machine. The part that ive given the most thought to is the top frame, this has a chrome finish that like the rest of the pack has quite a bit of corrosion. To have it re-chromed is out side of my budget so im going to see how good I can get it with a rattle can of Chrome effect paint.

You should show them side by side, at shows,one as a before restoration and one after.

Have managed to make a good bit of progress in the last couple of days. The rollers have been filled, removing the very deepest pitting, etch primed and painted silver. Also refitted the flywheel cover and secured using new brass screws.

A Moggie pick-up!!! I like your style

Your welcome mate, your grin said it all You mean the throttle has a peg on it? For your viewing pleasure chaps, here's Nigel, Norm, Chris and myself having a hoon about

"We drove Why Not and survived"

Lovely jod again.

That number relates to 1969 and 1970, they used the same serial number for both years and both had the same engine V70 125093 a

Yes, its working again, my Belts were too loose/seized up, and i put metalwire to the carburetors more gas-part to give more gas. now its working "fine". also i welded the pulley to a better place so the belt wont hit the support plate of it anymore .

Surprised to get a delivery of Goodies so soon today ! Mainly parts for the Spare 1954 engine rebuild and consists mainly of a nicely re-bored cylinder +0.030". Most importantly, the New Alloy Piston for the Mower, including Gudgeon Pin (wrist pin) and Rings!.....bonus. Checked the weight and only 4 grammes difference with the old original. Hoping to get the motor sorted and tested this week and then fit the Cylinder (reel) etc.