Darmic1

Managed to get a few more hours in on this machine today. The exhaust had my attention today, It was holed in several places but was generally sound, so I decided to weld up the holes, or rather chase them around........ Eventually got it all plugged up and looking half decent on the outside. I then set about replacing the missing 'pipe part. Not sure if it was meant to be down swept or what? But it will be fine like this..... A few coats of VHT paint and its one more thing ticked off the long list!

Have tested the coil, both primary and secondary are good! Fingers crossed...........

Cheers Norm! Just hope it runs???

Was pleasantly surprised to find the 'postie' delivered the bits from Meetens today, So an afternoon wielding spanners was had. To say it wasn't a challenge would be a lie. The rings supplied were +20 and needed filing and gapping, never done this before, something new to add to the resume! The sump gasket was of a later style and didn't fit, So I cut a new one...... Then I discovered an oversight from the valve seat re-cutting. Once the tappets and valves were refitted the valves didn't close properly? I ground the required amount from the valve stem to give the correct fitment and clearances, pleased to say it all went back together ok after that. The engine is almost done, just needs the flywheel and timing finishing, the carb overhauled and perhaps a squirt of fuel to test fire it...........

Thanks Ian, Not much point sitting idle when I have time on my hands! I must admit I thought it was a gonna when I opened it up...... Its suprised me how good it was beneath all the jellified crud and rust!

Here's the recut valve seat and the reground valves, The exhaust valve now sits a little lower in the seat due to the amount of material needed to be removed to get a un-pitted seat. The valve should be ok and not burn up! Here's the block, cylinder head and sump all painted in this 'lovely' shade of green, Linden Green!

Had the exhaust valve seat recut today, ground the valves in, honed the worst of the damage from the bore, then stripped, cleaned and primed the block. Found some original paint in a inaccessible part of the sump, so took this down to the local paint supplier and had some of this green mixed up. The closest match is a colour called "Linden Green"

Bitten the Bullet and ordered the bits to repair this engine following a chat with Gareth, a new set of rings, full gasket set, oil seals and a plug. This is what greeted me when I removed the cylinder head....... Hmmmm, That looks like a lot of water has been in there, so I drain the oil, about a cupful of oil, followed by a litre of water! Further investigation revealed rusted piston rings, rust damage to the bore, heavily pitted exhaust valve seat and a seized rebuildable Lodge plug, thankfully the crank and bearings are fine.

Cheers Gareth, Say, will make some enquiries today on the bits required....... Could be an expensive resto again!

Cheers Paul....... Not sure where im going with this one after this afternoons discoveries! Looks like the engine could well be beyond economical repair, toast as they say! Despite being told it ran as recently as a year ago, I very much doubt its ran in the last 10!!!

I'd be happy if it made any noise at present........ honking or not its sitting silent! Not touched it, too busy with garden produce, currently doing a batch of 'chilli jam'

Missing blades! Would anybody have any blades going for one of these? I am missing a complete set of 4, from an entire side??? Cheers Darren

Ahhh Gareth, You life saver! Its a B10/1 There is also V2075C marked on it? On closer inspection, the actual carb itself appears ok, its the housing which has the red air cleaner clipped to which is smashed, Air cleaner also missing! The engine is free, however has little compression, so thinking valves, piston rings??? But 1st I will see if I can get a spark, apparently it was running a year or 2 ago, but then got left outside...... uncovered......

I took a trip down to Exeter to collect this today......... It will need some work, the original handle bars are missing, a previous owner has grafted a pair from a child's bike onto it. The carb will probably need replacing as there is a lump smashed out of the side, its also missing half its blades, wouldn't even know where to start looking for those?

Thanks Nigel....... Hi Angus...... Not sure 'y', it was suggested in a conversation had ages ago, that modern 2 stroke oils wouldn't provide the lubrication/sealing required for the oilite type bronze bush/bearing. As it is designed for more modern roller type bearings and seals. Im no expert on oils and the additives used within........ just applied a bit of 'bit of both' logic?

Stuck the box on the front and pushed it outside today for the final pictures......... Have a new project to collect tomorrow!

Here is what the 'id' tag looks like on my 1949 14" Villiers 79cc 2 stroke. The 14 refers to the cutting width and the 49 to the year of production.

There is usually a little brass tag, somewhere on the frame where the fuel tank mounts meet the mower side pieces. On that will be a date code. Sometimes these are painted over..........

"Decals look superb repro's". They are...... Unfortunately not our Titch's fine work, but from a chap IN Australia, found on the bay of E. Ordered and delivered in just over a week!

Sussed it!!! Windows 10 uses a different photo viewer....... have changed settings to use old windows 7 style viewer and resized all the images again, all is now well! WELL, I say well...... now have to edit the posts again..........

Right!!!! I have now edited these posts about 5 times now and still cant get the pictures to appear the correct way around!!!! The only change is I am now running windows 10? Anybody else having issues????

Hi Richard, I was at work.... lol Its running 16:1, but the oil is a 50/50 mix of modern low ash 2 stroke oil and the recommended sae30....... Have been told it would be fine on the modern stuff, but not so sure if any of the bronze eating additives are in it? So used sae30 mixed 50/50 to at least give some of the 'old' protection. Logic or not? It doesn't smoke very much, not like my 14" Atco does on pure sae30 mixed at 20+:1!!!

Here's a short video as promised.............https://youtu.be/gFFY3Uj0sAA

Also had a small pressie from the 'postie' arrive today, all the way from Australia! Have placed the ones on the fuel tank and chain cover. Will fit those to the grass box in a couple of days, once the paint has hardened. And with the freshly painted box fitted.

The grass box got finished today, all green and shiny!