UPDATE: I do not believe Glenn is still doing the hood ornaments (at least for now, see post) as he is in the process of trying to make ones that can be chromed. He may have some epoxy ones (like mine) for sale but I am not sure: http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/topic/38201-08-hood-ornaments/
Hi all, I have made some progress, I have removed all the rust, and painted the Horse The quality of finish isn't too bad and I have added the Wheelhorse decals (thanks Mark!). She needs the seat recovering and some engine/electrical work,and the wheels painting- once that is done I will upload a video. But for now, here is a pic!
Welcome to the forum and great job there! As you can probably tell by my username I am a big fan of these machines, they are a lot of fun and really easy to work on. I have very little experience of the cutting decks as I use mine as a garden tractor, but I hope it serves your father well. Very tidy work, I am sure it will outlast many modern tractors.
Nowt' wrong with a black chassis, Jon. Have you seen my C-121? The Black Horse? If you think it's all right black, that's all that matters. Anyway, red and black go well together.
Thanks Stormin I agree it does have a good look! I am sure I remember seeing the Black Horse a while back and it looking very good, but if you have any pics to hand I would love to have another look
I have begun some restoration work on my 1975 Wheelhorse C-100. This was my first ever mower and I have owned this tractor since I was 15 when I purchased it for £300 (I am now 26). It was for sale with a local garden machinery place, my mother had said I was allowed to buy a lawnmower so long as it had proper/good breaks, and I had saved up for one. I remember seeing a red Wheelhorse outside the shop, and finding it a really nice looking machine (and it had a proper break!), and after speaking to the owner of the place he said he had one identical but a little rough "upstairs". They kept their mowers stored in this sort of old wooden barn attic with a hydraulic lift to access, really quite novel, I can remember going up there, and amongst all these modern plasticy lawn-tractors was this really cool looking Wheelhorse, paint all peeling and dented, but to me it was amazing. Here's a picture of when I got it home:
I repainted it in 2010 and did some repairs, and although the finish was OK, it's picked up some scratches, wear and corrosion from years of use and storage. I have decided to repaint it now, as I would like to put decals on it and really finish off the restoration. It won't be as perfect as some examples on here, but it should be a really good looking Wheelhorse. I also wanted to take the opportunity to remove some dents in the bonnet, it is hard to see from the picture above but someone might have crashed it or crashed something into it at one point because the grill was dented in a few places. I mostly fixed this in 2010 but I wanted to get the last little dents along the side of the grille sorted this time.
I will also look to get some of the electrical issues fixed, working front lights, plus add a little side-light and rear light a friend got me. I will also refurbish the seat, and am thinking of attempting to make it road legal as I live in the middle of nowhere and there's lots of safe and quiet lanes around and it would be useful to move things with the trailer.
I did have a question though, do you like the black chassis, or think it should be red as original?
And here is the finished mold, I will begin the fibreglassing process soon.
Before I begin the fibreglass build I wondered if anyone had any suggestions on how to stop it sticking the the mold. I have fibreglass releasing wax, does anyone know if this should be adequate?
Before I start I would like to say I am more or less a fibreglass novice, I have done some basic car body repair jobs before but nothing fancy, and this is just for fun. I do not claim to be a master fibreglass worker/molder or even a good one
However I wanted to see if I could build a Westwood grille (the type that was used from the Gazelle to the early T and D series tractors). These grilles look pretty cool in my opinion and I wanted to see if I could recreate one out of fibreglass. So I needed a mold, and given I have lots of amateur experience with concrete I decided there's no kill like overkill and I would use that for the mold (cast?).
So to start off I needed to use a spare grille I have as a base, and I covered it in tin foil with pritt-stick. I am happy to say this resulted in no damage to the grille after I removed it.
Then it was time to build up the concrete mold, using a mixture of 4 parts sharp sand, and 1 part cement powder, and using screws and nails and scrap metal to increase the strength.
The mold is now finished, and I will post a picture of it below.
After a lot of trying to get the 1978 Gazelle's engine going, the best we could get it to go was Ok-ish, so I decided I'd put that engine on the back burner and use the engine from my other Westwood in this one (the engine Chris gave me! ), as the other Westwood is more custom anyway I was thinking about dropping a twin Briggs or something like that in it, and keeping this one mainly original. So I finished the job today of getting the engine in this one and it runs and drives great, lots of fun. Here's a picture of the mower and Saxon trailer. Soon I would like to get a new seat and perhaps replace the broken decals, but I like the patina so won't paint it, instead I used Owatrol Oil
The valves are very easy to do, there's guides on google and YouTube, I'd definatley do it as the next job. To be honest it's the first job I do on any small engine, cures about 90% of problems particularly ones that look like fuel as if the valves are pitted the engine can't suck the petrol in properly.
OK, I'll have to give that a try, I'll have a look on Google for instructions
Probably a stupid question but have you reground the valves, particularly the exhaust? The symptoms you list would make me think it's this rather than the carb.
I have not done that yet... Might be worth a try. I am still learning when it comes to engine work so I am open to any suggestions
Though the breaks are not working yet, I can fix these easily enough. One issue I have is I think the carb has seen better days, probably needs a new set of parts or replacing. It has been cleaned out thoroughly by my friend who restores classic cars, and the engine runs but it has a sweet spot at fairly high revs, and doesn't run well at all above or below. Also under load it splutters sometimes. But still, I am happy it runs and I will look forward to using it more
I might treat my horse to some Owatrol! I see you have done the feet plates / foot rests? does that not make it slippery to get on and off?
Luckily no It dries more or less solid. Really easy stuff to use
I had one of those. Unfortunately it had been used for some time with the rear axle bearings gone. So much so that the casings were so worn as to be oval. The rest of it was pretty rough as well. The front axle is now on my dolly and engine and some other bits and pieces in store. The rest went for scrap.
At least parts of it live on I suppose, we used some Westwood wheels I was given for my little Saxon tipper trailer.
Love these little Westwoods, used to spend hours driving round in circles at my grandfathers place 10 odd years ago! not sure what model it was, it had the gear stick up by the steering wheel and a spare fuel can in between your legs!
I also like that Owatrol oil, I've never seen what it brings the machines up like but I have now, that's on the want list
Great! There's quite a few Westwoods that could be, possibly a T series or Gazelle. Pretty much all the older Westwood tractor models were based around the same chassis, with different bodywork and engines.They're a ton of fun to drive, always puts a smile on my face.
Yes, I love the look of the patina, but at the same time don't want the machine rusting away, so Owatrol is a really good solution
Hi all, sorry for the inactivity, been busy and not had so much workshop time, but I have been slowly but surely working in the Westwood.
I sent the carb to be cleaned by a friend of mine, that should be back soon and hopefully the Westwood will be usuable
For now I painted the whole chassis and bodywork with Owatrol oil, the only bits I left untouched were some corners underneath that were hard to reach coated in oily grass anyway
I also straightened out the steering wheel, rustproofed and painted it, and some other little ajustments here and there. And yes, I managed to spill Owatrol oil over one of the rear tyres
I'll look forward to being able to use it for gentle garden work this spring.
Yes it is a Glenn Petit one, I think they look great. I am not sure if he has any for sale at the moment but this page might help: 
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in Ride On's
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Aw I would love the Westwood spares if only I was local! I am down in deepest Devon.