Wristpin

Great restoration and pictures . Prompts me to ask what is the history of the use of the Briggs design by the UK's Suffolk Iron Foundary for their 75 and 98 cc cast iron block engines. Was it a licensing agreement or did SIF buy the rights to redundant designs when Briggs moved on to alloy blocks for the smaller capacity engines.
I'm not an engine collector as such but the attached images are of some SIF lumps ready to go onto my small collection of " working classics".

As requested some more images - the PTO side and the UK made Zenith up draught carburettor.Sorry about the orientation of two of the images, the iPad seems to have a mind of its own for images taken in portrait !

Great restoration and pictures . Prompts me to ask what is the history of the use of the Briggs design by the UK's Suffolk Iron Foundary for their 75 and 98 cc cast iron block engines. Was it a licensing agreement or did SIF buy the rights to redundant designs when Briggs moved on to alloy blocks for the smaller capacity engines.
I'm not an engine collector as such but the attached images are of some SIF lumps ready to go onto my small collection of " working classics".

Great restoration and pictures . Prompts me to ask what is the history of the use of the Briggs design by the UK's Suffolk Iron Foundary for their 75 and 98 cc cast iron block engines. Was it a licensing agreement or did SIF buy the rights to redundant designs when Briggs moved on to alloy blocks for the smaller capacity engines.
I'm not an engine collector as such but the attached images are of some SIF lumps ready to go onto my small collection of " working classics".

a winget andrew

No way should you scrap it.
My BRL would do it but slowly . I run it dry with dust extractor but I've still got the wet kit and could get a bit heavier. However a friend has a bigger Atterton Master which eats twelve inch diameter gang cylinders and wouldn't even break sweat taking an eighth off !
See what Garfitts have to say .
Nil illegitimo carborundum , 😱

No way should you scrap it.
My BRL would do it but slowly . I run it dry with dust extractor but I've still got the wet kit and could get a bit heavier. However a friend has a bigger Atterton Master which eats twelve inch diameter gang cylinders and wouldn't even break sweat taking an eighth off !
See what Garfitts have to say .
Nil illegitimo carborundum , 😱

fuFrom memory neither ! Long gone and if memory serves me right I last saw the site selling fire places and garden ornaments. Come down the 21 to the roundabout at the start of the by-pass. Turn right into the village and it would have been on the left before the high street proper. Trying to think of anyone that I know who would know but at the moment it eludes me.
Do know that they did a big trade in Shay machines. Dad had the Rotoscythe with the roller and grass box and I remember a couple of the push four wheeled machines (Countryman) and a cultivator all within half a mile of home.

My Dad  had a Rotoscythe in the 1950s and the sight of the red one reminds me of burning the inside of my wrist on that curved exhaust pipe while attempting to turn the hight adjuster!
Our local distributor at the time was Robertsbridge Garage (E Sussex) and I remember going there to collect some cutter discs and screws an seeing a large shed full awaiting winter service.

So was the Twenty One and Osprey but it's not any of them!
The engine on the machine in question is mounted on an aluminium spacer block. In the 80s when replacement engines were relatively more expensive that they are today there were quite a few " cheap" engines on offer which were reputed to be "left overs" from various mower manufacturers production and were being disposed of at a discount.
The problem was that they came in a mixture of crank lengths so the people offering such engines offered a selection of long blade bosses for the short cranks and a couple of different thickness spacers for the long crank ones; so it's just possible that the machine in question is a "blitza"

Snap!
I had the first Imp sold by the local Rootes dealer in June 63 which was not without its troubles as the Imp had been rushed onto the market before being fully sorted due to Government funding and a "greenfield" factory at Linwood near Paisley, Scotland. 
Traded it after a year for another new Imp which was trouble free. Later had an Imp variant, the Sunbeam Stiletto.
Imp0001.pdf

Quite surprised that no one has mentioned the durability of the belts driving the decks, Back in the 70s and 80s we used to look after many Wheelhorses that were customers' everyday mowing tractor and those belts, the primary mower belt from the engine to the deck and the spindle belt that took the drive to the three cutting spindles, were the weak link when asked to cope with wet and thick UK grass. U S grass tends to be drier and coarser so the L section ( more or less equivalent to our A section) belts were fine over there but not so good here; particularly if you are using it as an orchard mower, several light cuts rather than attempting one heavy cut will get the best out of the belts.
As a result of this issue we used to do a fair trade in making up 30" towed cylinder (reel) mowers by fitting draw bars to single units from triple gangs that were past their prime . Once you had got the cylinder up to speed you could bat along at a fair lick and achieve a reasonable finish. They would cover the ground far quicker than the standard rotary deck travelling at belt preserving speed.

Quite surprised that no one has mentioned the durability of the belts driving the decks, Back in the 70s and 80s we used to look after many Wheelhorses that were customers' everyday mowing tractor and those belts, the primary mower belt from the engine to the deck and the spindle belt that took the drive to the three cutting spindles, were the weak link when asked to cope with wet and thick UK grass. U S grass tends to be drier and coarser so the L section ( more or less equivalent to our A section) belts were fine over there but not so good here; particularly if you are using it as an orchard mower, several light cuts rather than attempting one heavy cut will get the best out of the belts.
As a result of this issue we used to do a fair trade in making up 30" towed cylinder (reel) mowers by fitting draw bars to single units from triple gangs that were past their prime . Once you had got the cylinder up to speed you could bat along at a fair lick and achieve a reasonable finish. They would cover the ground far quicker than the standard rotary deck travelling at belt preserving speed.

I believe that the magnetron coil armature unit you need is BS pt no 591420. Double check by measuring the distance between the coil armature mounting screw centres. Should be approx 64mm . If this checks out you can either buy a new Briggs coil or find a good used one which should not be difficult as the same coil has been used on recent Sprint engines and there should be plenty around on engines or cheapo rotary mowers that have been scrapped for other reasons.
The magnetron coil/armature units are completely self-contained so you can snip off the wires from under the flywheel and forget about the points and condenser - no need to remove them. In fact, unless you are going to replace the points actuating plunger with a blanking plug you will need to leave the points in place to retain the plunger to prevent an oil leak from the mag side main bearing.
The new coil comes with a small "lucar" spade connector which is for a "kill wire" to stop the engine. This should either be taken to an existing kill switch on the throttle/governor plate or to a remote kill switch - unless, of course, your engine has neither and is fitted with the old type spring steel strip to ground out the spark plug.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/M8YjvHYbZ9w?rel=0

Not going to enter into the rights or wrongs of balancer weight removal other to wonder that if removal is OK why did Kohler go to the bother and expense of fitting them?
Anyway, lurking in the depths of the tool box is the Kohler "special tool" for setting and locking them during reassembly.

A long while ago I read about someone using linseed oil thinned with white spirit to preserve an old Standard Fordson. Never tried it myself but it was said to preserve the original patina and give a pleasing appearance.

Seem to have acquired another Ransomes Marquis for £10.50 today! Good grass box but no engine however I do have one or two suitable suitable ones at the ready!
Anyone got Amal 379 carb complete with oil bath air cleaner that they would like to cash in ?

In the early 80s I used to look after one badged Howard Bolens that was in a light grey  - as far as I know, it was original paint , and was quite old even then.

Seem to have acquired another Ransomes Marquis for £10.50 today! Good grass box but no engine however I do have one or two suitable suitable ones at the ready!
Anyone got Amal 379 carb complete with oil bath air cleaner that they would like to cash in ?

Seem to have acquired another Ransomes Marquis for £10.50 today! Good grass box but no engine however I do have one or two suitable suitable ones at the ready!
Anyone got Amal 379 carb complete with oil bath air cleaner that they would like to cash in ?

A bit more up market!
 

http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-atm-bombers/

When I had the business we had a 5 lire capacity stainless steel tank with a heater that would take several carbs at a time. In retirement I have a three litre stainless, again with a heater and it does a good job.
It came with a bottle of Seaclean concentrate but I prefer Ultraclean SA plus just a drop of washing up liquid. It should be noted that the cleaning fluid should be matched to the metal being cleaned. Some cleaning solutions are too aggressive for the soft alloys used in carburettors. Some people use a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water. Another tip that I picked up along the way is that the plastic parts baskets supplied with some cleaners absorb about 30% of the ultrasonic energy before it reaches the parts being cleaned, whereas a stainless mesh basket only absorbs around 8% - I found a suitable stainless one in a cookware shop and subsequently a better one from a jewellery supply company !
Remove  jets etc from the carb body and clean them at the same time but loose in the float bowl or a separate container. Alter the orientation of the carb body during the cleaning process so that the "shaken loose" dirt can fall out.  I usually clean in two 15min sessions at 50degrees C.
 
After posting the above I was browsing some US sites looking for home made cleaning solution recipes and stumbled across this - interesting,
 
"Do not clean ball or roller bearings in an ultrasonic cleaner. The vibration of the components of the bearing will cause surface damage on the raceways and rollers or balls. We ran tests on several groups of bearings and found that even after a short cycle in the cleaner there was enough damage to cause rough noisy operation when we tested the bearings in a noise test machine. This program was initiated when customers complained about noise after ultra sonic cleaning the rust inhibitor from new bearings, since it was not compatible with the lubricant they were using in the application."

You may find what you need in this catalogue. There's a compressor section near the end.
 
http://www.mayphil.com/creo_files/upload/files/cords_brochure.pdf