Can't resist. Ransomes!

[Wristpin 399]

Fetched this home from darkest South East London this afternoon - not far from HMP Belmarsh!
Looks like it's been exposed to the elements for a while but is basically OK.
Never been a great fan of the Briggs / Marquis combination so once it's all running I may retrofit a Sloper.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Wristpin

[rotoscytheben 94]

 better with a sloper engine as you said

nice buy though it will clean up well  

[Wristpin 399]

Often found that the Briggs are unhappy at low enough revs to disengage the centrifugal clutch and would "bog down" when the throttle is opened. Never managed to get to the bottom of whether or not stronger springs are available to allow 1700 rpm idle on the Briggs.

Machine is now a pile of bits but before stripping down I had the engine running - code '79 and points ignition and surprisingly it ticked over and accelerated with no hesitation so maybe it has the phantom stronger springs.

The whole machine had been treated to a thick coat of brush applied household gloss. I've cleaned up all the small bits with the rotary bush on the bench grinder and my rather "domestic" bead blaster but the chassis, chain case cover and deflector plate will go for professional blasting and epoxy priming next week. The cutting cylinder is in the rust tank and the seized rear roller is having a soak in the diesel tank.

Hopefully next week will be better paint spraying weather!

[Chris 642]

Nice find.

 

I have a marquis with sloper engine & box sat in my workshop if anybody is interested??

[Wristpin 399]

Making progress.

The cutting cylinder and bottom blade are de-rusted, painted, sharpened and reassembled with new reaction springs and felt seals. The old springs appear to have been attacked with an angle grinder; can't see why as the new ones are far from coil bound with the reground cylinder and refaced bottom blade.

 

The rear roller had spent the weekend in the diesel tank which had done its job and the roller didn't put up too much of a fight. The grooves on these roller sections are good so no tedious re-cutting required!

 

 

 

Chassis and grass box etc off to "blasters" for stripping and epoxy coating. Unfortunately they are busy with all sorts of interesting things so wont see them back till mid next week but there is the engine to strip and re-paint.

Might even tidy the workshop!

 

 

[Hillsider 16]

Looks as though you have been busy, re the cut down springs perhaps they were cut down to eke out a bit more life from a worn cylinder then it was changed later without replacing the springs. From the photo it seems as though this cylinder plenty of meat left on it.

[Wristpin 399]

Bit more progress on the Marquis, not been the best of weather for paint spraying!

[Stormin 4,458]

Looking good.

[nigel 1,874]

getting there angus

[Ian 2,417]

Nice work Angus, it reminds me of when I restored an old Webb many years  ago

[Chris 642]

Smart

 

When do you want to do this one then??

[Wristpin 399]

 

When do you want to do this one then??

 

Need to move on another to create some space !  Found a home for a relatively young Honda engined Marquis a week ago so there are still a few people out there who appreciate a quality cylinder mower. When we started the business in '81 we would buy in lots of ex local authority Ransomes and Atcos of all sizes throughout the year and then overhaul and prep for sale during the winter; not unusual to start the season with a couple of dozen in stock. Now in retirement it's just a hobby; no customer hassle, wage bill, business rates etc and as much time as is needed to do things properly.