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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Suffolk - New to me.

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Saw this on fleabay last week and not only was it a model that I had never seen before but was only 8 miles away!

OK, it's a Suffolk with a two-stroke engine. The grass box says Colt but although it fits perfectly, may not be original.

Handlebars and carb top both present but removed for transport.

What is it?

 

Forums

hillsider Tue, 16/05/2017

An interesting looking machine, I have not seen one like it before. Hopefully someone out there will be able to identify it.

wristpin Wed, 17/05/2017

Yes, it is a Pony . I suspected as such but hadn't got round to finding something to compare it with but thanks to you and Hillsider I now know for sure . Now discovered that I have illustrated parts lists for both the chassis and the engine.

Had a bit of a go at it today and found a dead condenser and not having a suitable one around me I fitted a Meco trigger unit to replace both the points and condenser , also a new HT lead but although it will give me a bit of a " belt" off the end of the lead it is not showing a visible spark either off the lead or across the plug . The coil tests out ok so I will revert to a condenser and points and see what happens. Hopefully I will be able to pick up a proper Pony exhaust muffler in due course.

 

 

wristpin Fri, 19/05/2017

I decided to revert to a points ignition set up and a new condenser arrived this morning from George at Villiers Parts  and although a little oversize it has done the job, resulting in a running engine.

A strip and repaint to follow. 

wristpin Fri, 19/05/2017

Chassis all stripped out ready for cleaning, blasting and painting.  Fortunately my hoard of left overs from the business includes a bottom blade, cylinder bearing cones and seals. Looks like finding the correct muffler may, if at all, take some time so I will try to make something more "period" than the Briggs one that I used for the trial run.

The centre joint on the rear roller has been badly welded at some point but as the roller is the same as that used on the much more numerous Colts, rather that try to tidy it up and end up with a worse result, I will use it for now and wait for a better one to come along. 

wristpin Sat, 20/05/2017

The 50cc two-stroke engine from the Pony. Nice little unit with ball bearing mains and proper oil seals and a  cast iron cylinder barrel sandwiched between an alloy crankcase and cylinder head.  Was this Suffolk's own design or was it licensed from some other manufacturer as was the classic cast iron four stroke that followed?

 

 

 

hortimech Sun, 21/05/2017

From what I was told when I started work all those years ago, the Pony engine was Suffolk's own design, but it wasn't a great success and wasn't reliable. Hence the purchase of the design rights to the B&S engine that became the 75-G14 and why the pony looks a lot like the Colt, because it is basically a Pony with a 4 stroke engine.

 

wristpin Sun, 21/05/2017

Yes, there's a lot of Pony in the Colt. The right hand chassis side plate appears to be identical other than the position of the engine bearers but the left hand one is different . Thankfully a lot of the wearing mechanicals plus the cylinder , sole plate and rear roller are identical , making the restorer's life easier.

I wonder whether the engine originally just had a wrap round rope starter rather than what appears to be a bit of an after thought incorporating parts used on the Briggs designed cast iron unit that followed; or did the Briggs licence basically give them rights to a short engine  and SIF added their own starter and locally sourced magneto and carburettor? Then, if the starter ratchet mechanism pre dated the Briggs inspired four stroke why does it have two empty countersunk fixing holes that exactly match those on the later flywheels? That suggests the possibility of a retrofit.

gtc Wed, 24/05/2017

This may be awarded some sort of speed record for a resto.

How did you obtain that Pony decal so quickly?

wristpin Wed, 24/05/2017

A good few hours of mucky graft!

Decal, by air mail from South Australia 5045!

oldiron Thu, 29/06/2017

Very nice resto there Wristpin, I recently finished an early colt (with the tuna tin style tank), use it as my regular, cuts and runs good. The pony looks like an interesting little machine. Very nice job
Ricky

villiers98 Sat, 14/10/2017

Tidy restoration . The few I ve seen all had the same starter but the ratchet assembly with the countersunk holes may have replaced an earlier failed part? From an old parts book the recoil starter on the Punch dates from Oct 1958. The parts and instructions for the recoil are added on a separate leaflet with this date , inserted in instruction book dated Feb 58. 

At the same time the new " Dual Drive" rear landroll dog clutch had been added to the parts illustration

wristpin Sat, 14/10/2017

At the same time the new " Dual Drive" rear landroll dog clutch had been added to the parts illustration

I'm attaching a couple of scans* from the workshop manual which don't show any means of starting at all but in the list of parts there is mention of the "starter pulley" . The page covering the chassis for the three years that the pony was produced shows the roller dog clutch with no indication that that the early versions didn't have it, so who knows?

* Sorry, forgot that the forum wont accept PDF scans , will have to move them to Dropbox later.

Later!

 https://www.dropbox.com/s/fnzqmhhvh0ohu9z/Suffolk%20Pony%20IPL0001.pdf?…

 

 

villiers98 Sun, 15/10/2017

Also useful thank you . I d never thought before but did the Colt follow on from the Pony then?

wristpin Sun, 15/10/2017

Yes.

Lee Smallwood Sat, 20/07/2019

Been a couple of years since you posting this thread Angus, I have now acquired a pony, hoorah, all complete apart from starter rope,  I have visions of replacing this and it firing into life, I doubt it very much but i'll keep you posted. Any tips? Lee

wristpin Sat, 20/07/2019

A very basic and straight forward machine to work on. Just the usual tips to take some images and maybe draw a sketch or two and keep all the related parts in separate containers .  A decent parts list that shows the relative position of thrust washers etc can be invaluable particularly if a previous dismantled has been a bit slap dash with assembly.

Lee Smallwood Sat, 20/07/2019

Not dismantling at the moment, but the above image is helpful, just got a little oily taking off starter pulley to re-rope. 

So, cleaned plug, reassembled pulley which isn't recoiling very well at all, and reattached, 

Issues with the recoil starter ratchet, very worn and located pin for the flywheel only catches in one of the teeth, think it's in, and then almost end up punching garage roof, frustrating, but not as frustrating as not turning fuel tap on, then rope comes out of pulley, not my best result, but still exciting