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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Is this air cleaner dismantlable?

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Not that I'm starting to fiddle with the Allen Scythe or anything, but...

The air cleaner is similar to this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265308706550?hash=item3dc5a196f6:g:2ssAAOSwq…

Can it be dismantled to clean, or is it into the ultrasonic bath and rinse as much pony and trap out as possible? I have a nasty feeling the two parts are pressed together, and would require damaging amounts of BFI to shift, but it really is solid with carp.

Also - there's a butterfly in the carb stub, between the carb and the cylinder. It's connected to the bottom of the engine somewhere (I'll be honest, didn't look very hard) by a linkage. Is this part of the governer arrangement? Seems a bit odd to control engine speed by effectively choking it to me, but I'm sure someone will educate me. It's a Villiers Mk 25 4-stroke.

Forums

Floydism Thu, 16/09/2021

I don't have one handy to check, but I've always had good success by simply following the instructions!

Leave it in petrol overnight (or my favorite for eating scungy deposits, Xylene thinners), then blow it all out (from the inside, ideally). if the crud is particularly bad, a blast in the ultrasonic cleaner will help loosen thing up.

I've been known to do both at the same time (petrol+ultrasonic bath). Although that's a job for a nice wide-open space (with firefighing equipment handy) and will possibly win you a Darwin award, but it does work a treat on stubborn deposits!

If there's any paint left on the badge, you may wish to use a more gentle solvent though!

DJD Fri, 17/09/2021

Xylene and Xylol used to arrive in tankers and had to be tested before being pumped into the tanks at a paint factory where I worked in the 1970's, I doubt either are very good for bare flesh, just a warning note.

Floydism Fri, 17/09/2021

Indeed, heavy gloves (thin ones are eaten in seconds) and a well ventilated space is essential. And if you're leaving it to soak, do it in a container with a lid!

Adrian Fri, 17/09/2021

Hmm... Petrol. In an ultrasonic bath. In a suburban garden. You know, I might pass on that idea!  Though I have splashed a little petrol into the thing and left it to steep overnight before I BZZZZZZZZZZZZ it tomorrow. Principle good, execution potentially hairy. So I've compromised. Will be interesting to see how much carp comes out of the thing!

I work in a field where, at various points, I've been around xylene, and it's treated with the utmost respect (and usually replaced with other things if possible these days). I think our H&S officer would have a coronary if I tried to order the real thing.

Not too worried about the badge - if it comes off, I'll fill with black enamel paint and cut it back. That I reckon is within my capabilities...

Adrian Sat, 18/09/2021

Well, a good day's zapping, and not only can I actually see there's a gauze in the filter, rather than a gungy sheet, I can see through it! Once it's all dried off again I'll give various bits a polish, oil the filter, and get it back together again. hopefully without too many spare parts left over. I'm intrigued by all the black deposits that were in the carb throat - I wonder if at some point it had been backfiring, possibly quite impressively?

The cleaner has taken a lot of paint off the badge, but the chromed legend is still fine, so I'll just get some gloss enamel paint (gods alone knows when I'll have a mo and the local Four Candles is open, mind) and sort it thataway.