The dangers of starting a new hobby!

Hi Sprocket. Having only 2 small lawns I use Push Mowers, most of which I have had serviced, sharpened, repaired etc at 'The Old Lawnmower Company' who are located in Tring, Hertfordshire. My experience of their work has always been excellent and I have put the link to their website here for you to have a look at should you be interested   http://www.oldlawnmowers.co.uk/

I live in Shropshire,........ Tring is about two and half hours away from me but the journey has always been worth it.

Enjoy being in 'The Old Lawnmower Club', I do, and have found other members always willing and able to help with enquiries that I have made over the three years I have been a member.

Cheers.

Rob 

Welcome to the hobby / disease .

If the big end / crank pin have indeed suffered a seizure you have a problem, one that I’ve never tackled . The issue is that the crank is a three piece affaire, pressed together and than trued up between centres or on V blocks with a couple of Dial Test Indicator gauges. Undoubtedly there are people out there who undertake such work, perhaps in the veteran / vintage bike fraternity but it may well be easier / more cost effective to get a better engine. 

Perhaps a chat with Paul Child at Meetens , or someone at Villiers Services , would be worthwhile.

Hi Rob

Thanks for replying, I have been in touch with John at The Old Lawnmower Company, unfortunately he was unable to help, due to not having the equipment needed to re-set the crankshaft.

He did suggest trying an engineer that repaired small vintage motorcycle engines, so I'll be trawling the websites today.

Cheers

Thank's wristpin

It was definitely the big end that had rusted up and seized as the crank was covered in rust and water ( must have been condensation?) in the crank case, I did manage to free it off but it was still tight.

Sadly, I think your right in that it would be easier to look for a better engine, still I'll give your suggestions a ring and see what they come up with.

Cheers

Hi everybody!

Has anybody got advice on sealing water slide transfers to make them durable etc? I've painted my mower with 1K tractol enamel but Smith and Allen didn't think using the same paint but a clear coat version would adhere to the transfer properly. Is there a special transfer sealer spray that people have used and recommend? It's taken me a long time to get the paintwork correct and it would be a major pain in the backside if I ruined the paint job at the last hurdle!

Yes I can see your problem,

What we always do is use tepped water not hot,allow the decal to dry naturally (not with a hair drier).Then coat with clear lacquer.

If you have brass parts that you wish to keep shiny,then coat the parts with clear lacquer.

Again if the parts are aluminium and wish to keep shiny then rub in carbolic soap.

Hope this helps

Kind regards

Andrew

Hi Andrew

I was going to use lacquer basically the same Smith and Allen enamel as the green the mower is painted with but clear and they said it would not adhere to the transfer. What lacquer do you use? 
Martin. 

Hi

There is a brush on version,which you can get from any art shop,just as long as you are not in tear 3 or 4!,I've never had any problems and its the way most restorers do it in the vintage bike world

Kind regards

Andrew

I may still have a complete Villiers two stroke engine as above, they had a cast iron piston with a scooped out portion to allow the incoming charge to stay in there longer. I have a 12 ton press and have rebuilt two Tiger Cub and four BSA Bantam crankshafts from scratch too, I will help out if I can, I live in south Northamptonshire. Covid 19 will give me some time to sort the stuff out and post some pics. I use imageBB, which is still totally free, thank goodness.

The one I talked about.  I dug it out this after, without cleaning it up in any way, the crank turns but there's a slight squeak there.I'd like to keep the carb. Is there a facility on here for private messages? Let me know what you think, I would like to sell it.

When logged on you can click on the "Send Email" link at the bottom of the user's profile (the blue panel at the left of each post with their username at the top) to send a private message.

Thanks admin. I'm slowly getting the gist of the way things work here now.