ATCO Groundsman 28 inch mower.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Welcome to another new project.Here we have the largest cyclinder mower in my collection. engine is the Villiers MK 25,a really large engine to what I have been used to. At the moment the date has not been verified,but maybe someone will offer there services,even if its between a couple of years.
The cut is 28 inches and over all its a monster of a machine. Not much history with this but its last owner came from Lancashire,and he also wanted to restore but his work times changed and that was the end of his project.
Here is a sales page from ATCO and this is what I would like to restore it back to.

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[vhgmcbuddy]

This is a couple of photos of how it looked on collection.

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[vhgmcbuddy]

First job as usual is remove the engine and find out where its weak spots are ,like no spark ,compression and general clean up in the back plate. This engine on the bench stands at 17 inches and its a heavy lump to move around into the bargain. 3 photos follow just before I get stuck into the dark unknown behind the tinwork.

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[vhgmcbuddy]

Going green again John you carry on like this you will run out of that colour. Don’t look to bad, get a good spark on that Villiers you will be away.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Owen,you have a good point but at £10 a litre will may be only need another half litre. The other evening I had a long talk with Steve D about the machines which we have ,and decided that we where out of control with our collecting,so maybe this will be my last project as finding somewhere secure to put them is costly if done correctly.a big shame really but reality can be hurtfull. well if this is the case at least getting this done right i will be going out on a high.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Sorry this might be your last project, I see you wrote “Maybe”. Something might turn up John.

[charlie]

We all say ‘that is it that is the last one’, but before you know it another irresistible potential project comes along.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Yes Charlie I have said it many times and meant it but with me I am very short of outside room and shed power is dwindling rapidly.i even have a 30 ft shipping container with no more room available and a good second hand 40 footer delivered is 1500 pounds plus the ground rent attached to both makes this hobby very expensive for me.

[vhgmcbuddy]

okay I will get off my soap box and continue with project. looked at the electrical side this morning and within 15 minutes I had it sparking like a good one. hardest part was getting flywheel off what a tight nut that was. hardest one I have encountered,even had to get a bit of extra help of a windy gun. carb all cleaned out and ready for petrol.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Gareh have just found the maual which you sent me when i did the mk 20 and did not realise it also covered the mk 25 as well. Many thanks very belated

[vhgmcbuddy]

While cleaning up the flywheel i came across a few numbers would these be a clue to the age of the engine ?

[vhgmcbuddy]

and I have noticed that the petrol tank in the atco ad is a more modern shape to the older bomb shape which we have mounted on the resto model. could this help in dating it.??

[vhgmcbuddy]

I found this on the net it was referring to dating a MK 1O.
If its one of the older engines you will need to remove the cowl, on the outer edge of the f,wheel there is a string of numbers the last 2 denote the year IE 62=1962 etc.
villiersparts.

[vhgmcbuddy]

No problem John. From the type of sump the engine is what I’d call the earlier type villiers so you will probably find a little circle on the flywheel cup with a date. Also near the spark plug hole on the air shroud and some where on the fuel tank you will find an oval stamped A.J.H and a year, these will be very faint and you may have to bare metal carefully to find the presence. All Villiers, J.A.P, and b.s.a have this oval stamped on them, I presuming that a common supplier made up the tin work for them and this was their stamp unless anyone knows differently. Villiers with he later type sump also had the date stamped on the outside edge of the flywheel. When the factory still existed I had a few engines dated fom the records(sadly destroyed circa 2000) that confirmed these methods.

[vhgmcbuddy]

thanks owen and gareth for your help will go and look. and while I am here congrats gareth and keri on your recent celebrations

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