Howard Bantam

[t-max]

Hello everyone,I am a new member and thought it time to introduce myself.
My name is T.MAX and I have worked on a few lawnmowers and rotavators for people on our allotments,nothing of major engineering mainly carburetors and converting old Briggs and Stratton ignition coils to super magnatron.I was looking for a project a bit more challenging and thought about joining a club ,hey presto found this site and imediatley thought thats for me,so here I am,also at the same time I was searching ebay for a machine to perhaps renovate.I settled on a Howard Bantam with Villiers mark 15 fourstroke.
All the advert said was engine turned freely and been stored for some time.Well rotavator is here now ,delivered to door and so the job begins.
Engine plate states 460A 4265 so from some of what Ive read before I think its a 1965 built engine which is about the time of the last bantams before Howards updated it to the new Howard 200 if anyone knows different or more to add I would love to hear.
OK so machine looks all here nothing obvious missing,wheels free wheel,rotors free wheel,control rods engage ,remove rocker cover and things work up and down nicely.Apart from muck and oil everything looks good so far.
I hope you enjoy the read so far more to follow as I progress.

[andyfrost]

Firstly a warm welcome , Bantams are my favourite small Howard , and I use them alot for potato and rowcrop work. Infact I’m now in the process of working on yet another one , which I’m building from the heap of broken/spares machines that I’ve accumulated over the years.
Look forward to hearing of your progress.

Andy.

[charlie]

T.Max, welcome to the forum. To avoid any confusion you have only signed up for the free trial on the website/forum. To join the club and get the full benefit of membership you will need to sign up for paid memebrship.

[t-max]

Good morning Charlie,yes I tried three or four times to pay up as it were,it would not let me so I guessed it wont untill 07 Dec( think thats when free trial end,is this right?).

Hello all and inparticular Andy,you wont belive my luck but after doing all the normal cleans and checks that you would on any machine ,ie clean tank out ,clean carb,new fuel lines check spark ,this machine is running so more a re-commisioning job than renovation,I will have a reflct on my good fortune and consider next way to proceed with this,I still cant belive this much good luck.

[charlie]

T Max. To pay, log in, then scroll down on home page, you will see a header on the right 2024/25 Subscriptions, then click on the ‘Payments can be made here’ link.

[t-max]

Hello Charlie,
Thanks. Have managed to pay now. Wouldn’t let me do it on payments can be made here(there was nothing to click on). I went to the help page and chose make single payment.

[jonsered2149]

We own 3 Howard Bantams the first one We aquired in around 1983 and that had the wrong carb fitted and was very bad in starting .We bought a new Tecumseh 4hp engine and altered the engine plate to fit that engine but could never get it to work properly then an Idea of fitting a Lawn mower clutch which worked very well which when you reved the engine the clutch would bite which worked very well ,thin in the late 1980’s We bought Various Howard 300 and 350’s and then in the early 1909’s We did up the original engine a Villers 25c by that time We had lost the engine cradle bits any way when talking to Chester Hudson He said he could help up with the engine cradle bit and We thought second hand but no He had all brand new bits from his stock He even helped us with the orginal Villiers engine telling us there were differences between Villiers engines which would cause bad running and He even sorted us with the later Villiers bottom end and now going back to the carb ,In a conversation with the late James Reeve of J P Reeve ,Garden Machinery of Chipping Norton Oxfordshire ,He said that He would see what could be done anyway in the days of Villiers at Wolverhampton still going the answer came back to James Reeves yes We can make a new carb for it and made us a brand new Carb out of old stock spare parts Villiers Built us a brand new carb anyway that is the end of my story .I still own the machine but have not run it for many years but is in dry storage

[jonsered2149]

What I wrote above was about the first one the next 2 were as follows . When answering an add in the Citizen a local evening paper a person from Hartpury near Gloucester had a Bantam for sale which turned out to be a Villiers engine Mark 15 engine model and these are not my favourite machines as the 4 stroke engine does not seem to be as balanced as the old 2 stroke Villiers 25C anyway We did do the engine up and got it running but what I have not said is that this machine came with a Tarpen Hedge trimmer and flexible drive shaft , a Howard finger bar mower and a Bantam Cultivator . The 3rd one is just something I took in a shed clearence when We took over an allotment in the early 1990’s . What do remember is seeing this machine working but not for long as the owner had fitted a car type coil to it and was using a battery to provide the spark and when the battery went flat that was it until the battery had been charged up , although I own this machine I have not done a thing with it as in 2004 my interest turned to bigger stuff and a Ford 4000 tractor was bought and restored .I still own these and more But I still have a soft spot for Howard rotorvators and the latest project is another Howard 350 bought as Spares or repairs in January 2026

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