Landmaster Gardenmaster 34

[darmic1]

I was given this by a work colleague a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t in a bad condition, solid but covered in surface rust. I was informed it had been being used, but for some reason one day it just stopped. My initial plan was to get it running again and then maybe move it along. However, I’m at a bit of a stop with the Farmer’s Boy, so I decided to give this a makeover and add it to the collection. I had never seen a Green Landmaster before and no matter where I scratched at the green paint, NO blue was found….. This led me to think could it have been green from the factory??? After removing the engine I eventually found the remnants of Landmaster blue paint. Whoever owned and painted this one green did a very good job of removing the original paint!

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[darmic1]

I made a start stripping down the JAP 34cc engine and ignition to try to find why it suddenly stopped? Imagine my surprise when I discovered no points or condenser??? A bit more hunting revealed a small metal box screwed to the back of the magneto plate. It turned out to be a ‘Meco’ electronic ignition….. No matter what I did I could not get a spark out of it….. The coil tested fine, so I assumed the ‘Meco’ had died! I wanted to put it back to original, so points and condensor were ordered with ‘Meteens’

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[darmic1]

The bearings and seals were also shot so new ones were collected locally. Was surprised to find that despite this machine being from 1958, the bearings and seals were metric? Once it was all back together, I gave the barrel a light coat of dark grey and also painted the exhaust with VHT paint.

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[darmic1]

I took the engine cowling along to my paint suppliers and they matched some for me. Its strange that in 1958 they could make a metallic gloss finish in a one coat paint, yet today it has to be a base coat followed by a clear lacquer? The cowling, recoil housing and fuel tank were given a strip down to bare metal, etch primed, paint and finally a couple of coats of clear…..
I really like this colour…… It’s a nice contrast against the blue!

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[darmic1]

The frame and covers were stripped and followed the same paint regime as all my other restorations…

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[darmic1]

The wheels were given a makeover next…..

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[darmic1]

Once all the paint had dried totally, I started putting it back together…..

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[darmic1]

Once the engine was refitted, the problems began…… This little engine refused to start, It would cough, it would chug, it would puff the tiniest amount of smoke…… But it would not go! I tried everything, the timing was set correctly, the points were set correctly, the plug was gapped correctly…. I lost count of the number of times I took it apart and rebuilt it, checking and double checking everything. there were no air leaks from the crankcase, nor the carb to air intake…… This little engine almost had me beat, almost met with the 7lb club hammer! Thankfully it started eventually, I still have no idea what I did to make it work, just happy that it does!

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[darmic1]

Ordered some 4mm rubber sheet to remake the soil/stone flap. once fitted I put the rotor cover back on.

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[darmic1]

A few last little jobs, 1st was to paint and refit the air cleaner, next was to make the support bracket and fit it…..

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[darmic1]

Here’s the finished machine and a short video of it running……

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[stuart]

I have a identical machine :).

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