Landmaster Saturn Rotary Lawn Mower

[darmic1]

I thought I would share the restoration of my latest Projects.
I found and won the 1st one on the well known auction site for the sum of £5.00
A drive down to Bridport to collect and a nice day on the beaches too, and it was home. It had been Hammerited at some point in its life, but was complete with its grass box. The seller reported that it came with the house having spent around 20 years in a garage laying idle.
Here are a few pictures from the auction site.

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[darmic1]

Once home I decided to get it running before stripping for restoration. Am pleased to say once the carb was cleaned, fresh fuel added, points and magneto cleaned, it burst into life easily. It ran well, but had no stop switch, the only missing part. Once it had ran for about half an hour, it was dismantled and sent out for a small aluminium weld repair and shot blasting. The engine was degreased ready for paint removal.

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[darmic1]

The engine is a Briggs & Stratton 148cc 4 stroke. Its numbers are:
Model Type Code
92502 0253 01 6801222
I would say this is original and would make the machine circa 1968.
I removed all the old paint on the engine using a heavy duty paint stripper, etch primed and applied several coats of matched colour. The tank, carb, bracket etc also had the same treatment.
I am extremely happy with the paint finish, really smooth and is mirror like.

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[darmic1]

Once the paint had cured and hardened, The engine was reassembled, waiting to be reunited with the mower deck.
The engine sat on the bench for a week prior to painting and had previously shown no leaks, but once painted it decided to weep a puddle of oil overnight from the crank seal. This was replaced and no more problems.

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[darmic1]

The next task was to repair the Blade guard beneath the deck. This had some fairly serious corrosion and an attempt to repair it had been made with fibreglass. I cut away the bad steel, formed a new piece and welded it into place. I then made use of the old mounting bracket, by carefully cutting it out and welding it to the new section.

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[darmic1]

The Deck and Grass box were collected from the blasters having been cleaned up and etch primed. My next job was to apply some colour. The paint was matched to the original paint uncovered on the deck and on the grass box, so a good match was assured. It transpires the colour is a Ford colour used on agricultural machines of that era. I do have the name and code somewhere…..
I also painted the engine shroud and metal air filter tins in the white, as was original to the machine. The handlebars, roller and blade guard were powder coated satin black.

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[darmic1]

Once all the paint had cured it was time to reunite all the various parts. It only took around 2 hours to completely reassemble this mower due to its simplicity…… But it was dark by the time it was finished…….

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[darmic1]

Here are some daylight pictures of the finished mower……
Titch is going to reproduce the decals from the literature that Paul kindly sent, so once they are applied, it will be finished.

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[will-haggle]

Looks good, Darren, if you’d like to send the words and pictures to me I’ll stick it in the Cultivator…
cultivator-editor@outlook.com

[darmic1]

Hi Alan, will send them over….. but there’s a twist to this restoration.
The twist being, 2 days after collecting this machine, I found another a few miles down the road in Hook, Hampshire. I was lucky enough to win this on the auction site too! Here are the pictures of the 2nd Saturn.

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[darmic1]

This machine is a later model, fitted with a belt driven rear roller, its driven from the PTO on the side of the Briggs & Stratton engine. It has adjustable handles and it also has an unusual exhaust which vents beneath the deck. The numbers of this engine are:
Model Type Code
92988 0960 01 79012922
So from that it would be circa 1979
Unfortunately, this mower wouldn’t start, despite trying everything, it had fresh fuel, clean carb, flywheel magnets cleaned and air gap reset but no spark could be produced! I suspected the points, condensor or the magneto armature. As this one wouldn’t run and it was an untested engine I decided to strip it down completely, remove all the old paint and inpsect the internals before spending any money on spares.

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[darmic1]

Upon inspection it was found to be in excellent shape internally. So I went ahead and ordered all these bits. Including Full gasket set, New electronic ignition Magneto armature, thus doing away with the points and condenser. Replacement air filter, exhaust, spark plug, fuel cap and carb kit. I then etch primed the engine and reassembled it using the new parts. Very pleased to report a good healthy spark now.

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[darmic1]

Next was to take it apart again for painting. Here are the bits having been painted and hung up to dry……

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[darmic1]

Once the paint was dry and hardened I reassembled it ready to go back on the deck. This is where I’m up to….. The deck, grass box and the other bits are still at the blasters.

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[charlie]

Darren a great job, always good to see something different.

[Author]

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