Ransomes engine carb improvement

[andyfrost]

David , to be fair that isn’t the fault of the machine , if you start it up in gear these things will happen. My Father-in-law had an MG6 , with hydraulics , I fully rebuilt the engine for him , and it started extremely easy , and ran like a clock. The SA engine you have are first class , and if all is right will start and run lovely.

Andy.

[davidbliss]

Engine runs fine better than some clocks, with the impulse mag from cold I gently pulled it over on the flywheel and was away. I am a bit of a perfectionist and when I hear people saying they all ran like that or when they just put and put every few seconds eight stroking afraid its not good enough for me so will still have ago with the carb and might try a bit more on the needle seat or making a smaller slow running jet but that is ok if running just above tick over. Grand fathers MG6 out fit was bought by Cecil Knights of E H Knights and Sons as it was already getting old back then was in very good order and they had all its tools painted and can remember seeing them sort of on show in his garden. It wasn’t one of the very early models but manual lift. At one time it had some peculiar gearbox problem with its internals coming loose and rotated.

[sidevalve5]

Hi David,

Great that with some more work you managed to get the carb to work well. From what I could see of the pictures you posted it looked like there were potential faults in the design. The float may have not moved freely up the central column, it could twist and then stick. How it pivoted against the needle meant it would not hit the needle square every time. Causing it to not operate as reliably as it should. But you have fixed it, brilliant.

Have often thought of fitting an aftermarket modern carb to an older engine. Was always concerned if I could fine tune it. You post rekindled my idea and after 5 minutes on the computer I found that there are a huge range of cheap carb jet kits available. May give it a go when I have time one day.

Fully concur with both your grandad and Andy about old stuff. If set up well, they are a joy to use. But if not, they are hard work to put it mildly. At times I used to hate using my Trusty until I got it sorted. Your tale of the MG6 putting your grandad up against a wall reminds me of hearing of someone killed by a Trusty. It put a chap using it through the side of a greenhouse, he died from blood loss. Find it really satisfying that often with a little tinkering, what some may regard as scrap can be used again. Operating in a smooth controlled manner.

Best wishes,

Grahame

[davidbliss]

Grahame
I agree get pleasure in getting scraped bits of machinery working and used for years, and keeping mine in top order. That SA engine ticks over near to 120rpm so not flustered at all. I will be at Stradsett with my ride on mower, silent, few revs and uses less fuel, today we burn more fuel for low emissions that makes masses of heat to be green or is it? I went out to sort out a old Bull Nose Morris the other day and they had to shift the large’ish JD, well it was plastic just revs and horrendous noise. Getting on for two years ago I replaced a engine with a emissions compliant but same engine, uses more fuel gets so hot it scares hell out of you when it goes off bang some seconds after being turned off, progress?

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