Terminal damage to Villiers F15

[wristpin]

I’m in the process of a major tidy up and chuck out session and today it was the turn of the “dead and dying” engine rack. A partially stripped F15, when cleaned of copious crud revealed a strange looking crack but a bit more dismantling revealed that a chunk of the crankcase was only being held in place by one cover screw. No idea of its history but as none of the internal components are damaged,it’s not a burst; perhaps it had been dropped. Not rare enough to warrant a professional welding job, so to the scrap bin it goes.

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[andyfrost]

That’s a shame , I rate the F15 very highly , I have a late electronic version on one of my wide box Howard Bantams , it made a very good replacement for the completely worn out MK15 , shares the same footprint , and bolts on with no alterations needed.VERY easy starter and delivers bags of power.

Andy.

[wristpin]

Yes, I’ve got a Points F15 on a Ransomes Twenty Four that’s been in the family since new and despite only being started now and again, is always ready to go.
On the subject of Villiers electronic mags and starting I have noticed that the F12s with electronics need a more determined pull than the old points systems that when all else is correct will usually fire on little more than a foot of rope.
Perhaps it’s a characteristic of electronic systems in general, as the Briggs manuals of the day make a point of saying that theirs need x rpm cranking to fire them up . X being more than for the points system – but I’ve forgotten what !!

[wristpin]

The F15 having been stripped of anything that may be of use it was now the turn of several part stripped JLO L97s and and an electronic ignition RM100 with a rather bent crank. Fortunately JLO used an easily dismantled three piece crank and the lower section was common to a lot of their smaller rotary mower engines, so after a bit of cannibalisation we have a potentially usable short + engine – just need a carb!
The offending lower crank section.

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[andyfrost]

I make you right on the electronic ignition, I remember the first one I ever worked on , flicking the flywheel over by hand revealed a fairly hopeless looking spark.I was told by someone far wiser than me to put the cowling/recoil starter on , whip it over and see the difference……he wasn’t wrong , it started first pull and ran like a dream.

Andy.

[Author]

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