[vhgmcbuddy]

Today’s stuff seems to be made to last 3 or 4 seasons at best, unless your paying ridiculous money.

[vhgmcbuddy]

The quality back then, good looking outboard Ray. I recon you might have seen the link below, I liked the technical part.

https://www.britishseagull.co.uk/index.php

[vhgmcbuddy]

I had – you sent it to me!
The Villiers/Sunbeam/Seagull relationship just goes to show how things evolved but are now just taken at face value.

[vhgmcbuddy]

when I think about the life and work span of a mower which has been used in Mr Averages garden,say an hour per week for example over eight weeks per year then it should last a 100 years with good maintenance. this does NOT include what we see today on the mass market.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Ray, just had a good look at the seagull site. Lots of info there ,and when I got to the section about Mr J Marsden I can now see more than one connection why you put this on. In my opinion with the man starting Villiers engines off,none of us would have what we have collected and cherished without him

[vhgmcbuddy]

Thanks Guys,
Looks like I’ve got a job for this next week then along with mastering the Shrinkpic system to improve the quality of the photographs.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Thank you , Charlie, I’ll do

[vhgmcbuddy]

Thank you Geoff for the reply & the offer, but sadly i promised myself i wouldnt be insulted again , my comment was really to bring to VHGMC`s attention that if you are going to put on a display at this show or any other show & people show interest in what that are doing whether it be a member of the public or a potential club member ,please do not ignore them . Just because i had a bad experience doesnt mean anyone else should experience the same .
The Malvern Tractor show is a great show & the first major show of the year & VHGMC allways put on a good display of vintage machinery & is well worth a visit .

[vhgmcbuddy]

Ray, like you say the Villiers carb is similar to one I saw last week. Do you have the deflector which normally fits on the end to stop sea water entering in a storm.

[vhgmcbuddy]

A few more as for some reason the others have vanished.

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[vhgmcbuddy]

It maybe the ignition timing is out.The magneto’s stator assy (the stator is the coil,contact breakers and condensor assy located behind the flywheel) has slotted holes to enable adjustment.
Also worth checking is the exhaust port and the exhaust itself……the engine is a 2 stroke which burns oil and eventually will block the exhaust port in the cylinder barrel and the exhaust outlet with carbon.If the gases cant escape the engine will not run.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Looks very like the Country Gentleman’s Association General Price Guides that were produced annually around that time. They didn’t tend to put brand names on many items either, although they did advertise a wide range of Four Oaks sprayer items.

Jean

[vhgmcbuddy]

Just to expand a bit on the importance of a correctioally functioning crankcase breather. It is not only there to allow air to exit the crankcase when displaced by the descending piston but also to close and maintain a slight negative pressure when the piston ascends.
Venting the crankcase prevents oil being forced out around valve stems and crankshaft seals and the partial vacuum further assists with keeping the oil inside the engine.
All this is a long winded way of saying that the sealing is every bit as important as the venting.
On your Suffolk engine the breather lurks inside the valve chest. Undo the nut securing the cover just below the inlet and exhaust manifolds and the breather is in the middle secured by a compressed sping hooked asound the cover securing stud. Inside the little alloy breather body is a small paxolin disc or poppet valve. If this is working properly it should allow crankcase air out but not in. The alloy bodies wear as do the discs and as neither is still available you are probably stuck with what you have but some improvement may be achieved by turning the disc over to present an unworn face to the valve body. If you are really keen the face of the body can be skimmed to square it up and present a better sealing face to the disc – the smallest cutter from a bath/basedin reseating cutter kit can be reduced in diameter to do this. Also using a straight SAE30 oil may help.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Angus hopefully a bit better view

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[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi Angus,
Just an update on the Suffolk project.
Started on the engine,cleaned it externally,The piston was seized solid but finally got it free. Took the sump off and removed half a pint of water and a cup full of sludge. All looked suprisingly good. Standard piston and not any obvious sign of wear. Seizure looks as though it is due to being stood for a long time rather than lack of lubrication.
Put it all back together and gave it a quick lick of paint to make it look better.
After cleaning out the carb, tried to start it and it fired up first time and runs well, needs a bit of fine tuning, however after about 5 minutes oil started seeping from the main bearing, anyway shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

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