[vhgmcbuddy]

An easy answer for a change, go to Garfitts, they are in a place called Halfway, Sheffield, you will find their site easily on the net, they can ship all over the world, and in the past made the cutting cylinders for Ransomes.
Kind regards
The Hall & Duck Trust

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi Charlie

thanks for the info, there are some painted over lumps alongside large nuts on the back of the clutch which may be the buttons you refer to, next time im with the machine will check it out. new to the world of forums etc hope i posted in the right place and replied in the correct way.

Jon

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi,

My name is Ruben and I’m from Spain.

I have a Howard Clifford 700 with a rotovator 20″ unit.

It belonged to my uncle and now I would like to repair.

I need diferent parts, especially from the rotavator unit.

An alternative solution, will be to buy a complet rotovator unit.

Do you know someone that can help me?

One problem, will be the transport and taxes to send the item to Spain.

That’s a matter I’ll have to cover.

I would appreciate your help.

Best regards,

Ruben

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi,

My name is Ruben and I’m from Spain.

I have a Howard Clifford 700 with a rotovator 20″ unit.

It belonged to my uncle and now I would like to repair.

I need diferent parts, especially from the rotavator unit.

An alternative solution, will be to buy a complet rotovator unit.

Do you know someone that can help me?

One problem, will be the transport and taxes to send the item to Spain.

That’s a matter I’ll have to cover.

I would appreciate your help.

Best regards,

Ruben

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi,

My name is Ruben and I’m from Spain.

I have a Howard Clifford 700 with a rotovator 20″ unit.

It belonged to my uncle and now I would like to repair.

I need diferent parts, especially from the rotavator unit.

An alternative solution, will be to buy a complet rotovator unit.

Do you know someone that can help me?

One problem, will be the transport and taxes to send the item to Spain.

That’s a matter I’ll have to cover.

I would appreciate your help.

Best regards,

Ruben

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi,

My name is Ruben and I’m from Spain.

I have a Howard Clifford 700 with a rotovator 20″ unit.

It belonged to my uncle and now I would like to repair.

I need diferent parts, especially from the rotavator unit.

An alternative solution, will be to buy a complet rotovator unit.

Do you know someone that can help me?

One problem, will be the transport and taxes to send the item to Spain.

That’s a matter I’ll have to cover.

I would appreciate your help.

Best regards,

Ruben

[vhgmcbuddy]

Came across this thread, and I’m curious for an update. I know I’m some 10 years late. But any help and advice would be appreciated. I would like to also get a new belt. Does anyone have any ideas of the spec of the belt. width size, length etc. Not had any luck sourcing any information from the net. I’d assumed that industrial booklets would be available, but seems i need to visit the Museum of English Rural Life to get my hands on a copy, just to look at. And at this moment in time its impractical to do.
Many thanks in advance

[vhgmcbuddy]

Great you have a spark. The screeching sound is from the loose ball bearings inside the retractable starter. The fix is to take it apart, clean the dirt out and reassemble DRY. You may have done this already though. The dirt in one of mine has worn the aluminium tracks and balls. Cleaning did help a lot, but it still screeches sometimes and prevents the cord from going back in. A few gentle tugs on the cord and it does rewind. It used to do it after a few minutes work, the cord popped out too, which was a pain as I had to disengage the clutch, walk round to fiddle with it. But now, if it does it at all, it’s just after it has started.

A new diaphragm is a must for B&S engines if they do not start. After reassembly I would put your hand over the carb inlet and give it a few pulls. Then look inside the carb, you should see some petrol at the bottom. It shows the diaphragm has pulled up the fuel into the little reservoir in the tank and then the main jet has pulled it into the carb. Once the engine is warm, the coke off and the air filter refitted, you can tune it with the needle valve on the main jet. By ear you can find the ‘sweet spot’ between rich and weak. If you are going to use it for hard work, would screw the valve out by 1/8th turn.

Grahame

[vhgmcbuddy]

Concur with Andy, get a good spark first, then clean the carb thoroughly and fit a new diaphragm. Have fitted pattern ones and have had no problem with them. If the ignition is a points type, its not the best design. I get to them by using an air chisel with a point fitted and put it on the crankshaft end. A put a prybar behind the flywheel, give the chisel a buzz whilst GENTLY putting pressure on the flywheel. If the combined points condenser, or the coil is duff. I would personally replace it with a transistorized module. Its a dead easy swap and the spark is much stronger. These small engines have a similar rev range and power delivery, so do not think swapping the original for another type will make too much difference to the machine’s operation. A good idea to fit a toothed belt to replace the original tyres.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Bonjour Marc,

Une restauration fantastique, bien faite.

Meilleurs vœux,

Grahame

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi John,

It looks like you have fixed it. This is my experience of them.

Over the years have had several leaking Ewarts fuel taps. Did once get some replacement corks, but they were poor quality, still got leaks. Have tried PTFE tape, nitrile cord, soaking the original corks in an oil/paraffin mix. Nothing really worked. Have had a couple of taps where the threaded spindle with stop end had seized and then saw on ebay a chap from the USA selling an O ring kit. They worked really well, so I took the dimensions of them and then got some from a UK O ring supplier. They were FKM (Viton) Brown 75 ShA at 4.42mm ID and 2.62mm Cross Section. To fit use plenty of lube, fit 4, but if tight fit 3 and put in a small standard O ring to take up the gap. They have cured the leak on every tap I have fitted to them to, the operation is smooth as well. They cost pennies. But you have to get the correct sized O rings, or they may not work.

Best wishes,

Grahame

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi,
No the Albion gearbox had nothing to do with the engine. I’m building a bike out of it and was going to use that Albion but used a triumph slick shift in the end. Thankyou very much for the response and sorry for me being so late in replying. I still would like to know the model jap this is if possible.

[vhgmcbuddy]

‘You pays your money and takes your choice’ with mag testing. A ‘Proper’ test rig would be one that can rotate a magneto, be able to measure the voltage and current output of both the primary and secondary coils. Ideally be able to view the sine waves on an oscilloscope and check the spark gap in air with a 3 probe adjustable tester. For flywheel magnetos, similar except without a magnet passing over the coil, a current is supplied to the primary coil.

Without access to such equipment, only static testing can be carried out by measuring the resistance of the LT and HT circuits. This is carried out with a multimeter.

Condensers can be tested either with a megger or the capacitance function of the high quality multimeter. Have found a lot of ignition problems are caused by the condenser. As I do have a megger, I can test one. For those who do not have access to one, my recommendation if the LT and HT circuits seem OK, is to replace it. But I fit a modern polyester film capacitor with a Voltage Rating of 630v. Capacitance 220nF / 0.22uF. Can get 10off for £4.09p here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301127883221?var=600476142172 I mount them on a small circuit board, but you may get away with a small piece of stiff plastic.

Testing a mag with multimeter is easy, it only takes a few minutes. If I find a fault in the coil, I replace it. If I still do not get a 6mm air gap spark, I replace the condenser with the capacitor above. For me, it’s worked every time. Although I there are some mags with a suboptimal windings on the coil and/or tired magnets. As yet, I have not had one. When I do I will trial again a single wire energy transfer coil system and get the magnets remagnetized.

[vhgmcbuddy]

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

[vhgmcbuddy]

If you have not done it already, firstly I would remove the points, hone any pitting out from the contact surfaces, refit and set the gap to 0.015”, also clean all terminal connections. With the plug cap removed, hold the end of the HT lead 6mm from a clean part of the engine and see if there is a spark. If there is, you have fixed it, if not, close the gap until its 4mm away. I find holding the HT lead steady difficult, so have got an adjustable spark gap tester that was <£4, its one of the best tools in my box. An engine will start and run with a 4mm gap, but for easier starting and smoother tickover, you really need the gap to be 6mm. A good mag will achieve this. <4mm and the mag needs attention and personally I am not happy until I get it to spark at 6mm. If still there is a poor or no spark, a test with a multimeter is as follows: for LT Continuity, rotate until the contact-breaker points are open. Set the dial to 200Ω, measure the resistance with the two probes shorted together. The reading will probably be a fraction of an ohm and note it. Then measure the resistance between ground and the ‘hot’ side of the contact-breaker. Deduct the noted reading from the reading on the dial and the result should be between 0.5 & 0.7 Ω. A high reading indicates a bad connection or break in the low-tension circuit. A lower reading means there is probably a short-circuit in the contact-breaker assembly or in the armature. For HT Continuity, set the dial to 20KΩ, place the red probe on the pick-up or HT lead, the black to ground, the reading should be between 3 & 7 KΩ. If significantly higher there is probably a break in the HT winding, or a bad connection between the winding and the pick-up. If significantly lower, its unusual, but still indicates a problem. A lot of ignition troubles are due to the condenser. If the LT and HT tests are fine and you have access to a megger, the condenser should pass a 2GΩ @ 500v test. If you cannot do such a test, I would replace it with either a recently manufactured one, not NOS and certainly not second hand. As the wax paper inside them deteriorates with age and use. Or get a modern capacitor such as an EasyCap CU220 from https://brightsparkmagnetos.com/ which is my preference. In my experience they often perform better than old style condensers. Have had instances where a good mag with the existing condenser achieved a spark at 4mm, by fitting a modern capacitor the gap increased to 6mm with the subsequent easier starting and a smoother tickover. Resting a plug on the side of an engine to see if there is a spark is not a good enough test if ignition problems are suspected.

The above is the test procedure for a home mechanic who can use a multimeter. A multimeter will not test the condenser though. Others may advise you go straight to a specialist who may or may not have dedicated equipment. My advice if you are tempted to go down this route is to firstly get a quote, even testing will cost a fair bit. The above is free if you have a multimeter, about £8 – £12 if you have to purchase one. But it will be an investment as it has many uses.

[Author]

Posts