Turbo Twister

Not sure why the last 2 posts were posted twice!

We spent a while looking for the alignment "T" mark, not knowing which cover it was behind, but we got the head off. The old rubber grommet was worn, the 2 round ridges are worn flat and it looks like it was repaired previously with Honda bond or similar when it was opened in the past. Dad cleaned the bottom of the mating surface of the camshaft cover before we refit it with a new Honda bond seal and the new rubber grommet. Dad spent a good while adjusting the 2 valves, the front one was a bugger to get at due to the small amount of space, but it's all back together again so fingers crossed the leak is fixed now. Next job is to fix the bash plate and drill a big hole under where the oil sump nut is so I don't have to remove the basj plate during any services.

We spent a while looking for the alignment "T" mark, not knowing which cover it was behind, but now we have the head off so we are making some progress. The old rubber grommet was worn, the 2 round ridges are worn flat and it looks like it was repaired previously with Honda bond or similar when it was opened. Dad is cleaning the bottom of the mating surface of the camshaft cover before we refit it.

This, I don't know the name of it but I need to clear everything from the garage into the van first as my mess keeps going back and forth😂

Today we are about to start the dreaded tear down of the head of the engine to fix the oil leak that we had since I bought the bike just over a year ago! We will possibly need some advice as we go along!

Today we are about to start the dreaded tear down of the head of the engine to fix the oil leak that we had since I bought the bike just over a year ago! We will possibly need some advice as we go along!

I live in Ireland😂nothing to do with the UK!!

Funny you say that😂 I had to move the mower to get the bike out of the garage, but it won't be touched this weekend. Work is easing off a little though thank God!! I have a target, to get it done before the end of July as I intend to go on holiday for a week or 2 in August so it would be great if it was ready by then.

Don't have a metal detector pal, the garden was a mess after yesterday, very heavy rain, but it made getting the roots out so much easier. The whole garden will be dug up in a few months time, the client just wanted a clean canvas to work from.

I haven't been anywhere near the bike or mower deck for the past several weeks, but a new neighbour of mine wanted help removing some old bush stumps. I had intended to use the van but couldn't get the turning space so we suggested the quad. It worked a treat and pulled all but 2 stumps out with ease! Great to have it back outside again, it needs a wash now though!

I have been crazy busy the past 4 or 5 weeks with work so unfortunately the mower deck and all other projects have been put on hold until work settles down a bit. As for the drum question, as Wilson quoted above, a toothed belt drives both drums opposite eachother in a figure of "8" drive method, thus the two drums rotate towards eachother. I hope to get back at the project in about 2 weeks time but everytime I finish off a job another few come in🤦‍♂️

Some progress photos of yesterday! I managed to refit the bearing houses and two blade drums, the bearing roller for the driving belt and I had started drilling out the 16mm holes for the top link pins but the drill bit is like butter so I have to keep sharpening it. Going to purchase a better bit. One these holes are done I will get started on fitting the engine. It's starting to look more like a mower again than just lots of pieces lying around!

I'm not quite with you Fish, what is the advantage to this?

Initially, I thought it just had a paper filter but after looking at a diagram of the filter housing I noticed a foam band is wrapped around the outside of the filter so I have ordered both of those items, so to answer your question, yes it'll be a 2 stage air filter. I was going to do some work on it tomorrow but seeing as I'll be 30 I think I'll take the day off😁 (that probably won't happen) lol

We had to replace the starter motor and there was some wear on the top of the old one. I got a second hand one for free from the same friend who gave me the engine and it worked! Only problem we had when the engine did start was how to turn it off🤣🤣🤦‍♂️ We think a small kill switch or emergency push button on the coil wire should do the trick, similar to what I did on the chipper a few months back. I found the oil leak, it was the drain nut washer that was the problem. Its copper, so I heated it red hot before cooling it, so far so good so hopefully that fixed that issue! I have ordered a new air filter as the old one is manly dirty. Now that I know it runs I can start figuring out where to put the engine on the deck, that is after I clear out the garage again to get st the deck!

@Fishfiles the circuit board is no longer a part of the wiring problem!! I rang the guy I got the mower from and he gave me a step by step guide of how to wire the key ignition back to the solenoid and battery. First turn of the key and the engine turned over. There is 1 small issue I have to fix tomorrow.. when I turn the key to the "pre start and on" position, the engine wants to start straight away, but you should have to turn the key further clockwise before the engine starts up, then the key should return to the on position. Dad reckons it's a quick fix by just switching a wire on the back of the ignition. Once I get that sorted I will start cleaning the engine, carb etc..I will order a new plug, replace the perished fuel pickup pipe, air filter and change the engine oil too, I think theres a small engine oil leak but it might be easier to find when the engine is running to thin the oil. Once I'm happy with the engine setup I will figure out a way to attach it to the mower deck.

Zulu had to repair a few soldered points that broke off, if you see the round disc with some white silicone on top in the pic of the circuit? there were 3 legs under it, one of which had broken off so dad had to undo all of them to fix this, then solder them all back together again. He had to do this twice as the first time one leg failed to stay intact. We then used a wire direct from the live feed of the solenoid to the positive of a battery to see would the mower start but no success. I'm working in a new neighbours garden today but I'll try to get at the electronics again this evening if I have time.

That's what I'm thinking too but we want to just get it started first, bypass it later.

I managed to get the engine out, I ended up cutting the frame as I couldn't get the dual pulley shaft off the engine shaft, but this could work to my advantage as I now have a frame to work with. I re wired everything again to check if the engine would turn over but so far so have no joy, dad soldered something on the chip board for all the electronics, we suspected it may have been an ignition issue. As he is was repairing it, I had a good look externally at the engine and have found a few petrol leaks, for one, the fuel pickup pipes are perished, there is also a drip coming from the carb area but I had the engine on its side for a few minutes to cut something off so I think it's just fuel that made it's way to the air filter housing. **Update** We checked the solenoid and starter motor for current and they both seem fine, but the engine wouldn't start, so I discussed the wiring with dad and he reckons that because the ride on mower has a safety cut off switch under the seat that I disconnected, the circuit board won't allow the engine to start. So tomorrow I will take the switch end off the seat and plug it in to see if this solves the problem. I'll be back to work part time on Tuesday so the engine project will be put on hold for another while until I have time to work on it again.

Got stuck into taking out the engine and electrics this morning (still at it!) The right side of the engine was caked in oily grass so the metal frame and that side of the engine are relatively clean. It's a 465cc 10.5hp synchro balanced Briggs and Straton engine, made between 95-98 in America so it should pack a decent bit of power to the 2 drums. I also found out from my friend who gave me this that the blades on the drum should be loose to swing incase of a stone strike etc so thats that problem sorted. First job is to remove all electrics and get them out still connected as a loom, then once the engine is out we can remove any unnecessary wiring and just keep what's required to have it start and stop on a key ignition. Once I get the wires sorted I will attempt to remove the engine. I am thinking I will use part of this mower chassis to mount the engine as the bolt holes are already in place, plus it'll give me the clearance I need to sort out the pulleys.

I gave it 3 coats of etch primer, 3 coats of gloss black and I have yet to give it a few coats of laquer, when the weather picks up. Currently very wet here. I painted on some rust remedy stuff, I used it on the quad too, its made by Loctite.. I'll get a photo of it tomorrow, it basically hardens rust back to solid metal (at least it's supposed to!). Once I finish the wall repairs in the garage, I have to leave the props in place for a few days but I hope to get stuck into the engine removal next week as it looks like Ireland will be in lockdown for another 2 weeks.

My donor engine has arrived! Along with most of the mower it came with! Initially, i was due to receive a 13.5hp engine but it turns out that it was seized, so I was given a 10hp engine instead, and I didn't have to pay a penny for it, I will give something back in return though, a favour for a favour etc.. I have a big repair job to do on one of our parapet walls first so once that job is done I can start stripping back to the engine and electrics, more photos in a few days time.

Still breathing lol! I just nicked a big lump off the back of a finger, second time this week, nothing major thanks!

Thanks Wilson, it's coming along nicely alright, even the father was impressed. I didn't do a lot today ad I ended up cleaning the van out, the only thing I did do was cut an angle off the tops of the 3x mounting points for the the drawbar because I cut myself badly when turning the top link, so no more sharp edges.

I had a bit of fun on the front lawn, not that it's very big! I figured out the the outer turning circle of the quad is approximately 7.4m.. the mower directly behind it follows as I'd hoped and turning with it is pretty good too. Obviously if the ground was wet I would probably be tearing it a little, more so with the quad than the mower I would think due to the thread? It also turns really well in reverse, with the wheels right at the back this is always a bonus. I have a 6x4 trailer and the wheels are too dark forward for my liking, I have found that any trailer with the wheels at least 2/3 the length of a trailer overall back on the bed is the best for reverse steering, otherwise you'll be back and forth all day long! I'll weld on another bracket to the left of the mower so I can offset it to the right, after a lot of thought I dont see the point in having the offset on both sides as I can do the same cut driving in one direction. Very pleased also with the height adjust, it's very easy to fine tune it with a pin to twist the top links, and a nut to secure the height from vibration. It should be a lot less wobbly when I finally drill out the holes to their correct size but I'm still waiting on the drill bit!