sidevalve@44

Thanks for the info guys. I think I may well go down the easy route and buy a new breaker-less ign coil, it as, after all over 50 years old !

Glad to see all that SPAM has been removed.

Thanks for that. I take it by Coil pick-up you mean the LT lead from the points.

Must admit I can’t remember the plastic wing nuts but, I do remember selling loads of drive belts and nylon gears !

Happy days !

Looks like it did a super job on your lawn. Machines like the old concorde were often derided
as cheap and cheerful back in the 70s when I worked in the garden machinery trade but, they were usually abused something rotten, rarely, if ever, got maintained, but continued to give good service to their owners.

Thanks for the advice Angus. Luckily, the engine is a non runner (no spark) but, will bear this in mind when I do get it going. I have looked up Pegson, and there is, as you say, a lot of hits. Nothing on mine though.

This post reminded me of a photo I took in 1976 when working for Handy Garden Machinery in Swindon. Yep, you’ve guessed it, it’s the shattered innards of an Aspera engine !

Thanks for that. I had a feeling it might have hardened valve seats but wasn’t sure. I use fuel stabilizer anyway so no worries there. As it smokes a bit after running for a while It’s probably getting a fair bit of UCL anyway, although I may get some Redex for extra measure !!

Interesting. I’ll have to look out for one of those. Mine has some homemade contraption (see picture) that slides over the depth gauge. It works well but, makes it a little front heavy when moving it around !

Looks pretty similar to my Wizard, in which case the belt should be available on that well known on-line auction site, which is where I bought one for my machine.
Would love to know how that jockey wheel is held up too. Mine is missing.
Briggsbits is a good site for engine spares.

I guess one of the reasons these old units worked well on relatively low HP is the torque of the engine rather than its outright HP.
The 3HP B&S engine on my Wizard is only 125cc, the Villiers MK25 is also 3HP but, is 256cc. It would therefore follow that the Villiers is likely to be a more torquey engine. That and low gearing enabled them to use…[Read more]

I use used cooking oil on the tines of my Rotovator after I’ve cleaned it. Seems to work quite well, as long as you can put up with the strange smell !

Hi Moggyjim, Thank you for the compliment. I have no idea what happened to the original jockey wheel; the machine is more or less as I got it from E–y. To transport it, a previous owner has made up a little two wheeled assembly that slides over the strake at the rear; it works well but makes it very front heavy when moving it round. The metal…[Read more]

Some interesting exhibits there. Nice to see some in an unrestored state, as is.

Reminds me of when I worked at Handy Garden Machinery (Swindon) back in the late 70s. WE had a Wheel Horse come in that only needed a re-spray to make it saleable. The fitters were too busy so, the depot manager took the job on. We had no fume extraction then, so the red mist settled everywhere. Unfortunately, the manager had silver gray hair and…[Read more]