Angus Shapland (Wristpin)

Be a little careful in your description of your engine as vertical and horizontal usually refers to the crank, not the cylinder and all the data pages in the Tecumseh manuals follow that convention. The Tecumseh on a Bug will probably be a vertical shaft, V60 or V70 etc. It’s a long time since I’ve seen a Tecumseh on a Bug and I don’t recol…[Read more]

I’ve no specific MT info or experience but quite often in that sort of application the manufacturers will issue recommended counterbalance force for floating or skidding units – bathroom scales job to set them up. Wait for the man who knows !

Yes, compression release. On some engines it’s achieved by the profile of the cam while on others there’s a centrifugally operated pin to release compression for starting but is disabled as the rpm picks up.

While we are on the subject of gaskets, it’s as well to consider that as well as their sealing function they may perform a “spacing function”, as in setting the amount of pre-load on a bearing or shaft. Substituting “stuff from a tube” for a crankcase or gearbox cover, may result in the loss of required end float and a tight engine or gearbox.…[Read more]

Several years ago I bought an assorted pack of A4 sheets of gasket material ranging from cork, through various thicknesses of different materials – Klinger Statite, Interface, Tesnit, Flexoid & Klingersil etc. Great to have to hand when the need arises – usually at a weekend when the shops are shut, not that there any places left around here that…[Read more]

Proper gasket material, no stuff in a tube – neutral or otherwise!

Engine. Villiers Lightweight – probably the 150 cc version, but other than the capacity ( bore diameter)the same as the 125cc.

Thanks, I’ll give it another go. AS

America went over to unleaded fuel way before us, and all their small engine manufacturers were using hardened valve seats well ahead of us. They also offered the option positive valve rotation for certain constant speed applications such as generators and pumps. Your engine was made years before the introduction of ethanol adulterated fuel so go…[Read more]

Stay away from E10 for as long as you can – stick with E5 or even ethanol free if you can get it.
The ignition trigger unit that you illustrate is what is often marketed in the UK as a Nova, and it’s fine for your Kohler. I happen to prefer the Meco as it’s smaller and easier to hide within a flywheel magneto.
Assuming that your Kohler’s coil has…[Read more]

Two possible suppliers for used plates come to mind. Martyn Channer, so has a presence on eBay and Upsons, near Maldonado, Essex.

From what I remember of Model aircraft fuel it would certainly have good penetrating / searching properties, even when past being suitable for its intended purpose. As far as proprietary dismantling potions go, Plus Gas has been my go to product for many years but some people favour a mix of automatic transmission fluid and acetone. For assemblies…[Read more]

So I carefully sanded out the lips so I had flat plates again and whilst at it had the clutch plates re-lined.

No experience of the the MT cutter drive but assuming correct assembly, the answer must lie in the re-lining. Presumably the firm entrusted with that operation were either given a specification to work to or purported to know the…[Read more]

If governor springs are not strong enough, maybe chainsaw or trimmer centrifugal clutch springs. I had a similar issue finding springs for a British Anzani Powermow. Took a bit of experimenting and even now not 100%.

Unfortunately, none of my Aspera parts books go back far enough to include an engine with the flyball governor, so I’m unable to assist with part numbers. Hopefully someone else has an earlier parts manual.

Good luck with finding parts, I would start with Jon Cruse at the Hailsham Mower Centre. After that , hopefully an Aspera specialist on this forum will come to the rescue. Meanwhile I’ll see whether I have anything with part number info.
Starting issue – is the choke closing fully?

Progress! You appear to have sorted the starter and the outstanding issue is the governor. It appears to be of the “ flyball” type and I’ve never seen one , let alone worked on one, but it would seem to be as shown in the manual as the” Flyball type governor on V51 and AH51 and I hope that you can relate the attached image to what is in front o…[Read more]

Lets start with a model number and an image or two. Otherwise it’s guess work.

Definitely an early Aspera with the early pattern recoil starter. I’ll try to dig out and post the appropriate shop manual pages . Your question re the throttle / Governor linkage is a bit more tricky. I can’t remember anything resembling your image and am fairly sure that it pre dates any manual that I have but I’ll have a look.