Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Not really a "scale" model but more of a small engine situation that probably would more properly be posted in the off-topic section. But what the heck, working on it reminded me more of some of the messing about with models that I sometimes do, so it almost seemed like a hobby type restoration anyway!

This past weekend (Saturday) I went to a couple of local Yard Sales, and at the last one I visited there was a gas lawnmower of the type identified by the Subject title.

It just so happens that I'd been thinking of getting a "new" mower for a while since the one I have (Craftsman 917 Mulcher) is getting really long in the tooth (over 25 years old) and has both rear wheels held together in classic Red Green fashion, that being with Duct Tape, one with the tire coming off the wheel and the other with three of the five spokes broken. So clearly, I'm in the market for a new mower. BTW, parts for my Craftsman are non-existent and a compatible set of replacement rear wheels are at $20 each, best I can find.

So, the Husky at the yard sale didn't look too bad, not really low mileage, but no signs of abuse other than perhaps having been left outdoors for some time, but not looking like it was left in direct sun. Owner said it wasn't running, I'd guess for a few years by the look of it, and he thought it just needed a new spark plug.

Price?

$5

Brought it home, of course, as at that price I didn't see how I could go too far wrong. That was on Saturday, and I spent about an hour checking the machine over and cleaning it up when I got it home. Sparkplug looked essentially new and was even properly gapped, though it did look a little sooty. Spark was seen upon testing, so the problem wasn't electrical, which took me immediately to the carburetor. Well, it was already late in the day, so I didn't really want to get myself all gassed up just before dinner, thus deferred further investigation until the following morning.

As the evening progressed, I hit the computer to find that most parts are readily available, and many are even competitively priced on eBay, so that was reassuring!

Come Sunday morning, put a little fresh gas in the tank and pulled the cord .......... NOTHING!

Pulled the fuel line off and opened the shutoff valve and got full flow, tried a squirt of starter fluid and immediately fired off but also immediately quit running. Clearly it wanted to run, but the carb just wasn't providing what it needed. Laid it on its side, draining the old oil at the same time, and proceeded to pull the carb off. Also pulled the blade off and took a file to it to resharpen. May buy it a new blade available for about $25.

Carburetor is layered in three segments with four gaskets, two hoses, a linkage rod and a tensioning spring. I got it all off with some difficulty but noted in doing so that it was going to be a real bear to reassemble! Clearly, this was a set-up requiring three hands to properly reassemble in a space where three fingers can hardly find room to operate.

What I found was that all operational orifii [should that be orificies?] (ie: jets, ports and valves) were totally clogged with such serious gunk and corrosion (all brass parts were thickly green) that I actually had to drill them out. Fortunately, being a model engine kind of guy, I have the necessary tiny drill bits and small tools. Unfortunately, in pulling the float bowl off the bottom of the carb, a large diameter (almost 2-inch O.D., though likely metric) yet narrow and thin (about 0.075 x 0.040) gasket broke, which sealed the upper lip onto the bottom of the carb. Time to break out the sheet Teflon and Hobbico circle cutter.

New gasket successfully made!

Once everything in the carb was cleared and cleaned, the reassembly went, sadly, much as expected such that I had to do it three times before all the parts, linkages and gaskets aligned correctly with the sun, moon and stars, and it was all finally back together on the mower in a functional fashion. Whew!!!

Put the required pint + a little, of fresh oil in the crankcase, then ............

Turned the fuel valve on, noted a slight drip, tightened the float bowl bolt, leak stopped, pulled the cord and VROOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday evening I mowed the lawns with my "NEW" *five dollar* Huskvarna / Honda 7021P lawn mower running strong ........ YeeHaw!

Good work on a $5 yard sale mower (Ang & I love sales) if it had a "Honda" engine on it, I would have been intrigued by it as well. it's amazing how many (particularly lawn mowers) can be picked up for little to nothing, often times they've hit something with the blade & knocked the shear pin off/out of position re:timing & pulling the mag flywheel off & replacing this will fix the issue, or as "Karl" says in sling blade..."it aint got no gas in it". well done, Sir.

It most certainly is Honda powered, which is the primary reason why I did go ahead and spend the five bucks for this one!    ;c)