RETRO 40 YEAR OLD BRITISH MOWER RESTORATION

welcome to my restoration of this Westwood gazelle W8 which was manufactured in 1982. it's fitted with a 28 inch cutting deck and an 8 horsepower Briggs and Stratton single cylinder engine as you can see this machine is in quite good condition for its age but what I want to do is fully restore it to the condition it was in when it left the factory before I disassemble the machine it is always nice to be able to test the machine to see what works and what doesn't so initially I'm just checking the fuel and the oil and then I can see if the engine will start and if it does I can hopefully then drive it so the engine does have the correct amount of oil in it let's see if it starts [Music] the engine runs but even after 20 minutes of running it is still burning oil so this issue will have to be addressed [Music] foreign also does Drive in every gear however the clutch pedal is sticky you have to really stamp on it to allow the machine to stop [Music] I did also check to make sure the cutting deck was working and it did seem to engage and cut fine so now we can start the restoration the first step is to remove the cutting deck oh [Music] as you can see there is a lot of grass buildup on the deck this is always terrible for lawnmower decks it just rots them through so what I'm going to do is first of all clean that off before I stand the disassembly later on overall though the deck does look to be in very good condition for now my main focus is on disassembling the main attract part of the machine one of the engine bolts must be removed at this stage to remove the cable which connects the engine to the bonnet with this cable detach the Bonnet can now be removed and disassembled thank you [Music] I'm now going to remove the oil from the engine prior to removing the engine from the machine although the oil is old it does look to be quite clean the main engine pulley is removed these usually do get stuck and this one is no exception so what I'm going to do is turn the machine onto its side so I can fit a hydraulic puller onto the pulley and hopefully that'll be able to remove it this also gives you a great view of underneath the machine and it's also very rare to have an exhaust pipe underneath a chassis on a rider mower this is quite unique the hydraulic pullet is fitted and it does remove the poly with ease foreign to avoid the police from getting stuck it's always worth putting some copper grease on the shaft prior to fitting the poly before the engine can be removed from the machine the exhaust pipe must be removed first okay unfortunately the exhaust pipe is rust welded into position after attempting to remove it for over half an hour I've determined it was best to remove some other parts first to give me better access so I can remove it later one of the main components that is really blocking the access is gearbox so first of all I'm removing the wheels followed by the gearbox itself foreign so far have proven to be very stubborn to remove to avoid damaging other components I'm going to disassemble the top section of the mower so that I can turn the entire machine upside down this involves the disassembly of the center console which also has the electrics built into it I've also established that the solenoid does not work on this Merv so that will have to be replaced and that is the reason why I have to pull start it rather than using electric start starting it with the key so foreign thankfully the rest of the wiring looks to be in very good condition this Rod connects the gearbox to the gear shifter the steering column is now detached enabling the center console to be removed the steering column can also be disassembled foreign is now upside down again making it much easier to remove the brake lever and the gear selector the gearbox can now be unbolted [Music] thank you [Music] the gearbox is quite dirty but it does look to be in quite good condition externally I also have much better access to attempt to remove the exhaust pipe I was hoping to remove it as a single piece but I'm going to have to remove the muffler from the pipe well that's the muffler removed but the main problem is still there the pipe is rust welded to the engine foreign [Music] after around an hour of battling with this I finally got it to start moving so the pipe can be unscrewed from the engine [Music] with the exhaust pipe finally out of the way the engine can be unbolted from the chassis the disassembly on the rest of the machine continues okay this is the steering quadrant which the steering gear meshes with when you turn the steering wheel foreign the track Rod which connects the two wheels together the stub axles I am cleaning this up first of all with a wire brush as these can get stuck if you don't remove the rust first with the sub axles removed the main axle beam can be removed this is held in place with one large Bolt [Music] there are now only a few parts left to remove from the chassis foreign s are part of the clutch assembly basically when you depress the pedal the whole bracket will move de-tensioning the belt which runs between the two pulleys [Music] at the same time removing the clutch the pedal is also removed the disassembly is nearing end there's only a few parts left to move including the deck brake retainer bar deck hanger bar the tow bar the rear hitch control bracket the parking brake which is actually part of the same assembly which allows you to engage and disengage the cutting deck the deck engage Rod is removed at the same time foreign the accessory bracket which actually won't be refitted until I restore a sweeper to fit this machine [Applause] and now we're on to the final main larger components such as the fenders and the main body [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] well that's a nice find I found a toe pin hidden away under the main body finally there is just the accessory brackets to remove [Music] I'm carefully removing the old decals so I can reproduce them to do this I'm just applying a small amount of heat to soften the material and that way it will peel off easier [Music] it's always amazing to see the preserved paintwork underneath the decals it also gives me a good place to write the color code which I want to have these painted in so that when it goes off for sandblasting and powder coating they know exactly which color to do them in there are just a few more jobs left to do before these are ready for sandblasting such as removing the trim the rest of the decals removing the bronze bushes from the axle the bushing from the quadrant and removing the seat plate from the seat foreign moving on to disassembling the cutting deck now as I showed you earlier it is in quite good condition so it really should be quite straightforward to strip down foreign [Music] despite cleaning the shaft price removing the washer it's still incredibly stubborn foreign bearing is stuck on the main spindle but I can press that out easily later and the other one is still stuck in the bearing housing so hopefully just a few sharp blows will knock that bearing out of there all right the deck is now fully disassembled and can be added to the pile of parts that needs to be sandblasted and powder coated the tires are removed from the rims so they can be restored firstly they're deflated then I use a d beader and then the entire wheel is fitted to the tire changer so the tire can be removed from the rim foreign [Music] clearly the rims are very Rusty on the inside thankfully they're still very solid so these can just be cleaned up and repainted I'll be fully restoring the engine later in the video but for now I just need to remove all the parts that are going to be sent off for sandblasting so they can all be done in one big batch firstly I need to remove the fuel tank so that I can gain better access to the other components the air filter box and the top engine recoil cover are the two main components that I'm targeting for sandblasting and powder coating let's take a look at the old air filter all their filters tend to go really mushy when they deteriorate and this one is no exception but it's good to see that it is quite clean The Recoil cover is removed but it does need to be disassembled with the pulley and spring removed the cover is now ready that concludes the disassembly of all the parts that are going to be sent off to be sandblasted and powder coated professionally whilst all the work has been done on those parts I'm going to be restoring the gearbox firstly I'm using compressed air to give the gearbox an initial clean foreign this is a Tecumseh Peerless five-speed manual gearbox the first part to be removed is the brake mechanism one of the brake pads can be seen inside the caliper both of them will be replaced the brake disc is a bit stuck so I'm using a two leg puller to assist with the removal with the brake assembly disassembled the rest of the gearbox can now be opened up [Music] foreign first impression is very good it looks to be in very good condition although the grease is a bit dirty but that's normal because this gearbox is quite old and will have seen quite a lot of use Extra Care is taken during the disassembly so that this small ball bearing is not lost this is the shifting ball and also there is a spring underneath it which must be kept very safe all the teeth on all the gears are in really good condition the first main component to be removed from inside the gearbox is the differential then I'm removing all of the gears and the shifter as one assembly foreign as mentioned here is the ball bearing which is kept safe along with the spring all of the components are in really good condition finally the input gear and shaft can be removed from the gearbox a hydraulic press is used to remove the old needle roller bearings these will be replaced with new ones both halves of the gearbox now need to be thoroughly cleaned foreign [Music] foreign as possible they now need to be sandblasted to remove rust and aluminum oxide a clear lacquer is applied to prevent oxidation in the future foreign I'm now moving on to the differential one of the axles needs to be removed so I can press off one of these stuck spacers each axle shaft is held in place with a c-clip with the shaft separated from the main assembly the spacer can simply be removed using a hydraulic press as one of the shafts has been removed I'm going to take this opportunity to thoroughly clean the rest of the differential prior to reassembling the gears are also cleaned [Music] [Applause] with all of the components clean the axle is then reinstalled into the differential the old needle roller bearings and seals are pressed out so new ones can be fitted they are then fitted onto the axle shafts the new bearings are also fitted for the input shaft and then the entire gearbox can be reassembled foreign at this stage the new clean Bentonite grease is applied to the gearbox I also apply a thin layer of gasket sealant to create a watertight seal finally the lower cover is fitted and all of the bolts can be installed I then set the bolts to the correct torque setting then the important ball and spring for the shifter installed along with the grub screw which has got a drop of Loctite on it the only thing left to do now is to restore the brakes these brakes are really seized up foreign should move freely but they're so seized I have to use a hydraulic press to free them all of the parts can now be cleaned up with all of the parts cleaned up the brake can now be reassembled foreign but what I need to do first is powder coat the brake arm along with some other components for the machine [Laughter] foreign these three parts are being powder coated in Chrome [Laughter] [Laughter] all of the parts then spend 10 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius the gearbox reassembly can be completed as I now have the brake and shifter arms this is with the freshly powder coated poly installed this completes the restoration of the gearbox all of the main components have now returned from being sandblasted and powder coated professionally and they're looking fantastic I can now start the main reassembly of the machine it all starts by installing the clutch bronze brushing okay next is the clutch lever and this is followed by the jockey pulleys foreign onwards the reassembly is fairly self-explanatory as it is just the reverse order of the disassembly now is a great time to fit the muffler so I'm painting it with some heat proof paints the exhaust is installed as a single piece so the muffler and the pipe at the same time foreign [Music] to install the gearbox [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] we've got to the point in the rebuild where it's gonna be much easier to have the machine on Wheels because then I can move it around despite it not being a four-wheel drive machine I've still decided to go with four agricultural tread tires which can now be mounted to the rims foreign [Music] foreign the wheels are now ready to be fitted to the machine to prevent major headaches in the future I always like to apply a thin layer of copper grease to prevent wheels from getting stuck on the axles for easier installation the rear mud guards or fenders are fitted before the rear wheels [Music] [Music] we now have a rolling chassis so I can continue to rebuild the rest of the machine and it'll also be easier to move around next is the parking brake and deck engage lever assembly foreign [Music] all of the decals at the end of a restoration but this one on the right hand side must be fitted now as it's going to be covered over by the attachment lever assembly oh yeah [Music] the electric wiring is next to be fitted including a brand new voltmeter and a new solenoid the dashboard indicator light snap back into position some of them were not working thankfully I had some replacement good ones on a donor machine although the old ignition switch was working I'd replace it with a new one as the old one was quite Rusty next is the steering assembly thank you before the reassembly can go any further I now need to restore the engine I continue to disassemble the engine from where I left off earlier in the video the first component to be removed is the starter recoil clutch once your fuel line has been removed the carburetor can then be unscrewed clearly the carburettor is absolutely caked in dirt some people do ask me from time to time why do you thoroughly clean the engine prior to disassembly well I just find it easier to disassemble the engine first because everything is going to be individually cleaned anyway the starter motor is then removed I have actually checked it and it does work next we have the ignition coil before the flywheel is removed the two threads must be cleaned otherwise the flywheel puller might not be able to screw all the way into the threads correctly this the puller is then installed so the flywheel can be removed and with a pop the flywheel is released it can then simply be lifted off and then underneath we have the alternator this is the throttle control plate and behind it is the governor lever it's now time to delve deeper into the engine next the cylinder head is removed [Music] it actually looks quite good in here there isn't too much carbon buildup and the ball looks quite clean however there are a few mild scratches what's more concerning is there is actually oil running down the face of the head the crankshaft key must be removed to allow the sump to slide over the shaft the sump is amazingly clean usually these are absolutely full of sludge the first part to be removed from inside here is the oil Slinger which also is the governor this is followed by the camshaft and behind the camshaft lobes we do have the two valve tappets everything so far looks to be in very good condition it's a good idea to Mark the intake and the exhaust valve tappets to allow the connecting rods to be removed firstly the two locking tabs must be bent back once the two bolts have been removed the connecting rod will disconnect from the crankshaft once again everything looks to be in very good condition the Piston can now slide out it's really good to see that the Piston doesn't appear to have any serious scratches or scoring so hopefully it can be reused the crankshaft then slides out and this is a crankshaft with a Synchro balancer the governor shaft is held in place with an r-clip the breather cover is removed to reveal the valves a valve spring compressor is used to compress the spring so the valves can be removed foreign with the final engine Shield removed the engine is now ready to have a deep clean the way I like to do the first initial cleaning is with the hot Degreaser washer [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] Blaster to remove the paint and the aluminum oxide the cylinder head requires something a bit tougher so I'm using a Sun Blaster to remove all of the old carbon here's what the crankcase and sump look like after they've been soda blasted I've also cleaned the valves on a wire wheel now is a good time to lap the valves because I always like to wash the engine again after the bean laps as there is always a bit of compound left in there foreign with the valves lapped I then create a flat surface using a granite block and a 180 grit sandpaper [Music] the engine is then thoroughly washed again I then create a flat surface on the cylinder head using the same method foreign s are removed from the Piston so that I can measure the wear to check for wearing the piston rings the ring Gap is measured the compression ring is within spec at 22 000 of an inch it is rejected at 35 000 of an inch the second compression ring is also within spec at 19 000 of an inch finally the oil scraper ring is measured and this is also within spec at Twenty Eight thousandths of an inch it is rejected at 45 thousandths of an inch so it is surprising that this engine Burns oil it must be a combination of the mildly scored bore and partially worn rings foreign foreign I will be fitting new piston rings to this piston but the Piston itself is in very good condition the part number for the rings that fit this engine is 49921 the new piston rings are also checked so that I can establish what the ring Gap is the compression rings are just eight thousandths of an inch so this should really solve the oil burning issue the Piston is fully reassembled it's time to start the rebuild so I have a new gasket rebuild kit part number 299577 the reassembly starts with new oil seals just like it was with the machine everything from now onwards is just the reverse order of the disassembly foreign foreign okay with the sump all torqued to the correct settings it's now a very crucial part checking the valve clearances firstly the exhaust valve and the Gap is way too tight a bench grinder is used to slightly increase the gap size [Music] the exhaust valve is now within spec which is nine to eleven thousandths of an inch the exhaust valve can now be fitted it's now the intake valve's turn and this is also too tight the intake valve is now within spec as well which is between five and seven thousandths of an inch the reassembly can now continue foreign with the cylinder head torqued to the correct torque setting now is a great time to paint the engine with some heat proof black paint foreign ER needs to be restored firstly it's fully disassembled the bowl is stuck I use a pick to assist with the removal with the exception of a bit of rust it looks very clean in here which is what I would expect as the engine was running fine the float is removed by sliding out the float pin attached to the float is the needle valve next I'm removing the emulsion tube followed by the nozzle and the adjustment screw foreign foreign I'm putting all of the parts into the float Bowl so they can be cleaned in the ultrasonic cleaner next is the main body the reason why it's his second is just because it is much dirtier [Music] with the majority of the dirt removed the main body and the bowl can be soda blasted all you have to do now is to give all the parts a final claim with some carburetor spray and some compressed air and then the whole carburetor can be reassembled the mixture screws are set to one and a half turns out however this is just a starting point so they may need to be adjusted once the engine is running the carburetor is finished now it can be fitted to the engine along with the governor lever and the throttle plate foreign ly the governor is set this is done by turning the governor shaft clockwise and then locking the nut if you're wondering why I'm fitting a new starter recoil clutch it's because I actually use the original one on a different project a new ignition coil is also fitted and the air gap is set to ten thousandths of an inch or ten thou the engine is almost finished but first the starter motor needs to be refurbished it actually does work but what I'm going to do is dismantle it clean everything and then reassemble it as I know the brushes work this end cap can be reused the Armature also looks to be in very good condition with all the parts clean they can now be primed and painted I've decided to go with a flat black for the top coat once those parts dry I can now work on the Armature what I'm doing here is cleaning the commutator bar foreign [Laughter] the starter motor is now ready for reassembly foreign with the reassembly complete all you have to do is to test it I'll be refitting the starter motor once the engine has been fitted into the machine next I need to work on The Recoil cover a new rewind spring is used part number 490179 once the spring and the cold pulley are refitted the tabs can be bent down to hold the assembly in position a new cord and Handler fitted foreign it's time to fit the engine into the machine ensuring the exhaust pipe is aligned with the engine mounted to the chassis the starter motor air filter box and fuel tank can now be installed I have painted the fuel tank with petrol resistant paint foreign is used to connect the fuel tank to the carburetor and underneath the machine the new drive belt has been fitted it's now time to apply the decals and the foot rests history finally the steering wheel and seat can be fitted and some trim to give everything a nice clean finish [Music] [Music] the Bonnet needs to be reassembled but first The White Square needs to be painted onto the Grille [Music] Chrome latch is fitted which I powder coated earlier in the video foreign the last main component to be reassembled is the cutting deck firstly the old bearings are pressed off the spindle they are then replaced with two new bearings [Music] copper grease is applied to prevent the blade boss from seizing onto the shaft [Music] this is I managed to Source a New Old Stock blade the deck lift and lower assembly now needs to be reassembled [Music] the old rusty Springs are replaced with two new ones [Music] foreign [Music] the brake lever Now features a new brake pad finally a new belt is fitted along with the guard and that is the deck completed [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] add some oil to the engine and finally put some fuel in it the Westwood wa restoration is finished I really hope you've enjoyed this restoration video I'm now going to leave you with a demonstration of this machine mowing some grass [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign

Channel: Machinery Restorer

Views: 355,871

Keywords: restoration, tool restoration, hand tool restoration, mechanics, mechanic restoration, hand tool, mechanical, machinery restorer, hand tools, mower restoration, rare restoration, engine rebuild, tractor restoration, RUSTY RESTORATION, tiller restoration, perfect restoration

Id: COXgFhmgttk

Length: 95min 10sec (5710 seconds)

Published: Tue May 23 2023