Life on the edge - the Diary of a C5

[Xantianut]

Hello, friends!

Papa says it is a different clip but then the old fool remembered my left hand headlamp has a clip fitted and intact so he will remove that headlamp, copy the clip then refit before removing my right hand lamp and fitting the new clip. Sounds complex but Papa will do it!!!

Some skunk stole one of my badges! Papa gave me a pair of pink Elation badges that had been on Fifi La Blue. I am very fond of these badges and they are special to me. Then some low skunk stole the one from my left hand side! Papa has bought some new ones but they are grey so he will put the pink one on my boot.

Take care

Otterchops

[Xantianut]

Hello friends.

First the good news. My right hand headlamp is now in perfect order, Papa's brass wire clip has worked! Now the bad news. The bulb has blown in my left hand dip beam. Papa said Oh, fiddlesticks* then reassembled all my underbonnet plastics. He has promised me a new bulb but I will have to wait a day or three for my new badges. At least Papa does not have to remove my left hand headlamp, there is just enough room if he takes out my battery.

I do like having a clever Papa. So all those model trains he has built do have a use for me.......

Love

Otterchops

* that's what it sounded like to me anyway

[Xantianut]

Hello, friends!

Papa has a new project.

We work at Moseley Old Hall these days, a National Trust property and they have a ride-on lawnmower that won't start. Now my Papa knows a thing or two about how to get engines started so he had a play with it on Friday, even trying to use my bog battery to jump start it. My battery was bigger than the mower's engine! The mower's battery was so knackered that not even my massive battery would work.

Hopefully we should have a new battery and some oil for Monday when Papa will also turn it into a miniature tractor.

His 4lb hammer will not be far away,,,,,,

[CitroJim]

Is papa intending to do a spot of lawnmower racing once he has it up and running?

[Xantianut]

Ay up! It has been suggested. I will be cheating before the flag even drops because I shall be lightening my steed by removing the cutting gear! 4lb hammer already packed for Monday!!!

[CitroJim]

That's cheating

[bobins]

Hello, friends!

Papa has a new project.

We work at Moseley Old Hall these days, a National Trust property and they have a ride-on lawnmower that won't start.

I'm intrigued - what's the mower ? I own at least 11 mowers so it could be said I have a slight interest in them I'm not a collector as such, I use most of them for work !

[CitroJim]

I'm intrigued - what's the mower ? I own at least 11 mowers so it could be said I have a slight interest in them

Dad used to collect mowers many years back and always had far more than he needed... It infected me for a time and I got very into my 2-stroke petrol Flymos. At one time I had five of them myself...

These days I only have one electric Flymo. It's all I need for my one small lawn/patch of weeds...

My lawn is mostly lawn weeds as I'm badly allergic to lawn weedkillers and cannot use them... I do keep the dandelions and celandines down by cutting them out manually using a sharp knife...

The clover runs rampant though...

[Xantianut]

Hello, friends.

Papa will post a pic on Monday.

As for today he is Not Happy. He got all his tools out to change my right hand suspension arm and look at the brake calliper on that side. Then disaster! The trolley jack took the strain, gave a loud BANG then refused to lift. So Papa hit it with his big 4lb hammer, said "oh dear, how irksome*" then packed away and went off to listen to the cricket.

At least I didn't feel ze big hammer!

I shall have to wait until pension day for my suspension to be sorted. Ho-hum.

Love

Otterchops

[elma]

That is incredibly irksome.
Have a nice rest in the meantime.

[CitroJim]

Yes, f-ing irksome I'd say

[Xantianut]

Hello, friends.

I'm whispering this because Papa is sleeping badly just now.

He got the little mower running and had two good laughs while doing it. He had diagnosed a battery in deep discharge so tried nicking the battery off the new mower. Same result: the starter just clicked. For a laugh, he put the old battery on the new mower which started 1st time. So Papa did some thinking, removed it's solitary spark plus and cranked the little engine over. about 330cc worth of engine oil squirted out of the plug hole all over the inside of the bonnet! Cue 1st batch of laughter and a photo! He then put the plug back in and this time the engine started.

At 1st it let out a fairly thin stream of white smoke but then Papa turned into Jeremy Clarkson. He shouted "Power!!!!!" and advanced the little hand throttle to it's stop. This annoyed a lot of people. The gardeners' compound, the office and the tea rooms all vanished into a thick cloud of pungent white smoke, the smell of which hung around for hours! Bit at least Papa and Gary The Gardener had a good laugh at the clag!

Papa then whizzed around the yard to try it out with a huge grin on his hairy fisog!

Gotta go, friends, Papa can hear me typing I think.

Sweet dreams!

Otterchops

[Zelandeth]

Exactly the same reason I got our current mower free from the side of the road...reckon someone had stored it on its end in our case.

... there's still a circular oil stain on the wall out back where the jet that came out the exhaust hit the house when it started the first time...

It's really astonishing how much smoke one of these can chuck out under those circumstances!

Jim, the big 2-stroke hover mowers are epic bits of kit. I used to have one (L48?) which I also got dead and free (needed nothing more than the coil to flywheel gap adjusted) which we got a good ten years out of before terminal engine wear was diagnosed and killed it. Would love another one as they're just so easy to use.

[CitroJim]

Jim, the big 2-stroke hover mowers are epic bits of kit. I used to have one (L48?) which I also got dead and free (needed nothing more than the coil to flywheel gap adjusted) which we got a good ten years out of before terminal engine wear was diagnosed and killed it. Would love another one as they're just so easy to use.

One of the very best One of the only mowers that could mow a really steep bank... I've seen people lash a rope on to the handles and dangle the mower down a steep bank from the top

Biggest problem with those was the crankshaft was a bit cheese-like and used to bend quite freely if the blade hit a stone... This then caused lots of vibration that took out the main bearings...

The other major problem was perforated diaphragms in the carb... Don't ever recall a lot of bore/piston wear on them as long as the petrol/oil ratio was maintained and decent 2-stroke oil was used...

Later ones had conventional float carbs and were not so good on steep banks - the old diaphragm carb models would happily run upside-down!

[bobins]

Hello, friends.

So Papa did some thinking, removed it's solitary spark plus and cranked the little engine over. 500cc worth of engine oil squirted out of the plug hole all over the inside of the bonnet! Cue 1st batch of laughter and a photo! He then put the plug back in and this time the engine started.

Tell papa to park up the mower so that the engine tilts backwards. I've got a horrible 12.5hp Briggs engined rough-cut mower that can be an absolute sod to start unless I park it up with props under the front jockey wheels to tilt the engine backwards. I've had the oil filled combustion space saga happen a few times, trouble is, it's a recoil (rope) start and requires me to be in a good mood to try and start it.