Restoring old Lawnmower

[Xernicus]

A year or two ago, I ran into a free lawnmower (unknown brand). I could tell it had much better days in the past, but I had a good feeling about the engine (being an older tecumseh 4-stroke and having a two-part carb) so I decided to throw it in the back of my car and take it home with me.

Inspecting it, I could tell it was abused- the handle had broken below the deck and was poorly bolted to the top of the deck, several bolts had been replaced with poor fitting screws, there was rust and rust holes, and the underside of the deck was/is incredibly pitted. I've been meaning to restore it since I got it, but I hadn't gotten the time. Other than pulling it out a few times to mow my lawn and rev the engine up to annoy my neighbors when their dogs were out barking for hours, I probably neglected it the same way it's old owner did.

Now, anybody that knows me knows how much I love a good project, and that one of my favorite things in the world to do is making repairs. (I can't stand the "throw-away" economy model myself) About six/seven years ago, I spent a summer working on small engines so I figured this couldn't be too hard.

Anyways, I pulled the old girl out yesterday to mow my lawn, put fresh gas in and I was dismayed at how the engine sounded. I got through half of my lawn before it quit running and wouldn't start. It's around 30 years old so I can't expect too much, but it ran beautifully when I put it away last... And as such, I decided now was the time to begin my restoration.

First of course, I had to mow my lawn. It was obviously was getting spark so the problem was with fuel or air. Ruled out air by unbolting the air filter assy from the carb and watching the main jet while I pushed in the primer bulb; barely any gas flowed through. Took the carb apart, and the float and needle looked good, so I figured the jet was clogged. I didn't have any carb cleaner on hand, so I used compressed air to blow the jet out, and sure enough a piece of rubber flew out (more then likely the fuel line's rotted imo). The ports looked amazingly clean however which gave me a good feeling. I re-assembled the carb and mowed my lawn as fast as I could while the engine was still running.

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With yesterday's events in mind I decided that I'd start my restoration today. Should be done by the end of the week.
Here's what I'm planning on doing:

-Replace spark plug and boot

-Replace air filter, and breather tube
-Replace fuel line and primer bulb
-Rebuild carburetor, along with all seals
-Add fuel shut off valve to prevent varnishing from old gas
-Replace oil plug with one that has a dipstick
-Replace muffler and muffler cover
-Repaint the engine with high-heat black paint
-Remove rust and repair the upper deck before prime/painting
-use JB-Weld on all small rust holes in the deck
-replace the blade
-Change governor/throttle linkage assembly to allow for manual RPM control

So far, I've pulled the engine, handle, and wheels leaving a bare deck. Will post pictures in the next post.