Hi all,

I have a Ransomes cylinder mower which probably dates from the 1960s.
It's fitted with a small Clinton horizontal shaft air-cooled engine,
Model No. A2190 2134, Serial No. 8553954E. This engine is pretty heavily
worn - if I take off the cylinder head and press on the piston with my
finger I can actually see it wobble to and fro. But the mower is great
and I'd like to fix it. Does anyone know of a source of Clinton engine
parts in the UK. I suspect I might need a complete new engine because I
don't think the cylinder can be separated from the crankcase.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Chris

Christopher Tidy wrote:
Hi all,

I have a Ransomes cylinder mower which probably dates from the 1960s.
It's fitted with a small Clinton horizontal shaft air-cooled engine,
Model No. A2190 2134, Serial No. 8553954E. This engine is pretty heavily
worn - if I take off the cylinder head and press on the piston with my
finger I can actually see it wobble to and fro. But the mower is great
and I'd like to fix it. Does anyone know of a source of Clinton engine
parts in the UK. I suspect I might need a complete new engine because I
don't think the cylinder can be separated from the crankcase.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I've got a little more information now. The mower is a Ransomes Marquis
20". I've also found a picture of one on eBay fitted with a 3 hp Briggs
and Stratton engine instead of the Clinton. Anyone know of a good source
of second hand engines (in reliable order) in the UK?

Many thanks,

Chris

On Sun, 15 May 2005 23:16:53 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:

Hi all,

I have a Ransomes cylinder mower which probably dates from the 1960s.
It's fitted with a small Clinton horizontal shaft air-cooled engine,
Model No. A2190 2134, Serial No. 8553954E. This engine is pretty heavily
worn - if I take off the cylinder head and press on the piston with my
finger I can actually see it wobble to and fro. But the mower is great
and I'd like to fix it. Does anyone know of a source of Clinton engine
parts in the UK. I suspect I might need a complete new engine because I
don't think the cylinder can be separated from the crankcase.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Chris

I know this is not UK. But there is a seller on eBAy with a bunch of
new Clinton parts. His eBay id is briggsnut.

Andy Asberry wrote:
On Sun, 15 May 2005 23:16:53 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:


Hi all,

I have a Ransomes cylinder mower which probably dates from the 1960s.
It's fitted with a small Clinton horizontal shaft air-cooled engine,
Model No. A2190 2134, Serial No. 8553954E. This engine is pretty heavily
worn - if I take off the cylinder head and press on the piston with my
finger I can actually see it wobble to and fro. But the mower is great
and I'd like to fix it. Does anyone know of a source of Clinton engine
parts in the UK. I suspect I might need a complete new engine because I
don't think the cylinder can be separated from the crankcase.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Chris


I know this is not UK. But there is a seller on eBAy with a bunch of
new Clinton parts. His eBay id is briggsnut.

Thanks for the suggestion. I notice he's got some replacement pistons
for Clinton engines, but I'm not sure if that will be enough to fix it.
Hopefully I'll be getting the mower out tomorrow and giving it some use
to see exactly what work needs doing.

Best wishes,

Chris

On Wed, 18 May 2005 00:02:11 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:

Andy Asberry wrote:
On Sun, 15 May 2005 23:16:53 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:


Hi all,

I have a Ransomes cylinder mower which probably dates from the 1960s.
It's fitted with a small Clinton horizontal shaft air-cooled engine,
Model No. A2190 2134, Serial No. 8553954E. This engine is pretty heavily
worn - if I take off the cylinder head and press on the piston with my
finger I can actually see it wobble to and fro. But the mower is great
and I'd like to fix it. Does anyone know of a source of Clinton engine
parts in the UK. I suspect I might need a complete new engine because I
don't think the cylinder can be separated from the crankcase.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Chris


I know this is not UK. But there is a seller on eBAy with a bunch of
new Clinton parts. His eBay id is briggsnut.

Thanks for the suggestion. I notice he's got some replacement pistons
for Clinton engines, but I'm not sure if that will be enough to fix it.
Hopefully I'll be getting the mower out tomorrow and giving it some use
to see exactly what work needs doing.

Best wishes,

Chris
Greetings Chris,
A few years ago I stupidly ran my clinton motor too low on oil bending
the cam and throwing the rod. Since the block is cast iron it was OK.
The cam was easily straightened. I found a new con rod on ebay. But
the crank was heavily scored. I set the crankshaft up in the lathe and
turned it to clean up. After polishing the crank it was time to see
just how much smaller it had gotten. It lost about 1 mm. I could have
just machined off the faces of the lower conrod bearing surfaces and
re-bored it but there would have been too large of a gap at the split
line and oil retention would have been poor. Instead, I bored the con
rod about 1mm over and made a split bearing shell out of 660 bronze.
This alloy designation refers to a common type of bearing bronze used
in the USA. The shells were loctited in the con rod. To keep them
tight against the loctited surface I wrapped some tape around the
crank throw and clamped the con rod to that overnight. The next day I
removed the tape and assembled to motor. It has seen many more hours
since the repair. The motor is on a rototiller my Dad bought in 1970.
Cylinder and ring wear were negligible. Maybe you can get away with
just putting new rings in it.
Cheers,
Eric R Snow,
E T Precision Machine,

Eric R Snow wrote:
On Wed, 18 May 2005 00:02:11 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:


Andy Asberry wrote:

On Sun, 15 May 2005 23:16:53 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:



Hi all,

I have a Ransomes cylinder mower which probably dates from the 1960s.
It's fitted with a small Clinton horizontal shaft air-cooled engine,
Model No. A2190 2134, Serial No. 8553954E. This engine is pretty heavily
worn - if I take off the cylinder head and press on the piston with my
finger I can actually see it wobble to and fro. But the mower is great
and I'd like to fix it. Does anyone know of a source of Clinton engine
parts in the UK. I suspect I might need a complete new engine because I
don't think the cylinder can be separated from the crankcase.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Chris


I know this is not UK. But there is a seller on eBAy with a bunch of
new Clinton parts. His eBay id is briggsnut.

Thanks for the suggestion. I notice he's got some replacement pistons
for Clinton engines, but I'm not sure if that will be enough to fix it.
Hopefully I'll be getting the mower out tomorrow and giving it some use
to see exactly what work needs doing.

Best wishes,

Chris

Greetings Chris,
A few years ago I stupidly ran my clinton motor too low on oil bending
the cam and throwing the rod. Since the block is cast iron it was OK.
The cam was easily straightened. I found a new con rod on ebay. But
the crank was heavily scored. I set the crankshaft up in the lathe and
turned it to clean up. After polishing the crank it was time to see
just how much smaller it had gotten. It lost about 1 mm. I could have
just machined off the faces of the lower conrod bearing surfaces and
re-bored it but there would have been too large of a gap at the split
line and oil retention would have been poor. Instead, I bored the con
rod about 1mm over and made a split bearing shell out of 660 bronze.
This alloy designation refers to a common type of bearing bronze used
in the USA. The shells were loctited in the con rod. To keep them
tight against the loctited surface I wrapped some tape around the
crank throw and clamped the con rod to that overnight. The next day I
removed the tape and assembled to motor. It has seen many more hours
since the repair. The motor is on a rototiller my Dad bought in 1970.
Cylinder and ring wear were negligible. Maybe you can get away with
just putting new rings in it.
Cheers,
Eric R Snow,
E T Precision Machine,

Thanks for the message. That's an interesting story. My Clinton engine
is certainly an aluminium block and the bore has become slightly oval,
but new rings might fix it. I've also discovered that many Ransomes
mowers in the UK used a BSA engine, so I might keep an eye out for a
used BSA engine, especially as my pull cord starter is a bit dodgy too.
It would be fun to fix this mower but fortuntely we have another which
can do the job while I'm looking for spares!

Best wishes,

Chris