DFB's Garage

[Big Dave]

How about a Datsun.

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[Klasse Act]

My annoyance is that the car has been out long enough now that an update won't be far off for you guys in the US. Which means if we actually see cars delivered this year, they will be the old model within a short period. As I said, people placed orders for the NEW Mustang, thinking it would be here within 6 to 12 months. I'm now at 16 months and counting, with apparent delivery now slated for October, so 24 months.

I'm at the point of not caring anymore, and if the car I'm eyeing at the moment comes up in the right colour and price, I'll cancel my order. I'm thinking this is what Ford Australia are hoping will happen, then site lack of demand and then carry on selling jacked up ladder frame pickup trucks to wannabe tradesmen.

Can't wait to see IT if plan B comes into play

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[oneheadlite]

Re: Jaguar wiper replacement- I replace them in the off position, too. I've always placed a microfiber towel under the arm, just in case it slips out of my hand.

Good call on the towel under the arm - When I worked at the dealership on more than one occasion you'd hear the wiper arm snap against the glass (hello spider-web...) while the technician was off changing the inserts (back in the day when you'd just replace the rubber). If I ever have a wiper blade off, I always rest the arm against the glass if I don't have it in my hand. A towel would be good if you didn't trust the car to not pull the arm back down while you're working.

[DFB]

I had been waiting for this, but it finally happened today....................the Mulchmaster's belt snapped. Thankfully, it was on the last mow, right across the road from home. This was the belt compromised by a botched repair, I'm surprised it lasted this long. With the belt in stock, I thought this would be a quick repair. But.....................

One of the tensioner pullies had separated from the bearing, the pully itself munted. Actually, the belt itself was still in tack, just, the pully had worked itself off the bearing and unhooked the belt. Looking at it, I would say the damaged belt heated the plastic up, galled up the lower skirt then popped off the bearing.









With how damaged the plastic pully is, pressing back in place would simply shred a new belt in no time.

With that, I loaded up the parts manual, and of course, Victa only sell the complete tensioner pully arrangement.

https://bwmachinery.com.au/wp-conten...Parts-List.pdf

Victa CH86896AW -

https://www.outdoorking.com.au/index...oducts_id=8845



While I have a belt in stock, I also ordered another to make the shipping worthwhile.

Victa CH85666A -

https://www.outdoorking.com.au/index...oducts_id=8534

Oh, and pushing a 42+ kg Mulchmaster through thick grass with no drive is hard going!

[DFB]

Yesterday I left the Rover in the garage and relied solely on my new Victa. I couldn't help but smile at how it just got on with the job, even with me pushing it through thick Kikuyu at a shorter than normal cutting height. Thrown into the deep end and it just grunted right through it. I have always loved this engine, and this particular unit is no different. It just has bigger balls than the Honda GXV 160 and Krohler XT8. It sure likes a drink though!

Something I have never understood, Victa don't fit padded soft touch handles on commercial grade mowers. This is despite the majority of the domestic models having this feature. On the Commercial 21, the drive bale was actually rubbing the paint off the handle, so this modification addresses two things.



This is handle wrap used on bikes, something I have used in the past on other mowers. In this case, its protecting the paint on the handle as well as providing a softer grip to grab onto.

[DFB]

Wash day for the Ranger, and a chance to try out a couple of new or revised additions.

I have been using the MTM PF22 foam cannon for nearly four years now, and its performance has never been in question. I currently have two of these foam cannons, one with the older bottle for Brake Buster, and one that I use for soap with the newer wide base bottle. I also still use my original Waxit foam cannon.



The one main complaint leveled at the FP22 foam cannons has been the narrow bottle opening, something that makes filling and emptying much harder. I managed to get into a routine of filling the bottle with water first, then soap to limit the generation of frothy bubbles and an overflow situation.







MTM knew they had to respond to the onslaught of newer competition sporting wide mouth bottles. And so, now we have access to the latest iteration of PF22.2 Foam Cannons with a redesigned bottle that mates to a plastic adaptor.





Now, with three fully functioning foam cannons, I certainly didn't need to buy another. Thankfully, MTM have thought about this and provide a retrofit kit consisting of the new bottle and adaptor plate.



The black plastic adaptor is screwed onto the existing foam cannon body, nipping it up using firm pressure. I have seen a video where an additional rubber o-ring was fitted here to provide added threads for a tighter fit, but I really don't see the need. The adaptor is slotted to accept the tabs molded into the new bottle, which is then secured with an audible click.









The adaptor also has a rubber o-ring to provide a leak proof seal.



The great thing about this new adaptor is the ability to convert older foam cannons, so now each of my units have matching wide mouth bottles.









Now, I have seen video's of the new setup where the user was complaining about the bayonet fitting, in particular unscrewing the foam cannon body from the adaptor by accident instead of unlocking the bottle. All I can say to that is they are doing it wrong. If you hold the black plastic adaptor and not the foam cannon body when turning, the bottle is easily attached and removed.



From what I can see, if you order the complete foam cannon, MTM now include a weighted pickup tube. This addition helps maintain foaming when the bottle is low on solution and used at certain angles. However, this is not sent with the retrofit kits. I actually had a spare Kwazar weighted filter on hand and attached it to the existing tube, which worked very well.



Rinsing the bottle out at the end was considerably easier, with far less reactivation and the ability to properly remove all of the remaining soap residue.

Today was also my first try of the newly reformulated P&S Radiance. This soap in its previous life was a classic wash-n-wax, the latest changes making it suitable for use on ceramic coatings. So in a sense, this is still a wash-n-wax in concept, just with the wax swapped for Si02.



Filling the revised foam cannon is now a breeze!







Now, I have never been a fan of these types of soap, mainly owing to the fact I just want the soap to clean and provide lubrication, any additional gloss or protection I want to add is done AFTER the wash. And so I went into using the new version of Radiance like any other example of a wash-n-wax.

The first thing to note is, DO NOT buy this product if you are expecting shaving cream foam, its just not a high foaming soap. That is fine by me because P&S don't make claims that it does (hello Auto Finesse).



Slickness is decent, but nowhere near leaders such as KCx GSF or Carpro Reset. However, the rinse off is super easy and............the slickness it added to the Ranger was brilliant. Actually, I was quite surprised at how much slickness and gloss it added to the paint. Scent wise, it's very old-school car wash in that department................I guess the reformulation didn't include a scent change. As for the level of protection, again don't expect this to last very long, it's all about enhancement and not long-term durability.

Overall, I'm more impressed with P&S Radiance than I expected to be. The same applies to the updated FP22.2 foam cannon! After seeing a lot of negative media and comments on the new unit, my anticipation had been somewhat dampened. But I can also see why MTM went the route they chose with the updates, the actual foam cannon itself performed brilliantly, so a complete redesign was not needed. What they have delivered is an improvement on the original, helping it to function better. I also like that the retrofit kit is relatively cheap to update a current unit.

[Coatingsarecrack]

I always thought the need for wide mouth was overrated as I usually use a measuring cup to get right amount of product. Not hard to put water in either….. just didn’t really get it.

The ability to rinse out easier makes all the sense though.


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[Azure]

Man, I like those MTM updates! I'll have to pickup a could bottles, adapters, and weighted tubes.

[DFB]

Just like the ceramic coating, the latest "modification" is completely pointless, but oh so necessary for my enjoyment.



Yes, that's muffler exhaust tip! Briggs and Stratton fit these to engines depending on what the customer is asking for. For example, a lot of Masport's with the earlier versions of the 850 engine came with one as standard.







The one on my Mulchmaster has been on a few mowers now, I grabbed it off a Masport before I traded it in.

Briggs and Stratton also sell these as a spare part. There are now two versions of this tip, the earlier example above has a smaller diameter outlet, the latest is much bigger and fits the newer engines. This larger version will also fit the domestic engines with the QPT muffler, mostly the 163cc variants.

Breaks & Scrapem Part Number - 594563

I'm not going to post a link for the part as that would show how much I shelled out for two of these things from the USA! :doh

Before -





So the question is, pointing down or to the side?











I think to the side.............or maybe pointing up?

[DFB]

I also received my order or Rover Pro-Cut wheels today.





The two front wheels are pretty self-explanatory and relatively easy to find. The geared rear wheels are much harder to find. To my surprise, they are actually still available from Rover. I think what happens with these is that they are not generally stocked by retailers because of how specific they are and how much they cost. Having a set of these sitting on the shelf indefinitely would be a foolish game to play. As such, searching for these via part numbers alone yielded only one hit, and they were listed as special order. Reaching out to my previous Rover contact and the same applied. So, I ordered two sets!

If you will remember, despite replacing the drive cogs, I gained back then lost two-wheel drive, so the unit was single pegging and pulling to the left. When I pulled the wheels, one was engaging, and one wasn't. As soon as I opened the box, I knew what the problem was, the new wheels not spinning withing the "tyre" so to speak, meaning the left wheel had failed internally and was free spinning rather than engaging with the cog.

So, the unit will be pulled apart again and hopefully this puts things right. Having said that, with how the new Victa Commercial is performing, I think I may have found its replacement.