MatthewD's Westwood T1200 Rally Mower

Right well here's my entry for this years build off.

The basic outline is I'm gonna make a custom frame, using a 12hp Briggs flatty, Peerless Mst 205 transaxle and Westwood T1200 Body work, including a modified hood.



My Plan For This Old Girl
Custom made frame
Briggs 12hp Flatty
Peerless Mst 205 transaxle, unlocked as this will be more Utility than Mudding
Westwood T1200 Body
18" Ag's on back, 18" turfs on front
Front bumper
Rear rack and bumper
Custom designed front hood piece
Cleaned up, painted
Custom exhaust made from an old Mini muffler
Pully swap
Winch
Wired
Paint

And of course there will be more but that's all I can think of right now

Good Luck to everyone else and enjoy the 2015 ATLTF Build Off!!!!

Good luck to you!

Thanks Doc for qualifying me

To me it makes no sense to try to convert a gas engine to diesel, it was engineered to run on gasoline. Gas and diesel engines are similar in operation but the method of ignition and fuel delivery is much different. Gasoline engines use a spark plug to detonate the air/fuel mix, diesels use a process called "compression ignition" where the compression and heat inside the cylinder become great enough to combust the diesel fuel by way of compression alone, no spark needed. Also it is impossible to get diesel to atomize in a carburetor, if you don't know how a carburetor works than this is hard to explain. when the gasoline enters the cyl. it isn't made up of large droplets of liquid, because of the venturi effect, and the heat from the intake the gas atomizes into very tiny droplets of liquid. Diesel engines are always fuel injected and overhead valve. I'm sure its possible to maybe get your Briggs to run on diesel but it wont be reliable an it's not worth it for the novelty of having a diesel, or just so you can say its a diesel. It has nowhere near enough compression, wrong fuel delivery method, and wrong ignition system. Good luck with the build.

I had to stare at that first picture with the engine for a second. I thought it was a furry hand with a shirt sleeve touching the engine because I didn't scroll down enough to see the dogs front leg. I was thinking it was a joke or something, then I saw it was a dog with a shirt on...

802 customs probably has a point about converting to diesel if you want something that's runable and easy to deal with. Depends on how much experimenting you like to do. Something else that would be intresting is converting one to run on wood gas. You can research it, but the short version is you burn wood blocks in a container and draw the intake through the coals. The wood is not really burning as in visible flames, just embers. Unburned gasses from the wood are flammable and will run an engine. Would be a neat project if you wanted to do a lot of messing around.

802 Customs wrote:

To me it makes no sense to try to convert a gas engine to diesel, it was engineered to run on gasoline. Gas and diesel engines are similar in operation but the method of ignition and fuel delivery is much different. Gasoline engines use a spark plug to detonate the air/fuel mix, diesels use a process called "compression ignition" where the compression and heat inside the cylinder become great enough to combust the diesel fuel by way of compression alone, no spark needed. Also it is impossible to get diesel to atomize in a carburetor, if you don't know how a carburetor works than this is hard to explain. when the gasoline enters the cyl. it isn't made up of large droplets of liquid, because of the venturi effect, and the heat from the intake the gas atomizes into very tiny droplets of liquid. Diesel engines are always fuel injected and overhead valve. I'm sure its possible to maybe get your Briggs to run on diesel but it wont be reliable an it's not worth it for the novelty of having a diesel, or just so you can say its a diesel. It has nowhere near enough compression, wrong fuel delivery method, and wrong ignition system. Good luck with the build.

Okay okay okay. I didn't mean that in the sense of a complete gas to diesel conversion, just one that starts up on petrol and then moves onto diesel or indeed any other fuel. This is quite an experimental build. And if I want it to be reliable, I just run it on pure gas!! I'll probably have 2 head gaskets for lower compression and 2 tanks, with a "T" section. And I don`t have to run it on pure diesel or kerosene, I can have half petrol and half whatever other fuel I want. I don't think I`ll hardly ever run it on pure diesel/kero whatever, only just when I need to.

Carburettor

So, the 12hp engine that I'm using doesn't have a working carburettor. I was going to use a 8hp one but the bowl nut is stripped and I think I would have a power loss.

So, do I buy a new 12hp Walbro carb, or try and fix the 8hp briggs one?

If you can find any carb that's adjustable and about the same size bore it should work. Run the engine that is, obviously your throttle and choke connections will be different depending on what you find. A lot of lawn mower engine carbs have the same bolt pattern, or close to it, even between brands as long as it's off a similar sized engine. How much for a new carb? Guess it depends on how hard it is to find used stuff where you are.

mr.modified wrote:

If you can find any carb that's adjustable and about the same size bore it should work. Run the engine that is, obviously your throttle and choke connections will be different depending on what you find. A lot of lawn mower engine carbs have the same bolt pattern, or close to it, even between brands as long as it's off a similar sized engine. How much for a new carb? Guess it depends on how hard it is to find used stuff where you are.

Thanks for the info So, if I can get the bowl nut off the 8hp briggs Carb, could I buy a replacement and if I cut a slot in it for a plain screw driver to get it out, would it hurt performance?

You could probably get a replacement. If you go to a mower shop or something, be sure to have your engine model, type, and serial numbers handy. If you mean cut a slot across the nut/bolt on the outside of the carb, I can't see how it would hurt anything as long as you don't break through. If it's stuck so tight that you've rounded off the edges though, you probably won't turn it without eating the brass out with your screw driver. Stupid aluminum corrodes around the threads I guess. Post some pictures of the damage if you get it apart!

I have had it open before and this is what I found,



I`ll try and crack it open today

Aluminum looks pretty good. I've seen them a lot worse, definitely savable.

mr.modified wrote:

Aluminum looks pretty good. I've seen them a lot worse, definitely savable.

Yeah, I`ll have a crack at it tomorrow

Anyway,

I got the front axle off

And got 3 2.5m lengths of 2mm thick 1.5"x1.5" square tubing for my frame! I will be getting more of this soon.




That's all for now

For some reason, i think this is sweet being a UK build, knowing you guys dont have lawn tractors falling from the sky, or at least from what i've seen. I can see good things happening with this!

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

For some reason, i think this is sweet being a UK build, knowing you guys dont have lawn tractors falling from the sky, or at least from what i've seen. I can see good things happening with this!

Thanks! And no we don't! Most lawn tractors are used to mow the lawn around here, not for mudding, racing etc. I'm sure my ATLT is the only one for miles!

Sorry for not updating lately, school etc has just taken so much time and I haven't had any time to do any work on the project. Hopefully there will be some updates soon.

Quick question for you, are 18" ags better than 22" bear claws? For an off road machine.

no get 20 inch bear claws those are better

They don't seem to do those here. Lowest I can get is 22".

Updates soon! Got some work and planning done today.

Evening all,
Finally some progress!

Today I dug out the carb I'll be using on the engine. It's a one-piece from an 8hp flatty.

This is it after a quick wire brush

I opened it up and put the bowl, float, adjusting screws and needle in a tub of petrol to soak for a few days.


I then looked through my scrap pile and found 2 brackets to use for hood mounts



After that, I mocked up the hood and body to roughly work out the measurements for my new frame.

The width needs to be 13" and the length about 55"


This is the gas tank I'll be using, from a Tecumseh 3.5 push mower engine.



I dug even further into my scrap pile, and found (I think) a roll bar from a Go-Kart, would this make a good front bumper?



I popped all my brake components into a tub of petrol to clean them off aswell

I'd also like a Tach, but I'm not sure whether to go for a digital one, or an "Analogue" one. There is only 23p difference between them.

Let me know what you think, I'd really like to see your feedback on this
Matthew

that roll bar would make a good bumper.

Yeah thanks, although I'd still like my hood to pivot enough for me to open it.

Anyway, can anyone suggest to me some lights for this thing. It needs to be powerful, strong and durable and cheap, I'd like a rear light as well.

Amazon sells some sweet 6 and 4 led pods that are bright, dont draw much, and waterproof. See if they will ship to you. Remember, you pay for what you get in the lighting world.

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

you pay for what you get in the lighting world.

Except me, I'm special and get my stuff for free.

That roll bar would be neat for a bumper. Even if you wanted to cut it up and weld up something different, some nice bends there and all the same size tubing.