'86 Westwood T1200

Heheh yeahhhhh

It really only does that when I rev it up hard and let off fast. Haven’t seen a governed engine spit fire or sparks like that, and since he is running a muffler I doubt anything would shoot out...right?

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Should look pretty good Matt! I agree the tip will look pretty neat peeking out at an angle.

Thanks AK!

Crazy_Carl wrote:

So you didn't like the fumes in the face that the stack was causing?  Oh well this looks pretty cool too.  One thing I wonder about these custom exhaust run under floorboards is getting damaged by a tree or rock or even worse starting a fire when you're driving through tall grass in a hot dry summer but maybe these realistically aren't big concerns.

I was concerned about that too but the muffler is really solid and I don't think it would get crushed. As for the fire problem, I never really thought about that actually, but we don't have very many dry summers here, never mind hot ones so I don't think it would be a problem in my case.

MightyRaze wrote:

Crazy_Carl wrote:

So you didn't like the fumes in the face that the stack was causing?  Oh well this looks pretty cool too.  One thing I wonder about these custom exhaust run under floorboards is getting damaged by a tree or rock or even worse starting a fire when you're driving through tall grass in a hot dry summer but maybe these realistically aren't big concerns.

As a person with an underfoot exhaust, I hear you concern.  In my case, I am not worried about catching something like a rock or tree with my exhaust.  Matt here may get hung on his muffler.  If mounted solid, it would be no different than anything else under the tractor.  Now the big one, and the one that I am concerned with as well is the starting a fire issue.  Not worried about the heat of the pipe catching something, it would be the sparks!  We don't typically have any spark arrestors in our builds.  That would be the biggest concern.

The muffler that I'm using has a (sort of) spark arrestor built in to it, so it should hopefully stop any sparks getting through.

Got the exhaust more or less finished today.



Sounds and works good, but it might rub on the steering arm when the axle is pivoted full upwards on the right side. I'll do some testing to see if it does hit and if so I'll possibly bend the pipe a bit out of the way.

Update on the Westwood;

She'd been sitting at the back of the garage for 2-3 weeks. I had some work for the old girl to do today so I dragged her out. I had some things to fix before I fired her up.

I put some spacers between the front rims and axle, because they were rubbing on the axle at full lock. I also greased the spindles while I had the rims off.


The brakes had also stopped working, so I took the rear wheel off and took the brake assembly out. The pad had dropped out. I'll have to buy a new one sometime.
I put some fuel in her but for some reason it wouldn't flow to the tank. I had to repeatedly pour some fuel down the air intake, start her up and then put my hand over the air intake to get the fuel to flow. It sat without fuel in it, so I'm thinking it could have been air locked.

Once she was running I put her to work hauling bit's of dead nettles, sticks, fencing, stones and dirt out of my hen enclosure.


After that was done I used her to cart stones, wood and dead rushes out of a field.



Overall she ran pretty well, it felt good to be using her again. I think the carb needs cleaned again I think and there's an oil leak I have to fix. I also have to find some way of keeping the adjustable idler in place as it moves over when a lot of tension comes on the belt. I also need to modify the exhaust pipe slightly so that it clears the steering arm properly and make a mount for the muffler.

Nice Matt! I like that second picture, the exhaust looks pretty neat for sure.

Thanks Allis! I like the exhaust too, but it does need to be modified because it hits the drag link when the axle pivots.

I love the lines on the Westwood man!

Good to see the westwood!

Putting the Westwood to work, NICE! Cool exhaust too. I was thinking on redoing the one in my green mower, so I don't annoy my neighbor too bad. He kinda gets a kick out of what I do and don't want to get him mad to much cutting the grass for 2 hours straight with the engine screaming next to his house, LOL. But no time right now. I would need to make mine quieter though, LOL.

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

I love the lines on the Westwood man!

Thanks W! Yeah, I love the 'cube' look to her.

MightyRaze wrote:

Good to see the westwood!

Yeah, I haven't been using her as much as I'd like, but it's nice to give her a run now and again.

prancstaman wrote:

Putting the Westwood to work, NICE!  Cool exhaust too. I was thinking on redoing the one in my green mower, so I don't annoy my neighbor too bad. He kinda gets a kick out of what I do and don't want to get him mad to much cutting the grass for 2 hours straight with the engine screaming next to his house, LOL. But no time right now. I would need to make mine quieter though, LOL.

Thanks. That's the main reason I got this Westwood, was to pull a trailer and use as a run about.

Finally got some split/cotter pins for the front wheels. Up till now I had been using nails to hold them on. The pins do look a bit thin but the hole in the spindle is quite small.



I've also decided to rebuild the exhaust with a small diameter pipe, it'll give more clearance to the steering rod and I would have to redo the pipe anyway because it doesn't fit below the foot plates properly.

Sounds like a good idea to address your clearance problems with your exhaust.

Yeah, I was also thinking of running it right to the back of the mower but I like to be able to see the outlet of the exhaust to see if there is any smoke coming out of the engine.

So, finally got some time to work on this. Been busy servicing/repairing other mowers and of course exams

The next thing I needed to do was re-do the exhaust system. I wanted it to be compact and not interfere with linkages etc. I didn't want a straight pipe because it would be too loud for utility work, but I didn't want it to sound like a stock engine. On the Westwood frame, there is a hole below the exhaust port which was used for the exhaust on some models. I decided to use that to route the exhaust below the frame and build a muffler to go just underneath the frame below the engine.




Using this big piece of 2" O.D pipe as the outer casing of the muffler. 


Had to modify one of the belt retainers for the front pulley to allow the pipe to fit in.
From this:

To this:


Then for the inner pipe of the muffler I used a piece of 1" pipe, cutting slots in it with the grinder.


Welded the pipe to the base plate


Welded the outer pipe over it. I might change the outer pipe for a slightly smaller one with a smaller wall thickness, because I think the one that is on it is too heavy.


That's all I got done for now, but should have an update soon

Looks interesting.

Looks pretty cool so far! Should be pretty neat having it all tucked away like that. How close is the header pipe gonna be to the carburetor bowl?

SebastianAlbrecht wrote:

Looks interesting.

Thanks. Hopefully it will be clearer what I'm doing when it's finished.

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Looks pretty cool so far! Should be pretty neat having it all tucked away like that. How close is the header pipe gonna be to the carburetor bowl?

Thanks Allis! That's the reason I put it there, because it doesn't interfere with anything and should keep out of the way. I hope the header won't be too close to the bowl, I think the angle of the pic makes it look like it would be closer. It was pretty close before, and on the stock mufflers it is almost touching the bowl so I think it should be okay. It hasn't got a plastic float so it shouldn't melt, haha.

Yeah some stock mufflers are awfully close, worst case scenario you could make a little heat shield or something.

So are you making a glass pack?

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Yeah some stock mufflers are awfully close, worst case scenario you could make a little heat shield or something.

A heat shield would be a good idea, don't want to risk a fire or anything.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

So are you making a glass pack?

Yes, sorta haha. It will make more sense once I get it finished. The plan is for the header pipe to go in at one end, then the exhaust gasses pass through the slits in the smaller pipe which will quieten it down a bit, and come on the other end. I'll probably just have the pipe pointing down at an angle away from the frame.

well, i really like this project, has heart! i love your improvising and extreme lengths to make things work with what you have. i respect you build! wold like to see/hear it run.

Thanks very much Rockey! The Westwoods are built quite heavy but have some awkward features that make them harder to mod, like the clutch on the right side instead of the left, and it's design means it's really hard to move to the left. No more progress on the exhaust but I am considering swapping the internals of this engine to another I/C block that has exhaust threads or to a Power built block that has the governor removed, because it's really hard to built an exhaust and having a threaded piece with flanges that get in the way. Stripping the engine down would also allow me to investigate the knocking sound that happens when she's under load in idle. I have a new con rod that I could swap in as well.

Small update: Made up a temporary exhaust so I could run the engine and drive about. But the front left wheel fell off due to the really inadequate split pins and the spindle plunged into the ground bending the steering arm and rod.


The plan is to take the engine out, swap blocks with another one I have, replace the con rod and try to find the source of the oil leak. I'm also going to take the trans out, clean out all the old oil, replace the input bearing and add axle bearings to reduce the trans noise and make it last longer.

Sux about the steering.

Ohh poor Axle. Yeah, rebuilding the MST would be a really good idea! But once you're in there, change the seals too!

MightyRaze wrote:

Sux about the steering.

Yep, but I'll be able to fix it.

SebastianAlbrecht wrote:

Ohh poor Axle. Yeah, rebuilding the MST would be a really good idea! But once you're in there, change the seals too!

Yeah, I would like to quieten the trans down a bit, it is quite noisy. There is a slow oil leak from the trans too so the seals are probably gone.

I ordered up axle bearings and brake pads for the transaxle. 

Also removed the leaky 12hp from the frame for rebuilding (or storage ).


Got this 11.5hp Briggs for £40, including fuel tank, wiring loom, engine pulley and throttle cable, so it will be going on the Westwood at least until the 12hp is rebuilt. I think this engine came from a Countax RER, due to the exhaust and fuel tank placement, and it says 'Countax Rider' on the wiring circuit board.


Unfortunately the engine pulley is stuck on the shaft, it is two parts, the deck pulley and the trans drive pulley. The deck pulley was removed when I got it but the top pulley is really stuck on. I'm going to hopefully get the lend of a hydraulic puller tomorrow and see if it comes off.