MTD - "Budgie"

Just keep your eye out, they're not that hard to come by

This is gonna be good.

Cleaning out the stock fuel tank i found this probably 30 year old gas can thing someone dropped in, kinda funny. There was a bunch of pieces of float from the gauge cap it has(it's just the cap and the frame thing now) in there too. The petcock at the bottom was plugged but i managed to blow it out. Can't get the valve to close but that's ok. I ran the fuel line (5ft was just enough) and put a little fuel in the tank to let it sit and see if it leaks.


I meant to be doing wiring but i got sidetracked trying to make a pull start out of the booster fan.

As you can see, there's already no room between the clutch and spinny wheel of death to you and your loose bootlaces


So i put the face plate on the lathe, center the fan by pushing it up against the plate with a dead center in the tailstock, and tighten it down with two ¼-20 bolts. I couldn't find a spot to properly indicate this in, as the outer ring is barely round as is. As far as i could tell it had maybe .030" of runout. Not a big deal. This little piece of aluminum won't throw the entire oppy out of balance, especially at only 3600.


Cut the groove, good for two wraps with my signature 3 strand braided baling twine pull ropes. Shouldn't need more than 2 turns if this oppy starts like my other horizontal.


Cut two notches about 180° apart, might try to maintain at least some balance lol.


Bonus-

A look up the frame tunnel when i had the top plate off the frame to put the fuel tank in


The setup i used to drill the cotter pin hole in the rod that the gas tank sits on. I always wanted an excuse to use the tailstock round stock drilling atatchment thing.

Made a pair of cross supports then discovered i can't get a mower battery with the engine tins on. Decided to go to a motorcycle battery i got a few months ago. Made the little battery box for the motorcycle battery.


Battery fits in easily.


Wired everything from scratch in about an hour. Key switch has an extra position, used it for the one working headlight. Zip tied it in wire loom, looks pretty neat compared to anything else i have.


After the wiring i got her running and took her for the first test drive with a rigged throttle(runs great). Clutch didn't want to work because the belt was out of position for the keepers to work. No big deal. Fuel pump pulled fuel through 5ft of line and a foot of rise and filled the bowl in a couple seconds of cranking. Anyone who says oppy fuel pumps are trash are clearly ignorant.

On to the foot throttle. Using the same one as before with the integrated belt keepers. The cable kept slipping past the screw so I just drilled a hole though the manifold to feed it through. This is actually the first time I've seen this governor setup on a horizontal and i don't like it. Anyways with the same return spring i was using before and some adjustments it works really well. Cranked the gov screw to get some extra rpms too.


Added some belt keepers to the existing keeper/gas pedal tree. Haven't tried it yet but there's no reason for it not to work.

All systems on the oppy are nominal even after sitting as long as they did- ignition, charging system, starter, and I guess governor if you wanna count that. Got pretty lucky with this one.

A skidplate for the trans and bottom of fuel tank is looking like a good idea right now. As well as a new front axle bolt to tighten up the steering- she does get death wobble sometimes.

Interesting, I have one of those fans already with a pull rope slot. I could not seem to get enough RPM's to get Red started with it, so I put it back to stock.



I have contemplated putting an Alternator in "Patriot". Just not sure of placement at this time. You have yours on the drive belt, I wonder how belt slip affects it? Granted, it should only slip while clutched.

All of the boosters I've had didn't have the notch. I woulda just put a pulley on like i have on my RER with the oppy and booster fan.

Maybe I'm a bit younger guy and can pull it faster or my engine is in better shape, but she always starts first pull with the choke on.

I think i tried the alternator like once on a battery. The 10si was a bit much for the 6hp but it didn't slip so much. The 10si is a bit much for the motorcycle battery, I'm gonna take it out and put the idler back in place that I had. If anything here needs help with the charging system, it's Mutt. I have a rectifier from a vanguard for her.

Take your fuel filters seriously folks, only took 20min of running without one to make this thing start surging. It was an easy cleaning though and she's back to running like new.

Messed up the clutch a bit from running over a log.


This oppy really seems to make a lot of heat. The hood gets hot to the touch if it runs for more than 20min. Hopefully this will go away when I get the muffler out from under the hood.

prolly!
I need to get the muffler out of the engine bay on the AYP as well cuz the big Intek throws so much heat!

I know it'll help at least some.

I'll get this thing in the shop after i fix/get tired of mutt. Something needs to be done with the clutch pedal/booster fan, as they got in a fight once when the table i put in the shop shoved the clutch pedal over into it. Along with the actual clutch issue lol. Might rework the pedal entirely.

Fixed the clutch issue.


Did a stupid and drilled into my gas tank. I ran out of words to insult myself with. Pair of flat uhmw or nylon plastic washers and a ¼-20 bolt and she seems to hold.

Grease and a piece of copper tubing helped getting the nut on the inside of the tank.


At the moment I'm making a ball hitch/bumper type deal. That's why i was drilling the back plate. My first back bumper ever really. I'll get a pic when i get at least tacked

I'll cut the ends down eventually but for now this is what it'll be.


I'm gonna take some inspiration from Allis and not paint it, as almost nothing else is painted on this rig. Maybe someday I'll paint this whole thing, idk though. The burgundy is starting to grow on me

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

I'm gonna take some inspiration from Allis and not paint it

Atta boy!!



Haha, looks good!

I think i have room in front of the bumper for an ammo can. That'd be cool, I'll have to try that

I've done stuff like drill into a gas tank before. It happens lol.

Yeah sucks lol.

Ammo can fits in with a bit of cutting

So the flyhweel side main seal leaks pretty bad on this, might've been why it was put out of commission. Front left side of the frame is coated. It's not severe but it's not good. I imagine the pressure lube is feeding the oil right out there as that bearing does get oil from it.

This thing does wheelies like mad with a trailer behind it. Mutt does too, but this has a bit less weight on the front than mutt. Guess I'll see what i can do about that soon.

neat bumper but with letting the ideas grow in your head a bit before building prevents that problem!

I was fully aware it'd be somewhat of an issue but i wasnt gonna move the hitch down to fix it and ruin my departure angle

Put the bumper to the test today. Works nice. Steering is manageable

Leak in the left rear tire is getting progressively worse. Might need to get a tube for it or find some new tires to replace these old mudlights.

Did you ever try Tire Sealant? That stuff's amazing!

Don't resort to the dreaded Slime!

I'm not doing tire puke. There was some of that garbage in these tires when i got em.

Yeah yeah whatever.

If I only had some pics of the tires I've brought back with it....


And it only "pukes" for a few days, then it stops. But I'm obviously never going to convince you on how good it is, so why not try that "Great Stuff"...

Why would i make my life a living hell when i inevitably take it off when i could put a tube in it now and it'll last forever?