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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Atco 1448 fuel oil mix

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Hi all,

 

My first post here as a new member. I have recently bought a 14” 1948 Atco light lawnmower. Having read the user manual I would just like to seek clarification on a couple of points if anyone can help me please.

1. Petrol type - in the manual it says No.1 petrol. Does anyone know if this is leaded or unleaded? I’m guessing that since unleaded didn’t come out until the 80’s it must be by default leaded petrol. In which case should I use unleaded with a lead replacement and does this make any difference for a 2 stroke engine.

2. Petrol oil mix - again in the manual it says to use 2 gallons of petrol to 3/4 pint of oil. This is working out to about 20:1, does this sound about right to others who have the same mower?

 

3. Oil type - due to the age of the mower all the oil types specified in the manual are now unavailable. I understand from other posts classic oils for classic engines and as such I have bought a millers classic 2 stroke oil that I intend to mix at 20:1. Does anyone have any advise here please, is this the right approach to take?

Thank you for your support,

Andy

Forums

gtc Thu, 08/03/2018

Leaded/unleaded is not an issue for two-stroke engines as they don't have cylinder head valves. Just use regular unleaded (no ethanol).

20:1 is fine, but use traditional mineral oil.

Make sure you use the correct spark plug.

 

wristpin Thu, 08/03/2018

As GTC says,  but here in the UK ethanol is difficult to avoid as nearly all pump fuel has a proportion of ethanol so we just have to live with it. Good fuel “ hygiene “  and possibly the use of a proprietary fuel stabiliser may be a good idea.  Definitely use a “ classic”  two stroke mixing oil and not a modern semi or fully synthetic one. 

Quite a few early two strokes ran at 16:1 but 20:1 should be fine.

gtc Thu, 08/03/2018

here in the UK ethanol is difficult to avoid as nearly all pump fuel has a proportion of ethanol

Thankfully here in Oz we are not forced to use that stuff, despite the best efforts of the tree-huggers backed by the sugar growers.

At the pumps we have 91ron, 95ron, 98ron and e10 (10% ethanol)