Got my intake elbow today!  If I can get the gas tank fixed up, I might have it running this weekend.  I think I'm going to flatten the box and frame it.  I'll bet I can sell it on eBay for more than I paid for the intake.

Nope Zen, getting out of any extra projects that I have laying around now....
The 2 that I refurbished are on the display floor of the snapper dealer in Florida.
I mowed my lawn with them just to try them out and they were tight....
KC

KC, Did you repaint the ones you did?  Do you know the correct color?  Mine has a good bit of the original paint, but I'm sure after a half century it's faded a shade or 12.  I'm kind'a toying around with cleaning it up and hitting the rusty areas with Rustolium's rust converter and then clear coating the whole thing.  I'd like to look new (or at least not as old) but then, I hate to cover that much original paint after is survived a half century.

I was looking at the Rustolium paint in Wally World the other day and there is a green that looks close to the faded green of the original paint.  Here's what I've decided to do.  Tell me if you think it will OK or if I'm crazy.

I'm going to strip it down the turtle shell and clean it up.  Where it still has original paint, I'm going to mask it off, then use the rust converter and the Rustoium green on the parts that have no original paint.  Then I'll try to buff off the edge to transition the new paint into the original paint . . . then clear-coat the whole thing.

What'cha think?

You are crazy. I would think that you would try to blend by "fogging" the edges. Sorta like airbrushing .  That is if you are hell bent to try to save the old paint.
----Wait on it-------- Its your coa-----------------

I'm sure I could sand it down smooth, prime it with the Rustolium rust converter and paint it and make it look almost new . . . but I have a lawn mower that looks almost new (because it is).  Even though it isn't perfect, the original factory paint is the original factory paint . . . and when it's gone, it's gone forever.  I'm torn.  I don't really want a rusty, shabby looking mower (especially when Joy knows how much money I've got tied up in it) but, I would hate to know that much of the factory paint survived for over half a century and I painted over it!  So, I'm trying to reach a compromise.  Paint the rusty parts, but save what's left of the factory paint.  I think you are right though David.  It would probably be much easier to blend the old and new by "fogging" the edges rather than taping off an abrupt change and then buff it down.

I bet Homer is so mad now that you have turned into "lawn mower mechanic" and ignoring him!

Homer's happy!  I've turned into a lawn mower mechanic so I can get a mower going and cut my way through the back yard and find him again!

I've been tinkering around with this project off and on for the past few months.  I took the engine off, took it apart and cleaned it up.  When I put it back together, I installed a new coil and plug wire, new points and points plunger, and a new condensor.  It has a super hot spark now!  I bought a rebuilt carb and installed it using my NOS intake elbow.  I bought an original used tank and cleaned it inside and out, the sealed it with red seal.  I also installed an NOS muffler.  I've got get new decals, and touch up a couple of things, but it's up and running . . . and running great!

By the way, after asking a lot of quesitons, I finally found someone who could put a date on the engine.  It was manufactured in March of 1956.  No one (not even snapper) seems to know anything about serial numbers on the mowers, so I'll just assume that if the engine was built in early 56, the mower was probably built in mid to late 1956.

Towed it with this lawn-mover....