[beefer]

Hello all. This is Mike from Llandrinio on the Shropshire/Powys border. I've just found the site today, which is great because I'm desperate for advice on my old Howard Bantam and gardening in general. My bantam wont start and I'm toying with whether to try to refurbish the Villiers engine on it, or whether to put a newer engine on it. The trouble is, the engine housing forms part of the pivot system that tightens the fan belt. I know some bantams have a separate pivoting plate that the engine is bolted to, which seems a lot easier. Unfortunately, mine is not that straightforward. I would be grateful for any advice. Many thanks Mike.

[Ice]

I've moved your post into here so that the resident petrol heads will get to see it.  Please introduce yourself again.

[beefer]

OK. Thanks for that.

[Gwiz]

I always direct people with villiers to;

http://www.meetens.co.uk/

They're in Epsom Surrey. Very helpful people, but will be more familiar with the engine than the machine itself, so don't forget to let them know all the engine details, serial numbers and so on.

I think it would be worth refurbing the engine as it's part of the drive. Meetens should be able to supply most of the engine parts.

[beefer]

Great stuff. Thanks Graham.