What's In DFB's Cabinet?

[skinnyb]

Holy CRAP, Alex..760 CFM is a chidtload of air! Hell, my 5hp double pumper air compressor maxes out at 175 CFM at 100psi which is probably the difference. Even so, my air compressor is fricking big and, 220v! <chuckling> Yeah, I'd say that's enough air to dry a tractor trailer or two. <grin>


Yep, my Max Blaster is corded but I have a bit more room in the garage to move around, the cord has never been a problem. I'm guessing that the heating element in the blower is what draws the current and requires a 20 amp circuit.

But I'm moving toward battery power..I have a Milwaukee trimmer/edger that I or my helper use every week in the growing season. The edger attachment ain't quite there yet though compared to the Echo equivalent. But I do like that trimmer even though I hate trimming. I have a three or four 5A batts and 2 8A's so we never run out of power.


I'll apologize right now amigo because I burst out laughing when I read that sentence. Geeze, I thought I had a serious case of OCD but you make me look like a rookie. <really laughing now>

BTW gents, I went ahead and ordered the ADS Pro Coating, pretty sure 30ml will easily cover the Mustang. If I really like it AND I can find the En Er Gee to polish the other two vehicles, they may get some too. Well, maybe just hers cuz the thought of washing, taping, polishing, washing, and coating my Super Duty makes me tired just thinking about it. :=)

And now, a wee bit of humor from the peanut gallery. (Hint: Adobe recently added multiple AI models to Photoshop including Google's Gemini 3 Pro aka Nano Banana.) I have been having a frickin' blast ginning up images and here's one of 'em..

If you want to "easy out" try Phobic. Stupid easy to apply. Wipe on, wipe off on a nice prepped surface just like a wax. I just did an S650 this weekend, did a wash, ADS Panel Prep wipe all down since the paint was already pretty much corrected, did a few sprays on a round MF applicator, wiped on each panel, and then buffed off. My old ass shoulders were crying when I was done, but that is a given at my age. It was super easy aside from eating ibuprofen when I was done And as my Papaw would say, slicker than greased Goose Grease Supposed to last anywhere from 12-24 months give or take depending on circumstances of course. On a Super Duty, that might be the ticket for that huge beast...

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[kilobravo]

On a Super Duty, that might be the ticket for that huge beast...

Many thanks for that, Alex but as you well know, by far the most physically taxing part of this whole equation is the polishing and that's the part that makes me tired just thinking about it. And I hear you loud and clear on the iBuprofen, I swallowed 600mg after the decon wash and then sat in a hot bath tub for half an hour. :=)

However, if I do find the energy to polish the truck, I may very well give Phobic a shot. From what you said, it doesn't seem like a whole lot more effort than a spray sealant although the extra buffing would definitely be harder on the old shoulders.

 

[skinnyb]

Many thanks for that, Alex but as you well know, by far the most physically taxing part of this whole equation is the polishing and that's the part that makes me tired just thinking about it. And I hear you loud and clear on the iBuprofen, I swallowed 600mg after the decon wash and then sat in a hot bath tub for half an hour. :=)

However, if I do find the energy to polish the truck, I may very well give Phobic a shot. From what you said, it doesn't seem like a whole lot more effort than a spray sealant although the extra buffing would definitely be harder on the old shoulders.

Exactly. No harder than any old school paste wax. Wax on, wax off. I love the Rag Company microfiber discs, ADS even sells them with Phobic as a package. And it does buff off fairly easy, not too bad as long as you work small sections at a time, I do to double check for high spots..

 

[kilobravo]

Exactly. No harder than any old school paste wax. Wax on, wax off.

Thanks for the tips, Alex. Haven't started polishing yet and the main reason is that my QuickJack fluid reseroir leaked itself empty. Fortunately, it was in a big Rubbermaid container so the garage floor didn't get covered with that ugly stuff.

Had to order a new tank from Benpak, ($40 bones for a 2l plastic tank, o-ring, and a large hose clamp for the mouth of the tank..geeze.) It came today so I'll put that thing back together then start the taping tomorrow, I hope.

When that's completed I'll polish the horizontal surfaces while she's on the ground and then hopefully, the QJ will function normally and I can get her a couple feet off the ground making it easier to polish the vertical panels. By then, the ADS Pro sealant will be here and I can shift right into that after I give her yet another bath. <grin>

 

[DFB5.0]

The Ranger has been earning its keep over the last week. The first job was spread across two days, a garden clean-up for a neighbour. This included two full loads of green waste going to the tip, most of it from several Cocas Palm's (hideous things, never plant them!). The second job being my own garden, which I'm trying to green up before a certain someone arrives late January. Again, two large loads of green waste after giving two established camellia's a heavy reformative prune, and removal of more bloody Privet.

The rubber mat I have in the tray is great for keeping rattles down, but the open chambers allow every leaf, twig and blade of grass to get stuck in each perforation. A very tedious task to remove it all, be that using the leaf blower or pressure washer, often it's easier to just vacuum it..............which gives the nosey neighbours something to laugh at.

After washing with NV Snow, I continued to sample the Griot's products I bought a few weeks ago. Drying Aid was Speed Shine, tray and door jambs with Ceramic Speed Shine, and the inside got a wipe down with Interior Detailer. The tyres had been cleaned 3-in-1 Wheel-Tire-Mat, then a layer of Ceramic Tire Dressing.

On that 3-in-1 Wheel-Tire-Mat Cleaner, I wanted to see how it performed on the Ranger's 3D rubber floor liners.

I love this product! The way it lathers up is so satisfying, which gives the feeling you're actually achieving something, missing from some rubber cleaners. After cleaning, I soaked it down with P&S Swift, which is the sweet spot for dressing floor mats, vastly better than the Koch Chemie Guf.

You can still see what appears to be a dirty patch on the left, but that's where my heel pivots for the clutch pedal, which has worn down and discoloured the material.

Ranger is clean again, but not for long, early next week is the all-important "Christmas Mow".

 

[skinnyb]

Got to try some of the Griots wheel, mat tire cleaner. I have heard excellent things about it.

 

[DFB5.0]

Got to try some of the Griots wheel, mat tire cleaner. I have heard excellent things about it.

I'm wondering how it foams, ala Brake Buster.

 

[skinnyb]

I'm wondering how it foams, ala Brake Buster.

That would be interesting to know. I do like BB for that. It works in a foam Canon like a boss. Even at 1:1 dilution. I use about 4:1 in my battery ik foamer.

And on a side note, I do agree about GUF on that style mat. I have not had any luck with it on that style mat. Now weather tech mats (which I have) GUF is magical. Makes them pop and have a very rich color deepening effect. I do have swift, I'm about out of it though, it's not my favorite for interiors, a bit to shiny armor all ish for me. Now KCx Top Star is my speed.

 

[larr12]

Recieved this today. It was on sale on amazon.

 

[skinnyb]

Recieved this today. It was on sale on amazon.

I have a friend that had some Ethos Cleanse, their Graphene infused soap, I tried it once. Wasn't a fan but that might just be me. I much prefer just "soap" in my car wash soap most of the time. Be sure to report back when you try it and let us know what you think.

 

[MAGS1]

I have a friend that had some Ethos Cleanse, their Graphene infused soap, I tried it once. Wasn't a fan but that might just be me. I much prefer just "soap" in my car wash soap most of the time. Be sure to report back when you try it and let us know what you think.

I really enjoyed Cleanse. I like ADS Shampoo+ a little better, but I thought Cleanse did a really nice job. Plenty of lubrication too. I never did try Ethos ceramic shampoo. Only disappointment in the Ethos line that I experienced is their coating. I thought it failed a little early, got a little over 2 years out of it.

 

[DFB5.0]

Another 40+ C degree day, another Ranger. Annoyingly, it's just rained, undoing my work and meaning tomorrow will humid. I hate summer!

Nothing special on this one, it just HAD to be done. But it did give me a proper chance to see how these new Pressol Pro Series sprayers perform.

I've used the original "household" versions for a while now, with and without the chemical resistant "Industrial" spray heads. Those heavy-duty heads had to be purchased separately, which increased the price by $15 on top of the bottle/sprayer price. And even then, the Industrial heads still failed with alkaline chemicals. I actually stopped bothering with them and just used the household sprayer. The trick is to purge the chemical back into the bottle and flushing the sprayer with clean water after each detailing session. I've been doing that with both head types and have had about 15-months out of them so far. The reality is, you shouldn't have to do that on a premium purchase like this when a basic $7 Tolco will outlast it 3 - 4 times over.

The Pro Series spray head has upgraded internals, so there is no longer a need for the "Industrial" version. At $32+ per bottle, I'm not going to subject these to high-impact chemicals, especially when replacement heads are not available. With ADS Amplify being a high-use product, I decided to put it into the Pro Series.

The first thing to note is how nicely the new stainless-steel tip atomises product. Having said that, I actually prefer a slightly heavier dispersion to limit chemical drift and overspray. Perhaps this is why I never cracked a single one of those old plastic tips, I just wasn't cranking them down as hard. The trigger action feels smoother too, although that could be a new vs well used situation.

At the end of the day, you are only buying these Pressol bottles and sprayers if you are insane like me. That's because on pretty much every metric, a $7 Tolco or Canyon sprayer with a generic bottle is going to do the same job, just without the double action trigger and weighted pickup tube for 360-degree spraying capability. The question is, are those two benefits worth an extra $26? And if those last two aspects are important, then Kwazar Mercury is $14 cheaper and as good if not better than the Pressol.

 

[DFB5.0]

This week stumbled across another mower I'd been looking for, and as always, it's a matter of mechanical and cosmetic restoration.

The mower in question being an Australian-made Rover, this one would have been made in the mid-90's. For the most part, this is a run of the mill Rover with an 18-inch aluminium alloy deck and the 4-swing back blade disk. But its the engine that makes this one special, a Suzuki M120X 2-Stroke. So, Australian bones with a Japanese heart.

The 121.5cc Suzuki M120X engine was made from the 1980's and 1990's. It was mostly used on Rover's in Australia, but it was also used in the USA on commercial-grade Toro's. In Australia, 2-stroke lawn mowers were highly common right up until the late 2000's, then phased out as emission standards outlawed 2-strokes above 120cc in the late 2010's. It would appear 2-stroke power basically died when Lawn Boy were wound down. So this Suzuki was a competitor to the Victa in AU and the Lawn Boy in the US.

I've known of these Suzuki 2-Strokes for a long time, but until today, I'd never actually seen one in the metal. After a comment made on Facebook a few months ago, I had someone urge me to take a look at them. In particular, I was told these Suzuki's are known for their smoothness and durability. So, the challenge was set, I just had to find a suitable mower with the Suzuki engine on it.

As always, there is a story behind each mower find. I swooped on this Rover 2-Stroke XL minutes after it had been listed for sale on Monday night. Only two photos were included with the sale listing, but they clearly displayed an extremely tidy looking mower. Contacting the seller, he explained that they had brought it home after packing up his mother's house in Melbourne. He knew nothing about it other than it ran, verified by a quick video. No more questions were needed, so I went and grabbed it this morning for the grand sum of $85.

Usually, these mowers will have paint missing from the side of the deck, but this one is almost perfect. The machine overall looks to have been very well cared for, there is even a service sticker still on the handle. After a quick once over, I noticed one of the front wheels was pointing toe in, so a few love taps with a sledge put that right. After a little splash of fuel, I put the mower to work straight away. With the engine cold and the choke engaged, this thing will fire from single pull of the cord.

Apart from the precision wheel alignment, the mower only needed a few items addressed. The first being the blades, which were in desperate need of replacement, both from a safety point of view but also cutting performance. I had these NOS.

A new spark plug, not necessarily needed, but I had one in stock. These use the same CJ8, RCJ8Y, BPMR6A or BM6A as an early Briggs or Victa.

The old filter could have been cleaned, but I threw a new one in it, oiled before installation.

Not having any experience with this engine, it was suggested I remove the muffler and inspect for excessive carbon deposits. A blocked port can cause anything from low power, hard starting and even detonation. The muffler inlet and outlet were fine, as was the exhaust port, so I put it back together. However, I later learned there is a 1/8-inch hole to the right within the exhaust port that tends to block up. This hole is for the decompressor, so a blockage here will cause hard starting. Off came the muffler again, and yes, it was partially blocked on this example. This was easily cleaned and actually improved the starting performance.

Above, you can't see this decompression port, below you can. This also gave me a chance to see the condition of the piston and cylinder, both are beautiful. This mower was cared for!

I use synthetic 2-stroke oil in most of my machines, so this will help reduce those carbon deposits going forward. The Suzuki takes 50:1, which helps the situation, as well as reducing the smoking habit.

After the mechanicals were sorted, this is where the detailing content starts. I started by rinsing the machine with the pressure washer. Grabbing an old brush I have dedicated to mowers, I went around with Shine Supply Wise Guy, to scrub the wheels, deck and catcher. Another rinse, it then got a dose of Hydr02 and then some Hyper Dressing. I like Hyper Dressing here because I can dilute it down to look natural rather than oil-slick city. Finally, the chrome handlebars and the muffler cover were given a scrub with steel wool to remove the surface rust.

Before -

After -

This video was taken prior to detailing. Idle speed is about 1800 rpm, full throttle is 3250 rpm. You can move the governor spring to the top hole to bump that top speed to 3600 rpm, but I think I'll leave this one alone.



Not bad for a 30-year old lawn mower. The previous owner must have loved this thing, there's barely any paint missing, the engine starts and runs like clockwork. At this point, I want to highlight how easy this engine is work on, everything fits precisely, tight tolerances, no wiggle room, none of the kinda-sorta-fits crap common to Briggs, or the overall crappiness of those Krohler's. That same precision I've noticed with Honda's engines too.

 

[skinnyb]

I really enjoyed Cleanse. I like ADS Shampoo+ a little better, but I thought Cleanse did a really nice job. Plenty of lubrication too. I never did try Ethos ceramic shampoo. Only disappointment in the Ethos line that I experienced is their coating. I thought it failed a little early, got a little over 2 years out of it.

Same here, my friend with the S650 GT/CS had Ethos coating put on first of the year, and although the top surfaces still performed pretty good, the sides and back were virtually nonexistent after just a few months. Did a full Decon wash and it was gone. And he is just as meticulous as I am keeping his car clean. .

 

[DFB5.0]

I really like the Pro series, although I never tried anything else. OG has the spray heads indivudually now, not sure if available to you or not. And they a LOT cheaper here ($24 apiece) although that is still an insane price.

OG only has the old "Industrial" and "Household" spray heads for sale. These are pre-Pro Series.

Pressol – Obsessed Garage

Industrial -
Replacement Chemical Resistant Sprayer Head for Pressol Bottles with Optional Weighted Tube – Obsessed Garage

Household -
Pressol Household Sprayer Head Replacement for Garden and Household Bottles – Obsessed Garage

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