Finally got some shop time today. Finished tearing the deck apart. The rust is far worse than I realized. Where the hangar brackets bolt is thinned out along the edge from pretty heavy corrosion. This allowed the deck to bow upward. I made a 1/4 x 3 plate to go under the deck that runs across both hanger brackets--had to remove the blade baffle for this (I'll put it back when I am done). Got a large steel block (12 x 8 x 3) that I put under the deck so I could hammer down the bowed area without kinking it somewhere else. Although the deck cover is missing, it looks like all the corrosion and rust occurred with the cover on. To begin used a hard grinding stone in a hand grinder followed by a different grinder with a flap wheel. Fortunately it was 70 deg today because this was certainly an outdoor job due to the mess. The deck is pretty bad regarding pitting, but it's the only 50C I have so I'm going for it. I thought about getting it sandblasted but think its too damaged for my friends blaster--he's set up to cut cemetery markers--probably too aggressive for my compromised sheet metal. I may still have him clean it up--gently. I've got a bit of welding to do where one of the wheel brackets cracked beside all its welds. When all repairs are made I'll finish cleaning and treat the areas with Rust-Mort, then spray can some primer and paint. Need to order some new decals.
I did get a the new gas gauge style cap put in today!
It occurred to me that when the float is halfway the gauge reads half full (empty). Sounds logical until you look at the tank and realize how irregularly shaped these things are!
You can run forever on a 1/2 tank, but when you hit 1/4 you better head for refill. Maybe one of you enterprising fellows that likes to think real hard can make a new guide with a variable helix that will truly indicate how much fuel is in the tank. Until then we'll head to the pump when it hits 1/4 tank.
New carb kit, crank seal, air filter, and clutch pedal switch are still in the box--along with all the deck pulleys and belt.