Reviving Dad's 1948 Ford 8N Tractor - Part 1 - Valve Job and First Start 

Man that was very wise said, never heard anyone say it like that and you're telling the olf feller!

Thats pretty deep. I restored one 8N that was drug out of a barn. I paid $300 for that one. Now the same guy had another one in a different barn he told me I can just have it as a parts tractor. Instead I'm thinking of bringing it back to life. Your statement is quite convincing.

Thanks for the tips! I'll try that with part 2 when I find time.

Thanks. Yeah, the air pump is a great trick, really handy for pumping gas or oil into old engines that have been sitting too long. Compression was good but that was with oil still in the cylinders. I haven't test dry yet but she definitely has a bit of blowby past the rings. Smokes a little till she warms up, but I can live with it for now. Next big unknowns are whether I can free up the clutch (it's frozen) and gearbox (currently only goes into 1st and 3rd). I haven't been working on her much over the winter but looking forward to picking up the project again once it warms up a bit. Cheers.

Maravilha o meu e um trator Ford 8n 1951 assim que puder vamos se falando sou aqui do Brasil acho super legal forte abraço até mais

Thanks for the sub!

Sure. I just added a link in the description to the set I bought. It didn't exactly scream quality... case was just a couple pieces of plywood with hinges and pockets milled in it... but the cutters were OK and it had all the cutter sizes I needed.

My right hat rim might be salvagable. Left one was corroded badly due to calcium leak while the right just corroded due to rain... it's rusted through in one spot but the tube is still holding pressure/fluid. It might be worth someone's time to cut/patch the rim, but it probably won't be me ;-). I'm not too concerned about staying historically accurate so I bought two new rims and tubes (already had a spare tire kicking around). I believe the switch to side mount distributor was in 1950. That's a nice looking 2N in your profile picture. I have a 2N as well (I forget what year) that I fixed up 12 years ago and still use around the farm. Cheers.

@@BeAFixer Thank You. The pic was taken right after I put her back together after the motor repair. I hadn't put the 50s era Dearborn FEL back on yet but did a week later. I would like to finish up the other issues that still need attention and maybe turn into a parade queen yet still plow the veggie patch.

It's just a 2 litre pop bottle, a schraeder valve cut off an inner tube, and a length of vinyl tubing. Drill two holes in the pop bottle cap, one for a snug fit on the schraeder valve, and one for a snug fit on the tubing. I just make one whenever I need it as I always have all the parts kicking around and it only takes a few minutes. Be sure to use carbonated beverage bottle and not bottled water or milk jug or anything glass. Plastic pop bottles are designed to take high pressure... over 100 PSI before failure... though 10-15 PSI is all you need to push the oil through the system. Cheers.

Yep... good eye. It wasn't done in my living memory (last 45 years), but might have been done by my Dad or more likely my uncle who was a mechanic.

I considered drilling a hole in the sleeve for each tappet which makes adjustment easier as you can insert a pin to prevent the tappet from rotating. No special adjustment tool required. I would have done it for sure if tearing the whole engine down, but I didn't want to risk metal shavings falling into the oil pan.

Thanks. I'm not familiar with the ZXB3 engine but sounds like an interesting project. Good luck.

Eventually. Triaging order of operations to find the biggest problems first. Given how easy it was to get the pistons moving and how clean the cylinder walls were I doubt any rings are stuck, but if they are it won't hurt much to run that way for a bit till I confirm what other work it needs and whether it's worth the effort to fix. Need engine running to check clutch, transmission and hydraulics which are all suspect. If those are successful I would plan to rebuild engine with new sleeves and pistons anyway.

Honestly not 100% sure. I suspect the bendix on the starter had trouble disengaging due to all the rust on the flywheel teeth so I may have been spinning the starter. It went away on its own after the second start.

I have all the footage for part 2, "From running to rolling". Just haven't found time to edit it. Maybe soon.

@BeAFixer ok good can't wait to see it

Thanks. Yeah, some of those 8 videos are pretty old, so not an overnight success by any means, but this tractor video seems to have particularly high ratio of subscribers to views. Definitely motivated to post the rest of the project.