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This is something I've been wanting to do for awhile, and I finally did it yesterday. I pulled out all my old Briggs Model N's, as well as a Model U, Model I, and a 6s, and ran ran them all at the same time (22 engines). It was fun, although it was a bit more work than I thought it was going to be. When this many engines are running, its difficult to hear the exhaust note of each engine so that I could get the fuel mixture set correctly on the carburetor. In this video, the newest engine is a 1952, and the oldest is a 1940. There was one engine (my lever start) that I flooded, so it wasn't running in the first video, but I did eventually get it fired, and showed it running in the very short second video. Anyway, here are a couple videos and pics. Thanks Matt

Had a nice relaxing day at local show today, there was a good variety of exhibits and a BBQ going all day,usual cups of tea and well supported, here's a few photos

Hi all, Got some of the collection out today, as you can tell I like variety Enjoy Tom

Yeah, I reckon Norm. Trying to get a seller to only supply a metre of the Canvas, rather than a 5metre roll at the moment, I think I'm winning. Have been sorting out the back-up cylinder (reel) . It's been liberated from all the rust by Blasting and had a good coat of self Etch Primer, then baked on. I opted for checking out a long established Garden Machinery place in Lingfield to give it a Grind and Hone, handy as it was also on the way back from the Media Blasters. (they can't do the other one as there is too much metal to remove). Got it back this morning and cleaned off the greasy finger marks etc. Also masked off the ground blade faces ready for painting (lot of pitting to lose)- Made a start on the Hub Cap/wheel retainers, these were well gone with the rust lifting the Chrome off. This example is the better of the two - I couldn't put them in the E-bucket as they were Chromed, so had to sort them by hand. Took a while what with the old joints "Really giving me Gyp" nowadays. Pitting wasn't so bad once they were cleaned, then decided to just paint them. Re- Chroming is not a consideration my wallet will respond to. So they look reasonable - Thought I was going to be lucky on at least one part of this project, but I need to replace the Piston with an Aluminium one due to some vibration occurring at half Revs. The Cranks must have been 'Matched' to either Cast Iron or Ali Pistons?. No references anywhere that I could find. There is about 120grammes difference between the types, so it's got to be that. Should have gone and replaced 'Like-for-Like' in the first place. Something else I've learned about these little Villiers.

The 1253 is easy :D It was only produced for one year, 1970.

Nice looking tractor even if it's the wrong color. At least it wasn't rusting away :D I've seen the Bolens tractors painted in just about every color of the rainbow. Seems like the styling lends itself to that. As for your 1254-06 with a Tec engine in it, I'm thinking that it's had a transplant. According to my info, the all of the 1254 production runs had the Wisconsin TRA-12D engine but there was a different Spec. number for the later ones. The -01 through the -04 had a Spec. number of 335600, whilst the -05 and -06 had a Spec. number of 357448. I have no clue as what the difference(s) between the two Spec. numbers may have been. I'll also note that the same thing applied to the 1256. The -01 through -04 used the earlier engine whilst the -06 and -07 used the latter. What's even more interesting is that I can find no reference to a -05 production run of the 1256 in ANY of the lists that I have.

My Dad started making this tank before he ran out of gas, but it is mounted and looks mostly complete Managed to fit a Kawasaki KLE500 rear brake caliper to the front end of Baotian 50cc scooter. Waiting on a left-hand hydraulic lever to arrive. I didn't want the stop and the go controls to be operated by one hand. Air filter arrived from the land of cheap. Looks better than stock at least

Here's our other Standard Fordson. The orange parts (excluding wheels) date from roughly 1939, the green parts 1942 & the engine from 1945. When we first picked it up it was all green but after a good wash the orange reappeared. At present the tank & carburettor are off but the new valves are in & compression is lethal. When the head was off i noticed the pistons were stamped 60 thou oversize. Once i get the manifold & carb back on i'll try & get it running with the water leaks & split block still to do. The wheels are Major ones, put on to make it mobile but I have the originals. Philip

This will be our first time exhibiting at Wiston this year. We went as spectators for one day last year, while some friends where exhibiting. Looks a really good show with lots of variety. Located near Steyning, West Sussex. Anyone else going to be there exhibiting or for a visit? Here's the website for more info: http://www.sussexsteamrally.co.uk/

First and second coats are done, I'm putting on more for good measure

A tidy red Bolens 1253 non runner with a few bits missing turned up on the usual auction site. A number of people on this site asked me about it (you know who you are ) and I passed on some advice fully expecting them to bid for it. In the end they decided not to so I hit the button and won it. I collected it last night from Suffolk and it turned out to be the same person I bought a Bolens G10 from a few years ago. They promised me that they had no more hiding away. While I was waiting at a level crossing in the middle of Stowmarket for the London to Norwich train to pass I took a picture of it smiling at me. Today I unloaded it from the trailer. I usually use my tri-axle Ifor Williams trailer for tractor collections but this time I thought I would try something different, a Ifor TT85 tipper. I thought I was going to get a nosebleed being up that high. It was not as easy to load and I resisted the easy unload button . This picture was taken as we were about to unload this morning with my assistant already climbing all over the tractor. We pushed it into the workshop, did some work on the electrics, fuel system, fitted a new drive pin in the axle and drove it out. My test driver doing the first run, well actually all the driving This red Bolens jumped ahead of all the others waiting for a bit of workshop time but my lad loves it, which I think is down to the colour. He said it looked a bit like a Wheelhorse, only better The rear tyres on this tractor are nearly completely worn out. I have never seen that before although I did find the diff. lock seized on so that could explain it. Iain

Looking great and your workshop is so organised. Cheers

I should be there also. Not sure what with but have entered my Fordson Major & stationary engine & mill. I may take other stuff depending on time etc Very good show. Philip

I will be there with my Ransomes MG40 Crawler The show is only a few miles down the road from my house Only be there Sunday!!

From memory, in order to identify the engine year from the serial number it needs to be in the format of 4 numbers and a letter. This one has only got the four numbers however taking just the 4 numbers it would suggest that it was made on the 084th day of 1970 This is the Bolens tag

I just checked the Tractor data list and the 1253 was produced for one year only in '73 as confirmed by OB and yourself Iain. I got to say it looks very solid that example and your young assistant is right to like the colour; a good buy I would have thought.. There was a 1253 brochure on the bay last night. No doubt it will be listed again. Be interested in ascertaining the engine details at some point.

That's the fellow!

briliant post matt

Thanks Dave. The 1254 with the Tecumseh is in storage at the moment but I am now itching to have a very close look. A while back you and Alain provided some really helpful advice on dating Tecumseh and Wisconsin engines but the engine in the red 1253 is not in that format, how easy is it to date a Bolens from the tractor serial number? I am assuming that the 1253 is a 1970 but it would be good to verify and try dating some of my other Bolens, where I do not have the engine serial number or where I am unsure if it has had an engine swap. Thanks Iain

Hiya Daniel . Dad has some wonderful engines , I would be proud to just own one of those. Thanx for the commentary & history of the engines , really interesting.

Please post pictures for all to enjoy!

Great find :thumbs: Those things are pretty rare here in the States. I can't imagine how rare they are over there. You definitely will want to put it on something with hydraulic lift as those rascals are HEAVY! I have one that I haven't fitted to a tractor yet as it needs a bit of work and all new blades. I do have it's 'big brother' on my HT20D and you can feel the front end squat when you lift it up. The 20D doesn't have power steering (yet) and it definitely takes some effort to steer as well. I'm thinking that a bit more PSI in the front tires would help that somewhat.

Sounds like a biker gang at a red light

I do. Just trying to remember his name. An over loaded sprinter van rings a bell though.

Managed to get a bit of workshop time today and got some bit jobs done on the Black Horse. (1) Clutch pedal rod adjuster nut freed off. Pedal doesn't need pressing as far forward now. (2) Slight play in right rear hub taken out. About 6 thou difference in hub bore and drive shaft diam. Sorted by use of hammer and centre punch to inside of hub. Crude but effective. Nice and tight now. (3) New gaiter fitted to bottom of gear lever. (4) Stop made and fitted to prevent brake pedal from coming to far back. (5) Is on going. Cleaning up a pair of scooter split rim wheels I got at Newby Hall. These are just right for fitting to the front with tri ribs on. Goodness knows what they've been painted with, but it's like concrete. Ready to paint now, after some filler is applied to the rather corroded insides. (6) Started to clean up the front tachomatic. BTW. The little tool box, along with a second, is an MF item.

Hi everyone. Many thanks for your replies. The engine seized because I forgot to check the oil. I took the engine apart and separated the con rod from the crank after a struggle, I then managed to dig the bits of metal from the con rod, polished the crank and con rod. (I know it's not the right way to do things) anyway it felt pretty good so I put it all back together. It runs O K and is not making any noises, did 2 hours mowing on Saturday, no problems. I don't know how long it will last though. I will bear in mind your 11hp B&S Stormin as I think I might need it one day. Regards Grumps.

Thought about doing one for each year but I don't have that many parts or the steel to do it. BUT, I have a year to get it together! Quite a few people wanted to buy it and a few asked me to build them one but for the amount of time it takes, I'd have to quit my job and hit the lottery number to be able to pay for it and have enough time.

You will have to pop round sometime Iain and have a go, the vari-drive system is very cool. You can also have a play with the lathe! Tom Thanks Andrew, I'm certainly pleased with it. I think that's it for me for a while now, I really must stop!! Tom I just can't stop, it's an addiction Tom

It made it to the show and met up with the original. The owner painted the first one but in my opinion, it looked better as a rat. The original was sold to the president of the WH collectors club 2 years ago and he ended up giving it to his neighbor because his kids had so much fun driving it around. I got the chance to meet the owner, his wife and his son. It was very satisfying to hear the stories of how much they enjoy it and to see the smile on that child's face as he climbed around on this new one. The new one was sold to the president again, same guy that bought the first one. I was very reluctant to sell it but I know it went to the right person. A grown man had that same smile as the child did!

These parts are fairly hilly, water runs off quickly, but has to go somewhere, when that somewhere gets full is when big problems start. We can have 6 inches of rain and 4 days later the ground can be parched dry a foot down

Thanks Iain. No lift bar so will need to copy yours please. No wheel weights atm as Andrew brought them

Better picture of the red tractor. Iain

I thought I'd post another project I'm working on. Most of you already know I have a love for the old cast iron Briggs engines, and especially the Model N lineup. There are so many different variations of the Model N, it can make you dizzy. I've been working for years at trying to get as many good examples of the different variations of the Model N as possible. I have acquired yet another one that I didn't have yet. This is a 45 Briggs NR2, and has a 2:1 gear reduction built into the block. It funny, I purchased this believing it was an NR6, which is visually identical to the NR2, and are more much more common the the NR2. It didn't have an id tag, and the seller had no clue what it was, so I was very surprized when it arrived, and the engine rotated twice for every rotation of the pto. Needless to say I was very pleased, as these are much harder to come by. The engine was in rough shape, but still had lots of potential. Once I opened it up, I found it had a .020 over piston in it, a .010 under crank, and replacement valve guides had been installed. Both the piston, and cylinder looked great, but the rings were wore out. I tried finding .020 piston rings for it, but I never did. Eventually, I found a complete Briggs .020 piston assembly, which came with new rings, so I went that route. The crank, and the .010 undersized rod were in perfect shape, so all was good there. The valve guides were still in decent shape, but the intake valve had already been cut one to many times, so I located a new new valve. I cut both seats, and then lapped the valves back in. I'm currently working on getting it all painted up. This engine should run very well, as it tested at 120 psi on its compression test as you can see in the video below. Thats amazing compression for these old engines! Its magneto is also putting out a very strong spark, as you can see in the video. The OE carb was very corroded, but I had a good rebuildable core on the shelf that I used instead. The original PTO oil seal can no longer be found, but after taking some measurements, I found a modern seal that fit perfectly. I'm very thankful to have other good friends that are Briggs collectors as well. Thanks to Den, a good friend who has a much larger collection than I do, I now have the correct Briggs Type # for this engine, so I can get a new ID tag made. I decided to replace this engines original shroud with an identical one thats in far better shape. Aside from the rust, someone had done some horrible welding to the original shroud! While it could have been repaired, I had one on my spare parts shelf, thats in much better shape, so I took the easy way out! Here are a buch of pics, and a video of where I'm currently at. Thanks Matt