Robins

Sorry for the fright Andrew You can relax, it's not your Bolens

Well if you do come back to the idea here's my super quiet stack pipe build thread. http://myoldmachine.com/topic/1258-wheelhorse-electro-with-a-stack-pipe/

I was in a similar place a while back, turned out my 'new' spark plug was duff, have you tried the old one? I had idle but wouldn't rev up, and after using a spark tester i watched the spark drop out as the revs increased. The spitting is the engine flooding and the fuel igniting in the chamber.

Here it is! the famous Wheel Horse TOWING the Bolens photo I get the impression Andrew didn't like this photo being taken Now i'll go hide

Nice to see a tractor working Looks cleaner than my 312-8 at the moment Thanks for sharing the pics. Andrew you could extend your collecting to Wheel Horses and buy my 312-8 complete with deck end of this year beginning of next when i've finished needing two tractors

Excellent Andrew Looks a fun bit of kit So is that the deck for the lawn keeper? What engine should the lawn keeper have? I can see you'll go in to restoration mode soon, which, if your speed of collecting tractors and attachments is anything to go by, you'll have these machines looking shiny by summer

Where did you get the tyres from Jack? Maybe it's worth starting a new thread for the south west show idea to gauge interest and location ideas.

I'm very envious of your lathe work Ian! Project Why Not is coming on really nicely

Nice find Be warned these tractors are addictive

Thats some very interesting stuff Andrew, I will give their website a good read. Funnily enough my Husqvarna chainsaw (2 stroke) actually seems to run nicer using old fuel but as a fresh mix with the 2 stroke oil, old mixed fuel left in the tank it does not like. But do realise this is probably an odd one out.

The magazine sounds very tempting, but also sounds like its given you the itch to extend you collection Andrew

As requested i have started this thread for my home built sheet metal folder. I could have bought a bench mounted folder, but they limit the width of steel, and the depth if making a tight box. You also can't make something like this with multiple angled bends, no cutting and welding were involved to make this panel. It's a similar design I copied from a friend, made from various thick box section and plate. the ram is one of these gear pullers, The lower 'V' block is a small section of proper press brake tooling i bought from scrap. Unfortunately I couldn't find the upper part, so that's made using a 4" bolster chisel cut down. It works well but but just not as clean a fold, so i'm still looking for an upper piece of tooling to cut down in to different width. Its very versatile making panels like these, The downside is it takes a while to make a long fold due to the winding of the mechanism involved, but if i could find an upper 'V' tooling to make a wider piece that would help, and i see they do a hydraulic operated gear puller now so may invest in one of those one day Any questions ask away. I'll try and get some pics up later of just the tool, these pics were taken intending to show the work piece not the tool Panel work shown from my thread here for ease in future reference: http://myoldmachine.com/topic/1495-transit-restoration-work/

Thanks guys I enjoyed doing the work knowing it's done right, I do really love my Transit, owned for 15 years, i get attached to my vehicles Took about a week and a half and cost less than £50 including new steel, grinding discs, welding gas, ect. The only down side is i had those two weeks set aside to start building my garage, so that's been postponed yet again! I will start a new thread on the folder for those interested then heres a link to the folder thread for ease of future reference. http://myoldmachine.com/topic/1501-home-made-metal-folder/

Four years ago exactly i restored all the bodywork on my mk5 Transit. Many probably wont see the point, but each to their own and i like my van, nothing modern even comes close to build quality, fuel economy, ease of maintenance or looks in my opinion. Every year before MOT i go under and Owatrol oil any surface rust and check everything over. This year i had a shock when i pocked a hole in the rear cross member, nothing big at first, but on starting the repair i realised it was going to be a big job. I ended up replacing the ends of the rear crossmember, both spring hangers, inner rear skirts, chassis outriggers and piece of floor. Heres a few photos for you to hopefully inspire someone. I dont like patches, they dont last, so i drilled all the spot welds out, made all the panels on my home made metal folder due to no panels being available to buy other than from Ford, and re welded as original. Original outer rear panel back on and ready for paint.

Excellent news Andrew Thought you'd gone a bit quiet on the buying front How did you get another one agreed by your wife? Sounds very interesting though. Its one of these?