expeatfarmer

Have to wait until next year now!

Made a bit more progress over the last two days, cowling fitted, decompressor lever set up, exhaust fitted, main wheels and load rollers fitted. Next job will be to fit the tracks and then fill up all the oils.

Quite surprised at just how many differences there are between 137 and later machines, I have been studying the photos of 151 ,the cowling is different, exhaust, floor, mudguards, once you get to 252 even more changes were applied.

Final painting today apart from touch up of scratches when I fit tracks. Fitted the starter chain today one of the chain tensioner links snapped so will have to make a new one.

Very similar to Holts but much finer like toothpaste .You can literally fill one coat of paint depth and very fine scratches.

Had a day off today for Christmas shopping. Meant to say that I found a brilliant product for filling rust pits, it's called Motip cellulose putty, you spread it with a plastic spatula, it is so fine that you can literally fill the individual pits and leave virtually no surplus to sand off, dries hard in minutes ready to paint. You can use it after topcoat spray to fill any minor imperfections. I used it to recover the paint I cocked up with my masking tape mistake. I tube was enough to fill all the pits on the tub.

Lots of small jobs today, made a replica of the Vokes air filter pipe, fitted fan belt, I have used a joinable belt on the basis that to replace the belt you have to remove the engine or at least slide it out of its mounting. Fitted the patent flash at the back which is 1/16 of an inch bigger than later ones of which I have a stock so Chris at Vintage Brass plates scaled one up for me.Timing chain cover fitted and logo painted. Bought some cycle chain for the starter mechanism only to find I had such a thickness of paint and filler on the sprockets that I had to file them all down to get the chain to sit properly. And Finally I have sprayed a topcoat on the engine cowl which has taken hours and hours of bashing,brazing,filling and sanding to get it to look as it should.

Engine back in today, bolted gearbox top back on with new studs, fuel tank mounted with leather cushions as per spec. Can't fit drive wheels until I have completed pin-striping, waiting as long as I can to make sure paint is dried through.

left off the photos

Made a very stupid mistake yesterday, I masked up the pinstripes on one side and painted them in only to realise that the side I had masked up was only final painted the night before as I peeled of the making tape it removed the topcoat down to the grey primer! Managed to redeem the error with the amazing cellulose putty I have which filled the removed paint.l137 is now turned around and the right way up ready to accept the engine! I have protected the vulnerable parts for onward restoration using pipe lagging rescued from the mice in the loft that seem to thrive on it. next step is engine back in. Rebuilt the second track today, I set out all the various parts on the bench and then using a 2x 2 aluminium extrusion I happened to have I set about reasssembly the two by two is invaluaable in that it kicks up the pads enough to make fitting the rubbers and washers without hassle. I used an air wrench to take up the slack in the bolts up to the Nylock. I find that if you tension the tracks to final spec at this stage the tracks are un manageable in terms of wrapping them around sprockets and making a join I leave them loose to the Nylock until after final fitting and then tighten them to spec once fitted and joined up.

Second final drive fitted today , just waiting on some 1/4" bsf bolts for the bottom of the casing. Lost the chain for the starting mechanism , sure I put it to soak somewhere but no idea where no doubt it will show up when a new one arrives.Luckily Sturmey Archer used bike chain! Next job will be the second track, then the floorboards and then fit the engine! I am leaving this as long as I can so that the paintwork has max time to harden off. Painted the fuel tank today with last coat, it has taken many hours of preparation to remove the rust and pitting but the results are good so far.

A bit more progress today, fitted the rebuilt brake bands, gearbox cover and steering levers and then struck a problem, when I was dismantling the tractor the one thing that needed extreme force to remove was the gear lever, I had not realised that the threaded part of the lever shaft has been mushroomed by the force of the puller I used to remove the lever off the taper and keyway, try as I might I could not get the nut to fit back on and unfortunately I do not have a 9/16" 20 tpi thread die, I filed at it with a thread file and fortunately I did have some spare nuts so using grinding paste and hacksaw cuts in a spare nut I eventually managed to restore a thread and get the nut back on but that was three hours later!

Made further progress today , Lift fitted, one final drive, floor board mount and drawbar. all final painted.

Come over and fit some engines for me and earn some pocket money!!!

There is some bloke in Jedburgh that makes them but they cost a fortune !!!

Finally managed to put a coat of blue on the whole tub, had a disaster yesterday primed one side and top coated another only to find that both paints came up in little blisters due to moisture on the surface, the primer settled back but the blue dried with a surface like sandpaper which required half a day rubbing back to smooth. Increased thge workshop temperature and upped the speed on the de humidifier also went over both sides with a heat gun before I started any painting today. Bolted on the pto shaft and gearbox plus a few other bits and bobs ad then spent a couple of happy hours cleaning up nuts and bolts to bolt back the other major components.

Would you buy a used tractor from this man?

Showman's looks as if it could be a Ransomes ridger or possibly Ferguson. Norm's is off a Trusty or similar.

Change of plan it was going to be satin then a flash over with gloss now it is gloss to be flashed with satin. You are welcome anytime.;

Spurred on by a visit this weekend by Ransomes enthusiast Anthony Brennan and Laura, I have cracked on and at last have the first blue coat on the body well 70% of it. Very pleased with the finish although stupidly I have some runs in the paint which resulted from not having enough light on the job. I am sure they will flat out for the next coat. Also managed to reclaim a couple of petrol caps, I dismantled them and put them in the lathe to polish out all the rust pits finished off with wire wool and then nickel plated for some reason one of them has some bald spots with no plate despite degreasing and etching not sure what I have done wrong so will buff it all off again and try again.

Looks very good Norm I would be tempted to have a tweak on the pressure relief valve as it sounds as if it is blowing when you lift.May be an issue when the plough is covered in mud and stubble.

I have been meaning to post this for a while, not only was I supremely fortunate to be given the lead that lead to the purchase of the sand skimming tractor but last week Neil Jarrett the MG parts specialist sent me up a seat he had found on a recent skimmer parts hunt, I cannot believe my luck , a brand new 50 year old original seat in incredible condition, just goes to show what is lurking out there waiting to be discovered.

Todays tasks have been plating the carburettor parts, throttle lever,rebuilding fuel tap and reassembling carb. The slides of the carb were originall quite worn and a sloppy fit in the body, by plating the body and main slide with Nickel it has now restored the slide function to a neat sliding fit in fact I had to rub the slide down a bit with 1200 grit. Useful tip if you have a worn carb. loose fitting slides give rise to lumpy tick over or poor slow running. I am very pleased with the results of my nickel kit, I have tried to achieve a sensible balance between retaining an element of the patina of age whilst restoring the original finish so nothing is too shiny and some of the dings and scratches remain.

The plating instructions advise agitating the mix whilst plating with something like a fish tank aerator, I dont have one but I just happened to have a vibrating fret saw on the bench next to the tanks, I switched it on and it worked a treat just enough to jiggle all the bits in the tanks without shaking it all on to the floor.