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Thursday, March 6, 2014

The Tractor Runs!

We return to the ongoing saga, Overhauling the MM G1355!
Saturday we had almost all the parts to rebuild the water pump on the G1355. My gentle readers may remember that after the complete engine rebuild the water pump seal failed and filled the crankcase with water.
The pump was removed and inspected and the seal was rusty and damaged. The engine did sit in pieces for a couple years so something like this could easily be over looked.
Of course we were missing one seal and could not put the pump back together Saturday evening. When it is Saturday evening or the evening before a holiday, you are always missing one seal, or one bearing, or some tiny thing that will prevent you from repairing the offending object by Monday. This is a rule of farm mechanics.
The seals arrived Tuesday and we rebuilt the pump and installed it Wednesday. It is a very difficult fit to install the pump on the front of the engine and after busting my knuckles repeatedly I decided not to start the engine Wednesday evening. Instead I went to the house for supper.
Yesterday morning I filled the radiator with water and looked for leaks. Then I filled the crankcase with oil.
Then I remembered to put the drain plug back into the oil pan.
I did remember to fill the oil filters with oil before installing them.
The engine fired up immediately. I had left an electric block heater on the engine over the weekend in the hope that some of the water would evaporate.
One cylinder is still running a little cold.
I ran the engine for a few minutes and then drained the oil. It was a whitish shade of green.

I removed the filters and let them drain over a bucket.
Then I wandered off and I have no idea what I did for an hour or so. I think I may have checked the valve adjustment even though the engine was warm.
I put new oil in the engine and refilled the filters.
I started the engine.
I discovered I had forgotten to install two bolts on the water pump housing. That explained the water spraying around the shop.
I let it run for a few minutes and then drained the filters again. The oil looks really clean.
So I decided to let the engine warm up.
I closed the doors in the shop but for a wee crack so that I could watch for flames or explosions. I then sat in my pickup with my laptop for 10 minutes outside the shop and attempted to figure out how to use Quickbooks.
The plan was to kill all the mice with carbon monoxide.
I'm not sure if it worked but after 10 minutes diesel smoke was pouring out of every crack in the wall. A 585 cubic inch engine pumps quite a lot of air...
And now I shall go to work. We are having a rainstorm. There is a piece of tin loose on the barn that is out of reach of my ladder.
I think I will adjust the valves on the tractor. You are supposed to do that when the engine is cold.
Have a nice day.

2 comments:

  1. Great progress and success at last. Meanwhile, here in Sask., it is snowing again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations on a job interestingly done. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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