Continuing with the nearing completion, Pic 016 shows the Ford decal on the front end of the hood. Another is on the other side. Pic 017 shows the vent covering the screen and air funnel of the air cleaner assembly.
Pic 018 is one of the decals under the hood door. Later I removed it and put it back straight. The lower part of the air cleaner (pic 019) has its own decal. So does the oil filter (pic 020) which gets two of them.
As I wrote earlier, I thought all was well, but soon found on Saturday evening before the 8N was to be driven across town… it would not start. After removing the cover from the distributor it was obvious why. The rotor (pic 021) was split in half. Of course it destroyed the distributor cap during its death revolutions. Fortunately Tractor Supply had more parts; however, I had a spare anyway and put it on. First I removed the old distributor and points (pic 022) and put in new ones (pic 023). Since I had not put the bumper on the Tractor yet, it was easy to use the hand crank to turn the engine enough to get the cam in the distributor to its proper position to set the gap. Now here was a challenge! The Ford 8N manual showed two different specifications for the gap. The point and condenser kit contained yet another specification. It had a .020 feeler gauge. One place in the manual called for about .024 inch gap. I compromised and used .022. It took a while. When I was done, I put on the new distributor and turned on the key, pushed the starter button and heard the starter turn over the engine. No start again. I stopped for the night.
On Sunday morning I tried again and still no starting although it was trying. After going to church, I brought home one the elders (Bob B) who decided the distributor post needed to be cleaned with emery cloth then lightly greased to get the rotor on far enough. Together we did this bit of work. I used fine emery cloth and white lithium grease. The 56 year old 8N started! I drove it to church, a distance of 4 ½ miles through town. Bob drove my truck behind me with flashers going although I had a Slow Moving Vehicle sign on the tractor. To do that I made a wooden fixture to fit in the upper link which is centered behind the seat.
The 8N Ford went to church willingly. It was a prop for the start of VBS. Several adults and children had their picture taken on or beside the good looking machine. In the afternoon the tractor started with no choking at all. I drove it home with Nancy driving the truck behind me. Later, toward evening, my granddaughter and I enjoyed a ride around the yard while Nancy made a short movie of this memorable event. Once again it did not require any choking to start. It purrs like a big kitten.
Tractor Boy
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