My Ford Tractors

HOOD, GRILLE AND DASH

Before getting carried away with lower radiator and hood supports, there turned out to be a lot of custom fabrication to make throttle linkage, fuel lines, oil and vacuum tubing, etc. The list almost seems endless, and every bit must be made from scratch. Of course none of this is a surprise. One of the main reasons for this project is all the quality shop time it guarantees, grin.

THROTTLE AND CHOKE LINKAGE

Throttle and choke linkage became cables, then went back to linkage. One mission for this project was an attempt to show what a V8-8N would look like if Ford had ever made one. The linkage should be steel rods, with ball joint ends. After playing with that for a while, the cables seemed like a better idea.

Oh well, I kept going back and forth between cables or rods. The choke seems to work best with a solid rod. Adding a foot throttle would be much easier to do with cables. It looks like a foot throttle will have to be a future improvement.

Geometry Problem: The hand throttle ball joint moves much further than the throttle lever on the carb. Drilling a new hole for a new ball joint fitting closer to the axle shaft that comes down thru the dash, solved that problem. The hand throttle range now matches the carb throttle, so it looks and works as it should.

GOVERNOR - NOT

Some may insist that a governor is essential for any tractor that will be doing actual tractor work, like plowing. In this case, I disagree. This engine will have much more torque than the 4 cylinder. The hand throttle should provide all the control necessary for any work it will do.

FUEL TANK LOCATION AND MOUNTING

It feels good to have this figured-out. The Surplus Center catalog had these 5 gallon steel fuel tanks on the front cover. The tanks were originally intended for a small generator or other stationary engine. They are available in red or black color, and even have a built-in fuel gauge. The Surplus Center price was so good, if the tank didn't work out for this project, I'd use it as a replacement tank in one of the other tractors. The 5-gallon capacity is half what the original tank held. That would not be a problem for any of my tractors.

The tank is a snug fit between the dash/carb and hood/battery. There is no room behind the dash for the original tool box. It's a good thing the hood attaches using captive nuts on the back side of the dash (getting a wrench or socket in there would be difficult. There is no room for the original battery/fuel door hinge assembly. That could be a problem if the hood was going to be fixed in place.

The white brackets are temporary. The tank will actually be supported by new brackets under the hood.

AIR CLEANER AND INTAKE TUBE

Remember the battery tray was raised about 3/4"? This also follows the angle of the dash support, so the air cleaner attachment points are now about 3/4" too high and 1/4" back. Some short extention brackets were made to move the air filter canister back where it should be. Another modification was required to fit the air filter next to the new fuel tank. There was no room for the original "tophat" on the filter canister. The top was cut off at the pinch weld. The center intake tube was extended with a short piece of scrap exhaust pipe that happened to fit perfectly. The intake tube extension was glued in-place with some Permatex Blue. The connection to the original hood intake funnel can now be made with a cut-down silicone 90 degree elbow reducer. Silicone hose can be purchased in just about any size. Straight and elbow reducers are available to convert to different sizes. Silicone fittings were used to solve mismatched sizes for the coolant hoses, and are the best-looking solution I have found for custom work like this.

The intake tube from air cleaner to carb is mostly 2" inside diameter silicone hose with a short chrome radiator elbow. The carb connection was completed with another reducer to connect the 2" hose to the much larger carb flange.

CRANKCASE VENTILATION SYSTEM

This V8 engine originally used a draft tube crankcase ventilation system. Even my 1971 Ford 3000 gas tractor used a draft tube system. The 3000 and this V8 are both being fitted with closed Positive Crankcase Ventilation systems. Closed PCV systems have no way for dirt and bugs to get in. The oil stays much cleaner with a closed system. Engines run better and cleaner with a closed PCV system. Both tractors will have a standard Ford PCV valve, a hose to an intake manifold vacuum fitting, and a filtered crankcase inlet vent.

This is an adapter to mount a standard Ford PCV valve in the hole that was originally intended for the road draft tube. Somebody probably has one of these for sale. I decided to try making it on my new mini lathe. Grooves inside and outside for O-rings provide an excellent seal to the intake and a standard Ford PCV valve. The intake manifold already has a fitting near the carb that can be used for the PCV vacuum hose. The oil filler cap is vented, and already has a decent filter. Unfortunately, the oil fill and road draft tube holes are right next to each other on the intake manifold. It would be better if the PCV suction was at the opposite end of the crankcase from the vent. When the intake comes off to check proper operation of the valves, I may add a tube to offset one of them.

DASH

The dash is mostly stock. There will only be one additional hole for a water temp gauge. The light and choke knobs are solid brass turnings made on my lathe. The shift knob in this photo is one of my first practice jobs out of aluminum, because brass costs too much to waste.

This is the brass knob.

HOOD

The original hood for this tractor is on the right. It is an honest hood. All the damage is visible. The hood on the left appears to be in better shape. That is misleading. Judging from the depth of dents on the underside, there is more than a pound of body filler. After some careful measurements it is a relief to find that the hood can remain the original width and height. The back edge of the doglegs is just barely wide enough to clear the sides of the radiator core. This is good since I didn't leave much room between the vertical exhaust pipes. If the hood needed to be much wider the exhaust would have to be reworked.

Wow! The hood needs to be about 9.25" longer! I was hoping for about half that. The front axle was only moved 4.5". The other 4.75" is because the narrow flathead radiator is too tall to sit on top of the axle support with the hood at the original height. Raising and shifting the hood forward is the solution used by the Funk conversions. I was hoping for something that would look more "original" than the Funk dash adapter thingy. With the radiator going in front of the axle, the hood will have to be longer.

Two beat-up hoods are becoming one longer hood. These are very rough cuts with at least 2 inches of overlap. The pieces are just butted together. More will be cut off until the length is right with about 1/2" overlap of all seams. For now, the pieces will be riveted together. That is quick and easy to do. Eventually the pieces will be cut flush and welded together. The cross beams that stiffen the hood and support the fuel tank have to be moved. The new fuel tank was located near the dash to make room for the carb intake. Making part or all of this hood tilt up for easy access is still high on my wish list. One idea is to do away with the battery door hinge, and use the original latch to secure the tilt hood. The big question at this point is exactly where to make the separation between the part that moves and what will be fixed in place.

Nothing was cut without careful measuring and cardboard templates. Most parts were cut two or three times; a rough cut, test fits, then final cut or grinding.

The hood lifts better than expected. It takes surprisingly little effort to lift, and soon starts to fall open as the weight moves forward of the pivot points. Scratch the need for any sort of spring assist. Instead, this needs something to limit travel, so the nose won't smash into the ground. The original battery/fuel door latch will work fine to secure the hood closed. The original hinge had to be removed for fuel tank clearance anyway.

Now that the hood has been fitted in place, every seam needs to be cut and permanently butt-welded together. This will be done as a series of tack welds, one small section at a time, to minimize heat and distortion.

Some sharp eyes have noticed that making the hood longer has created 1/2" offsets in the crease that forms the raised area down the middle of the hood. That body seam should be corrected or reworked in some way. My preference is to re-form the entire crease from front to back, so it is perfectly straight.

LIVE HYDRAULICS

Yes, I'm putting live hydraulics on this tractor. All of my N-Tractors have Live hydraulics that work whenever the engine is running. No reason this tractor shouldn't. The front pump will be on a separate fan belt using the front crank pulley groove. This will allow turning the system off by removing the belt, without affecting the water pumps or alternator. Hose routing is easy enough. Both hoses can drop down and run straight back to the the belly pump. A special fitting made by The Old Hokie allows the suction hose to connect at the belly pump drain plug. Both hoses can be the same length, and the external pump will always have a good supply of fluid.

This is the front pump support, pump plate, and belt tension adjuster. This is a very simple set-up that uses a very short belt.

The completed and painted pump, radiator, and hood pivot assembly is done. The radiator support and hood pivot brackets were bent from 2" x 3/16" cold rolled steel. Tabs to match-up with the radiator mounting brackets were welded to each side.

The radiator is mounted using rubber grommets. With four hoses connected, the radiator doesn't seem to need much support, but it will weigh a lot more when filled with coolant. All the cooling system needs is an overflow hose, recovery tank, and electric fan.

No, the heavy lifting is not being done manually. No way that hood is going on and off this many times without help. A small Harbor Freight overhead electric winch is the latest addition to the shop. The other cable and snatch block is a manual winch that the new winch replaces. I rigged the manual winch several years ago. It has made tractor splits, and getting engines on and off stands a lot easier. The electric winch currently moves a little too fast for my taste. Looping the cable back to the winch with a snatch block cuts the speed in half.

The rear "non-tilting" portion of the hood needed additional support to replace the brace that was cut out to move the tank back over the battery. The original mounting holes that line up with the two holes at the top of the dash were in very bad shape. The new brace to support the lower front corners of this section is a piece of 1/2" square steel welded to a piece of 1" x 1/4" steel bar. Front tank brackets were fabricated to attach to this support brace. The rear tank brackets were modified slightly to make sure the tank was exactly where it would work best and be supported on it's rubber isolator bushings. The rear hood piece was reinforced where it attaches to the dash.

Grind all welds smooth, shoot a coat of primer on everything, then a couple coats of gloss black on the inside parts. The last photo above shows a temporary brace in place to make sure the two bottom corners didn't move while other fabrication and welding was in progress. The outside still needs work before it will be ready for paint.

I'm still on the fence about doing body work and a nice paint job, or replacing the dog legs with ratty ones and staying with the rat rod look.

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