After an eventful journey from Wisconsin to Illinois, my Ford 9N tractor was finally in my garage and my long-awaited restoration project was officially underway.
The 9N tractor I have is a 1939 with serial number 8779. The 9N's were built from 1939-1942. The 2N's were built during 1942-1947. The 8N's were built from 1947-1952. The NAA's were built in 1953 and 1954.
Somehow I got off topic. Well, back to my 9N.
When I first started my tractor to load it onto the trailer in Wisconsin, it was running on one of its four cylinders. In spite of that, I was able to drive it up onto the trailer. Then I drove it off the trailer and into my garage at home. It sounded kind of funny, as you can imagine.
I began the overall inspection of my 9N with the tires. All held air. The front tires were badly worn but the rears were good 9.5" by 32". I hadn't paid attention, but early 9N's had 8" by 32" rims. Later, 10" by 28" as an option, and still later some had 11" by 28". The overall condition of tires was good.
The tractor had the original radiator, but not the cap. I tried the radiator cap off my 1931 Model A and it fit perfectly! The steering wheel was not original, and the grill was from a 2N. The oil pressure was fair, but the engine needed work. It was still operating on only one cylinder. I bought four new plugs and points and condenser. Then it did run on all four, but after running it and removing the new plug, I found they were oily. Not a good sign.
I then did a compression test. Normal is 90 lbs. and our highest was 50 lbs., with the lowest being 0 lbs. Sometime during tear down I discovered the retainer clip was not properly installed on the intake valve guide #2 cylinder. The valve and guide had been moving up and down together.
My original plan was to tear down the engine and do an overhaul myself. My new plan turned out to be much different. Next time I'll tell you about plan "B".
Keep wrenching!
KEN
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