Tales of O- My repair thread-1963 "O"
 

Well , I'm committed to this project, so rather than cluttering up the index, I'll create one thread to bore you with the adventures with my scruffy old "O". My goal is to get it serviceable first, then decide how to make it look presentable.

I got "Yellow Fever" some time ago, and resisted the urge until my MTD/Bolens died this fall which justified searching out my first Cub. I got a 123 to pick up the lawn duties , a 106 with a bunch of attachments, and a very scruffy "O" which was advertised in CL as "Woods fresh" :biggrin2: (S/N 59179)

"Woods Fresh" as it turns out, meant "It has sat out in the rain in the woods of rural NC for at least 8 or 9 years since I've had it... and it wasn't running when it got here" It came complete with rust and 2 front flats, "custom" paint and "International" script of a big truck and 2 broken Hella driving lights that stuck out like jug ears.

The first order of business was a bath and some tires that at least held air so I could roll it around the yard....and removing the driving lights.

assessment....
 

It looks complete, along with fossilized fuel throughout the fuel sediment bowl and valve and carb. Off that comes for a rebuild and a trip into the carb cleaner . The float was intact and the carb itself not too terrible. I had to make a bushing for the throttle shaft out of some aluminum bar as it had wallowed out the carb housing. By the way, the "standard" bushing referenced for general use in Cubs doesn't fit the Carter N, the OD of it being ~.400" and ID ~ .215.

The carb cleaned up well and no drama happened :-). I did make some rubber ferrules for the line out of vacuum hose. Hooray, no leaks. I reused the original copper line and brass fittings. Some steel wool rubbing removed 2 layers of old paint from the oil bath cleaner

This is going to be a good "watch" thread! :D

wow its getting there

Next on the agenda....
 

The engine turned over by hand, so I ordered a head gasket and removed the cylinder head to see what years of sitting had done to the engine. Fortunately, the answer was "not much" other than rusting the head bolts to the point that one (the one near the exhaust port) snapped off when I tried to remove it. I drilled it out , and retapped. It held the 30 ft-lbs but I may redrill it and put a helicoil in the next time I remove the head.

I discovered why it was probably parked... it had a major head gasket leak and had been run long enough that way to begin to etch the head. It took about 30 min of surfacing it on my flat plate (thanks Matt for the idea) before it was back to being flat. I also noted someone had installed a replacement plug thread insert...I suppose it was easy to strip them out and whoever did this did a good job (though the threaded insert seems VERY deep...and has about 2x the treads that the plug can use. The plug sits WAY up in the threads.

The piston is unmarked and the bore actually looks pretty good! A mud dauber had completely filled the exhaust port... got that mess cleaned up along with general cleaning of the cylinder fins once the tins were off.
Cleaned cleaned......

and more cleaning...
 

I think there was about a half pound of dirt/dust/rust/pebbles in the fins and tins , which I cleaned out ... I put everything back together with some new hardware . The snapped off bolt turned a 20 min job into a 5 hour one, but after all this thing is almost 50 years old and hasn't been treated kindly (until now).

The sediment filter was full of ...sediment and molasses . More cleaning... and back together it goes. The tank was cleaned but it was surprisingly nice inside., I suspect most of the gas leaked out and the top was screwed on, which kept it decent.. No rust either!

The original muffler was ... mostly gone. Tractor Supply had a direct replacement. $7.95, and a gasket for the sediment bowl. Cool!

Back together it goes...

So....today.
 

IT RUNS!

It fires up and runs smoothly. I had changed the oil earlier (which was black gunk mixed with water) , and while there was a burst of smoke (and dust, from inside the tins) it really runs! The throttle cable is frozen, so there's no adjustment other than the fingertip version (I can feel the governor working when I do this) but I was AMAZED that it came to life. The local auto store had a suitable V-belt (thanks Carquest!) . It's hard to tell, but in the last photo below, the engine is running (the belt is blurred from the motion)

The vacuum line ferrules held with no leaks. and although it doesn't look very pretty at this point, it's cleaner and running quite well. I turned it off, let it cool and restarted and each time it fired back up easily.

I can't get the clutch to disengage... I put the clutch in , I can see the throw out bearing pushing and releasing pressure on the disk, but both shafts stay turning, so I suspect something is rusted into place. I'll have to read up on this. The clutch linkage was stiff and unmoving but repeated application of PB and oil over the past week or so has it moving smoothly. I'll clean and lube everything under there when I figure out what to attack next and take all the linkage out.

Having come this far, I put the shifter in 1st gear, and pushed the starter (I had previously cleaned all connections (battery, starter/gen, etc) , including the ground to the starter/gen. The voltage regulator is flaking rust on the outside but appears to still function) and it caught immediately and I putted around the back yard at idle in 1st gear.

So...after some leisurely time spent with this thing over the past couple weeks, it actually runs.... in who knows how many years...at least "8 or 10" years sitting rusting away in the woods.

Man I love fixing old stuff (though I don't know what I'm doing half the time).

Now to read up on the clutch and see how to fix that, then change the engine oil again, drop the rear end cover to see what viscosity syrup is in there (if any) and see why the brake isn't working and clean up some wiring.

John

Also...
 

I need to figure out what to ultimately do with the finish... repaint to original or just prevent any more rust, replace the seat, and leave it a "rat rod". What do you think? I've got PLENTY of time to consider that, as I go thru the rest...

Congrats on getting it running. Don't forget to let the motor run about 20 minutes or so at 1/2 and 3/4 throttle then let it completely cool off and retorque the head.

Take a paint scraper and try to get it in between the clutch disc and pressure plates. They should pop loose with a little effort.

--with the clutch pedal pressed.