[AT] SHE RUNS! (long)

[charlie hill]

Good to hear you got her going Al and thanks for sharing the "rest of the 
story".  When I saw you in Jacksonville a few weeks ago I forgot to ask you 
about your corn.  Hopefully you will get most of it up without too much 
problem.   I guess that is the good thing about having some hogs on the 
farm.  You can always string some electric fense wire and let the hogs pick 
the corn for you.

Let me know the date of your Christmas Parade.  I probably won't be able to 
make it down if things go like they normally do but I'd like to come and 
watch your Super A go by.

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Al Jones" <aljones at ncfreedom.net>
To: "Antique-Tractor" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>; <farmall at atis.net>
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2005 9:07 PM
Subject: [AT] SHE RUNS! (long)


> All, I posted this over on Redpower.  Just wanted to share my happiness.
> To set the stage, I haven't heard my tractor run since January of '04
> when I drove it on my trailer, and tore it down to a rolling chassis for
> paint.  It literally took THIS long to get it to semi-running condition
> again.  I still don't have the wiring done, and there's a lot of small
> details left but I'm hoping to have it presentable for our local
> Christmas parade. When I first subscribed to ATIS 10 years ago, bringing
> my Super A back to near-new was just a dream.  Hard to believe I've come
> this far!
>
> It has been one of those weeks. Nay, it has been one of those MONTHS.
> School has been so busy lately that I feel like I am passing myself
> coming and going, some days I honestly just want to tell my students to
> "go play" and lock myself in my office! Then after hurricane Ophelia we
> have been dealing with the joys of flattened corn with no end in sight.
> Wednesday evening I got home from school a bit early. Took the 424 and
> trailer and helped my daddy move 6 bred sows to another pen for
> gestation, came back to the house and decided I would tinker on the
> Super A. When last I fooled with it, I had >>no<< spark at the mag after
> getting it all back together from being painted. So I got one of those
> free, "vote for me" paper nail files I had laying around and went out to
> tinker. Filed the points and noticed obvious crud on the file so I knew
> they were dirty. Put it back together and hooked the spark tester back
> and still nothing. In the mean time, my wife had come back from a trip
> to town and so I went to greet her, figuring that I had done all I could
> do and might as well get ready to order a coil. Decided I would give it
> "one more try" and then I would call it a day. While she and I chatted,
> I rubbed the points vigorously. Put it all back together, hooked the
> tester up, and on the third click of the impulse A SPARK! My first
> thought was it really didn't look like much of one. What I really wanted
> was such a hot, firey spark that my tester would just shatter from the
> electrical force and I would be left with singed eyebrows. But it was
> blue so I decided to give it a try. The tractor has NO wires right now
> so I would have to "wind" it with the crank. Gave her a few pulls,
> nothing. Choke, two more pulls, LOUD BANG!!! Well she must be out of
> time. Sure enough had the wires plugged in 90 deg. off. Two more pulls,
> then some choke, another pull, all of a sudden, a puff of smoke, soot,
> and she was off!!! Sputter sputter miss miss, "push the choke in dummy!"
> and she leveled out. Let it run a couple seconds, oil pressure is where
> it needs to be, time to bleed the touch control, since there's no bat.
> box on it yet the instrument panel is wobbly, it inadvertently moves the
> throttle to idle too fast and she dies. Two pulls of the crank and away
> we go again! Touch control's working good, have forgotten the pin for
> the right linkage so grab a nail for a pin for now. Run to the house to
> tell the wife to "bring the camera!!!!" Shoot a little video of it,
> finally decide I have had enough and begin to shut off the gas (again no
> wiring yet!) about that time she runs out on her own (I had only put
> about a thimbleful in the tank) and come to a stop.
>
> After the uphoria wore off, I took a quick walk down to my grandaddy's
> field. (My wife and I are living in his old house) Stopped to pick up a
> few pecans that had fallen, continue on to the field and crack a couple
> to munch on as I go along, the faint smell of gas and oil on my hands.
> Walk right past the spot where my dad remembers the Super A being
> unloaded its very first time, brand new from the dealer, in 1948. I
> strolled across the branch (creek) where it worked for so many years.
> Time to turn back now, past the old pear tree, grab one to munch on,
> admire the sunset, and now ornery youngun's flat corn, and none of that
> other mess means a thing. The ol' bird runs again, and I didn't even
> have to call a professional in to make it go! We still have a long way
> to go, wiring has to be done and I am praying the hood and grille will
> fit right after all the work that had to be done to them. It's
> absolutely filthy from being under the shed, even with a sheet over it.
> No telling how long it will take to wash it so I can really enjoy the
> new paint. But she runs. I can remember as a young boy talking with
> grandaddy about how "we are going to get the 'ol Super A painted one of
> these days." He never got to see it but I am finally almost there.
>
> Thanks for letting me share
> Al
>
>
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