[AT] Case 500 - Actual tractor question

[Rick Moseley]

Last month another tractor (1954 Case 500 diesel) followed me home; only
because I got it cheap-real cheap.  It's a pretty large chunk of iron
that looks out of place among the Cubs, Farmall A, B, and H.  The
previous owner bought it with a stuck engine (running when parked),
removed the manifolds, heads, etc. and got the engine freed up.  But,
that's as far as he got and after a couple of years I think his wife
wanted it out of the yard.  Cylinder walls look OK so I'm thinking about
just re-assembling it and seeing if it will start.  I've got a
wheelbarrow full of parts and an old I&T manual, with a parts catalog on
order.  Kind of like a big metal jigsaw puzzle with lots of rust.  The
heads are at a machine shop where they're supposed to clean them up and
just check them out, only fixing the things that are actually broken.
What I need to know are sources for parts, particularly gasket sets.
I'm also going to need the exhaust collector that receives exhaust from
the 2 exhaust manifolds and channels it to the muffler.  I don't know
what this thing is called, nor what it actually looks like since the old
one is broken and I only have a piece of it.  Can these sorts of parts
still be obtained from Case/IH?  Are there any things  I should look out
for?  Any tricks to re-assembling this beast?  If I can get it running
then I'll worry about the cosmetic things like rusted sheet metal,
battery boxes, gauges, etc.

Thanks in advance for any tips/suggestions and sources for parts.

Rick Moseley
Austin, TX
Farmall Cubs, Super A, B, C, H (and one really big Case)