[AJD] Introduction - and a question

Mark Johnson mark.s.johnson at pixius.net
Fri Jun 4 05:48:33 PDT 2010


Greetings all!

Since things are quiet and I'm new to the list, please allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Mark Johnson, and I live near Wichita, Kansas, although I grew up in 
a 'green' family in southern Indiana - at various times we had two 730s, a 620, two
different A's (both styled, although I only worked with the later one) and an H. 
[I won't talk about the IH and the three different ACs; that's for another list :-)]

The H is a narrow-front-end model (two wheel, not an HNH) and has been in the
family since my grandfather purchased it in 1941; it now sits in my shed, patiently
waiting for me to get to work on it - the serial number is 17616, which places it in 
the 1940 production year. It is basically all-original, except that the fenders are 
long gone, having rusted away in less than two years, according to my dad - 
and the original magneto was replaced with a Wico X, probably in the middle
to late 1940s - my grandfather didn't run distillate very much, and not at all 
after the war ended. The X magneto is a gasoline-only magneto with 18 degree
max spark advance. Sheet metal is good with only surface rust, no perforation,
and it was repainted and re-decaled in about 1980 or so. The block has not been
bored, and I don't intend on doing so unless I have to (see next paragraph).

Little Johnny was running when I had him trucked out to Kansas six years ago,
but has since become stuck while sitting waiting for me to get cracking on a 
decent restoration. That brings me to my question: I need suggestions for a good
treatment/regimen to get things unstuck. I am strongly tempted to do it by brute
force, but I don't think that's necessarily a good idea. I do have a Ford 9N that is
my mowing tractor (5 acre lot!) if it comes to that.

Also...it still has the last antifreeze and oil in it, been in there since I moved it -
I *know* that draining the coolant is a good idea, but I am not so sure about 
letting it sit with the crankcase dry if I get distracted from the project - opinions
would be welcomed!

Many thanks for any help! 

Mark Johnson
Wichita, KS



More information about the AT mailing list