Learning thru a ton of elbow grease that the next tractor I paint will be with a compressor and spray gun LOL

Time/building/knowledge constraints lead us to brush painting (except sheet metal) the tractor. We are restoring it so my little sister can enter it for a 4H project. So far I'm pleasantly surprised. The second coat should really smooth things out.

 

Damn 2100, that is some bright green on the J Deere. I like it. Without the yellow wheels, you'd loose that thing in the deep woods. Hope the project does well for your sister.

Well I got the Fusion done (been raining until yesterday). Everything seemed fine until the thermostat opened up. Wholly crap. There is a bypass tube, which tees of the heater hose, and it was broken. Now this is another place on the engine, so nothing should of bothered it, but it was cracked and blew off. Needless to say, another part is needed.

I swear, that Ford shagged the pooch on the 3.0 into this Fusion body. There is NO ROOM at the front, and not a lot of room to work on much else. At least, with this hose, all you have to remove is the throttle body and air ducting assembly and reach below . It lies in the valley between the engine and the transaxle. Oh well, another $40 something and it will be fixed (cost of this hose). I looked at the fitting in the catalog, and if I'm correct, it is just a clamped to the hose. The fitting is totally removable, so both Murray and Gates (Dayco also) have 5/8 and 3/4 straight with 1/4 thru 3/8 tees built in, so I'll try and go that route first over paying the big money for the hose assembly.

 

it's a little brighter with the sun coming into the bay lol but man that yellow definitely pops! it is official John Deere green and yellow.... boy let me tell you they are proud of that paint!

Thanks! I'll be sure to post some finished pictures at our county fair, last full week in July going on 97 years now! We have an antique parade as well every year, we hook up an old hay wagon and let family/friends ride along. Goes thru the fair grounds and you get to "show off" in the grandstands before heading back to where they are set up. We have an old old old steam engine tractor bigger than some big rigs that leads it every year, made locally over a century ago; still running strong! fun to show off all the old tractors and gives the youth as well as city slickers a chance to see some living history lol

 

I got smart on the 3.0 engine in the Fusion. I bought a HELP tee for the heater system. Dayco and Gates wants over $50 for this small hose. It comes with a fitting to butt together with the other half of the hose. The HELP 47112 tee, fits this system perfectly. It's only $5.00 for it plus the clamps. It is actually easier to just replace the tee than to try and fish the hose around the engine and then into the heater core.

I was done in less than 2 hours doing it my way. I'd still be there if I had changed the whole hose. Not a bad way to fix this system. It's funny, as the connector that comes from HELP is almost identical to to the one in the original line. Yet, no where in the parts catalogs does this part exist, other than in the buyers guide. Nothing fits to application. I'm glad I have the experience to find all the necessary parts without going to the extreme of ordering everything. lol

 

You're a smart man, my friend. Great idea!

 

I ran into a similar problem a few years ago- we were at the f-i-l's- his brothers mercury wagon wasnt running well and he asked my opinion-
There is a metal vacuum line that runs under the intake and it had rusted holes in it- the f-i-l told his brother the intake would have to come off-
I fished the old line out( it was junk anyway)- cut a new piece of metal tubing, reattached the fittings with rubber tubing and hose clamps, the extra flex let me fish the new one back in, reattached the fittings and sent him on his way- f-i-l said he didnt think it could be done like that.-meh!-its not a pressure line.

 

AK, that plane that came down wasnt near you was it?

 

JP.....no, it was the other side of town, near the main airport. He missed the damn lake by quite a bit to land his float plane. lol.

A few months ago we had another plane set down on the Seward Hiway. He ran out of gas. How freaking stupid do you have to be to not top off your tanks when flying. You don't have gas stations in the sky. lol

 

Judging by the picture on the news I couldn't tell it was a float plane at all. Lol

Those flying gas stations are definitely few and far between my friend.

 

but they are out there .... wonder how expensive that gas trip is lol