Brought another one home; (actually the kid did)
I went to a farm sale/estate auction in hopes to bring home hydraulic press that went for about double what I was willing to spend ($450---yow) and they had what appears to be an Original to be sold; K 161S engine, ser no 40723 which appears to be a '63 model (wow; only 30 years older than my kid; even has me beat by about 4 years)
I think the kid overpaid for this basketcase; what do you guys think is fair or reasonable?
Deck completely in pieces, but apparently all there; eng. off, carb off and intake port stuffed with a rag; someone started doing a "quickie" paint job on it;
only real issue I see so far, is a gear case leak that only started when we pulled the park brake to help hold it stationary in the bed of my truck; coming out from the brake lever area.
As far as painting the hood- someone started sanding it down and the original red and blue logo is still there but very faint; is there a decal of that available, should we take a pic and try to get maybe a sign painter to hand letter it back on once we finish stripping/repainting, or is there an easier way that would look authentic?
on the engine; I know about availability of K161 parts; I have here a K 181, that looks like it has a brand new mini block (short block minus crank) that only appears to have the 15 min that I run it on it; (farm sale purchase a few years ago) very fresh crosshatch, absolutely clean valves/ports etc;
I also have an M8 (basically a K 181 with elec ignition) that I have ~$400 into a complete overhaul; not yet done with reassembly on the bench; as far as showing it at a tractor show or the "worth" of this thing, which would be the best way to go??? the K 161 that it came with is all there but was apparently just removed for repaint; I intend to try to get it running as is before looking for rebuild parts via Ebay;
on powering this tractor; should I;
(1) get the orig engine going if it will, and simply do a better repaint on it, and leave it?
(2) dismantle that orig engine and rebuild it as necessary, to make it "as new" again?
(3) put the fresh K181 on it?
(4) put the M8 on it???
Which ever engine winds up on there will be painted original IH yellow.
Also I will need service literature on it so I can see how it gets reassembled; especially on its deck. where do I find?