Archive through October 21, 2004

[thoffman]

Tedd,
<u>A Corporate Tragedy</u> sux for a referance source for Cyrus McCromick. Your son will be sleeping buy the first couple of paragraphs. I had to help(do) a history fair project with my daughter a few years ago. We went with the "How machinery improved farm live". <u>150 Year of International Harvester</u> (The Red Bible) is the best source. Let me know if you need more info, go lots-O-stuff.

(Message edited by thoffman on October 23, 2004)

 

[bmoore]

I started tilling the garden with the 147 last week after Jack Frost had killed it, but decided it was too wet. I had pulled up the still green pumpkin, tomato, eggplant, and zucchini vines and set them to the side, then made a pass down that edge. Apparently, one of the evil vines had thrown itself into my path. Why does it take a tiller about half a blink to reel in a 20' section of pumpkin vine, and half a cup of coffee to untangle it? Has anybody ever made rope of that stuff?
Dave, Matt,
When I was in 7th grade, Al was a senior in high school. I remember having seen pictures of computers....

 

[dkamp]

And I'll bet they de-bugged it's program with tweezers and a jar with holes punched in the lid... those computers had awesome filament transformers!!! My dollar says Matt's never used a punch-card reader.

I've seen the same thing happen with mooring lines and propellers, Bruce... but it takes more than coffee... it hasn't happened to me though.

(Message edited by dkamp on October 23, 2004)

 

[wcompton]

Bruce-
You're in need of the special tines from the IH 42G tiller . . . . with the patented Ginsu© edge

I always just till in the spring, plow in the fall, gives the organic matter a chance to decompose enough . . . . . plus the ridges that you'll create with every plow pass helps the garden dry out earlier in the spring.

 

[thoffman]

Wyatt,
You must be talking about "Gator Tines".

Richard,
I've noticed the 2 X 4 block under the pump, you must jave jiggs/diagrams/notes for eveything!

(Message edited by thoffman on October 23, 2004)

 

[bmoore]

Wyatt,
I'm thinking of plowing the garden when it's dry enough, then blowing leaves into the furrows, then tilling them in. Last year I piled leaves around the garden, mowed through them discharging them into the garden area, then heaved a bunch of composted (and still composting) material on top to trap them. I waited a while (official procrastinator's measurement of time), then tilled the stuff into the soil. The robins were there for worms by the time I was ten feet away from the garden area.
Dave K2,
Based on the availability of products such as MMO, StaBil, 104+, etc., for improving certain performance characteristics of CC fuel, I have begun investigating proper additives for coffee (human fuel). I have found that there are several available, but some are more appropriate at different times of day.
All,
I need to do something to help garden soil drainage. We have a lot of clay. Gypsum? Sand? Miracle Material? Does anybody have a suggestion for a web site or book regarding this kind of thing, designed for total amateurs?

 

[tturner]

Hey I know this is off topic; but does anybody know any thing about Super M-TA's. We are restoring ours and the replacement wiring harness is in different colors than the original. Is there a key some place that tells you the what the colors were swapped out as?

 

[tschweizer]

speaking of that, is there certain kinds of leaves that should NOT be put in a garden? I had a guy tell me not to till in Oak leaves.

 

[mgonitzke]

Dave K2-

You're right, I never have used a punch card reader. But I am one of a few people my age who knows what a record player looks like

 

[pwade]

Hello gentlemen.
I got the internal brakes all squared away on my 1200, and now the eternal maintenance begins again as my grandson drives the thing all over my yard. I was trying to get into the improvement section and entered my username and password I use here, but it didn't accept it. Do I have to have a different registration for that part of the site? .. I also went through the 'forgotten password' path and the instructions said there would be a code sent to my email to change my password, but I did that last night and today there is still no email from the site with a code. HELP. OR, just give me a path to the information on the steering upgrade for the 1200. Thanks! P Wade - South Carolina.

 

[wcompton]

Bruce-
Adding in the plant material will help add drainage-friendly structure, sand won't hurt but it really doesn't do much. Gypsum is used base out the soil, doesn't do much for drainage.

Travis-
Never heard about anything wrong with oak leaves, I'd think if they were harmful, the grass under those trees would be dead.

 

[mgonitzke]

Phillip-

Which steering upgrade? I think there have been several. If you're talking about rebuilding the steering column, click here:

https://www.ihcubcadet.com/IHCCFAQ/SteeringBox.htm

 

[pwade]

The grass under my oak trees IS dead..

 

[pwade]

Thanks Matt. That certainly looks like an option. I had thought there was one upgrade that put a gear and pinion type box on from a common application. I really appreciate your help Matt.

 

[tmanley]

Well, I got through my cylinder head deal this morning. First I mounted the head on a right angle plate, and milled both sides square.

Then I put it in a vise on the other mill, and angle milled it to increase compression.

Then I re-bored the bolt holes square to the deck, and spot faced the backside of the bolt stand-offs.

I also calculated the compression.

Motor is a K241a and originally it was 6.13 cr. After angle milling, the head was 13.7cc smaller, and now the cr is 7.26. I will know after mock-up, but I calculated about .045 clearance piston to head, and about .065 - .075 clearance on the valves. I also opened up the ports a bit, too. We'll see how she does next saturday. Hopefully it won't get too hot on me.

 

[thoffman]

Hey Bruce,
Horses--t! That'll help.

 

[dchestnut]

Its been awhile since I've posted. I finally was able to trade for a 147, so I now have each model of the narrow frame series.

Having recently been off for fall break, I pulled the engine out of my 123. It runs without any smoke, but it has a little knock when running at a faster rpm. I took off the oil pan to check and see if the rod was loose, but it seems to be nice and tight like it should be. I did notice the counter balance gears was a little loose. 1st question: Is there anything I can do to tighten them up on the shafts? 2nd question: Can these two gears be taken out and the engine run okay? I thought I'd heard of people taking them out, but I figured I'd better be sure. Thanks in advance.

 

[dkamp]

Bruce- I'd hafta ask my father-in-law, but I think that one possible way to improve deep-absorption in your garden is to dig it down, and put a bed of sand down a few feet, then ashes (burn those oak-leaves!), then put in your dirt... but make sure the dirt's twice-as-deep as your tillage. Mix in compost (we've got a county compost facility where it's $9 for a half-ton). Another thing you might want to do, if your garden is a serious clay-pit, is put a drainage tile (tube) in it, and have that lead out, and downhill, to a lower area... it'll keep the clay AROUND your garden from making it into a swimming pool.

Torin- nice work... couldn't guarantee, but I think losing that little bit of volume directly over the piston will have a negative effect on both flow and burn efficiency... it causes a 'shrouding' effect in both airflow and the burn pathway.

One thing that I would've thought you'd do... is relocate the spark plug to the position they use on all the later flatheads... it's over the valve. The other thing you could do is use Mike Masheris' technique... drill a new plug hole (cut fins away accordingly) install a double-ended ignition coil, and have a dual-plug head.

I'm curious as to what your final CR turns out to be... with it being pretty aggressive, you might find running a dual-plug setup allows you to get away with much higher CR but much less ignition advance... with a powerful result, but no spark knock problems... with the flame starting in multiple locations, the total-chamber-burn-time is a fair bit less, but the time to substantial-expansion is much shorter.

Tom- That's a good idea for a guy that has an endless supply... fits your description better'n Bruce :-o (duhp!)

 

[tmanley]

I thought I would do just one thing at a time. It would not be that much work to pull the head back off, and move the plug, and see how I like it. The final CR was 7.26-1. I was going to check into messing with the timing a little bit. I have an antometer EGT gauge I may hook up, and mess around a little bit. The other thing I decided to do, I felt the stock exhaust pipe with the pipe threads into the block was a little restrictive, so I took it out, and will flange mount my exhaust. It takes a big step out of the exhaust port. I also knocked down that big step on the side of the top of the valve guide. We will see what that does.

 

[lbaker]

Bruce M.- Know someone with a good sub soiler? That and really apply a LOT of lime. Heavy lime does as good as gypsum. On the oak leaves, they take a lot longer to rot.Any softwood leafs are best to use.(this applies to the NC haard redpan clay) Old rotten sawdust is good to. Need to apply a little Nitrogen after any of the above.