Project Basket Case - Giving Things a Nice Coat of Paint

 

Yes, it's been a little while since the last update. This fall I started a new job which has taken a fair bit of my time as of late, and just life, in general, has been making its presence known.  In particular, I have noticed quite a significant uptick in requests for some of my laser engraved signs. So I have been spending quite a bit of time in the shop, just not enough time for writing it seems... 

Now that I have my excuses out of the way, it's now time to focus on the next chapter of bringing my basket case tractor back to life. 

Project Basket Case - The Saga of the Stubborn Wheel

 

With the engine all squared away, I now could focus on the other parts of the tractor.  One part that I had noticed when I was bidding on the tractor was that one of the rear tires was horribly cracked and in dire need of replacement.  

I did some pricing on a new tire for this size of tractor, and I was absolutely floored at the price - basically, I was literally doubling the value of my tractor by installing a new tire.  Well, I couldn't really use the tractor without it, so I held my nose and soon a new tire was on its way. 

While I was waiting for the tire to arrive, I decided that I should at least prepare for it by removing the rear wheel from the tractor, remove the old tire and perhaps freshen up the rim with a fresh coat of paint, 

Little did I know that I was in for the most frustrating part of the whole tractor rebuild.

Project Basket Case - Wiring It Up

In my last post on the garden tractor restoration, I had just finished installing the new engine and gotten the fuel and throttle connections all done. 

The only thing that I needed to do to get the engine going (and in theory, the tractor moving) was to hook up the electrical system. 

Project Basket Case - Installing a New Engine in the Garden Tractor

 

In my last post, I just successfully removed the old engine from my basket case garden tractor, which left a fairly large empty space in my tractor's front. While that made the tractor a possible candidate as a soapbox racer, I really needed to replace it with another engine. 

Project Basket Case - Engine Removal on the Garden Tractor

 Last week I dragged home an old garden tractor that I had picked up at an auction for around 100 dollars. 

In some respects, this old tractor was a bit like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. It certainly didn't look very good, but if you looked at it hard enough, you could see something that could really be something special, perhaps all it really needed was just a little bit of love. 

One thing that it did need for sure was some engine work. The tractor had a vertical twin-cylinder Briggs and Stratton engine on board that seemed to turn pretty easily and showed some signs of compression when I turned the engine over by hand at the auction.