My old man and I decided to pick up what we thought was a 52 Ford 8N mainly needed it to mow 5 acres and start a small garden. It hadn't been used for anything for a while but it ran when it was parked. All in all it turned out to be a good buy, the previous owner got a battery and new cable for it, put some fuel in her and she came to life. She came with different implements, but we had to search for a brush hog, which we found for a reasonable price. He did the first mow; the hydraulic system was not working correctly but he was able to get the grass down to an acceptable level. Then he moved back to his home ... so here I am with this old girl, I changed the hydraulic fluid which made it so the 3 point system actually work, together her and I struggled to get to know each other but after an embarrassing amount of time we got the grass back down to "acceptable" with patches everywhere (my first ever time mowing in my life). Second mow comes, she starts acting up, bucking like she's out of fuel, and she dies... and does not want to come back to life.. This is where the learning process starts. After replacing all the fuel parts leading to the carb because they were plugged, I finally get fuel, and it is pouring out the intake part of the carb. Remove and disassemble the carb.. everything looks good so I drop the float in a pickle jar of fuel and it sinks on one side. I tried to pop a small hole into it and drain it (don't do this) and failed!! When you shake it you can hear there is a tiny piece of solder in there.. someone has been in this carb before. I got a new float today; I ordered a carb kit and various other parts, but I just want to mow it!!
Installed the float, assembled the carb again with old gaskets (don't do this either) Install everything back onto her get it all tight, turn the fuel on and NO LEAKS!! Guess what I did though... left the key on and drained the battery to .1 volts. Good Job! I jump started her and she runs boys!! I think I'm winning at this point (don't count your eggs before they hatch). Look down and now the oil filter is leaking from the bolt on the top of the filter housing.. note to self: stop being curious how things work because when I took it apart I ripped the O-ring gasket, but she runs and purrs like a kitten!! Good thing there is a hurricane and rain coming.. I can wait for more parts to get here. I found this website today and thought I would share this post to start my love/hate relationship with my new baby! She is a 1950 by the way and she needs a name, let the adventure begin!