It turns out he did all his early work with a Fordson agancy and knows these tractors backwards! He saw the oil my old girl has been chucking out round the air filter oil bath (and which has been a worry) and immediately went round the other side of the tractor and pointed to the hours meter and the small blanking plate behind. According to him the hours meter was put in where an engine breather was originally fitted, and should have involved a further modification to resite the breather behind, where the small blanking plate is. This was often not done with the result that oil was blown out round the air filter. Since the tractor is not going to do any heavy work the sensible answer might be to simply run the filter without oil (which was apparently a common practice here in the UK).
It also appears that the charging circuit problem is most likely to be caused by my failure to adjust the new voltage regulator, more cause for rejoicing if so!
He also pointed out that various linkages were tight and unworn that the tow hitch holes were all still perfectly round, suggesting the old girl had never really worked too hard. The 5560 hours on the engine may well be genuine, amounting to about 12days work a year over the life of the tractor.
All more proof that enthusiasm is good, but no substitute for experience!
E1A.... 
Dandy Dave!
A1E... LOL.. Dandy Dave