The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

I didn't replace the cylinder head core plug during the rebuild. Should have done. It has just rusted through.
It's done well, though, considering it's been doing its job since September 1963.
Best, Adrian.

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Fit a new plug ?? nah, degrease and fill 'er full of silicon sealer bor

Reminds me of when Scotty reported to Kirk that the Fordson-Doe unreality drive had broken a second piston crown - the quick witted captain orders that the alarm status is raised to Devcon 2...............

Well it's your fault for reading on Adrian

Looks like the bottom one in the cylinder block has seen better days as well. Seems like you'll have to bite the bullet, Adrian.

Pavel

Quite right, Pavel. I'm going to do that one too on my next visit to the farm.
There's an old fashioned unmanned crossing gate close to the farm. You have to dismount and call the signalman at the box in Saxmundham to ask permission to cross the railway. I was just saying "Yes, two minutes to cross", then turned around to see the tractor relieving itself on the roadway!
So I didn't cross the railway, after all.
Hoping to do some ploughing in September, so I'm glad this issue presented itself now.
Rick, the silicon sealer is always on standby. Great stuff.
Best, Adrian.

Its rare that the problem presents in such a convenient, non event spoiling manner Adrian, the good Fordson faeries must have been looking out for you (BTW I speak to a Colchester control centre for the occupation crossing at Tunstead, call that safe ??)

Mother has a Hilman Hunter which dropped a plug on the back of the engine, so close to the bulkhead that even dropping the box didn't give enough clearance, I had to have the engine off its mountings, couldn't risk SS on someone elses car ! At least our tractors offer more access for this sort of job (if cabless)

I was once advised by an old engine reborer never to use a stainless core plug if one was available (for my Landy) as it causes electrolytic corrosion, never tried so not sure how good or bad the advice was.......

Lovely observations, Rick.
The Hilman no doubt received only praise and kind words as you were dropping the engine to replace a small steel disc!
Interesting thoughts about the stainless steel plugs. Sounds about right to me, dissimilar metals and all that.....
This is the crossing. The gates are a pretty safe if slow way of crossing the railway. I love them. They take me back to my childhood, when there were many more gates around with liveried BR personnel to open and close them.
Best, Adrian.

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It'd be an even more timeless scene but for the phone sign Adrian, I think you may have posted this one before, lovely picture

It was one of those 'how long can it take to replace a coreplug' days and the language deteriorated in direct proportion to the increasingly inaccessible nature of the damn thing, I can't remember what I missed now but I was pretty annoyed by the time it was finished..............

Rick; my son had a second hand Hunter which developed core plug problems. Rather than remove the engine we drilled a largish hole in the fire wall, inside underneath the dash, and did the job on the block rear end successfully. A large rubber bung plugged the hole afterwards.

Pavel

Timeless indeed, Rick.
Can't remember if I reported this fact already, but up until four or five years ago the cast-iron lamps on top of the gates were still lit by paraffin burners. Smell and taste are said to be strong triggers of memory - the paraffin fumes coming out of the lamp cowls really took me back.
Best wishes to all
Adrian

Pavel, I had known what a rigmarole it was going to be I would probably have gone out and bought a holesaw (which I didn't have at the time) and do that but once started it just kept rolling..................

As long as they are maintained and kept filled, a paraffin (kerosene) lamp is more reliable than the old lectrickery in a storm - I have a few oil lamps and one very cold Xmas we were persuaded to go with the carol singers, several of who had state of the art battery lamps and sneered at our smelly old lamps, they didn't sneer an hour later when their hands were so cold they couldn't turn the pages while our ungloved hands were toasty We were invited into the huge kitchen of the old farm down the lane for tea, punch, mince pies and a warmup, after she had served everyone, Ethel, the dear old farmers wife caught the whiff of our lamps which we had left outside in the scullery and insisted we brought them in and had a few verses of one of her favourites with no other light - said it had taken her right back to their old farm before they were kicked off for the Stanford Battle area to be created.

I have a Fairbanks Z type in the engine room which drives a 24v Edmundson type gauze brushed dynamo used to keep my battery of NIFE cells charged (standby lighting) one day I was running it and the old lady who lived down the hill from us (and I'd known since birth) tottered round and asked if I'd mind if she just sat and listened to it for a while, I found up something a bit more comfy than the old Bullards beer barrel I use as an oily rag store and seat and left her to it, half an hour later I checked to see what the field coil was taking and found her sound asleep so I dropped the voltage and just let the engine run rather than stop. When she woke up I heard that her parents had lived in a big place down in Wiltshire when she was a child and several times a week the gardener would start a similar old engine up to pump water and charge the accumulator battery, something which had been special to her, while the sound of the exhaust had reminded her of it, when she sat down with the warmth, sound and especially smell, she had closed eyes and was back 80 odd years for a while. This was repeated several times over the years until she was unable to walk, even then she would sometimes say that she hadn't heard the engine for a while so I'd crank up when next I saw her window open.

I shudder to think what todays youngsters will remember in years to come, since the EU advised against smells and the UK civil service banned them completely when they implemented the Directive, oops, sorry, confusing that with the Pressure Equipment Directive