stratostar250 919 #1 Posted January 15, 2017 (edited) So, I've had my '69 Work Horse for about 2 years now. It has honestly probably been the shining star of my herd. Previous owner put a Chinese Honda clone on it. It always starts, drives, is super solid, and even my dad flipped it over a bank (don't worry, he's okay) and all I had to do was replace the lift arm, and I love the patina on it, but it always had one sore spot. The hood, more specifically, the headlight area. The HF motor that was planted into it, the exhaust pointed straight forward, out the front of the hood, and the previous owner melted the original headlight bezel(Which I have), he took it out, and left the hood empty. It took me two years, but I had a brilliant idea. Why don't I just flip the muffler 90 degrees, so I gave it a try. The two manifold bolts came off easy, muffler is obviously supposed to be mounted the other way if you look at the gasket and the connection areas, but it looked like it would fit, so I went ahead, and what do you know, no exhaust leaks, doesn't touch the hood (super close, but doesn't). It does blow the exhaust at your leg now, but if you're driving, you don't even notice it. After this, I went to the pile of extra parts that the previous owner provided with the tractor and pulled out the original headlight delete bezel, It had never been on the tractor before. I cannot believe how much it pulls the look of the tractor together. I LOVE it. Just remember, somethings may take time to shine through, and when they do, it is totally worth the wait. Edited January 15, 2017 by stratostar250 18 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Daddy Don 887 #2 Posted January 15, 2017 Great looking tractor. Super clean 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elliot ness 1,916 #3 Posted January 15, 2017 Looking good . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 50,997 #4 Posted January 15, 2017 Goood looking and equally good story. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Retired Wrencher 4,829 #5 Posted January 15, 2017 stratostar250 Looks great Even the hard to find seat. Good things do happen in time. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ohiofarmer 3,155 #6 Posted January 15, 2017 (edited) So which engine is that? The 14 HP Predator muffler cannot be reversed and still mount the hood, so my 520 is hoodless.. I remember that the blue HFT engines were from a different manufacturer.. I wounder if my skills are enough so as to cut the pipe and run the thing as it should be? BTW, the 14 HP HFT engine has plenty of low end grunt even for a 520 platform running at 3/4 throttle. It burns 1/2 the gas as the Onan mowing my yard. Maybe a bit slower, but it was affordable enough to save the tractor. Edited January 15, 2017 by ohiofarmer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sparky-(Admin) 19,280 #7 Posted January 15, 2017 Yep...looks way better than it must have with a hole in the grill. Mike..... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AMC RULES 36,934 #8 Posted January 15, 2017 Some nice work Tom, good job. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JC 1965 1,527 #9 Posted January 15, 2017 Great lookin tractor. Thanks for sharing. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratostar250 919 #10 Posted January 15, 2017 6 hours ago, ohiofarmer said: So which engine is that? The 14 HP Predator muffler cannot be reversed and still mount the hood, so my 520 is hoodless.. I remember that the blue HFT engines were from a different manufacturer.. I wounder if my skills are enough so as to cut the pipe and run the thing as it should be? BTW, the 14 HP HFT engine has plenty of low end grunt even for a 520 platform running at 3/4 throttle. It burns 1/2 the gas as the Onan mowing my yard. Maybe a bit slower, but it was affordable enough to save the tractor. The motor is a 6.5 hp "Greyhound" motor. They were once sold at Harbor Freight, but then they had to stop because they were too similar to some Honda motor. Amazing running little motor, starts second or third pull every time, and that's only because I run the gas out every time, otherwise it'd be first pull. Makes the tractor super light though, wheelies in first gear are common. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elkskin's mower junkyard 1,117 #11 Posted January 15, 2017 this here is my 700. look at what i did to it. i pulled headlight bezal out of a newer c series and rivited it to hood 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Retired Wrencher 4,829 #12 Posted January 16, 2017 stratostar250 If you can I would buy a $40,0 seat from northern tool to put on that. It is the same style as that. Those seats are very hard to find if it is very good shape. It looks good from the picks. Enjoy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratostar250 919 #13 Posted January 16, 2017 2 hours ago, T1257 RETIRED WRENCHER. said: stratostar250 If you can I would buy a $40,0 seat from northern tool to put on that. It is the same style as that. Those seats are very hard to find if it is very good shape. It looks good from the picks. Enjoy. It's sadly not as good as the pics make it look, but I have been taking care of it regardless, I know it is a rather rare seat, but it is about 70% good. has one large tear on the top cushion, one in the seam where your right thigh would sit on it, and one small tear in the bottom cushion, but its still in really nice shape. I've thought about putting on another seat, but we'll see, maybe one day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites