I'm Not Sure Why, But I Now Have a B-80

[BradKahler 101]

12 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

Kroil. Just ain't much better than that. 

 

Yep, it penetrates so well, the plastic spray bottles leak like a sieve.  I wish I could find a spray bottle that would work with it.

12 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

IMHO  "pb" is a joke with good marketing and it's been proven by experiments online. 

 

Just a minor word of caution here. 

Remember that these are cast iron blocks. Occasionally brittle.  

 

 

Actually they weren't hard blows, I wanted to create vibrations to help the Kroil penetrate.  I don't know if it helped, but the nipple is out.

 

12 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

Excellent work! 

 

Thanks 

[Handy Don 14,957]

Your blade quadrant resembles the curved #11 in the IPL clip below.

This early one shows 3 holds--left, center, and right for positioning the blade straight rotated to either side. Some later models came with 5 holes with the extras being left and right of the center halfway to the “outer” holes.

Some members with a 3 drilled it to become a 5 and are quite pleased with the extra positions. 
(Note that blades before 1964 had a different style of quadrant)

 

 

[Handy Don 14,957]

3 hours ago, BradKahler said:

Yep, it penetrates so well, the plastic spray bottles leak like a sieve.  I wish I could find a spray bottle that would work with it.

 

You won’t. I ended up “decanting" my penetrant into little 2 oz. bottles like these.

I can drip or squirt. 

 

[Retired Wrencher 6,130]

22 hours ago, Achto said:

 

It's your call, but I hardly ever change the points unless they are really bad. The material that they make the new points out of just does not seem to hold up as well. If you do decide to change them, I suggest Kohler brand.

100%

[953 nut 62,750]

19 hours ago, Racinbob said:

Using the locknuts lets me not tighten the nipple as much for future removal

Lock nut is the way to go but be sur to get a top quality electrical conduit lock nut from an electrical supply house,   do not buy the junk ones being sold at big box stores.

[BradKahler 101]

9 hours ago, Handy Don said:

Your blade quadrant resembles the curved #11 in the IPL clip below.

This early one shows 3 holds--left, center, and right for positioning the blade straight rotated to either side. Some later models came with 5 holes with the extras being left and right of the center halfway to the “outer” holes.

Some members with a 3 drilled it to become a 5 and are quite pleased with the extra positions. 
(Note that blades before 1964 had a different style of quadrant)

 

 

 

Ok, got it.  I'll check today to see how many holes.  

 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

 

[BradKahler 101]

9 hours ago, Handy Don said:

 

You won’t. I ended up “decanting" my penetrant into little 2 oz. bottles like these.

I can drip or squirt. 

 

 

I'm glad to hear it's not just me that was having issues.  I'd prefer drip bottles over spray bottles anyway, less mess.

 

Thanks!

 

[BradKahler 101]

52 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

Lock nut is the way to go but be sur to get a top quality electrical conduit lock nut from an electrical supply house,   do not buy the junk ones being sold at big box stores.

 

There are only two big box stores in my area and I don't know of any electrical supply houses within reasonable distance

 

Would this style lock nut work?

 

https://www.amazon.com/Brass-Pipe-Fitting-Locknut-Female/dp/B07QM8T78V

 

 

[953 nut 62,750]

5 minutes ago, BradKahler said:

 

There are only two big box stores in my area and I don't know of any electrical supply houses within reasonable distance

 

Would this style lock nut work?

 

https://www.amazon.com/Brass-Pipe-Fitting-Locknut-Female/dp/B07QM8T78V

 

 

No, you want a steel locknut. Most of the ones at big box stores are cast pot metal or thin stamped steel. Home Depot or ACE may have steel locknuts for ridged conduit.

[BradKahler 101]

15 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

No, you want a steel locknut. Most of the ones at big box stores are cast pot metal or thin stamped steel. Home Depot or ACE may have steel locknuts for ridged conduit.

 

Turns out I was using the wrong search words on Amazon.  I was searching for NPT pipe nuts, I should have been searching for electrical conduit nuts.  

 

https://www.amazon.com/Hubbell-Raco-1194B2-Locknut-1-Inch-Conduit/dp/B00G9IR596?

 

[Racinbob 12,351]

Steel (on the right), not brass or pot metal.

 

 

They can be found at the big boxes. Like Richard said, often tagged for rigid conduit.

 

Sigma ProConnex 1-in Rigid / IMC Zinc-plated Steel Conduit Locknut Conduit Fittings (2-Pack) 49103 at Lowes.com

Edited November 26 by Racinbob

[BradKahler 101]

6 minutes ago, Racinbob said:

Steel (on the right), not brass or pot metal.

 

 

They can be found at the big boxes. Like Richard said, often tagged for rigid conduit.

 

Sigma ProConnex 1-in Rigid / IMC Zinc-plated Steel Conduit Locknut Conduit Fittings (2-Pack) 49103 at Lowes.com

 

Thanks.  You can definitely see the casting marks on the ones on the left.  I'm going to swing by Lowes today to see what they might have in stock.

 

 

[953 nut 62,750]

26 minutes ago, BradKahler said:

 

Turns out I was using the wrong search words on Amazon.  I was searching for NPT pipe nuts, I should have been searching for electrical conduit nuts.  

 

https://www.amazon.com/Hubbell-Raco-1194B2-Locknut-1-Inch-Conduit/dp/B00G9IR596?

 

That is a ridiculously high price, go to lowes, Home Depot, or ACE

Edited November 26 by 953 nut

[BradKahler 101]

4 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

That is a ridiculously high price, go to Lowes, Home Depot, or ACE

 

I 100% agree 

 

Around here, Lowes is the only one that stocks 1" stuff and I'm heading there after lunch.  I'm finding more and more that the only place to find a lot of things is online 

[BradKahler 101]

I stand corrected.  My local Ace Hardware actually had 1" conduit fittings.  

 

Unfortunately no one around here had 1" street elbows so I ended up having to order one along with a 4" nipple.  Parts should be here sometime next week.  

 

Thanks for the help everyone.  I hope y'all have a nice Thanksgiving.

 

[EB-80/8inPA 1,929]

On 11/24/2025 at 8:57 PM, BradKahler said:

My best guess is the blade lever is bent to a position where it shouldn't be

Can’t tell from the pic but it might need to be flipped around.  I had a similar problem when I mounted mine backwards one year.  I have to remove the bell and do up some protective greasy sleeve for the driveshaft which seems wrong - I don’t think my blade’s control arm was meant for the B-80 but I’ll make do until a nice hydro combo comes up for sale nearby.

[BradKahler 101]

On 11/26/2025 at 8:06 PM, EB-80/8inPA said:

Can’t tell from the pic but it might need to be flipped around.  I had a similar problem when I mounted mine backwards one year.  I have to remove the bell and do up some protective greasy sleeve for the driveshaft which seems wrong - I don’t think my blade’s control arm was meant for the B-80 but I’ll make do until a nice hydro combo comes up for sale nearby.

 

The blade blade assembly isn't installed right now so I haven't been able to try this.  It's possible sometime next week I'll be able to do so and I'll report back at that time.

 

Thanks

 

[BradKahler 101]

I've been tinkering with the B-80 for the last week or so and I'm making progress towards driving it in the near future.  The fuel system has been completely redone including a carburetor rebuild.  The condenser is installed and I was able to start the engine to see if it helped, and I believe it did.  It started and idled just fine and also accelerated just fine, no more missing or surging.  I'm guessing the condenser was the biggest culprit, thanks for that tip!  Once the fuel pump filled the bowl the bowl started to leak, something it hadn't done before.  Of course I had just finished cleaning the bowl and it was corroded in the bottom but I didn't see the tiny pin hole when I reinstalled it.  I have a replacement bowl on order.  

 

I also drained the gearbox and at first I thought it was just muddy fluid but then realized it was about 4 or 5 to 1 oil to water mix.  By the time it was done draining it was probably mostly oil.  I'm going to fill it with diesel and let it sit until I have it drivable next week and then I'll drive it for a few minutes, drain, refill with diesel and drive again for a few minutes before draining and filling with gear oil.  It certainly isn't as bad as the 656 was   Having a gantry crane to lift the front end sure makes changing oil easy.

 

 

 

Also, the gravely muffler is installed and looks and sounds great.  I'd find a small tail pipe to point the exhaust out to the side.  I have been looking but haven't found anything yet.  I did learn a hard lesson yesterday after I had it running for the first time.  I noticed gas on the ground so I leaned down to get a closer look and put my hand on the muffler to support myself.  That was a mistake   Hopefully I won't do that again....

 

[Handy Don 14,957]

17 minutes ago, BradKahler said:

4 or 5 to 1 oil to water mix.

The oil usually floats leaving the water on bottom (unless you’ve recently stirred it up) so water comes out first

 

17 minutes ago, BradKahler said:

I'd find a small tail pipe to point the exhaust out to the side

Lots of tailpipe “tips” on the car restorer supply sites. Might be hard to choose one! 😁