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spitfire1

854 barn find project

By spitfire1, in Restorations, Modifications, & Customizations

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spitfire1    28

spitfire1
Posted (edited)

Really excited about finding this great 854 last week. Planning on spending some time this fall getting her running nice and showing the K181 some love. Planning on restoring the old girl over the winter. I will post progress pictures here as I get the project under way.

20150902_165819-01.jpeg

20150902_165852-01.jpeg

20150902_165807-01.jpeg

Edited by spitfire1
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bmsgaffer    2,052

bmsgaffer
Posted

Awesome find!

If that is original paint, dont restore it! It looks great!

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spitfire1    28

spitfire1
Posted

Awesome find!

If that is original paint, dont restore it! It looks great!

I have been thinking the same thing, I'm on the fence. She has a great look as is. Would be a great candidate to restore, but it is original paint so I'm going to need to think it over 

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AMC RULES    37,179

AMC RULES
Posted
Nice original looking :wh: ...      :greetings-clapyellow:
ditto on the clean up, and no restoration.  
 
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slammer302    2,156

slammer302
Posted

That is nice! It would be a hard call to make on restoring it. Maybe just a good cleaning paint the wheels almond white and get everything working like its supposed to and you will have a nice horse that ur not afraid of getting dirty     

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bmsgaffer    2,052

bmsgaffer
Posted

Youll never get the original paint back.

Im holding on to it on my 854 and theres much less left than on yours. If you want one to restore, ill trade you! Also a great candidate for a restore, just a little less factory paint left... ;)

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speedyleedy    205

speedyleedy
Posted

That's one great Find !

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pacer    3,176

pacer
Posted

Jiminy! that a CLEAN one!! Nice!!

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Shynon    7,476

Shynon
Posted
:WRS:Nice find, I too will vote to leave original, you will  only find it that way once.
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DennisThornton    4,771

DennisThornton
Posted

Man!  You guys are NOT getting a picture of my "Woods Find"  654!  Not until I have an "After" to go along with it!  What a nice find!

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spitfire1    28

spitfire1
Posted (edited)

I think I'm going to take the cleanup rout for now, I'm in the middle of a few other restoration projects, so this little guy will need to wait anyhow, makes me just as happy looking at her with fresh paint as I am looking at her just like this. I could spend hours just admiring how cool these old WH tractors look. Stood in the shop for about an hour a few night back with one of my car guy friends , just drinking a beer and looking at it saying "man they don't make stuff this cool anymore"... think it even has the original spark plug wire and Delco internal resistor coil. .. new tires and a nice new paint job on the rims and maybe a satcover is all I think I want to do this fall along with rewiring it and a new key switch. 

Edited by spitfire1
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Brian01    481

Brian01
Posted

A food washin' and she'll look sweet....nice find indeed

Food=Good according to my dummy smartphone!

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Pullstart    65,695

Pullstart
Posted

welcome to RedSquare!  It looks like you've got a nice machine there for sure. 

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WHX??    51,330

WHX??
Posted (edited)
:WRS:

Nice find, I too will vote to leave original, you will  only find it that way once.

Now how did I know you would say that..... I suppose you would want to boil it in lindseed oil too!:ychain:

Edited by WHX5
add
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spitfire1    28

spitfire1
Posted (edited)
20150912_181533.thumb.jpg.4e47c0cf9ec7b120150912_182023.thumb.jpg.ca734123d75f3d20150912_181447.thumb.jpg.53a52b3963413c

Got the old horse clean this week. New key switch , carb rebuilt , completely took the tractor apart and gunked down the whole thing then gave all the small parts a bath in the parts washer, made a new electrical harness, put on a new drive belt and air cleaner. and finished it all off with a new plug, oil , wirer, and setting the timing. Went for a spin around the neighborhood today,  lost count of all the smiles and waves I got as I passed by . 

 

Edited by spitfire1
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Brian01    481

Brian01
Posted

Nice looking piece of machinery for sure

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Pullstart    65,695

Pullstart
Posted

That last pic I was confused by the MSD decal on your tool box!  Race Horse?  :) nice job cleaning her up, I'm sure it's well deserved to get some of those smiles and waves!

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AMC RULES    37,179

AMC RULES
Posted
Tractor looks great...first pict is waaay cool.  :handgestures-thumbsup:
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Racinbob    11,875

Racinbob
Posted

That's sweet! I had a beautiful 854 with the backrest and HL-5 lights. It was my parade tractor. What's up with the clutch/brake pedal. It's hooked up that way.:)

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spitfire1    28

spitfire1
Posted

That's sweet! I had a beautiful 854 with the backrest and HL-5 lights. It was my parade tractor. What's up with the clutch/brake pedal. It's hooked up that way.:)

 

Sounds like it was a nice 854 you had, This one came with the clutch/brake upside down like that when I found it  .. I was going to flip it over, but the brake rod is so seized up at the adjuster nut its never going to move  and the rod has seen better days, I figured it was better to leave well enough alone till I can find or make a new brake rod. It works nice and I was able to set the barking brake with the adjuster on the brake shoe. 

That last pic I was confused by the MSD decal on your tool box!  Race Horse?  :) nice job cleaning her up, I'm sure it's well deserved to get some of those smiles and waves!

I do run leaded race fuel in it ...does that count for race horse status ? :-) 

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Pullstart    65,695

Pullstart
Posted

it sure do!  It's funny, I help on an ARCA/CRA team occasionally and we're required to purchase 10 gallons of fuel every week from the track.  we go through about 6 gallons most weeks in the car, so the generators, quad, grill if we had one... it all runs on high octane petro.  just to burn it up.

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