The Case DI

Assessment-- No good tires, 1 bent rim, engine half stuck, trans stuck, no electrical system, crank broken, carb and part of intake missing, manifold studs broken, 1 brake drum nut missing, clutch full of oil, instruments missing, front rim bent.  Someone started a restoration and then sold it to someone else who let it sit up.  Many little parts are missing.  The D series had many variants and it will take a while to figure this thing out as it had no serial number plate.  Supposedly it was an airplane hauler at an airport.
A Closer Look-- We checked the oil and found 3 gallons of water in the crankcase.  Fortunately, there was a gallon of diesel on top, soaking the crank.  We drained the sump, scraped sludge and then poured a few gallons of kerosene through to flush it.  The sump covers were gasketed with roofing tarpaper!
    Though the trans appears to be out of gear, the free brake drum wants to turn with the engine.  We worked the crank back and forth until the engine was free.  Then we connected the battery and let it spin.  There was no compression on two cylinders, leading us to adjust the valves.  The magneto was not firing.  It was full of ants and the points needed cleaning.  All the tune-up parts were new.  Output is still marginal.  We've pulled the mag for a bench check.
    When we get the mag hot and get some sort of carb on it, the motor should run.

     Gallons of water and sludge floated a layer of diesel to just the right level to protect the crank and cam.  Side covers on these old engines make access easy.
      We replaced the tarpaper gaskets with modern black silicone.  The sump took two gallons of Aeroshell 100 airplane oil.  Our airplanes use pretty much the same technology as our tractors.  Scary.

The valve train was clean, but not properly adjusted, resulting in no compression on two cylinders.  After spinning the engine a bit, oil began appearing on the rockers.  That's a good sign.

The mag would not fire and was full of ants.  We chased out the ants and cleaned the points.  The gold box is an aircraft mag timer.  It beeps when the points open.  Aeroplanes have two mags that have to be exactly synchronised, which you can't do with a light.  This is a handy device available from any aircraft supply catalog.  Cleaning the points did the trick.  We still need to build a kill button.

We prefer to think of the color as sunbleached primer from an old start at restoration.  We've only seen one tractor that was intentionally painted pink.  It just doesn't seem right.