Vintage Tractor Engineer

Recently we went along to the Burnby Vintage Tractor Working Day.  This was held on Vintage Tractor Engineer’s uncle’s farm and a good number of tractor enthusiasts turned out to enjoy the day.

There isn’t any tractor maintenance/repair information here to learn, but it was just a really good day.  Lots of locals meeting up, enjoying a day out on their tractor and discussing the merits of the different machines.  Here’s a short video of the day…

Paul has twin Standard 23C engines in the boat he is restoring.  Here is what Paul says about ‘Betsie Jane’, how he overcame some problems and how things are progressing…

Hi Steve,
I’ve finally fitted the 23cs to my boat and both engines fired up first
time!!

Fantastic I’m really chuffed.

My background is in carpentry, although I now teach English in the local prison, and so your dvd is the only tuition I’ve had on
mechanics/engineering.

When working on the engines I had the dvd on the laptop and so repeatedly replayed each stage of the rebuild etc. There is no way I could have done the engines before and so a great thank you for the dvd and excellent advice.

Cheers Paul.

and some photos of the engines…

I’ve spent the past 30 months restoring her 3-4 days a week and should be launched early May. Betsie Jane is on the National Historic Ships Register.

I’ve also attached some photos of how I worked out TDC and 16 deg before. Basically sealed a clear pipe into the injector hole and stuck the end into a jam jar of engine oil. As I turned the engine over I watched the oil rise and fall, checked with the valve openings what stroke it was on and as the oil started to fall knew it was on the compression stroke. I marked the oil level on the clear pipe and repeated several times just to be sure. I then punched a small mark on the shaft which was 180 deg from the machined slot.

The white card was marked with a horizontal line which I lined up with a horizontal break on the engine and marked on the card 18 btdc. I then spill timed the pump on the bench and fitted it to the engine. This took several attempts, but perseverance payed off.

I’ve attached photos.
Cheers again.

And if you want to see the completed restoration.  Here is Betsie Jane.

Here are the data, specifications, dimensions, tolerances and the main tightening torque settings for the 3 cylinder Perkins A3.152 engine as fitted to the Massey Ferguson 35 tractor.

Data Specifications

Cylinders 3
Bore 3.6” (91.44mm)
Stroke 5”
Displacement 152.7 cu ins.
Compression Ratio 17.4:1
Firing Order 1,2,3
Power 37 bhp
Location of No. 1 Cylinder, Front of engine
Cylinder Liners, Chrome plated
Fuel Pump Static Timing, 18 degrees B.T.D.C.
Letter On Fuel Pump Rotor, E
Letter on Hydraulic Head No. 1 Delivery Port, W.
Inlet Valve Opens, 13 degrees B.T.D.C.
Exhaust Valve Closes, 10 degrees A.T.D.C.
Valve Overlap, 23 degrees
Valve Lift, 0.36″
Tappet Setting (Hot), 0.010″
Tappet Setting (Cold), 0.012″

Tightening Torques lbs./ft

Cylinder Head Nuts, 55-60
Con. Rod Nuts, 70-80
Main Bearing Setscrews, 110-120
Flywheel Setscrews, 75
Balance Weight Setscrews, 50-55

Pressure Setting (injector bleeding pressure), 120 Atmospheres
Operating Oil Pressure, 25-30 p.s.i. or more at normal speed
Relief Valve Setting, 50-65 p.s.i.

Assembling Cylinder Head

When replacing the rocker assembly ensure the slot at rear end of rocker shaft is in line with the punch mark on the rear pedestal bracket. The relationship of this slot to the punch mark determines the quantity of oil delivered to the rockers and bearings.

Adjust inlet and exhaust clearances to 0.012″.

Adjusting Valve Clearances

Remove the rubber plug in the inspection hole in the left front side of the transmission housing adapter plate.

Rotate crankshaft until the T.D.C. line on the flywheel is in the centre of the inspection hole and No. 1 piston is on the compression stroke (both vavles fully closed).

Check and adjust clearances on Nos. 1,2, 3 and 5 vavles.

Turn crankshaft one revolution and repeat for Nos. 4 and 6 vavles
(T.D.C. mark visible through inspection hole).

Replace rubber plug in adapter plate.

Vavle clearances for both inlet and exhaust should be set to 0.010″ hot, and 0.012″ cold.

Oil Pump

Check clearance using a feeler gauge between maximum diamater of inner rotor and minimum diameter of outer rotor, clearance should not exceed 0.006″ (or replace/refurbish pump).

Clearance between driven rotor and pump body not to exceed 0.010″.

Placing a straight edge over top of rotor faces, measure clearance between top of rotors and surface of pump body – not to exceed 0.003″.

Piston Rings

Compression and oil control ring gaps should be within 0.009″ – 0.013″ (measured in a ring gauge of 3.6″).

Cylinder Liners

When the liners are fully in position, the top face of the liner flange shoule be 0.001″ – 0.009″ below the top face of the block.

Tolerances

Standard Crankshaft Main Journal Diameter, 2.7485″-2.7490″.
Big End Crankpin Diameter, 2.2485″-2.2490″
Small End Bush (internal diameter), 1.2505″-1.2515″

These figures are taken from the Massey Ferguson 35 Service Manual. Whilst every effort has been taken to reproduce these figures accurately, no responsibility can be taken for errors.

Alan is having trouble with his Ford 4600 which is getting oil in the water, here’s what he has to say…

Hi,

I have both your engine rebuild and hydraulic overhaul DVD’s but unfortunately for me they cannot help me with this wee problem and was wondering if you could possibly point me in the right direction?

I have a ford 4600 wich has oil mixing with the water and assumed the head gasket was damaged. I changed the gasket and the tractor ran ok for about a day but started mixing oil with the water again. There was not any obvious damage to the old gasket and she had a new short motor about 13 years ago and has not done excessive hours since. We have always used good quality antifreeze since so I am really hoping it is not damage to the block!! I didn’t get the head skimmed when I did the head gasket as every thing looked ok. I am going to strip it down again in the spring when i get time and was wondering where else could the oil mix with the water assuming the head gasket is ok. I tinker about with the engines and not a time served mechanic so would be greatfull for any advice you could give. I do relise you will be extremely busy but any help will be greatfully received.

Regards,
Alan

Hi Alan,

Here are a couple of suggestions…

It could be a cracked cylinder head but I think this is not very likely.

It could be a porous block (which usually manifests itself as water in the oil, rather than oil in the water). What did they do when the engine was overhauled? Did they just true up the bores and fit oversized pistons? Or was it machined and liners fitted? Often the bores have just been trued up and oversized pistons fitted (as its a cheaper option) but now this means the wall of the block is even thinner than it was originally and it is likely that a crack or fissure has occured in the block allowing the water to passs through.

This is common with Ford engines and is known as ‘porous block’ (as the cylinder walls are so thin). This happens regularly with with slightly newer models such as the Ford 6610 and 7610 (even when the cylinders have not been bored out).

If this has happened then it can have cast iron sleeves pressed in which solves the problem. I would suggest measuring the pistons and comparing that measurement with the spec of the original pistons in order to determine if the pisons have been replaced with oversized ones. If they have, then I believe ‘porous block’ is likely to be the problem.

Some Ford tractor have an oil cooler in the bottom of the radiator and it is possible for that to split, this manifests itself as oil in the water so is a distinct possiblity as the cause of your problem.

Hope that helps,

Steve and Ian (VTE)

We have had an email from Richard, who had previously bought the MF35 Engine Rebuild DVD.  Richard has sent in a video of the engine starting after the rebuild.  Vintage Tractor Engineer has also spotted the Ferguson plough in the foreground of the video.

Richard went on to tell us a bit about the rebuild of his tractor, here’s what he had to say…

The rebuild took much longer than I expected, there are just not enough weekends

I used the Barco engine kit and considered the parts very well made.

As this tractor was always a bad starter, I contacted the old owners to find that out, I decided to fit glow plugs.  (Although I didn’t use them on the youtube video).

PROBLEMS

When I assembled the mains big ends, as I have experienced before, the shells seem to touch before the caps bolt down. This gives too big a tolerance. So wrongly or rightly, I carefully filed down the four edges of the shells to give the correct clearance as measured by the plastigauge. I hope this will be OK but it seemed to rotate well and I have a good oil pressure.

One comment re your video. I bolted the engine to gearbox then assembled the engine. When doing the timing you said set engine at TDP using the flywheel mark or if assembled, turn engine and use the front crank key way as a guide. This sounds OK but in reality, it is not possible to get an accurate position using just the key way. Had I known, I would have marked the TDP location in the starter motor hole, prior to fitting the g/box to engine. Then it would have been easy to set the correct position.

The Rocker shaft from new is a sliding fit in its 4 holders, over time this shaft had become very worn so effecting tappet clearances. I had to make new supports.

The camshaft chain sprocket was a very loose fit (+0.25mm) on the camshaft. This needed sorting and was probably why it didn’t start well and always needed easi start to start.

This tractor does not have live drive, and I have a replacement live drive g/box that needs fitting some day. But first I will enjoy it as it is and also check everything is OK.

Finally, do you have a service schedule for this model available. I have the main manual but it doesn’t detail the maintenance schedule.

Kind regards and thanks for doing the DVD.

Richard

Richard fitted heater plugs to the head

Spacers between the head and the heater plug have been used to stop the plugs protruding too far in and affecting the fuel spray.

I think what we meant to say in the DVD (…and OK, so maybe its our fault for not explaining very well – sorry everyone) is that the protractor method could be used to time the engine if it were still fitted to the transmission.

Well done to Richard for completing the rebuild.  This Massey 35 now looks set to have another 50 years of life in front of it.

We’ve got an owners manual for the 3 cylinder variant, which will have the same servicing routines for the rest of the tractor but obviously the engine servicing will be different.  We will try and find that manual to let Richard know the details.  If anyone has info on the recommended servicing for the 4 cylinder engine then please let us know.