1954 Farmall Super C Revival

[Jim Becker]

That shows it fitting 63 and up International.

Every US-made 4-cylinder IH tractor engine with battery ignition used the exact same tune-up parts from the first battery ignition unit in about 1948 until the end of production.

 

[ecudude]

Couple things my 53 super c needed. When I purchased it it had an electronic ignition on it. I have used that to improve the loose distributor shaft issue on other tractors. The magnet is more forgiving it’s worked for 10 years in a ford here

I’ve had the loose plug issue when it showed up there wasn’t a single spark plug that was tight.

I added a screen to the sediment bowl sticking up into the tank as there was alot of rust coming out.

Has the distributor been out? Without grabbing it’s service manual from the shelf I can’t recall timing procedure

Does it run on ether? that might narrow things down a bit give it a sniff and see if it takes off

It does not run on ether. The distributor has never been out.

Every US-made 4-cylinder IH tractor engine with battery ignition used the exact same tune-up parts from the first battery ignition unit in about 1948 until the end of production.

Good to know. Weird how Napa says it doesn't fit. I'll check and see if I can get this kit.

Plan for tomorrow is to pull the carb and go back through it with a finetooth comb. In all the years I've run this tractor, it's never leaked gas from the carb so I know it can be fixed.

 

[wore out]

''My understanding is that the floats need to be adjusted because of unleaded gas.''

Boy, someone told you a WHOPPER/old mechanics wife's tale, there!

It's called a FLOAT (even with a coupe of "pontoons"), the carb doesn't have multiple floats!

While it's GOOD to set it to the exact published "specs" if you set it level with the carb top inverted you'll be awful close and the engine should run, NO such thing as having to tweek it for "unleaded gas", LOL!

If the carb is "running over" you need to track down the cause of that and it ISN"T the flost setting being "off" a 32nd or two!

Could be a "heavy" float, or debris suck between the needle and seat, or perhaps the inlet valve seat insn't tightened DARNED tight against it's gasket, or the float is bent and contacting the float bowl, or the inlet valve needle and seat simply are defective and not closing off the flow of gasoline completely.

ANYHOW, once you get to the bottom of that the carb won't "run over" unleaded gasoline or NOT.

 

[used red MN]

Plan for tomorrow is to pull the carb and go back through it with a finetooth comb. In all the years I've run this tractor, it's never leaked gas from the carb so I know it can be fixed.

Hello ecudude, welcome to YT! First off it seems you had the wisdom to not follow the advice of poster “old” so you haven’t dumped quarts of fluid down your exhaust pipe. lol! That must have fixed a tractor he worked on once and now it is just his blanket fix for every engine that has sat a while and doesn’t start. A 1/4 cup or less of auto trans fluid (ATF) in each cylinder’s spark plug hole is a good idea and a sufficient amount. On your carb any passage the cannot be “sighted” through to see it is open needs poked out with a small wire, sprayed with carb cleaner and then blasted with at least 90 psi compressed air. And this needs repeated 2 more times just to make sure it has been cleaned sufficiently! In the linked diagram that angled tube 19 is very important to get that very clean. CNHI Farmall C parts catalog There should be passages that feed air down around the outside of the tube. Those may be very small and difficult to assure they are open. Also does your carb have the screen in place on the inlet elbow number 2? Are you aware this was placed there? If that is missing you will have a lot of trouble with debris getting into the float needle and seat and it can cause a lot of problems with the float not shutting off the fuel. Secondly if that screen is plugged it will show up once you get the tractor running it will run a few minutes then die because all the gas in the carb gets used and not enough is coming in to replace it. If you have the valve cover off you should set the valve lash or at least check that all of them have at least some clearance when they are closed. I would recommend that it be run 10 minutes or so before doing an official valve lash set so any carbon or crud can work its way out of the valve seat areas. The setting is 0.014” with engine warm to touch. Has the engine run or fired several cylinders in succession on starting fluid since you changed the spark plug wires? If not are you sure you have the number one spark plug wire in the same location it was in when the old plug wires were on it? Distributors can be set into place with the shaft timed to a different location than factory stock yet will still run if the wires are placed in the cap to correspond with the non-factory distributor shaft timing placement.

 

[caterpillar guy]

I will just ad do one thing and try it if no go then move to the next this will tell you what is and is not wrong better than with a mass replacement of parts and then going back to deal with what if's or how about.

 

[Charlie M]

I'm thinking a cap for a mag and a cap for a distributor fit slightly different and won't interchange. I may be wrong. If so could that be your problem?

 

[grandpa Love]

If the cap fits with no dust cover..........try it without the dust cap!!!!. If you work on more than one or two Farmalls you will discover that many tractors are missing that dust cap. And they run fine. I'm guessing you are aware it's an up draft carb? If you are cranking and not firing up that gas is gonna come down and out of the carb. If you used a rubber tip needle it can stick . Does your float actually float? No holes? I tried reading everything here, but maybe missed it .......have you tried putting the old cap on?? . ***** Do you have an IH distributor???? *****. Maybe a Delco??? Maybe a magneto? Post a picture?

 

[Fritz Maurer]

Why would you put a ballast on a 6V system?

 

[grandpa Love]

Every US-made 4-cylinder IH tractor engine with battery ignition used the exact same tune-up parts from the first battery ignition unit in about 1948 until the end of production.

Jim..... while your statement is technically correct it's also wrong ....we have bought several farmalls with a Delco distributor. The parts do not interchange.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

If won’t run on ether ignition issue or compression are your 2 options and if it was running fine before not smoking or hard starting ignition issue it is.

 

[grandpa Love]

Why would you put a ballast on a 6V system?

Ahhhh.....good question. And could he have bought tune up parts for an IH distributor but the tractor has a Delco?

 

[560Dennis]

Mice mechanics like to work on my Farmalls . Check control box , and bell mouse housing.
Little guys give you an out of site guarantee. It will start. But the best is get a quarter mile aways ,it will stall.

 

[used red MN]

Why would you put a ballast on a 6V system?

although I am used to 12v systems. It is still the original 6v.

I agree, this needs clarified. If you have a 6 volt battery in it you should not have a ballast resistor in the ignition coil power circuit. This will drop voltage and cause a weak spark.

 

[560Dennis]

get or rent a compression gage.
Do a compression test as mentioned , I don’t think the valve s are not closing from the rust build up. Log it down someplace that way you can compare to any improvements effort s benchmark.

 

[Jim Becker]

Jim..... while your statement is technically correct it's also wrong ....we have bought several farmalls with a Delco distributor. The parts do not interchange.

Valid point. However, if we consider aftermarket attachments and owner modifications half the posts on this site are wrong. I could be wrong, but believe the aftermarket Delco distributor has a sufficiently different diameter that even a rank amateur should notice the cap is the wrong part (something you could verify for us with things probably on-hand in your shop). We know that his new cap, correct for an IH distributor, fit until he installed a rotor that is probably for the Auto-Lite distributor that was used on the Case models it is listed for on the NAPA site. I guess somebody could have installed an Auto-Lite distributor on this tractor as well. In that case, The OP bought the right tune-up kit and the wrong cap. But I doubt that suggesting that possibility would be helpful.

I realize this post sounds snarky. That is not my intent.

 

[ecudude]

Ok, lot to get through. Picture heavy.

Some of my terminology might be wrong. In reference to the "ballast", I should have stated condenser. There is no ballast anywhere that I am aware of.

Electrical side. Yes, I know the coil is loose. One of the bolts got broken off long ago. It's on my list to fix.

Inside of distributor cap:

Rotor and dust ring:

Inside of distributor. New points and condenser:

Anyone see any issues with anything so far?

Moving to carb side:

Zenith carb

Float Level:

I am concerned that this might not be the correct gasket kit for this carb, even though the kit I bought was specifically for this model. I even called Steiner and they confirmed.

 

[560Dennis]

Ok, lot to get through. Picture heavy.

Some of my terminology might be wrong. In reference to the "ballast", I should have stated condenser. There is no ballast anywhere that I am aware of.

Electrical side. Yes, I know the coil is loose. One of the bolts got broken off long ago. It's on my list to fix.

View attachment 99917


Inside of distributor cap:

View attachment 99918

Rotor and dust ring:

View attachment 99920

Inside of distributor. New points and condenser:

View attachment 99921


Anyone see any issues with anything so far?

Moving to carb side:

Zenith carb

View attachment 99922

Float Level:

View attachment 99923

I am concerned that this might not be the correct gasket kit for this carb, even though the kit I bought was specifically for this model. I even called Steiner and they confirmed.

View attachment 99924

Look to me like number 3 wire is on number two .please recheck or is that corrected already

 

[ecudude]

Look to me like number 3 wire is on number two .please recheck or is that corrected already

Yup. Had that wrong. Cylinder count from the radiator should be 1,2,3,4. Firing order is 1342. Fixed now.

 

[560Dennis]

Yup. Had that wrong. Cylinder count from the radiator should be 1,2,3,4. Firing order is 1342. Fixed now.

Happens ,move on to the next issue

 

[stdsch40]

Look to me like number 3 wire is on number two .please recheck or is that corrected already

I saw that too. Good catch.