Painting A farmall

[Don F]

I have a 47 farmall A I am restoring, I am to ready to sandblast and paint. I have several questions I hope someone can help me with. What color do I paint generator, the starter, and the mag.. Also I have a new wiring harness, do I put it on before I paint or after? Any other pointers or advise would be much appreciated, this is my first try at it.

 

[georgeky]

Totally up to you. From the factory evertyhing was red, genny,starter,hoses,wiring and everything except the rims and seat cover. Rims are galvinized and seat cover was silver canvas.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Yes, everything RED but you should tape off the ID tags on the starter and generator. Items not RED are seat pad, steering wheel grip, shifter knob, muffler, front grill emblem (Farmall), wheels and tires, and all glass items get taped off. Hope I didn't miss anything. You'll be happier if you use a good quality paint. Cheap paint fades fast and may even turn pink. Dave,
PS: Did you get a new battery box? Those are a must in my book even though they are expensive.

 

[Vern]

My '48 Super A has a black starter & generator. It seems to me that when my dad bought his new "A" in '42 the starter, generator & carb. were all black.
Not sure about the mag.
Vern

 

[Anonymous-0]

Only sandblast the parts you can remove. if you sandblast the complete tractor, sand will get in places you don't want.[bearings, seals etc.]

 

[Duanes]

I would get a copy of Guy Fay and Andy Kraushaar book Farmall Letter Series Tractors. Very good information for projects like this.

 

[georgeky]

Vern, when they left the factory all was red. I toured the Tractor Works plant in Louisville and they were painting everything red. All the finished tractors sitting in their parking lot were all red. No black on them anywhere. Most now days do have black starters, gennys and so on, but were red to start with.

 

[agpilot]

Hello Don: I second Duanes suggestion to get that book by Guy Fay. Well worth reading... even if your not painting. agpilot

 

[ScottyHOMeY]

Of the things folks mentioned, the mag caught my eye. Only the cast base of the mag should be red. The aluminum you want to clean up with a scotch-brite or something fine. I read something ages ago about how they used to coat that with some sort of clear lacquer, becasuse it was non-conductive and wouldn't fraw static off the guts of the mag. For the same reason, the plug wires weren't painted, but the reat of the harnesses and wiring got painted along with the rest of the tractor. If the cover on your mag is dull, it darkens back up nicely with Armor-All, as does an old cap.