A Story About "Allie", The 1953 WD

I also was able to get some new wheel bearings for the front hubs. They should be finished at the beginning of next week. 

Valve adjustment also completed. set to 0.014" as per some of the guides on this forum. Of course i will need to double check for valve adjustment when hot, this is a good starting point on a cold engine. 

here is the tractor prior to painting 

After 2 coats of paint, this is what Allie looked like

After the 2 coats, I touched up a couple areas with a 3rd coat. 

after the hardener started its magic, I was able to put some new spark plugs and ignition wires into place. along with a pertonix ignition kit and new coil 

Exhaust manifold and carburetor looking good in place! 

I also got the shifter boot and knob into place. I was really looking forward to installing that shifter boot. It was one of the first parts i purchased! its been a long wait but it finally found its home. 

And the new oil pressure gauge. 

Hoping to have the unit wired up over the next few days, Front hubs installed and the unit back onto its wheels by the end of the week. I will need to move the tractor outside to get the hood, grille and fuel tank prepped and painted. 

Definitely a bit tight on that manifold! i had to cut mine to fit as well. 

I also picked up some engine oil and filled the engine up, pertronix is installed but not wired, I have valves to adjust tonight and do some more spindle work or the left steering spindle. once that is complete we will be very close to paint for the remainder of the pieces of the chassis. Hoping for the whole running chassis to be painted orange by the beginning of next week! 

Exhaust manifold installed as well as carb loosely installed to check some other functions. 

Seat also repaired and primered. I took the seat spring apart to clean and primer. I also installed new spring bushings 

I also got the front end apart and new bushings installed, I had to repair the spindles to fit correctly without slop. These are the final photos 

I also rebuilt the throttle linkage and installed onto the tractor. 

I also welded the original rear structural bar to the back mount. Look at that weld! 

I also got the power steering shaft extended to the correct length. 

painted and finished the gauge cluster with new switch, key and 60A gauge

I also worked on the rocker shaft. Getting it back together. I actually found a couple broken stud stand off's. glad i caught that before going back together! I also had a bent rocker shaft. Not sure how that happened but glad i had a spare to make it work 

I got the quadrant repaired, primed and installed onto the steering wheel support. new bushing was also installed. 

Then, Onto the power steering conversion. working on uploading those photos. looks like i have hit the photo limit of our forum.. 

I wanted to get the bolster plates remade rather than welding and machining the oblong holes back to round. i found a local that has a brand new 5x10 foot CNC plasma cutter. So.. We played with some Allis parts! 

Here it is compared to the original 

Better than expected! It has only blown away once too! it definitely a one time use type of shelter. The tarp is pretty beat up and not good for much anymore. although I am happy with the outcome. 

I did a repair to the super worn throttle linkage hole on the governor spring side. 

here is a photo of the engine finished up. in its ugly form. 

I was able to get it out and primered up in preparation for dropping into the chassis again. 

I installed the pilot bearing into the flywheel and marked both timing marks. 

As well as installed all the correct clutch components. verified height of the pressure plate fingers and adjusted to 1 5/16" as per the service manual. one was perfect, the other 2 were just over 1/8" high. 

Then, Made some headway with installing the whole assembly into the chassis. for the time being (until i get some 1/2" bolts to hold the front crossmember together) it will sit on the engine stand. 

I also went to Princess Auto (Canadian harbor freight) for some steering components. I ended up with a few couplers, a 3/4" u-joint and a nice stepped down go-kart axle assembly. you will see in a couple weeks how I plan to make it all work with the electric unit. should be pretty good!