Sunday Reading - New Paint, Orange Cleaner and Flying Bees Don't Mix Well

Since more often than not my new posts don't want to update until the wee hours of the morning anyway and I am so pressed for every minute of daylight I can get. I decided to skip the Saturday post and just do a Sunday reading tonight for tomorrow.

Sorry about my more limited web and blog presence lately but I need to get this done in time to get everything put on the tractor when the engine is finished and these Spring-like days we been having are perfect for getting everything painted.

Remember the above parts? One is the new (salvaged) grill that will go on the old girl and the other is an under cover that fits below the grill and behind the brush guard.

Here they are this evening.... The bottom piece is a bit beat up but at least it is painted now. I wasn't going to spend the time trying to reshape it.

This Tractor Supply Ford Red we are using is turning out a bit more glossy than I wanted and the Gray is much lighter too but oh well use what ya got.

I got the Radiator cleaned and repainted as well. I either used a wire brush or 60 grit sandpaper to start, then switched to 80 grit and finished up with 140 grit. I really think the 140 grit was a bit of overkill considering she is going to be a working tractor and not a garage or barn queen. But why not?

And the new front end. I sanded the inside down and left the surface rust in there then hit it with that primer that oxidizes the rust instead of painting the inside the same color as the outside the way it usually is done. Not sure if I will like it as well this way but I think it will be alright. Once it's on the tractor you can't really see in there anyway.

This hood is actually one off a 900 tractor that the guy was parting out. It's dimensions are exactly the same as the old rusted hood off the 861-D but the 100 series hoods had that raised Ford emblem on the side. One thing Ford did back then was use up the old sheet metal and such from the previous models on the new ones however and I have seen many 01 series tractors with 100 series sheet metal. My early 861-D actually had a 100 series front grill. Basically most of the sheet metal is interchangeable and the same size. All I will have to do is change the decal placement a bit to incorporate the raised Ford logo. As you can see the inside is all primed and ready while I am still sanding and prepping the outside. I have a little welding work to do on it as well.

The best part about this hood? It only cost me $75.00. Even one from a salvage yard will run ya $250.00 or more and not be in much better shape than my old one. All this one required was a bit of sanding to be ready for a new paint job.

The biggest issue I had all day besides the chickens constantly under foot was keeping the bees off the new paint. The combination of the orange cleaner smell I used to degrease everything and the bright red brought them over left and right and they kept landing on the fresh paint. I hadn't planned on anyway to deal with this unexpected problem.

I still have to paint the air filter stack and get the brush guard I am going to put on her off the 850. It's a but bent and beat up but in much better shape than the one that was on the 861-D.

After we get these pieces in place she is still going to look funny. The front will be looking new while the rear half and the front rims will be rusty and ratty looking still. The rear fenders also need replacing so I will have a lot of work to do even once these parts are in place but half the battle will be won.

A lot of sanding and painting left to go though.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!