The main character is a 1950 Case model "D.O." tractor, 4 cylinder, magneto ignition, updraft carb, four forward speeds and one reverse.
Tractor is running on original motor/pistons/rings/bearings and currently is burning about a quart of oil per hour of operation. Sump capacity is eight quarts.
So, bright and early Monday morning, I head to the family farm as a man on a mission. Today the huge and soon to be world renown "Restore" experiment will begin. I have purchased three of the large "8 cylinder" cans of "Restore." Each can holds 19oz of a special magic elixer that will make "Mighty 'D'" as good as the day she rolled off the assembly line in beautiful Racine Wsconsin back in 1950. After a great deal of thought and meditation, pondering and contemplation, have decided to use three cans rather than one because:
1. Oil consumption is extremely high on this old tractor.
2. The motor on the tractor is burning a lot of oil.
3. I was taught at an early age that "three is the magic number," (note, I even put this reason as reason number three - thank you School House Rock).
In addition to my "Restore" (Henceforth known as "RJIaC" short for "Ring Job in a Can"), I have also brought along my bright yellow happy looking quart bottle of "Casite Motor Honey." My plan was to mix these two together inside the motor as "Happy Yellow" and "Magic" simply belong together.
I arrive and it's first things first. A cup of coffee with Ma and Pa.
Then it's out to the shed where I crank "Mighty 'D'" and move her outside in the bright early morning Florida Sun. While I won't go into details, all items to change oil are put in place and the great oil drain begins. I pull the plug and am rewarded with eight quarts of black, nasty, thick, sticky oil, (more on this later). I let it drain for an hour while I drink more coffee and listen to the radio in the shed. Suddenly, an idea, a moment of clarity, a light bulb if you will burns bright in my mind. The three cans of "RJIaC" need to be shaken. I turn up the tunes on the radio and taking a can in each hand proceed to "trip the light fantastic." The results are impressive as each can of "RJIaC" is mixed with a heaping amount of "boggie fever." It's time to pour.
Replacing the drain plug on the motor, I pop open the first can of "RJIaC" and pour away. It's blue. Like the color of the "Lowes" sign blue. I've never seen a blue additive before but I reason this must be part of the magic power of "RJIaC." 19 oz make their way into the innards of my ole four banger followed by another 19 oz of "RJIaC" followed by 32 oz of the bright happy yellow "Motor Honey," (even as I poured, I couldn't help but wonder if yellow and blue would make green. This has to be the solution I reason as green is the color of money and this is what I will be saving by all the unburnt oil that is sure to be the result of my mad experiment). I top up the remaining capacity with 20W50 "Advanced Auto" brand motor oil, (I choose this oil because I happen to have seven gallons I bought on sale about a year ago).
Now the filter.
The filter is a story unto itself. About five years ago, I was at our local "Napa" store buying filters for none other than "Mighty 'D'". It takes the "1071" filter and I went ahead and bought seven of them at the time because they happened to have seven in the store. I have three left. This oil change I reason deserves a fresh and new filter, so I open my little cabinet in the shed where my filters live and remove a filter, still in it's box. I open it and pull the filter out. The biggest roach I have ever seen in my life crawls out of the filter, shakes a fist at me and runs away. I was startled to say the least and in my shock, I dropped the filter on my work bench. Roach turds fell out of the filter. Yuck. I get another filter from the cabinet only to discover that the roaches brother lived in that one. Box three reveals that this one was occupied by the roaches 2nd cousin who not only used this little filter house as his home, but also had a tiny couch and television inside. What to do?
Here's where the radio came to my rescue. Turning up the volume once again, it was time to "shake my groove thing" and get as much of that organic additive out as possible. This being done, I thought, "what can it hurt?" and proceeded to install roach filter to "Mighty 'D'".
Done. Oil changed, two cans of "RJIaC" and one quart of "Motor Honey" and one roachie filter, now comes the real test.
"Clear prop" I shouted as I hit the ignition switch. The engine popped and coughed and then barked to life. I watched the pressure gauge and was impressed when oil pressure hit 36 pounds.
Now the real test. I hooked to my rusty dusty disc harrow, set it wide open and proceeded to turn the good earth. I drove for 2 hours solid and stopped to get a coke out of Mama's icebox. I was impressed. Usually, at this point, the tractor would be smoking so bad you would not be able to see it. It was smoking, but not nearly like it had been before. I shut the motor down, drank my coke and checked the oil level. Keep in mind, running for two hours I should be two quarts low. Now I was just shy of a quart low. Grabbing can of "RJIaC" number three, I did the "shake, shake, shake" and poured away. Having enjoyed my delicious "Coca-Cola" (no rum - sorry Andrews Sisters), I jumped back on board, fired up the engine and proceeded to disc for another two hours.
Lunch.
Mama made fried chicken, lima beans, creamed corn and a whole gallon of sweet tea. My mind, however, was on the tractor. What I noticed was that when I shut down for lunch, the tractor was BARELY SMOKING. While it was a little low, I didn't even bother to add oil because I'm not used adding it in small amounts to "Mighty 'D'". After lunch, I climb back aboard, press the starter button and off we go in a symphony of cylinders. The ground is soft and wet from recent rains so the disc/harrow digs deep. But "Mighty 'D'" pulls with a will with barely any smoke at all.
Supper time. My brother and his wife came over as did my sister and we fried fish, French fries and okra and my mother made a salad and another two gallons of sweet tea. I crack open a tasty bottle of "Icehouse" and check the oil - one quart low. ONE QUART LOW on a motor that should formerly burned four quarts in the same period of time. I rate this a major success and am very happy with the results. But as I sat and enjoyed the evening with my family, my mind drifted back to that filter and it's earthly contents. Could it be that I've stumbled upon a new elixir? Is it possible that roach poop is in fact an unknown additive that the motoring world needs to explore. Inquiring minds want to know.
Tractor is running on original motor/pistons/rings/bearings and currently is burning about a quart of oil per hour of operation. Sump capacity is eight quarts.
So, bright and early Monday morning, I head to the family farm as a man on a mission. Today the huge and soon to be world renown "Restore" experiment will begin. I have purchased three of the large "8 cylinder" cans of "Restore." Each can holds 19oz of a special magic elixer that will make "Mighty 'D'" as good as the day she rolled off the assembly line in beautiful Racine Wsconsin back in 1950. After a great deal of thought and meditation, pondering and contemplation, have decided to use three cans rather than one because:
1. Oil consumption is extremely high on this old tractor.
2. The motor on the tractor is burning a lot of oil.
3. I was taught at an early age that "three is the magic number," (note, I even put this reason as reason number three - thank you School House Rock).
In addition to my "Restore" (Henceforth known as "RJIaC" short for "Ring Job in a Can"), I have also brought along my bright yellow happy looking quart bottle of "Casite Motor Honey." My plan was to mix these two together inside the motor as "Happy Yellow" and "Magic" simply belong together.
I arrive and it's first things first. A cup of coffee with Ma and Pa.
Then it's out to the shed where I crank "Mighty 'D'" and move her outside in the bright early morning Florida Sun. While I won't go into details, all items to change oil are put in place and the great oil drain begins. I pull the plug and am rewarded with eight quarts of black, nasty, thick, sticky oil, (more on this later). I let it drain for an hour while I drink more coffee and listen to the radio in the shed. Suddenly, an idea, a moment of clarity, a light bulb if you will burns bright in my mind. The three cans of "RJIaC" need to be shaken. I turn up the tunes on the radio and taking a can in each hand proceed to "trip the light fantastic." The results are impressive as each can of "RJIaC" is mixed with a heaping amount of "boggie fever." It's time to pour.
Replacing the drain plug on the motor, I pop open the first can of "RJIaC" and pour away. It's blue. Like the color of the "Lowes" sign blue. I've never seen a blue additive before but I reason this must be part of the magic power of "RJIaC." 19 oz make their way into the innards of my ole four banger followed by another 19 oz of "RJIaC" followed by 32 oz of the bright happy yellow "Motor Honey," (even as I poured, I couldn't help but wonder if yellow and blue would make green. This has to be the solution I reason as green is the color of money and this is what I will be saving by all the unburnt oil that is sure to be the result of my mad experiment). I top up the remaining capacity with 20W50 "Advanced Auto" brand motor oil, (I choose this oil because I happen to have seven gallons I bought on sale about a year ago).
Now the filter.
The filter is a story unto itself. About five years ago, I was at our local "Napa" store buying filters for none other than "Mighty 'D'". It takes the "1071" filter and I went ahead and bought seven of them at the time because they happened to have seven in the store. I have three left. This oil change I reason deserves a fresh and new filter, so I open my little cabinet in the shed where my filters live and remove a filter, still in it's box. I open it and pull the filter out. The biggest roach I have ever seen in my life crawls out of the filter, shakes a fist at me and runs away. I was startled to say the least and in my shock, I dropped the filter on my work bench. Roach turds fell out of the filter. Yuck. I get another filter from the cabinet only to discover that the roaches brother lived in that one. Box three reveals that this one was occupied by the roaches 2nd cousin who not only used this little filter house as his home, but also had a tiny couch and television inside. What to do?
Here's where the radio came to my rescue. Turning up the volume once again, it was time to "shake my groove thing" and get as much of that organic additive out as possible. This being done, I thought, "what can it hurt?" and proceeded to install roach filter to "Mighty 'D'".
Done. Oil changed, two cans of "RJIaC" and one quart of "Motor Honey" and one roachie filter, now comes the real test.
"Clear prop" I shouted as I hit the ignition switch. The engine popped and coughed and then barked to life. I watched the pressure gauge and was impressed when oil pressure hit 36 pounds.
Now the real test. I hooked to my rusty dusty disc harrow, set it wide open and proceeded to turn the good earth. I drove for 2 hours solid and stopped to get a coke out of Mama's icebox. I was impressed. Usually, at this point, the tractor would be smoking so bad you would not be able to see it. It was smoking, but not nearly like it had been before. I shut the motor down, drank my coke and checked the oil level. Keep in mind, running for two hours I should be two quarts low. Now I was just shy of a quart low. Grabbing can of "RJIaC" number three, I did the "shake, shake, shake" and poured away. Having enjoyed my delicious "Coca-Cola" (no rum - sorry Andrews Sisters), I jumped back on board, fired up the engine and proceeded to disc for another two hours.
Lunch.
Mama made fried chicken, lima beans, creamed corn and a whole gallon of sweet tea. My mind, however, was on the tractor. What I noticed was that when I shut down for lunch, the tractor was BARELY SMOKING. While it was a little low, I didn't even bother to add oil because I'm not used adding it in small amounts to "Mighty 'D'". After lunch, I climb back aboard, press the starter button and off we go in a symphony of cylinders. The ground is soft and wet from recent rains so the disc/harrow digs deep. But "Mighty 'D'" pulls with a will with barely any smoke at all.
Supper time. My brother and his wife came over as did my sister and we fried fish, French fries and okra and my mother made a salad and another two gallons of sweet tea. I crack open a tasty bottle of "Icehouse" and check the oil - one quart low. ONE QUART LOW on a motor that should formerly burned four quarts in the same period of time. I rate this a major success and am very happy with the results. But as I sat and enjoyed the evening with my family, my mind drifted back to that filter and it's earthly contents. Could it be that I've stumbled upon a new elixir? Is it possible that roach poop is in fact an unknown additive that the motoring world needs to explore. Inquiring minds want to know.