"Project Bantam" - Fuel Tank

The steering shaft and new gear went on without any trouble.  The ends of the shaft were a little mushroomed, but nothing a quick turn on the lathe couldn't fix.

The fuel tank was new from Mr. Shaffer.  I decided to powder coat it for extra durability. It came out looking great for a part that is not seen.  The original sediment bowl was lost, so a new Briggs-Stratton model 690612 was easily obtained.

The support straps were made from some spare stainless that I had lying about in the scrap bin.  To keep the neck from banging up the hole in the hood, I stripped some wire and used the insulation to protect the hole, by splitting it with a razor blade and fit that to the edge of the hole.  Using some silicone lubricant, the neck slid nicely into the hole.  Some inner tube rubber made a nice cushion for the fuel tank.

It looks more crooked in the picture than it actually is, because of the odd angle I had to take the photograph from.  (Don't mind my finger in the photo.)  Notice the nuts holding on the bolts onto the hood, since the original holes no longer had sufficient threads to hold the bolts to my satisfaction.

The body is looking rather finished at this point.  Considering how poor the tractor looked when it rolled into the workshop, its a ten-footer overall.  Not a show winner, but a restoration staying within a reasonable budget.

Hopefully the next post will involve some progress with the engine.

"Project Bantam" - assembly mockup

Since most of the sub assemblies were already prepared (except for the engine). I was able to set the pieces together to make sure everything fit right.  In retrospect, this should have been done before I painted.  I would not have thought that there would be a problem with the fit of the new fenders.  The build tolerances are not the most precise, so it should not have surprised me that there was a problem.

  

From the picture you can see that the right fender does not fit down against the running board.  Its too late now, a spacer will have to be fabricated.

The original input shaft stud mount bearing was completely shot.  This consequently wore down the shaft, which had to be repaired with welding in more material, and then machined down again.  Otherwise, the input shaft fit right back in place.

Otherwise parts fit back in position as they were originally. Its starting to look more like just a collection of parts now.