Nov. '52 Cub Restoration

[halftonstude]

Not sure where to post this, it seemed like the best place. been a member of the forum for a year or so, been lurking in the background for a few years. Bought this cub a couple years ago and it took me a year to finally decide i was going to restore this little beauty. I like to reply to forum questions when I think I have sufficient knowledge, however, enjoy spending hours a day (just had 3 weeks vacation with my in-laws in the mountains of Colorado on the western slopes...) reading the posts. I appreciate the effort folks take in replying and researching information regarding questions and I do my best to do the same. I've learned a lot reading and enjoy my restoration project. This is a full tear down every bolt polished and cleaned restoration. my wife (boy she's a keeper!) lets me keep the finished parts in the basement, now i hope to get things started back together before the heating season comes to New England! What i found interesting is the comments about restorations. Until I started this tractor i thought gee, what's so tough? restore it. Factory. Just like it was on the showroom floor. Then... Silver front rims or not, assemble it before painting red like the factory or not. Paint the wire loom or not. Boy was i in for a surprise. I'm not a fan of assembly of mechanical parts then painting. I use this tractor and don't want paint gummed up on all the bolt surfaces during maintenance, or on the parts that slide against one another (governor shaft, carb linkages, seat post, levers and rods...) so i was elated to read that the restoration is really up to "you." It has changed my thinking about how to restore something. I'm a convert... Anyway, I'm probably 50% through this thing, it's almost completely torn down, i have the tranny to re-assemble, and the finals to finish taking apart, but i've started putting things back together. Everything is apart. Everything. Turned the commutator on the starter and generator on my lathe and undercut the mica, ground the valves and valve seats, rings, plasti-gauge, chemical strippers, new sandblast cabinet, there isn't any stone left un-turned. Will it look like a factory picture? I'm afraid not; many of the bolt heads will not be painted because of how I'm painting and re-assmebling the tractor. However, I like to think I have CDO. It's a condition that has every exact symptom of OCD, but the letters are in alphabetical order. Purchasing bolts with the dot on the head... hiding all the grade 5 bolts that aren't original. I'm sure everybody has their issues. If I had 20 tractors could I do this? No. I have one. But I thought sharing this process might encourage others (or hinder them....) to make their tractors pretty. Here's my basement. Thanks for all the help over the course of the last couple years. I appreciate the knowledge of those on the forum, and hope to be able to contribute as much at some point in the future!
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