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My experience with F-series is strictly limited to my 1938 F-14 so I can't really make comparisions. OTOH, my Dad farmed when letter series Farmalls were the cutting edge, and I grew up with mag-fired Farmalls and John Deeres, so I do have some experience in the general area. When I rebuilt my F14, I sent the mag out and had it professionally rebuilt. That was 10 years ago, and since then I've had it on and off the tractor for one reason or another several times, with no problems. If the mag is hot, timing is important (as it is on any spark ignition engine) but I wouldn't call it "critical". It's actually fairly forgiving if everything else is on. The downdraft carb and fuel pump are somewhat more maintenance intensive than a straight gravity system, but again, I wouldn't use the word "critical". The biggest problem I had was a bad float, and at the time repro floats weren't available (or if they were, I couldn't find a source) so I spent quite a lot of time finding a good original. With that fixed, the carb too is actually fairly forgiving in the sense that the engine will start and run (sort of) without having everything spot-on. Having said all that, it IS a LOT easier to crank-start the ol' girl when everything is dead on. The only real complaint I have about my F14 is that that thing is THIRSTY! Sure glad I don't have to farm 40 acres with it.
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