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The flatty is a horribly inefficient air pump. That's the biggest area to play with. Getting it to flow better. It's also old. There's a lot of things there costing you power from old age and outdated designs. There's a good bit you can do without spending a zillion dollars. Ignition
free: twiddle with the timing.
cheap: Tune it up. Replace worn old parts. Don't neglect the shaft! Eratic timing costs power.
Not so cheap: Have the distributor put on a curve machine, by a mechanic that knows how to work one. Absurd: High performance replacement ignition, such as a Pertronics. Carburetion
Free: Adjust
Cheap: Clean
Still cheap: Rebuild kit
Not so cheap: Good rebuild, thottle shaft bushings, etc. Drilling jets.
Expensive: Replacement, with a high(er) performance model (they do exist, but they aren't cheap). Exhaust:
cheap: Better muffler. The oem types don't flow well. Air filter:
free: Reduce the volume, and resulting height, of the oil in the filter.
Cheap: Change to a thinner type of oil.
Caution: Both of these operate on the acceptable increased wear idea. If you spend your days plowing dusty fields, don't do this. If on the other hand you only occassionally mow the grass, this can be ok. Block & head:
free: Remove the head gasket for compression increase.
Cheap: three angle valve job.
Pricy: High compression pistons for the v-8
Very pricy: Decking the block, *properly*.
Absurdly expensive: Stroke the crank. The rear end of the N is the same as one of the trucks from the era. A fairly hefty truck as I recall. So I wouldn't worry about the rear end dying from a warmed up 4 banger. The transmission is reasonably stout, and I believe it was used up through the hundred series, but I could be wrong on that one. Again, I'd expect it to survive a warmed up 4 banger as well. For my money, I'd play around with the external stuff (cheap, easy to do). Some of it is basic maintenance anyway. I'd only consider the internals when I got into it for a rebuild. But if for whatever reason I really felt the need for substantially more power (and a life pto, live hydraulics, 4wd, better gearing, etc), I'd go with a different tractor.
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