Now that's a loaded question! But a good one. Depends what you want for an end product.
Restore means different things to different folks. To some it means detail down to the point of chasing down dot-head bolts that you broke in taking it apart or to replace those that have been replaced in the past with Grade 2, 5 or 8. Those same folks will paint with an acrylic enamel of the type originally used . . . These are typically strictly show tractors, shedded to reduce fading and very rarely do any work.
The next level is much more common. Folks doing it will call it a restoration. The folks in the first group, as long as they're being polite, would call it a refurbishment. That is to strip everything down to the degree needed to repair a mechanical problems (leaking seals, noisy bearings, frequently a motor job), and use the paint of their choice (from affordable and durable to automotive paint). Level A of this type would include making an effort to get things like the original style hose clamps and gauges, and cloth-loom wiring harnesses with the wovwn insulation on the wires. Level B might do the same work but use, for example, the more readily available plastic-loom harnesses and a different style hose clamp. In either case, folks in this group will put good effort into prepping the iron and tin for paint, and look for a good paint job.
Next level is to make the mechanical repairs, and simply clean it up and touch up the paint where rust is a problem, so that you wind up with a machine that is a perectly good working tractor, just not especially showy.
Lowest is what we call the DuPont restoration. Get her so she'll run, hit her with a wire brush, maybe even pressure wash her, and paint her, maybe even with rattlecans, and clap some decals on.
The very first is a time consuming and costly proposition. I've never done one.
The second (both Levels a and B) are far more common. They can still take some time, depending on experience, resources and the condition of the tractor. I've done one of those, and one of the third.
The last is generally done in a attempt to dress up a tractor with mechanical problems for sale.
My SuperC is my working tractor. It got the third level treatment. A motor rebuild, a new throwout bearing while she was split, new rear rims and tires all around, and some other odds and ends. Her paint was faded but tight and she went back to work.
My baby, a family tractor, a BN, was stuck and a certifiable mess when I got hold of it. She needed tearing down to the point that I had every bolt, seal and most of the bearings out of her before the job was done, but I approached it that way from the beginning. Stripped away all the tin to leave just the iron chassis standing on the running gear. Hot-washed and sand-blasted all of that, and went to work. HAving taken some precautions, it wasn't much of a job to clean up the little residual blasting grit as I went along. Tin and smaller parts were cleaned up and primed and painted along with replacement parts and bolted back to the painted chassis. Motor rebuild, tranny work . . . A lot of effort, salvaging as much of the original as possible, keeping any replacement parts as close to original as possible (though not the dot-head bolts), and an entirely too expensive paint that I would not have used on any other tractor. Being the cuss-ed sort that I am, though, and being no fan of the correct police, I saved a couple of the bent nails that my great-grandfather used to replace cotter pins, and put them right back where he left them. One of them is in that throttle linkage I wrote about the other night.
Assuming your intentions put you in the second group, I think you're starting out right. Change out all your fluids, give her a good routine maintenance going over, get the motor running as well as you can and use the tractor as is for enough time to identify problems that will need fixing. Leaky seals, noisy bearings or partiularly noisy gears, balky clutch, low compression, too much steering play . . . and that pesky Touch Control.
What you find will help you lay out a plan and order of attack for the work that needs to be done.
Good luck. Keep us posted and don't be bashful about asking for help. There's plenty of folks here and elsewhere that are happy to help.
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