Posted by LenNH on March 04, 2009 at 08:50:31 from (71.235.191.159):
In Reply to: New Farmall M posted by cessnapilot3@gmail.com on March 04, 2009 at 07:23:19:
Since you have a radiator shutter crank, you probably have a kerosene-distillate engine. Unless the manifold has been replaced with a "gasoline" (cold) manifold, it will have a fairly massive-looking manifold which has the capability of heating the manifold enough to keep kerosene or distillate hot enough to burn well. As I recall, there is a lever ON the manifold that can be adjusted from a full-cold position to a full-hot position, for use of different fuels. Kerosene or distillate knock like crazy in high-compression engines, so engines designed for those fuels had a fairly low compression ratio, somewhere in the 4 to 1 range. Of course, many manifolds burned out eventually, and farmers simply replaced the "hot" manifolds with "cold" ones. This could be done by buying directly from IHC, or by going through aftermarket suppliers. Back in the early days of tractors, K-D models were probably more common than gas models, due to the lower cost of the fuels (NOT true any more!). Many, many K-D tractors (like the 10-20 and F-20 I used for years)were in use up through the early 50s, at least. There was a busy aftermarket industry supplying manifolds for conversion to gasoline. Some of the suppliers also made variable governors to put on early-model tractors that had "throttling governors" (these didn't really govern unless the engine was running at full-speed). It WAS possible to fit higher-compression pistons in a K-D model, and I suppose that it would be reasonable also to buy a high-compression head. Beginning in the early 30s, manufacturers often made a tractor specifically for K-D or specifically for gas (F-12, for example, and the H and M). The Nebraska tests are great sources of information for gearheads who like to learn what their tractors can do. You will find that the K-D models always put out somewhat less power than the gas models. I can't prove the following, but I think that using gasoline in a K-D model would result in SOME improvement in power, but not as much as if the engine were equipped for gas (manifold, compression ratio). By the time I began driving tractors in the early 40s, there were still plenty of K-D models around (we used our 10-20 until about 1951, and the F-20 until 1952). I did not know anybody who wanted to use kerosene or distillate, because it has high nuisance-value: start on gas, warm up, switch fuels, keep the engine HOT or it won't run right, burn out fuel in carb to stop engine. I prattle on, not knowing if any of this has anything at all to do with your tractor. Nostalgia, I guess.
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