Refurbishing my Z145 135

[Mike476]

Mine has a threaded knob that permits easy access to the filter so there's no reason not to do it. I do admit to not doing it the first year I owned it, when I did finally get around to it I had to remove it to clean it as well as I'd wanted.

[The kid]

Mine has a threaded knob that permits easy access to the filter so there's no reason not to do it. I do admit to not doing it the first year I owned it, when I did finally get around to it I had to remove it to clean it as well as I'd wanted.

This is what I saw when I pulled my filter out. Mind you the pre-cleaner top was missing which probably contributed to the current condition. I'm going to sand the inside sides and use a rust remover on all of it and give it a good shot of rustproofing paint.

[The kid]

I was asked a question recently as to where the location of the Temperature Gauge sensor is located. I'm replacing mine and had a couple of pictures, so this should answer the question. The sensor is located just below the waterpump below the fan in the front of the engine. The replacement gauge came with a larger thread adapter which was not needed on my 135 Continental Z145. Use some teflon tape on the threads when mounting the sensor.

[Mike476]

How did you make out with fitting / retro-fitting or repairing your battery tray?

[The kid]

How did you make out with fitting / retro-fitting or repairing your battery tray?

The battery tray is still in good to fair shape. The integrity of the platform is still solid enough to hold the battery ok. There is one on eBay right now but it's for one like yours. It doesn't concern me unless I was to flip my tractor, then my battery might get loose. . If I run across one down the road I'll buy it and replace it. Right now I've just about got all my rewiring done. If the better half will ease up with the honey doo's that is. -robert

[The kid]

I've been busy working on the body pieces. My old welder laid down on me and getting used to my new one.

A few days ago I finished up the air breather. On mine I have a vertical mounted breather. The pre-cleaner was originally missing and found a replacement.I did some checking as to what type of hose clamps where used back in 1965. I have an original vintage OP manual and it shows twin wire and a slotted screw driver tightener. I found some at a good price and I think it adds to it's original look.

Inside the pre-cleaner was treated with a rust removal gel and rinsed and blow dried. I use a rust preventive paint on the inside. I used Acrylic enamel on the air tube, cleaner body and pre-cleaner top. Finished them off with clearcoat to add a bit of shine.

A page out of the original OP manual showing twin wire hose clamps.


Original look for the air cleaner.


I also installed a new air unloader valve. Assembly ready to be mounted in the tractor.


Here's a picture of the pre-cleaner. These little guys are very rare. Most OP threw them away. They would get stuck and have to be beat off. They just press in. If they get rusty, could be a bear to get off. I'm going to cut a few notches in the rim to allow a screwdriver to easily pop it out when servicing the air filter. This one came from a salvage yard in Texas.


Next I will show an easy way to check your sheet metal fitment and made adjustment before you paint. I have a few holes to fill with my welder and I'll show how you can accomplish that rather easily.

[The kid]

Fitting old to new

One of the problems of restoring/refurbishing your old tractor is blending old and new parts. Some prefer to use only genuine parts. That's all and good, but sometimes even that has it's problems Finding new original parts is next to impossible when your dealing with a 47 year old tractor. My front nose was in bad shape on the bottom. It would have taken alot of fabrication that I couldn't justify. So I replaced it with an aftermarket one. The new one is actually made of thicker sheet metal which should make it less prone to be dinged in the field.

To properly fit the new pieces to the old, I made a positive and negative pattern of the point that the hood mates to. Basically this gives me the exact shape my hood should be to fit perfectly.





Once I cut out my patterns I checked my hood with it for fitment. The hood was way off from the nose pattern I made. I examined the hood to see if I could bend it to match the pattern. Then I noticed the spot welds where broken that attaches to the horizontal braces. I'll retack them tommorro with my MIG welder. I have an extra long C clamp that should hold the hood in place when I retack those welds. There are eight welds on the inside braces. Out of eight welds, only three where still intact.



Once I fix those welds, I should be able to bend the hood side to match my pattern.

[The kid]

Fitting old to new (part two)

One of the problems I've run into is fitting old original to new. They should fit fine.. But.. What tractor was the new part modeled after?

Was it a 64 or later in the 70's? Checking my hood to the new dash there was quite a bit difference in angles, weight and so forth. That's not a show stopper. I've shown how to make a pattern to use while shaping the hood braces to match the front end. Now it's time to turn to the rear end of the hood. They are differences in shape since I'm replacing the nose. My old hood was badly warped. The hood had a piece of rope as the safety to keep it from flopping over. That issue will be resolved later. Why was my hood warped? The brace welds as previously mentioned where broken. They get fixed while I put the hood back into it's original shape and mating it to the new nose.

Are you still with me. Don't fall asleep yet..

He we go. Making a pattern for the front dash to hood.



Now I use positive pattern of the dash and compare it to the rear inside of the hood. WAY OFF... way off. No problem..



Found several causes of the warping. broken welds. Five out of eight where bad causing the hood to flex. Easy fix.. After tacking the welds back in place the hood was still way out of alighment.



I had to cut the hinge brace bracket out of the hood brace in order to bend the hood brace to conform to my pattern. I later weld it back in.



One of a welder best friend is the welders spoon. It can be homeaid by use a flattened piece of copper tubing. I have two spoons. One curved and one hammered flat. Here you see a couple of holes drilled into the hood for reasons unknown. Easy fix.. Grind off the paint around the holes and a good grounding point. Place your spoon flat against the hole on the OUTSIDE and weld in the hole from the inside. This leaves less cleanup on the outside with minimal finish grinding. I have some side pieces that are rotted with rust near the bolt points I'll repair the same way and redrill the holes.


Now to clean up the hood, prime it and move on to other pieces that need attention.

[The kid]

Some of the sheetmetal issues I'm dealing with is past repairs. This photo show a poor weld made some time ago by a previous owner. When I ground down to check the weld this is what I found. I'll grind down the old weld and spoon feed the spot and it will be good as new.



The side panels where they bolt to the dash suffered from rust decay and barely hold the piece in place. I'll weld up these hole and drill new ones. One the rear of the side panels. the top connection point is actually a welded bolt to the sheet metal. It also will get replaced. I'll grind down the head of a bolt and weld it to the sheet metal and it too will be good as new.

[The kid]

I went to one of the local flea markets today with the Mrs where she did her looking and buying and I did mine. I found a guy who had an assortment or electrical crimp on connectors, switches, fuses, wire plus, etc. I stated that I wasn't reburbishing my 135 for historical accuracy so i had an idea. Here's what I bought. I already had a rather bland looking headlight switch and the plough light worked off a switch on the lamp. I'm also adding a flashing caution light on the same phough light bracket.

This photo shows a small connection block where I'll use two sets to route grounds and two sets to route a 12V sources. I will fuse the block with a waterproof 30A fuse enclosure.



I found some really neat 30A SPST switches with waterproof screw on covers. I also bought some mini red LED's so when I have the switchs on for headlights, and on for the plough light that the LED will illuminate above each switch. I'll mount them on the lowerleft side just above and to the left of the ignition switch.



This photo shows the switch assembled with the switch cover on it. I looks like a normal switch buy covered with rubber. The LED's wasn't part of my orginal plan. I actually bought them for my street rod turning indicators I was going to hide them in the instrument cluster. Then since I bought four I thought it would be cool to show that my light(s) where on since they will be wired how independent from the ignition switch.