Massey Harris Pacer carb issue etc.

[JWR]

My cousin and I have a 1954 Massey Harris Pacer which our family bought new to replace the two horses as they approached retirement age. It has been a remarkable machine in 100 different ways. The one I write about here at the moment is "Unwanted Engine Stoppage."

The Pacer 4 cyl Continental engine had incredible power for what was only rated as 16HP. One disease the thing developed in mid-life was that the engine would start to sputter, lose power and eventually quit right in the middle of any kind of usage. Did not seem to matter what you were doing. Heaven help you if you were pulling 100 bales of hay on a heavy wagon up hill because you stood no prayer of holding the thing against the hill with those mechanical brakes (!!)

This past week I was trim mowing with the cutter bar on the Pacer and the big thing I noticed is that the engine never quits any more. (well, not so far anyway.) In the old days I reached forward from the drivers seat with a wrench and hit the metal fuel bowl of the carburetor a whack of measured strength (hard enough to dislodge the float and not hard enough to break the bowl...) and it would return to normal running for a while. I always figured it had to be the float or float valve sticking. NOW, it ran for a long time ... never a single stoppage. I severely hate to admit such things (being a severe skeptic of additives) but I almost have to say that the SeaFoam additive I put in seems to get the credit. Nothing else done different that I know of. I really have to think that the SeaFoam lubricated the float valve on that thing.

This is the same sort of updraft carb used on many different brands of tractors in those days.

Have any of you had similar issues with these old carburetors ? Comment on the liklihood of crediting the SeaFoam additive with the fix ??

 

[DJ54]

I use Seafoam, AND Stabil in all of my gas engine equipment, from the IH 656 gasser, down to a one wheeled cultivating tractor. Seems to keep the fuel systems clean, and easy starting, when they've been setting for a while. Just got my little onewheeler out last week to cultivate around veggies too tall for the pld David Bradley 2 wheeler to straddle, and it started on the second pull. Hasn't ran since last Sept.

I'll also add Marvel Mystery Oil to a smaller can, dedicated to a few of my garden tractors with engines from the 50's & 60's,designed to run on leaded gas. Immediately stopped the sticking of the exhaust valves, when working them hard.

Rural King has a product that on the can say's "Compare to Seafoam", for $4.99. I got a couple cans,and will probably use it all this year,and see how it does work. Probably won't really know until next Spring.

I'm not much on "mecahnic in a can" products, but, those 3 products work well for me. Especially with this ethanol laced gas we use today.