work on my allis g

Soundguy · Feb 7, 2005

Well, I got off work a bit early today and decided to spend some time with my Allis G.
I degreased it.. boy what a task...

I've got the front up on jackstands and buffed as much paint as I can off. I primed everything forward of the steering wheel on saturday and sunday. Today, i shot a couple coats of persian orange on it. Gosh.. it looks great. I cad painted the front rims.

When i get more time off ( wednesday? afternoon ) I'll reinstall the front rubber and jack up the rear and prime it. Then disassemble the rims and centers and get them ready for paint. Hood and cowling were already primed. I need to do some body work ont he fenders, as well as alotta buffing and perhaps some brazing or welding on the battery box. At a minimum.. it needs help with corosion on the box floor.

It's looking more like a tractor now than a dune buggy now that it has some sheet metal!

Soundguy

Pooh_Bear · Feb 7, 2005

Yeah, a dune buggy.
That was what I first thought when I saw it.
That thing would make a great dune buggy.

I used to have a dune buggy.
It was the first car I ever owned.
I sold it a couple of years ago.
I miss my dune buggy.

Pooh Bear

Cliff_Johns · Feb 7, 2005

What, no photos? I looked back through your othe Allis-G posts and haven't seen any.

By degrease what exactly do you mean? Pressure wash? Rubbing it down with Simple green?

Also what does cad painting mean?

Sure would like to see before and after.

Cliff

Soundguy · Feb 8, 2005

I posted some pics before on other messages.. Not sure where they went.. Let me see what I can scrounge up.

Many of these oldies came with parts that were cadmium plated.. like gas tanks.. and rims mainly.. to give corosion resistance. That usually wears off or gets buffed off over the years.. or the repros come out virgin metal.. etc. There is a silver cad paint out and or you can use aluminum paint.. or silver paint... all 3 paint types look virtually the same, and look very close to the original cad plating.. though you can tell them apart.

I didn't pressure wash.. but did do some scraping brushing, and wiping with gojo citrus cutter/cleaner spray in a hand pump bottle. I was gonna buy an empty hand pump bottle at TSC and just use some of my simple green in my bulk jug at the barn.. but I notice dthe empty jugs cost a whopping 22 cents less than the prefilled bottles of go jo degreaser.. I decided for the 22 cents more.. I'd get the degreaser.. and when it was empty.. I'd use it for simple green anyway...

Soundguy

Soundguy · Feb 8, 2005

Ok, here is 'as purchased'.

It has a well used/rusty but functional woods mower deck under it. It has the factor optional belt pulley and hydraulic pump, as well as the factor hydraulic lift kit for the mid mount tool carrier. One front tire is an original 4x12 3 rib, and the other is a 4.8x12 trailer tire... both have now been replaced by a more readilly available 5.0x12 3 rib. Rears are 95% new. It has no fenders, hood, or rear hood cowling ( rear hood support ). It's had a weld repair or two on the front nose stabilizer bar.. nothing I'm going to mess with. The weld looks a tad crude.. but it also has had 4 coats of paint sinc ethe weld.. so my guess it is one of those ugly but tough 'good' welds. If I was ****.. I could grind on it for a few hours.. .. but I think I'll just leave it be. I don't want to chance cutting out so much weld that I have to take it down to original diameters and start over... My welding skills are still in the beginner stage.. not to mention I'd have to haul it to work to use the mig welder to get any kind of a good look.

I've found an original battery box, box lid, and rear cowling. A reproduction hood, and a reproduction cast crank hole... that gets installed into the rear cowling as a support for a hand crank. I also found a set of fender that were custom shortened ( with a torch? ). I'll have to grind on them to clean up the edges.. but they actually look ok. I liek the shorter looking ones anyway, as I'll have 2 hyd controlls on the left side and the shorter fender will help me get to them.

The tranny shifter had a small toilet plunger end on it instead of a rubber boot. I've located a suitable replacement boot. I've alsop purchased a 6v lamp for it, as well as a replacement manifold and muffler.. though I'll hold onto those as spare parts. it currently has a home-made muffler and manifold on it. Previous owner was good with a welder.. the homemade manifold looks great.. mad of pipe and flat stock. The muffler is a neat looking upright mini stack. I like it.. though the oem pancake muffler is nice as well. If I ever need to swap them.. I have the gaskets and parts available.

I had to customize the lower mounting bolts for the rear cowling to make about a half inch more clearance for the new muffler. that was easy by welding a nut onto a very short piece of allthread the same size as the mounting stud.. then screwing that onto the stud.. thus making an offset.. and then the cowling attatches to that offset stud.

I dropped the mower from the tractor as it needs serious maintenance.. lots of welding to do on it.. though all the bearings and spindles are good and tight...

It all comes down to how much shop time I get to spend on it. It is slow going being able to work on it only an hour hear and there. Most of my time is used up in buffing decades of old paint off of it with an agressive 3-m stripper disc and a hand drill.

While working on it this weekend, I noticed the fan belt was hanging on by a thread and a prayer. When I removed it I found that it was an old studebaker belt...talk about old!

Heres a rear shot:

Soundguy

Cliff_Johns · Feb 8, 2005

Thanks for the photos and the run down. Sure is a wacky looking tractor, but I've always liked them for some reason I don't understand. Seems to me that if the MMM wasn't installed, it would be pretty easy to pop a wheelie.

Nice work, I look forward to the rest of the story.

Cliff

Bully · Feb 8, 2005

That's what the trailer hitch is for, A wheelie bar. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Soundguy · Feb 8, 2005

Yep.. letting the clutch out too fast with any throttle above idle will make the front come off the ground a couple inches.. Don't ask me how I know that. ( On my test drive in the owners yard.. I popped a 2" wheelie, and left a spinnout mark in his st augustine lawn.. I figure the tractor price covered the damaged sod /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif )

Ok.. I took some pics today.. and here are 4 of them that fairly accurately capture the amount of work i've done so far.

Front frame.. I buffed/primed/shot it. I'll probably run one more coat on it..??

Operator platform. i still need to do reconstructive surgery on the battery box, and the fenders.. then when It is all reassembled.. I'll doctor the wireing.

Right rear.. shot of the new hood and used cowling. Also shows the engine, and simple control panel... lamp switch/resistor for generator, ignition switch, and ammeter.

Here the left rear.. shows the previous owners home made manifold ( great job ) and stack style muffler. The oem one would have had a pancake muffler mounted to the middle of the manifold. With this setup I had to lengthen the cowlng mounts by about an inch.. The fender mounts and hood area gave me just enough play for this.. that way the hood didn't set right ont he manifold and bur the paint.. and kept me from cutting the cowling down.. those cowlings are not reproduced anywhere and are pricey.. very pricey.

Soundguy

Cliff_Johns · Feb 8, 2005

Looking good. It's amazing how many arms and joints and bars and couplings there are on the front end. Got to love the color.

Cliff

RobS · Feb 9, 2005

Looking good Chris. I've seen a number of those at various fairs/shows. Always catch my eye as they are so unique. Do you show any of your vintage iron? Thanks for the pics and keep 'em coming /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif