The F20 Resurrected!

Hello everyone!

Well, I went and picked up some parts from Don Livingston yesterday. Great guy, and he gave me the grand tour of his place. Got to see a lot of cool, rare, and unique stuff! Made it home by 12:30 and got to work getting the F20 back on the ground. Picked up a nice set of 36" cutoffs with decent tread (bed weather checking). But they will do for now. Great guy, the Don. He had an MTA sitting on his place I offered him to trade my M for - I got a good chuckle out of him. I climbed in the truck and he hollered... "Make sure you turn the gas on when you start that F20!"
Got the magneto installed after taking it over to Rudy Calin' place (he took the time to take care of it on the spot). Installed a new coil and condensor, new carbon contact, recharged the magnet, and he even heli-coiled the stripped hole for me. Heck of a guy with a lot of knowledge and an impressive stock of NOS parts for a LOT of mags.
Got to work on hand cranking.. Gave it a few pulls and BANG! Thought it might have been some residual fuel in the cylinders. Few more cranks, and nothing. Hooked it up to the M and dragged it about 100 feet with several loud shotgun blasts out of the exhaust. Timing is off (no surprise I seem to do that every time)... Pulled the cap and rolled it over to #1 on compression stroke and the rotor is point at #2. Pulled the mag, rotated it one click.. About 10 feet of pulling and she took right off! MAN does this thing have a bark with that straight pipe! Hopped on to put it in gear, and she died. Hm... Hooked the strap up again- pulled it a good 75 feet and nothing.. Scratched my head and remembered Don saying, "MAKE SURE YOU TURN THE FUEL ON!" Well. I am humbled once again. Turn the fuel on and she fired right up. Adjusted the carb some - but the idle circuit must have a blockage. Can't get much of a response from the carb when adjusting the mixture needle.
Still learning the cranking procedure, but she will take off most times on the second flip of the crank. I gotta thank everyone on the forum - that is for SURE! You all are a great bunch! Enjoy the before and after pictures and the video!




1938 F20 Episode 14 It lives

Good to see another one saved

Knew youd get it! And yes, Don is a good guy! Ive bought a few pieces from him over the years, always been a great guy to deal with.

Great looking old beast.

Will show the story and the vid to my husband this weekend.

And you are not alone, Ken... on the first start of our Farmall Regular - my husband forgot to reset the impulse on the magneto after the first attempt to start it. He cranked it a few times before the thought occurred to him.

Does your transmission whine when driving?

Great work!

It does whine a little bit. It definitely could go for a change of fluid (next on the list). Who knows how long that stuff has been in there!

If you were down to see Don you were very close to my shop, you should of told me you were coming to Austin. We could of done some ice cream or something.

Ive got some factory rear 36" cast centers and rims you could put those tires on and match your front wheels. Located Craig, MO