Upgrading a 530

Hello everyone. First post but have read a lot of threads here before. I am restoring a 1959 530 and was wondering what could be done to bump the power up a bit. Not looking really to pull it seriously or anything like that, but I figure if I'm going to go thru the motor anyways, i may as well hop it up a bit.

I occasionally pull a 3 bottom plow with it, which it manages ok in our black Iowa dirt, but I'm sure it would pull it even easier with a few more ponies. Other than that it pulls a small disc and hay barges, and I use it whenever I can for odd jobs. I just love driving it. I would probably take it to an antique pull every once in awhile for fun, but I want this to remain a working girl.

So I now that I've rambled a bit, I'll get to my questions. I have searched this site and others, and just haven't found much information on what can be done, aside from obviously overboring it. I would prefer not to punch it way out, would rather keep as thick of cylinder walls as possible. Now, I've seen lots of threads about B's using higher compression pistons, but that alone seems to only get them to the power level that my 530 already makes, causing me to suspect I already have about that level of compression. So is it possible to get more compression for a 530 without buying some sort of fancy one-off set of pistons? And while still remaining reliable? Also Ive seen B guys talk about stroker cranks, are these avaliable for a 530 as well? More stroke and compression means I will need more fuel, so is a 630 carb the way to go? Camshaft upgrades? Porting the Head? How much of what I've read about the B is an identical process for me? I know they are very similar, but I've learned from my work on vehicles that "almost the same" and "exactly the same" can sometimes be a big difference!

I appreciate any advice you all have to offer, and price estimates for parts would be great if you have them! Thanks, and I look forward to sharing my progress on the restoration with you all.
 

From past experiences, i can tell you many things you can do and make significant power increases without a big over-bore..

A properly selected replacement Camshat is definitely preferred..More lift and Proper over-lap..

Cle3aning up the Intake/Exhaust will help a lot..

O Block off the "Heat Tube bypass" with a Stainless plate, same thickness as the manifold gaskets..
Since the other side is always set to "Cold", that keeps the heqat away from the intake and that passage will not fill and split open sometime in the future..

Clean up the Combustion chambers, polish what you can, remove ALL the casting f;lash you can AND Match the Passages to the Intake/ Exhaust ?Head..
I have seen some after-market intakes that are 1/2" off and must be matched..!

IF you have access to a Valve Grinder or have a friend willing... you can have the valves streamlined/ Polished ( I do this), removing all metal, thinning the valve right to the place of the Final site of the Seat angle and Polished to like Chrome..
Same goes for the Seats, cut them as far out on the valve as you can, .080" seating cut, polish the edge of every valve..

Open the throat of every port to the Seat angle....
Run 5-20 oil in the air cleaner ...

This done on my 630 and it will pull an F-145 4x16" as deep as ya like in Waxy ground, in established Alfalfa in 2nd gear and STay in second gear..

Max load...yea, but it handles it well..
My stock 520 (38" rears) is about a match for my 1952 JD "B" that is +.180" over..not any difference there, but both are solidly 2x14" tractors..

I would do the above and then increase the RPM 10 to 20% since you have improved the breathing...bringing the Peak HP and Torque to a higher RPM..

It will Still knuckle down in a tough spot, but it will carry through a lot better...

DO these things and you WILL see the Difference..!!
 
Well just an overhaul will likely gain you more power as a good chance it is worn out after all these years. M & W made add power pistons for these. I forget what the paperwork with them says it boosts them ?
 
Regrind the cam and degree time it properly, have the carb rebuilt by a professional pulling builder, have the head and manifold ported by a professional, and have the distributor redone. These are about the cheapest
fixes. Some guys say port and polish the head. That is a big mistake. Porting it works but don't do any polishing as it effects the air flow. If you put them on a flow bench it shows up. We can
do all these steps for you. If interested my email is open.
 
2X on bringing the cam, carburetor and distributor back into factory specification before making radical and expensive changes. A lot can go out of adjustment after sixty years. A compression test and leak down test can tell you a lot about the condition of the engine. Maybe run it on a dynamometer before and after those changes, you might be pleasantly surprised with the power and torque rise.
 

Same as everyone else. The engine has to be a more efficient air pump and make more efficient use of the pressure during the power stroke.
Dry air cleaner conversion, LP pistons, LP manifolds, port match the manifolds, blend the rough edges out of the ports, 3 angle valve job on the valve seats, back cut the intake valves, mill the intake valve eyebrow out to the edge of the bore, mill 100 thou off the head and a custom ground cam/cam followers.
Won't cost that much and it will make 45-50HP instead of 37HP.
May need 89 or 91 octane
 
Thanks for the advice. Ive always been told to only.port the intake but to polish the exhaust, at least on v8s. Reasoning being that polishing the intake will cause fuel droplets to build up on it or something along those lines. I have ported 302 heads and would like to do whatever I can myself, would definately be interested in getting a cam grind though.
 
thanks for the advice! So are cams available at all or is it a custom grinding job as another member has suggested? I would be comfortable doing some porting as Ive done a set of 302 heads and used a friend's flow tester. I would leave a valve job to a pro tho I think. I did wonder if light oil in the cleaner would help. Currently the tractor has 5w40 Valvoline synthetic diesel oil in in the sump and cleaner. I switched it over gradually from 15w40, adding an additional qt each change to the 15w40 it has had as long as my dad had it. It smoked a bit at first but cleaned up. I assume that was ring deposits.
 
I'll have to see if I can find a set of those without completely spending a fortune. Every time I search I only see B pistons, but I'll keep a look out. Tbh it runs pretty strong for it's age. My dad only used it to run the elevator and spray weeds for 40 years. It maybe saw 10-20hrs a year. Great uncle Ray farmed with it but I never got to meet him so I don't know what all he used it for. Standard stuff I assume. It has cultivator mounts on it but unfortunately dad never got the cultivator itself. I've got it switched over to synthetic oil. It smoked a little at first but that went away after putting it to good work a few times. Probably just ring deposits cleaning up. I mostly just want to rebuild it for fun and to have everything fresh. The gear head in me wants a little more power while I'm at it. Dad tells a story that one day his hired hand took off the sprayer after work and took it into the pulls. Apparently it walked by a hotrodded B one of his friends had and a couple Farmalls that were warmed up, and they were all a bit upset about getting showed up by a dirty, bone stock, 530 straight out of the field :) the guy who owns the B still banters with him about it.
 

Tyler Buchheit has been doing almost the exact thing you want to do with a 630 and has been writing articles about it in Green Magazine.
 

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