W-9 Hop Up.

I bought a nice W-9 at auction last August at a consignment auction. The seller had a few other IH tractors there, and some had been modified for pulling. There was no readily apparent modifications for pulling done to the W-9--it looked basic stock, etc.

The rear tire lugs looked odd to me. I thought at first the tractor had seen a lot of road time cupping the lugs, but they didn't quite look that type of wear. A subseqent conversation with a local pulling guy, who does some tire cutting, pointed out that the lugs had been cut for pulling.

Some gas had leaked from the float bowl of the W-9 peeling off some paint from the block exposing a tan-colored primer. Apparently this motor had been rebuilt. As good as it runs, this seems logical.

Last weekend, my brother strapped my W-9 to our Club's load test fan. I was not there for this, but the following morning my brother was all geeked-up about how fast the W-9 was able to run the fan--as fast or faster than anything he's seen yet thus far. He's claiming there's a monster lurking beneath the hood of the W-9, and we don't know it.

Questions: if a puller was going to warm-up a W-9 engine, what would he do within reason? I suppose it's logical to slip 4.5" pistons and sleeves in the block taking it to 350 CID. Beyond that would would it be? Planing the deck/head? Hi-comp pistons? What might be the HP gains from these modifications?

I have had no success in contacting the seller to find out what he may have done to this motor.

Now I can't wait to hook the W-9 up to pullin sled.

Thanks Joe Evans

As far as RPM goes, I have no idea what it's turning. It sounds 'normal' to me at full throttle and no load.

When the W-9 was on the test fan, a buddy wanted to throw a tach on the fan shaft, but my brother told him not to bother. Wish he had tached it. That would be a very concrete indicator of the engine performance. My brother said that the W-9 was belted to the smaller of the two fan pulleys, and the fat beast still had more throttle to go. They had to shut done the show--the fan was beginning to shake, rattle and roll it was turning so fast. I'm telling you, that fan is a real killer. To have the W-9 running on the smaller pulley with more poop left...

I have seen a good Super M belted to the bigger pulley and cry for mercy at an indicate fan RPM of 430. We had the W-9 on a prony brake last fall, and was able to get an indicated 50 BHP registered. I was not there for this, but my brother told me that the flat belt had a funky splice and was not allowing the W-9 a good grip. The belt was faltering at 50 BHP. Again, my brother said the W-9 had more poop in it. Who knows what we could have registered on the brake.

So I'm going to get into some Club pulls where there will be a transfer sled. You seem to have confirmed my opinion that I need to run in 2nd gear. I pulled the -9 one time on a drag sled. It simply ran out of traction. Had to run in 1st gear--the sled nazis wouldn't let me run in 2nd. Too much speed they said.