Farmall Frustration

Ok folks I am a JD guy who over the last several years has been acquiring Farmall. I like the red tractors and in my area there are still a few that can be found at more reasonable prices than JD. No offense to anyone but so far I have not found the farmall resources for parts or information nearly as vast, well organized or accessible as JD. Here is where the frustration comes in. I have 3 tractors ( 2 super AV ??? and a Super C) and a bare engine block. Bare block is casting 251069R1 and by what I read is a C113. The super C should have the C123 and has a water pump.
Here is where the frustration comes in. I cant see the casting numbers on all of these well because they are behind the oil filter. I guess I could pull it to see but it that info still would not clear the mystery. One SAV has serial 340786 which by what I read makes it a 1953 and would be a late SAV and should have the C123 but it has no water pump. The block has been cobble welded below the distributor so to restore it needs to be replaced. What should be here????? 113 or 123 ????
The real head scratcher is the other SAV. No serial number on the seat bracket or bell housing and no indication a plate was ever in either place. It has SA sheet metal and a decal that says Super a but folks use the wrong decals all the time. SAV wheels in the back and regular wheels up front with car tires but long axle drops like an SAV and the square SAV or industrial front axle with the support that runs back to the engine block. It has water pump and if you stripped off all the extra stuff the block looks 113/123 but......... has a dipstick access cast into the block next to the oil filter housing and has an oil filler cap located on top of the governor/hydraulic area. I thought it might be a 100 high clear but what I see the engine doesn't match up to a 100 either due to the dipstick and filler cap on hydraulic pump. If I could at least find an indication of where a serial number plate was then that would help as the 100 plate is supposed to be on the bell housing. I'd like to restore these tractors since they appear to be high crops but I want to replace any improper parts someone may have used out of necessity just because they fit with the correct ones but I have to know where to start. I hope someone can alleviate the Farmall Frustration. Lack of information is not helping turn a green guy red.

IH made more tractors than JohnDeere.Farmal parts are plentyful.Everywhere If you cant find them,well,you're not looking.The internet is awash with IH part vendors. Every RedPower magine has many pages of IH parts suppliers.The IH/Farmall board here is the place to go. Those guys have infinite knoledge,so tap into it. They will most likely have your parts as well.Another good thing. You wont find the 'two cylinder snob' type with the IH guys that the JD guys tend to have.

You probably have a power unit engine.Or you could have a 'mutt' or 'Frankentractor'. That is more common place than you think,as so many IH parts/componets are interchangeable.'old' has a BA,made from a B front and a A rear. I have a Md/400. 400 from the clutch forward,MD from the clutch houseing back.Took two nonrunners from the dead row and made one good running tractor. We call him 'Frank'.IH was very good about keeping parts the same through many different models

Sorry but I have not been able to find the production records that JD has so if you can point me to site for Farmall that has that type info that would be great. I can get serial numbers to years and I can find some new parts on the net but not like what I am used to. In this case with one serial number and one without if it was JD finding info would be a bit harder too but with JD you can find specific serial number breaks when parts changed. Maybe I am not looking at the right thing but I am not seeing that as clear in the Farmall parts books. You'd be surprised at how many of us JD Snobs can tell you off hand specifically what changed on a JD model and at what serial number. There is no well it might have a water pump or not. You know at serial number XXXXXXXX the water pump was added. I can call 2 Cylinder and with the exception of a few records that were lost in a fire back in the day with the serial number I can get the day the tractor was made, what branch house and dealer it shipped to and on what day, what type wheels it left the factory with and any special configuration or equipment it left the factory with. I have not found that with Farmall so if you have that resource give me a number email etc. Instead I get well it could have this or that from the Farmall guys. When I pull up salvage Farmall parts on the web I don't get the hits like I do for JD. Even on Ebay I see more JD parts than Farmall. My experience personally is that I have not had good luck getting solid reliable information instead I have gotten a lot of guesses from folks which is why I posted here. As for your comment JD Snobs, I get it we used to call them the correct police but we have JD guys here who wont attend a club meeting anymore due to red snobs since one club here I am in is predominantly Farmall. We draw every year for the tractor to be on the show button and it killed them year before when my JD M was pulled out of the hat. We had a picture of a green JD M with a red bordered button There are good and bad folks in every color as most all think their brand was the best ever. I didn't post here to start the age old whose best or friendliest war. I am a guy who loves old tractors and is trying to fix up a couple in a brand that I am not that knowledgeable with, not having luck with or don't know where to look compared to what I am used to. I just need some guidance from somebody who actually knows and not guesses.

The price difference between a numbers correct collector tractor and a field ready franken-tractor is not very large or non-existant for most common tractors, way way less than the cost to correct everything. Any price difference will continue to fall as the prices of older tractors continues to fall. If you want to update them, that is your choice, but you are likely the only one that will notice the differences. Enjoy your tractors and have fun whatever you decide.

Thanks for the response. I am not really that much worried about value increase etc. To be honest yes I am a correct guy in that I like my stuff as it rolled of the assembly line. My biggest pet peeve is the folks that take an old model A car and chop it and put in a V8. If the tractor is supposed to have the one 123 then that is what I want to go back with. The big thing is the one engine with the dipstick and different oil filler cap is driving me nuts because I cant figure what engine it is or if its supposed to be there.

There are no records that provide clear production based build identity. International did that with medium and heavy trucks because they used so many suppliers for OEM (even in the same model year/model) that without the line setting Ticket in the glove box, matching the components was/is difficult. A book by Guy Fey (link) is about as good as it gets. As Delta points out, the intention of owners was to make them work no matter what. Putting the corerect casting number in each might be as far as you can get. Caseih.com search for parts, and Messick's https://www.messicks.com/part/70696879/parts-catalog are what we depend on The Caseih sight went with providing only part numbers for parts that were stocked. Not good. getting some better of late. Jim
Originality guide

I agree there are snobs with every color and they pretty much ruin it for everyone else. However it seems that every run in I ever had with a correct police person was a John Deere guy. I think the records being so complete on John Deere is because of the strong influence of the two cylinder Club. Sorry I offended you,that was not my intention. A pretty tractor as it came off the assembly line is nice, but not realistic in my opinion. The real appeal for me is to have it as the farmer used it and as it served his needs. They were modified as needed to keep the farm running I find those it's those modifications much more interesting than the same old same old factory correct. One example I have is a 1944 John Deere a with a Farmall M wide front grafted to it. A farmer needed a wide front and could not afford it or one was not available so he made his own. That is what impresses me.

Hello Standard! MOST of us red guys dont care if the stitching in our under wear is red, white or black. Now those green guys when they are purchasing first thing they check is green or yellow stitching... it has to be right. In the end the red guys get on there tractor start her up and drive off thinking ..man this thing is smooth, no pop pop bang bang two cylinder resonance to be heard or felt.. So over on the red board we have a couple. Guys Gene Bender D Slater and a couple others that know a thing or two about them old Farmall, come on over! It has been a little slow the last few days any how. See link
YT Farmall board

headed over now. thanks

Oh no one offended me I am not that thin skinned. I know the type as they dont like folks even showing a JD that has not been painted etc. I am not that way. Also I have no problem with folks enjoying and showing their machine however it was adapted, found etc. I show Farmalls and JD's in their work clothes. Again I would not be having this discussion at all if this didnt involve 2 what I suppose is high crop tractors. To me they are not the average version and I'd really like to restore one of them to as close as possible to factory original and correct. I have 2 Farmall H and 7 cubs I use and have shown a few of them. I have collected most all the cub implements. I just would like to restore a Farmall since none of mine have been redone.