“Ol’ Red” 1979 Wheel Horse C-81

As a couple of you witnessed tonight on youtube I got my carb back together, and after priming the bowl, the good ole Kohler fired right up.  I had to adjust the idle speed up to get it to idle, but I left the idle and main needles at the factory specs and the motor ran very smooth at idle and full throttle.  I'm calling this a success.

Yup, nice job.  Now you need a harbor freight gift card....

Looks good. Wish the carb on mutt would cooperate with me.

looks great.... im rebuilding/cleaning at least 1 a week now...I have been soaking them lately before I buy the rebuild kits, but that old engine looks awesome...

Good Job! The Livestream were cool!!

Well I tried starting Ol Red for the first time after the carburetor rebuild over a month ago and it wouldn’t light off.  I didn’t smell any gas and I know I’ve had ongoing fuel pump problems so I decided to replace the fuel pump with the spare one I had in stock.  After replacing the pump, I turned the motor over for a little bit and then it fired right up and sounded great!

Good deal. I wish i had a few fuel pumps around. One of the few things i dont have lol.

Awesome... Mechanical fuel pump?

MightyRaze wrote:

Awesome... Mechanical fuel pump?

Yep, good ol' cam lobe driven unit. Haha. Nice job Carl! Are you planning on doing some off-road adventuring with 'er soon?

This saturday with a couple ladies!

Oh Nice!

Went for a romp today with all my running machines.  Ladies were a no show but my best buds came.  Let me know if these are “summer shot” worthy


I’m still having some fuel delivery issues. A couple times it sounded like it was running out of gas.  I need to check the vent on the gas cap and reroute the fuel line going to the fuel pump.  It’s almost completely kinked so I’m sure that’s hindering the pumps effectiveness.

Those Pics look AWESOME!!!

Those pics are definitely summer shot worthy. Sounds like your tank isn't venting properly, and the kinked fuel line will hinder fuel flow. Check the tank vent and sort out the kinked fuel line and that should fix your fuel problems. That cam lobe operated fuel pump is awesome, never came across one like that before.

Nice shots of red. Looks good to me!

So I still have to test her out but I did a couple of things that should fix my fuel problem.

I couldn't see the vent hole in the craftsman cap I'm using so I drilled a couple of 1/16 holes where the vent should be to make certain it vents.

I removed the air cleaner to gain better access to the kinked fuel line.

My favorite parts stores were closed on Sunday and the other stores I checked didn't have a 1/4x1/4 barbed elbow approved for gas that I was going to use to get rid of the kink.  So I hunted around my shop a little bit and found some Gates brand fuel line that could make a tighter radius without kinking so I installed that and it doesn't look kinked or flattened.  This is just how the original fuel line looked.

Next I was feeling a little paranoid about the homemade metal battery hold down coming lose and shorting the battery.  (It came like this from the scrapyard).  So I WRAPPED IT UP with a few wraps of quality electrical tape.

I'm thinking about a pull start.  This location is kind of awkward but it's for emergency use only.

@Crazy_Carl nice, good thinking on the battery hold down, I like your idea of having the pull start there by your leg. is it going to be harder or easier to pull?

I haven't tried pulling it over yet.  I should try this small pulley first before cutting a notch for the rope knot.  It's just an 8hp so we'll see.  I might have to find a larger pulley.

ok, i skimmed threw all this and i have a question, whats haspin?

Haspin acres off road park. There is an annual trip every June. Second weekend of June, saw as the steel soldiers. It’s an awesome trip

when you say a trip, is it an ATLTF thing? and if so is there any thing happening around central PA? so far i have only been on a trail ride alone. (a friend riding piggy back while i drive dinky dose not count.)

Yes it’s an atltf/Facebook group trip. I don’t know of any meet ups in PA, but I know a few guys come from PA and mr.modified comes from NJ, so they make quite the drive. Redzz02 is somewhat in your neck of the woods though, and I think he goes to some off-road parks near you

Pull start is a pretty good Idea! I will add Pull Start to all my Engines!!

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Yes it’s an atltf/Facebook group trip. I don’t know of any meet ups in PA, but I know a few guys come from PA and mr.modified comes from NJ, so they make quite the drive. Redzz02 is somewhat in your neck of the woods though, and I think he goes to some off-road parks near you

so do you have to have a face book account to know whats going on with the trips, or are they talked about here? also i want to know about local becase im stuck in a hole were you need a car to get a lisence, but you need a license to buy a car.

and i game up with a genius ideah to get over that last bit, i want to see what state inspection requiers of a car and try building a tractor to me those requiems, if i pull it and get it inspected then i could get a license and buy a truck or something. i wanna have my first car before im 30. and i dont like thats only 6 years away

It is walked about on here in the haspin thread. Do a quick search and you’ll find a discussion for every year

Okay fellas, let's try and get the conversation focused back on Ol' Red again.

Any plans drawn up for a neat front bumper Carl?