Murraymountain's Deal Flipping Thread PT2

Nice job man sounds like you put alot of work into it but sounds like it was worth it! I'm not really a JD guy but that is a nice little tractor.

Picked up a nice decent size Scotts tonight! Identical to an L120. I had a “iso free mowers” ad on the ol’ marketplace and a guy got a hold of me and said to come get it. It has fairly new oil, air filter, and gas in it. Battery is 2 years old. So I know it hasn’t been sitting long. There were no details nor do I know the reason why it was given to me. Never saw the guy. He just told me to take it. Only thing I could see that definitely would’ve cause a problem was a broken tensioner spring on the deck. Other than that, unless the trans slips when warm, there seems to be very little wrong with it. It started up and moved tonight with nothing but a battery and some starter fluid. Stayed running after. So if the trans is good, I had one heck of a score on this one! Can’t tell yet if the motor has been swapped or just the engine cover. Gotta run the numbers still to see what we have.




On another note, I started working on the Snapper Comet. Ended up taking the head off because the carbon build up was so bad. Cleaned it up real good and threw it back together. I broke the rules and reused the head gasket but it’s a flat head so it’ll be fine. It was in really good shape. Nothing tore at all on it. Cylinder walls were surprisingly clean too.




Then I took the whole fuel system apart as it was full of green fermented liquids. Put the carb and gas tank in the ultrasonic cleaner. The tank is still questionable but the carb looks to have come out nicely gonna put it back together tomorrow.



Also sharpened the blade, drained the oil, and put the seat on. Found out it needs a solenoid, a front tire, and throttle cable.



As for the other Snapper, I’m gonna attempt to put a pressure washer engine on it. However if I can’t get the fitment right without lots of effort, I’ll probably just sell the whole thing as is. It’s not worth all the trouble to me since I can really only get $250 for it. We’ll see how that goes.

Put some work into the Scotts. Turns out it is a 20HP Briggs which is what it would've had from factory. Got the blades sharpened and deck cleaned and hood installed correctly. Got all the parts I should need to finish it! Got everything I need for the JD 111 too except for an air filter. Put the fuel system back together on the Snapper and it runs but starves really bad. Haven't had time to look into it any further. Picked up EIGHT more mowers this week and looks like I got 3 vehicles for a grand total of $250 for the vehicles!

A bullnose Ford that's in really good shape. The frame is scaly but not bad. The body looks pretty good aside from the tailgate and big dent in the right bedside. It's the 300 I6 and an auto 2wd. About as light duty as they come but these old bullnoses are the next dentside and are becoming pretty valuable so that's a score! Also might come with a free VW Beetle that looks aight and a Chevy Lumina which I have not seen any photos of.





Anyway, I won't start picking those up until after I sell some mowers and/or the Explorer.

The mowers I picked up over the past week include:
-John Deere L120
-John Deere L110
-John Deere RX75
-Murray Widebody 12.5/40 Select
-2009 Model Troy Bilt Bronco
-Husqvarna YTH 150
-1998 Model Yard Machine 16.5 LT
-2011 Model MTD Gold Hydro

The Troy, Husqvarna, and L120 got stripped and parted out. The MTD Gold, RX75, and L110 went to my brother. So that leaves me with the Murray and Yard Machine. Here they all are. I took a pic of the parts mowers, L110 and MTD Gold all in the same pic because most are parts donors and the others aren't mine so I didn't take the time to get pics.




Here's my two:





I washed them all off yesterday. They both need some body and paintwork if they run and cut good with fairly little effort.



I still haven't touched them other than washing them down good. I've run out of time this week for that so now they have to wait for next week.

Holy cow man you're really on a roll! I'm definitely jealous of the space you must have to house everything! Lol

can I ask exactly where you find this stuff? (If this is just showing up on marketplace or whatever i'm moving to NC tomorrow lol) Also shocked that you are picking this stuff up in the winter, I can't find anything between nov-april around here, nice finds!

Brianator wrote:

Holy cow man you're really on a roll! I'm definitely jealous of the space you must have to house everything! Lol

Yup! Unfortunate as it is this is why Alfredo, the MM, and F250 are on the back burner. We don't have the biggest space in the world but yeah we have enough to keep it all for the short amount of time they're usually here. About 13 acres, two car ports, the main shop is a 1400 sq ft metal insulated barn on cement slabs, and now I have an overflow section that is hidden off down a side trail that is completely uncovered which is where Ole Blue, The Wizard, Death Trap, and the Scat Rat sit and do nothing. Anyway, yeah we're very very blessed to have what we have.

TechnoChicken wrote:

can I ask exactly where you find this stuff? (If this is just showing up on marketplace or whatever i'm moving to NC tomorrow lol) Also shocked that you are picking this stuff up in the winter, I can't find anything between nov-april around here, nice finds!

I'll give you a pretty extensive list of where we find stuff, lol. It goes all the way back to the beginning so you may have to read the original thread to know which ones I'm talking about.

-The Eagle (and Mustang II last summer) was found in some guys yard who had about 35 cars sitting around. We stopped by and knocked on the door and spent a few hours just looking around and talking to him and at the end decided to buy the Eagle. So total of 2 cars, 1 mower, $550 for all.

-Ole Blue, the now oppy swapped Husqvarna, and the 4 red MTDs and Craftsmans we got 2 years ago we got at the local small engine repair. We befriended the guy and he's always backed up so if someone gives him one and we're willing to take it off his hands he gives it to us because he needs the room, so it's taking a headache off his hands. Total of 6 mowers, Free.

-My dentside was found at the same place the F150 and Beetle and Lumina and JD L110 and L120 were found. That's actually how I found these vehicles. It took a lot of persistence to get my dentside but I went and knocked on the door of the house I got my dentside at and asked about the F150 and mowers and she basically said take it all because she's sick of looking at it, and she wants to put a playground thing there for her grandkids and doesn't want the stuff there to draw snakes. Total of 4 cars, 2 mowers, $250 for all (not including title fees and stuff).

-My Explorer and DYT4000 was found through a friend but that was different situation because of a death in her family so that doesn't really count. 1 car, 1 mower, $200.

-The first L120, L110, two of the Widebodies, Wizard, Country Clipper zero turn, original LX176, Kohler swapped Troy Bilt, the Troy Bilt GT, and Poulan came through friends and family and neighbors just giving their old stuff to me. Sometimes we had to inquire about them but other times not. A few we had to pay for but most were free. 10 mowers (7 free), $445 in total.

-The Lowes, Craps-man, stamped frame Murray, Mountain Murray and the blown Widebody that came with it, my brothers Craftsman II, came from knocking on doors. 6 mowers, all free.

-The Kohler Craftsman with the bad trans, the Scotts, and JD L111 came from a Marketplace ad I put out saying "iso of free riding mowers." The T1200, Alpha Sports, and Husqvarna 18.5, and first Bolens came from sales I made where the buyer gave me their old one because they didn't want it. 7 mowers, the 4 from sales come out to $195 total.

-My brothers original Murray (Now the Death trap), his original Rally, My 3rd LT1000 that I rebuilt the trans in, mini quad and yellow Suzuki quad, the complete LX176, both Alfredo and it's twin, the JD GX95 and a bunch of different parts tractors, and really any oddball used part we get including a lot of engines, transaxles and decks come from the junkyard. We also befriended the man there so he gives us killer deals on all of it. I don't know how many exactly we got from him or how much all of it was because we've been going to him for 6 years and have spent thousands in total there because that's really our main supplier of able to fix all of these mowers.

-The three rental Yard Machines in 2019 came from a rental company called Aarons that had written those three off of inventory and were going to scrap them so he said to please take them away. The Scat Rat, Murray go kart, and White MTD came from a welding/fab shop who didn't want them. Some were free some we made an offer on. 5 mowers, 1 go kart, all were free except the White. I don't remember what he paid.

-The Nissan 720, the JD 111, the JD 318, Kohler swapped Murray, The Murray GT, the Murray 4 pack deal, ALL the Snappers we've had, the recent load of 4 that included the Ford and the Rally and the other 6 mowers we just picked up, and the $50 Craftsman GT all came from Marketplace. 1 car, 26 mowers. $1,360 for all of it. The JD 318 accounts for $450 of that so that was just a bad deal.

All in all, 8 cars, a four wheeler, a go kart, and 64 mowers (more than that if you include the junkyard mowers and 4 or 5 I'm leaving out but they aren't included in price). For all of it, it's cost $3000. Not bad at all when you consider profits are probably somewhere near $20k. I need to do that math but that's what I'm expecting. Mind you this is all over 6 years. Most of it has been done in the last 3 but still.

Anyway, quite the write up and it kinda turned into my records that I don't have but I feel like it's some valuable info. It will be for me at least. Shows that a majority of it comes from Marketplace but a lot comes from stopping at peoples homes and businesses.

I’ve been working on the JD 111 trying to finish it up, but this is what I got yesterday. This is the only thing holding me back now.



Any thoughts as to what this may be? I don’t want to pull the flywheel but probably will have to.

From what I know the tappet (valve) cover is not a good place to get a signal for a fuel pump as it's just not a strong enough signal because of the one way valve built in, the intake (between the carb and engine) or the oil dipstick tube (near the top) are the best places to get signal.

I have heard of tappet covers with a fitting for pulse but haven't been able to find one myself, maybe you have one of those unless someone made that, the one(s) I've heard of is specially designed to get a good signal by bypassing the one way valve. Might be time to take the cover off and see if it looks like it was manufactured like that or if someone added the fitting themselves. Did you try it with the fitting hooked up to the pump?

Your top crank seal could be shot OR because you've plumbed the PCV vent as a pulse signal you may not have adequate venting which is creating excessive pressure in the crankcase so it's blowing oil out of anywhere it can.  I've opened up a few of those and have never seen a seal on the governer shaft, seems to rely on a snug fit in the brass tube.

As a test I would clean all that oil up, take the PCV hose off the pump so you know it's venting and try running it using a spare tank via gravity feed to see if it's still pissing oil.

The L heads actually rely on mix-and-match thicknesses of sump gaskets to get the proper crankshaft endplay as well in case you aren't aware.

Hope some of this helps a fella out!

It’s just me but I’d get one of those 20 dollar aftermarket gasket kits and just do all the seals and gaskets, and lap the valves. Quick and dirty but it’s not something I think would be regrettable long term. Quick paint job on the motor might help with the asking price a little.

Brianator wrote:

From what I know the tappet (valve) cover is not a good place to get a signal for a fuel pump as it's just not a strong enough signal because of the one way valve built in, the intake (between the carb and engine) or the oil dipstick tube (near the top) are the best places to get signal.

I have heard of tappet covers with a fitting for pulse but haven't been able to find one myself, maybe you have one of those unless someone made that, the one(s) I've heard of is specially designed to get a good signal by bypassing the one way valve. Might be time to take the cover off and see if it looks like it was manufactured like that or if someone added the fitting themselves. Did you try it with the fitting hooked up to the pump?

I've been told the tappet cover wasn't a good spot for the same reason and so I never hook one up there. I always use the dipstick. Done it many times on Kohlers and some Briggs too.

So, as you say, take it apart and see what's up. Well I did that quite a while back because the original style fuel pump was not working and I was suspecting a possible clog. The pulse tube was plumbed to that fitting when I got it. When I took it apart it was loose so I tightened it and you could tell it was definitely there from factory, so what you heard was correct. I ended up trying the new style pump off that fitting and it didn't provide enough pressure to pump fuel, so I plugged it and went from the pcv for the heck of it and that worked for the new style pump. Old one ended up being completely dead.

As far as the leak goes, I did end up finding it. Wasn't able to clean all the oil off as much as I would've liked to, but turns out, when I took the flywheel off, I found points. So I took the cover off and sure enough there were massive puddles of oil everywhere. What I found out was that the mower had been swapped from points and condenser to a regular style coil early on, because it has a very early regular style coil. The condenser was missing but the points were still there. I determined that the leak was coming from the plunger for the points. So I removed everything, cleaned it up somewhat, and put only the plunger back in partially and packed it with RTV to now act as a plug. We'll see how that works. Hasn't leaked since as far as I know.

I also worked on the governor spring because it was running a bit high when not under load at high engine speed. Regretting it now. I got it to run right not under load but when in gear and the deck on it runs at about 1500 RPM. Not happy about it but I've tried probably 3 different times to work with the spring to get it back up but at this point I gave up. Calling it and the Scotts done for now.




Brought the Wizard back today! The old girl was in really sad shape considering it drove itself to where it was parked back at the beginning of Fall. All the tires were low or flat, the seat had been blown back down so it was full of water, somehow the gas cap came off and rain was going into the gas tank, there were two mice in it and a massive nest in the engine, the fuel line had been chewed on from the fuel pump all the way to the tank and was ruined and leaking so yeah I had to extensively take this thing apart today to get it back up and going. I must say, it was about time the old girl got some fresh new fuel lines put in! Popped a fairly new filter in too since the old one looked awful and could've been part of why it was starving out mowing last season. Anyway, plowed some drainage ditches today after getting her going again and then parked it. A shame it has to sit out in the weather 24/7 but it doesn't get used that often and we need our space for nicer tractors and such.



I finally finished the Explorer! All detailed up and lookin' sharp!





Got the paperwork I need to get the title, just gotta go get it now, lol.

I finally got the title for the Explorer and sold it the other day for $1950. Less than what I was hoping for but it's alright. Buyer was happy with it. The Scotts got sold a while back for $700, I fixed the high idle on the JD 111 and sold it for $450.

The Kohler swapped Troy Bilt had a lot of work done to it. I ended up swapping several different stators on it that were known good ones and it quit charging completely. I don't even know what all I did to it at this point but it was so much work and I was so tired of doing the same thing over and over, I just pulled the motor and swapped the 17.5 Kohler from my brother's JD L110 into it and that sure enough fixed the issue. Put a headlight switch in it and changed the drive belts and sold it for $450.



Funny story, after the guy bought it, the belt popped off the deck so I went over to fix it for him and when I got there, one of my automotive classmate's truck was in the driveway. When I walked in that Monday to Auto he looked at me with such a funny look and went "WTF were you doin at my house?!?"

Anyway, my brother sold some mowers that aren't even documented in this thread, and on his way back from delivering the last one, stopped by a shop that had a John Deere 430 that had been there for a few years. He asked if the owner would sell it and he said for $1000 he would. Needless to say, an hour later we were bringing our new John Deere 430 home.



Doesn't look too happy in the picture, but it cleaned up really nice! It didn't even need any work to mow. Had been sitting for almost a year and it started right up without jump start or anything and mowed. All he's had to do was put a deck belt on it so far. Definitely a killer deal and he's absolutely in love with it. He's eventually going to restore it. He also got a free Tecumseh powered Craftsman bagger with it and a scrape blade for somewhere around $100. Glad we got rid of that old 318... this is 1000x better.




I went by the scrapyard one day looking for something that I can't even remember but regardless, I found two mowers that were there for $50 a piece. One was a Murray GT and the other was Craftsman GT. The Murray was beat and bent up and the wiring was chooched and the Craftsman was complete but had some of the most severe rust I've seen in vital components. So both were supposed to be parts. Instead the Craftsman got stripped down and the clean running 11 horse on the Murray was swapped out for the absolutely gorgeous 18 HP Kohler Magnum. So the Murray is now the start of another mud mower that my brother is building. The Craftsman deck and frame and other misc parts went back to the scrapyard where it came from. I did get some nice wheel weights from it for my Wizard. That L110 from the haul earlier this year ended up getting stripped down as the trans would slip when hot.




Like I said, Craftsman is long gone. The Snapper was free and my brother got it going and sold it for I think $600 a week or two ago. The JD 130 is mine and was also free. Supposed to have a bad trans. I'll be sourcing another one soon and swapping that out. Has the beautiful 23 HP Kohler Command V-Twin in it AND a roof that needs recovered. Currently is in the overflow section until I get a trans for it.

My brother ended up buying the Ford bullnose and the Beetle ended up falling through as he wanted $450 for it and it has a bad trans and God knows what else plus a destroyed title. Not a good enough deal for me... Especially being a parts car. However I am still getting the Lumina. Anyway here's some pics of the truck now that it's home.





Was locked up but he freed it up and it actually runs really good and smooth. Trans had leaked out all it's fluid so he added 4.5 quarts of fluid and it drove around. Needs vacuum hoses and some wiring, fuel tank, rear brake shoes and hardware, front calipers, rotors, and pads among other misc things. Solid deal though.

I also scored a idk what year Chevy Malibu for $150. Still gotta pick it up. Motor is supposedly locked up. Has a clear title though, so I'm going to try to find a good V6 for it and have the college swap it in since it'll be free and isn't too difficult they said. Needs a fender too obviously. But this is a sneak peak at what is coming in the summer.




Truly an average ugly car but hey if it makes me some money, I'm not complaining. Anyway, back to mowers...


I FINALLY put a trans in the Troy Bilt GT. And this time it work out well! Spent one night swapping it in and tested it out. Came out to be a healthy trans aside from an axle seal leak. The pedal does operate backwards as the K46 operates different than what was in this from factory even though it is the same trans cases and mounting. I put two self tappers in the pedal to get more travel. Looks cheesy, but it actually feels really good and sturdy when you're driving it. Only way I could be happier with that mod is if it looked better.




After a couple weeks, I took on the task of cutting the old wheels off to put the 22s on. I've cut wheels off before, so it was nothing new. I managed to hammer one off, but the other I had to cut. Everything was going fine up until about 85% of the way through. Out of nowhere the grinder caught on something and jolted with so much force it shot right out of hands and towards my face and literally landed on my shoulder and fell into my lap until it hit the floor. Only by the grace of God did I make it out of that one unscathed. I took about a 15-20 minute break after that one to just process what had happened. Gave me one heck of a scare. Launching and hitting my arm or something is one thing, but launching at my face and neck and whatnot... that's a whole lot different.



Anyway, after that, I finished what I was lacking and quit for the day. Came back later and drilled some holes into the axle and a hole on one side of the hubs. I know this isn't the strongest solution, but let me be clear I would never do this on a mud mower or something like that. This tractor isn't made to be abused like that. It's a lawn mower that stays on mowing duty, so I'm not too worried about keeping things mud mower type durable.





Worked out pretty well. Got it listed at $1K. Hoping to get $900.


Anyway, I just got out of school, so I'll be getting back to the mowers this week! Started on the Widebody today and yesterday. Found out that the key does nothing, the motor has no spark, and the carb need cleaned. So I took it all apart today and will be working on it all week. Hoping to have it running and cutting by the weekend.






Anyway, there's the big update!

Thats quite the update!  Also, must be grinder safety week.  Sheesh...

My brother put new rocker arms in his four wheeler today... No wonder it was so down on power... The difference is insane. Takes some serious abuse to wear like that.





On another note, been working on the Murray the past couple of days. Made some good headway on it! Gotta make a parts run tomorrow but I should be good to finish it up after that! I cleaned the carb and coil and got it to run. Ran pretty good... put on quite a smoke show though.



After that I put the floor mats on, tried to tie the hood back together as it was pretty bad, changed the plug, removed the solenoid for the new one, filled the tires with air and they are holding well, and wet sanded the paint and put fresh clear coat on it... Couldn't be happier with the results!




Waiting to get it to start with the key before I put the dash back on. The dash cover makes it such a pain to work on under there. Gonna finish as much as I can on it tomorrow and then move on to probably the L130 since I picked up a trans or Snapper Comet. Not too sure yet.

Well I guess I'll pick up where I left off. Not long after that last picture was taken I finished the Murray and sold it for I think $325.



I ended up selling both Snappers as is. They just aren't worth the time it takes to fix them to me for what the payout is. So from here on out I'm staying away from Snapper RER's unless they're free or super cheap. I'm not going to be fixing them though unless it's something as simple as a carb.

I JUST sold the Troy Bilt GT yesterday for $660. I'm barely making anything with that but I needed the money. The axle seal is leaking, so there's that, combined with it being the end of the season, and I've owned it for 2 years at this point, I was over it. It's long outstayed it's welcome. I've recalled all the Troy Bilts I've ever had and turns out I've never had a deal on a Troy Bilt end well. So I'll also be staying away from Troy Bilts from here on out unless they're free. There's just something about those things that are trouble for me

Anyway, I saw the Scotts driving through town a month or two ago and several times since... I kid you not he drives that thing EVERYWHERE.




I got on Marketplace one evening after I sold the Explorer and found me a 17 foot camper trailer for $400... the next morning it was in my yard.




Didn't really mess with it for a while until I was about ready to pick up some cars. I pulled the old wood off the side and replaced it with new thicker wood and brand new hardware as well as pressure washed the whole thing and did a little paintwork. It still needs tires and ramps and lights but it does the job. I've used it twice and it pulls very nice. I only did the outside parts of the deck because I use it to haul cars and the flimsy floor on the rest is actually sturdy enough to hold mowers or 4 wheelers. So I'll probably add one more row of wood and leave the rest alone. Right now I really need ramps, and then tires.




Anyway, the day after I finished the trailer, we took it on it's maiden voyage to get my next project! I yet again hopped on the ol' Marketplace and found a complete 1978 Ford Courier long bed for a whooping $250!




With a halfway disassembled engine due to apparently having low compression.




Complete with the floor pan delete option




Had been sitting for a little while. Just long enough for the tires to start dry rotting. Luckily they aren't very bad and were actually brand new when it was parked. He said it has 140K on it but it looks a LOT more like 240k, so that's what we're going with.

Anyway, I got straight to work on it. Took down to the short block.





Got the head decked and the valves checked. The suspicion was a burnt valve, but they all held decent vacuum.



Moved it into the shop and took the rest of it apart for some paintwork.




Reassembly! All new gaskets!




Got the engine all back together and it runs amazingly! So we drove it out on the fuel in the carb bowl for the first wash.



Decided to paint it blue. I was planning on driving it for a while and still may if it doesn't sell quick. Couldn't stand that puke green and even though it was the original color, it had been resprayed anyway and the whole truck needs to be restored regardless.





Finished the engine up.



And then the paint.




All finished up! I put it straight to work. Turns out we REALLY need a farm truck. I got my eye out for one now.









So, I got the head decked and leveled and cleaned in the parts cleaner, new head gasket, new valve cover gasket, new intake and exhaust gaskets, new water pump and thermostat gaskets, new timing chain cover gasket, fresh oil and filter, spark plugs, water pump, thermostat, fresh coolant, carb kit, new fuel pump, new accessory belt, fresh (very unprofessional) paint job, new battery, and several other things I'm probably forgetting. I did a LOT to the ol' girl. All in all I have about $1000 invested and have it for sale now for $2500. It still needs an alternator and a bushing in the steering but it is super fun to drive... I know I'm gonna miss this truck. I need to sell it asap cause if I make enough money before it sells I'll end up keeping it around



The Yard Machine is finally almost done. I gave it a tune up, made a make shift choke cable because finding an original choke cable that works is an impossibility apparently, put a new drive belt and deck belt on it, put a clutch pulley on it, replaced the drag link that I bent, put some pulley covers on the deck, taped up the seat, repainted the body and clear coated the rest of the mower, removed the brakes as they were beyond shot and the hydro has internal braking, put a new starter gear on it and a new hot wire, and I think that's about it. Currently it still needs a tube for the rear tire and some belt guide work as the deck belt pops off as soon as you disengage it.







The other day I hopped on Marketplace once again and found a stamped frame Murray for $65. I offered him $40 and he took it. I went to get it and somehow came home with a 2014 Yard Machine with a Powermore on it for an extra $20.




I haven't touched the Yard Machine yet. However, I dove straight in on the Murray last night after I picked it up. I vacuumed all the crap off of it, filled the tires, cleaned up some of the wiring back by the solenoid, cleaned the gas tank and carb bowl, put a battery in it and jumped the solenoid and sure enough it runs great on it's own tank! Cleaned the connection on one of the light bulbs and got those working nicely, changed the oil, pulled the deck out from under it and pulled the spindles apart as I found all the bearings were shot as well as the blades and a spindle shaft and pulley. Also freed up the clutch.



When I got the mower I was told that the drive belt kept coming off and that's why it was parked. When I went to spin the trans pulley it was locked up solid. I would've stayed away from it then but the price was low enough I bought it anyway. Turns out it was locked up due to a broken c clip below the pulley and let it slide down the shaft and rub into the case... that also explains the belt throwing issue. So I pulled the trans as it was only a few bolts and it would make it much easier to work on. I pulled the pulley and broken clip and drained all the water that was inside the trans out and am going to add some gear oil to it. Anyway that's where I am right now.



It needs a spark plug, air and fuel filter, clip for the trans, gear oil, both belts, spindle bearings and one spindle core, blades, clutch pulley, a muffler, ignition switch, and some brake pads pucks and a rotor which I have on hand. Not too shabby. I'll be getting into the Yard Machine tomorrow or Monday most likely.



I am going to wait on the two John Deere's until winter to restore them as I need to invest money in things that will sell right now and not next year. I'll get to them around Christmas time. I do plan to start on the decks though. Those aren't too terrible so I plan to start restoring those in my spare time unless I work on my truck cab. It is almost the perfect time of year for that, so we'll see.




This evening we went and picked up the Malibu.




It now has no title. It appears that the engine locked up (if it is indeed locked... I have yet to confirm that) due to overheating. There's no coolant in the tank. Oil looked good so I doubt it was ran low. I plan on leaving it on the trailer if it's locked down and doesn't unlock and run. I'll be cleaning it up tomorrow, charging the battery and seeing what all works and seeing if the engine will rotate. Tuesday I am taking it to where it will be parked until I need something from it or someone buys a part or something if it doesn't run.

So yeah, there's the big update! I may make a video too for YT and post on here.

You've been a busy beaver! Lol.

Love that Courier! I've never even seen one before.

Thanks man! I love that truck too! You don't see many with the long bed. ESPECIALLY with the factory brush guard and roll bar. I'd keep it if it wasn't so rusty and I didn't already have too many cars lol. Will make a real nice classic for someone. I just hope whoever buys it appreciates what it is and doesn't try to make it a neglected get-me-by daily driver. I've seen the Explorer around town a bit and let me tell you that guy has DESTROYED that car.

Well, it's up to you to find out the right home them, someone out there would love to build that thing!

That wasn't even a nice Explorer anyways that was one of the troublesome POS Exploders! Lol. I'd be sad if it was a first gen, they were better looking, better built and had the better OHV pushrod engine.

Courier looks great! What paint did you use? I like the color.

Brianator wrote:

Well, it's up to you to find out the right home them, someone out there would love to build that thing!

That wasn't even a nice Explorer anyways that was one of the troublesome POS Exploders! Lol. I'd be sad if it was a first gen, they were better looking, better built and had the better OHV pushrod engine.

I believe I found a home. I will say it's not a good one but it's not someone who's just looking for a daily. It's a young guy who is gonna daily it but he is gonna build it. Whether he does it right or not, I have my doubts. A little unfortunate but I really need the money so it'll have to do. I'm gonna miss that beauty lol.

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

Courier looks great! What paint did you use? I like the color.

Rustoleum satin blue. I don't remember the exact name. I'll have to look.




Got the black Yard Machine done for now. The tube is in and it runs and cuts. It still needs work but I need it gone. I have a feeling it's just too late in the year at this point so I'll probably end up holding onto it until next spring. The red one needed a serious carb clean.



I did a good bit to it. Changed two wheels out, did the fuel filter and shut off and spark plug, a new solenoid, ran it to get everything broke back in. Just a bunch of little odds and ends. It now needs the parking brake fixed, the tires need sealed, fresh oil and filter, air filter, and spindles. Then it should be done.

The Murray has been completely tuned up and the trans put back in with a fresh belt. Now it needs a solenoid but that is the only thing the tractor itself needs to be fully functional aside from the deck. The deck still needs blades, spindle bearings, a deck pulley and probably a deck belt. Then it'll be finished.

I haven't touched either JD yet.


The Malibu cleaned up really well! It's actually a pretty nice car. It only has 102k on it.



I know no one cares about a Malibu, but I'm gonna throw the pictures up anyway for documentation.










So it turns out it was owned by the guy's son who is now dead. So I should be able to obtain a title. If that's the case, I'll be buying this parts car if the motor runs. It appears to have everything I need to fix mine.



But until I confirm that I can obtain a title, it will continue to sit here:



Anyway that's what I got for you all this time.

Got some new wheels and tires on the trailer! Two of the tires are almost new, two are shot. They're 1 inch smaller than the old ones. They came off a Nissan Altima.




Been working on putting lights on it. I gutted the whole thing of wiring and added 20 penny lights. Still need to get the new brake lights. I added some to see the hitch and where the winch would be so I can see what I'm doing at night. I put them on a switch so I can just flip them off once I'm hitched and loaded up.





And the lights all finished up! Most were for looks but the two orange ones on the front corners were very needed. I can't see the trailer in my mirror at night or in rain.






Also picked this up the other day for $20 at the scrapyard. Haven't touched it yet.

That’ll buff out, minor body damage, 1500 OBO

Welp the deal didn't go through with the Courier. I really need the money from it but I'm glad it didn't go through. The guy is an absolute idiot and definitely would have destroyed that thing. I might end up keeping this thing for a while. In the past two weeks I rewelded the muffler that obviously had an encounter with a backfire, got the high beams working and side marker lights, adjusted the parking brake, got the heat working, put a new fuel filter on it, among other things that slip my mind. I have a timing chain tensioner on the way and the college is gonna put it on. I'm gonna bring it home after that.



Some pics of the underside for the heck of it.





Put some spares on my trailer. The college was scrapping two Ford differentials that had the right bolt pattern so I stole the axles out of them and cut them down to size and welded them onto the trailer. I put them as far back as reasonably possible. If I was to turn all the way they would definitely hit the bumper. That's what the red marks are on the tires. I have those there at a specific spot so when they appear in my mirror I know I'm maxed out and can't turn any further. I know they don't look like they're going to hold but I tested them to make sure they won't break off going down the road cause I don't trust my welds enough with something that could injure someone. I jumped on them and jumped off of them and they didn't bend or budge or nothing so it would have to take a hit to break them off so I'm good with em.




I did look into that Murray a little bit. Turns out the flywheel is stripped out, so I need a flywheel. I got a parts engine from the junkyard so I'm gonna see if that one fits.

Got the lights finished on the trailer!



And as you can see, I brought the Malibu back home. I pretty much ran out of stuff to do and decided I wanted to tinker with it so I brought it back. Anyway first thing I did was pull all the damaged parts off from the wreck and assess what I'll need. I'm gonna reuse the passenger door, hood and bumper cover but everything else needs replaced. Fender, fender liner, headlight frame, actual bumper, AC compressor line and accumulator. From there I decided to pull the plugs and put some trans fluid in them and take the starter off to see if there was anything wrong with it. Well I was able to break the motor free with very minimal effort and sure enough the main ring gear in the bendix of the starter was stripped out, so I went and got a junkyard starter and sure enough got the motor turning and even got it to fire off on some starting fluid. I checked fuel pressure and had none so after a little diagnosing I suspected the fuel pump. So I dropped the tank down enough to get the lines off and cycled the key and sure enough, no fuel. So I dropped it all the way and replaced the pump, put it all back together, put some fuel in it, cranked it a few times and eventually it fired up. It runs very well. No smoke, no misses, no coolant getting into the oil. After I confirmed that the engine was indeed a good runner with no detrimental issues, I changed the oil and filter and spark plugs. I still need to flush the coolant desperately but it's good enough for now. It runs and drives very well. I just need to get the title in my hand and then I will continue with repairs. Not too shabby though for only having $300 in this thing in total. Here's how she sits now.




The Courier is finally sold! A guy drove through the night 11 HOURS from NEW JERSEY to come buy it. I got a lot less than I wanted for it but hey it went to the right buyer so that's good enough for me. I was asking $1800, planning to get $1500, but ended up $1350. Whatever... It went to the right home so that's worth only making a nickel instead of a dime off of it.






I don't have any current pictures but I have been working on mowers lately to get them out of the shop and ready to go for spring! I put a solenoid on the stamped frame without the deck. All it needs to be ready to go is a new deck. I could rebuild the one that belongs to it but it would just be cheaper for me to get a complete deck.

The stamped frame to the left of that one I've done most of the work to. I got my plastic starter gears in and put one on and put the engine back together. Gave it a shot of starting fluid and she popped right off. That was good enough for me so I cleaned the carb, got all the tires back on the beads, replaced the battery cables and solenoid. Unfortunately the ignition switch is bad and I did not have a spare so I have one on the way as well as a clutch pulley. Once that comes in, I can put the drive belt back on with the new pulley, put the ignition in, put the tank back in and button up the dash and see how it runs and mows! I have a tune up kit for it too I just need to get the oil hot before I do that.

And the Yard Machine to the left of that one, it still needs the tires situated, parking brake fixed, new spindles, and an oil change and it should be good to go. I have everything needed on the way so it should be done pretty soon too unless I have to do drive belts which I probably will.

And finally the black Yard Machine, I will probably put new belts on it, see how it does, maybe tweak it a little if need be and call it good.

> I got a lot less than I wanted for it but hey it went to the right buyer so that's good enough for me.

Yes, I have made those type of choices before selling my stuff. I look at my projects as more of a learning experience and maybe an enjoyable hobby vs. cold hard cash machine. If all I cared about was cash, I would go back to programming or selling cars at dealerships.

Little update on the Malibu, it's looking like I may have to go with the bonded title route if that is feasible. I talked to the man I got it from and found out that no more than 10K miles ago it got both head gaskets done. Thought that was a cool tidbit of info.

The 12/38 Murray, I pulled the deck out today and was able to get one spindle completed and found a set of blades for it, so I went ahead and bought a new spindle, pulley, and belt to hopefully finish it up with the original deck. We'll know if it'll work when the parts come in.

The 14/40 Murray I put the new ignition in, put it all back together, and it fired right up! Ran super smooth. Even engaged the deck and it sounded great! Let it warm up and then did the tune up. Little knocky but I'm just hoping it was due to being very low on oil. After that, I took the deck off, cleaned it, flipped the mower and changed the drive belt and cleaned it really good and then put it all back together. Today I got the clutch pulley on. I also changed the starter gear again because I got sent crappy gears. I threw one on the floor to see what would happen and it shattered. I've put two gears on it and on the second startup the gear explodes each time. So I busted all the gears and ordered real ones (I hope) tonight. Also found out the needle stuck on the carb and filled the whole motor with fuel immediately. Luckily it was only that way for about 5 minutes as I had shut the fuel off the night before so none of it got into the crankcase... Just combustion chamber. Dealt with that very quickly. So I am going to try to fix the carb since it runs so well but just in case I have a new one on the way.

The red Yard Machine, I put a tube in the back tire today and tried to fix the surging carb but it was no use, so I have a new one coming in for that mower too. After that I disassembled it to replace the belts. Waiting on the upper drive belt to come in and I can put it all back together and see what I get.

The black Yard Machine, well, I don't even know. I have the belts, but, the oppy is leaking a lot of oil and it is getting on the drive pulley. It is coming from the sump seal. I would fix it but the pulley is rusted on. I really don't want to deal with that so I might just ignore it again and wash it really good and do the belts and pretend I didn't see it and keep it topped up and inform the buyer. I really don't wish to deal with a rusted pulley especially one I can't find very easily.

Anyway, we're getting pretty close on all of em! (Husqvarna is our neighbors and it is getting a new carb and a service).

> I threw one on the floor to see what would happen and it shattered

I assume this is a plastic gear. Maybe they did make it of plastic instead of nylon?

What year is the Malibu? Sort of looks like wife's former 2005, same color 4 door.