Small update on the abandoned, muck-encrusted International.
Here it is in its current location.
I had a couple of hours spare at the end of a shift a few weeks back so had a tinker with it. Apparently it's only been out of use about 6 years but no certainty on that. I headed over with a few very basic tools and a spare battery I had knocking about in my garage and made a very small bit of progress and a lot of discoveries.
The old battery was chucked out, spare one chucked in and connections wedged on - unsurprisingly, the terminal bolts are seized but did make a decent connection.
Long story short - no dice. I could put jumper cables from the battery to the starter and get it to spin fine but not engage despite much belting with a hammer (as per farm rules). I assume the bendix is stuck and it'll have to come off for further poking.
Ignition is completely dead. Turning the key does nothing. Amazingly, the modern-ish LED floodlights which are hanging off their wires on the back (the panel they were attached to having rusted away) both work fine off the light switch on the dash panel but nothing else does. Unsurprisingly, the wiring is a disaster. There are missing (glass) fuses in the tiny panel behind the dashboard panel and the fuse box in general looks a bit manky with much green fuzz. There are numerous broken/tied up wires, several bad repairs, damaged wires, corroded wires and general nastiness everywhere.
The oil is dreadful. It's over full but doesn't smell of diesel or look water-contaminated, however it's thick and lumpy so even if it does ever run, it can't be run for long on that. It was parked up due to overheating caused by a suspected failed head gasket, was running but current engine condition unknown so between that and the open exhaust I'll not be hugely surprised if rainwater/coolant has ended up in the cylinders and seized the engine. It likely hasn't seen much proper maintenance in a very long time even when it was in use.
The alternator is stuck but I don't know how badly - I couldn't get the engine cover bolts unseized to get the cover off for further investigation and to try to turn the engine over by hand.
I have no idea what half the control levers do, and most of them are seized solid. I've soaked everything I could get to with Plusgas. There is a comical amount of play in the steering and apparently the brakes never worked, it must have been a bit of a handful to scrape with.
This will be a very slow burner if/when I do ever get time to work on it. Next step plans are to go back with my wiring repair tools and try to sort the obvious issues, clean out the fuse box, get the engine covers off, try to turn the engine by hand (if that's even possible) and see if I can get the ignition to work. After that, the starter needs to come off for assessment.
