Super A - not starting (update)

Just a quick update. I've really appreciated everyones thoughts and ideas.

I got the tractor to fire today. Actually got more fire than I bargained for but it is a step in the right direction.

After going down the punch list on the electrical and fuel system and checking for compression which all seemed decent I tried putting a shot of fuel into each cylinder head. The tractor fired a few times. And died. I hit it with ether right away and full choked it for a few cranks, full opened it, and it fired and ran for about 15 seconds. I repeated the process and once it was running tried to coax it out of the garage. As I eased off the clutch it back fired out the air intake on the carb and this instantly ignited a paper towel I had catching dribble from a leaky fuel line fitting at the sediment bowl.(it was on the list for repair as soon as I could confirm the thing would fire again) Anyway it fired. And now it was on fire. The old lesson in always having a fire extinguisher handy paid off. A quick blast and it was out.

Anyway it seems I'd tried just about everything to start the tractor and wasn't getting even a pop. Perhaps something was just gummed up a bit and putting a bit of fuel in the cylinder heads directly gave me a couple hot and fast strokes which "re-awaked" things.

So that's where it stands. I need to fix the fuel line and hopefully it'll fire up again and I can work to dial things in.

Anyone have any fuel line thoughts? I've had problems getting steel brake lines and compression fittings to seal well. And heard mixed reviews of copper and rubber.

Thanks again everybody. And don't forget to always keep a fire extinguisher handy!

Glad to hear you got the fire out quickly, that couldda gotten ugly fast, as for the fuel lines, between six tractors I've got steel,copper and rubber fuel lines and no problems on any of them and these are a Farmall A, two Super As, M, 450D and a Case backhoe.

Did you run that compression test? Your intake manifold vacuum may be low. You need good manifold vacuum to pull that atomized fuel into the engine. Make sure your carburetor has gas see if you drain some from the carburetor. Hal

Brian, I've watched you struggle with this for who knows how long now, and I'm going to offer a piece of friendly advice:

You need to start taking these guys' advice and start doing exactly what they say instead of coming up with your own cockamaime "troubleshooting" tests.

Take for example putting gas in each cylinder. Did anybody tell you to do that? No. Why did you do it? It's not a valid test. It's not a valid fix. You will go back out to that tractor today and it will not start because you didn't achieve anything useful by putting gas in each cylinder.

I'm not trying to be mean here. I'm trying to shake you to your senses. You are making getting that tractor running much much much harder than it really is.

I appreciate the advice but that isn't the case at all.

First and foremost I've taken everyones advice from day one.
I've gone down the checklists piece by piece. Confirmed
everything. Checked and re-checked everything. And then
checked and re-checked it again.

Secondly...I've also been talking to a half dozen plus folks locally
off list that know engines and know tractors. A couple of whom
bought H's and M's new back in the day and have been keeping
farm equipment running as a matter of economic necessity ever
since.

After looking at this thing in a bunch of different ways based on
all the great input I've gotten here as well as here at home. One
of the guys yesterday said, "it's old like me and once in awhile
you've gotta remind it what it's supposed to do." To which he
and another suggested "put a shot of gas in each cylinder head
- If you've got compression and spark you'll be guaranteed to
get a bit of fire and maybe it'll get things moving."

And it did. So yes I anticipate more work yet to come. Fuel line
first. But I'm feeling pretty good about the fact that it'll make
fire. And it seems like it wants to run now. Which is far better
than it had seemed these past few weeks. Maybe it just forgot
what it was supposed to do.

So take it as a matter of fact that I'm putting in my due diligence
and talking to as many knowledgeable folks as I can and
working through this thing piece by piece. I assure you that.

Thanks again everyone for you ideas and insight. I'm sure you'll
all be hearing more from me....