I have had an unstyled pacemaker  lying around here for a few years now with a cracked block. With below zero temps in Wisconsin this weekend I thought it would be a perfect weekend to bring it in and start bringing this tractor back to life. I stitched the crack by drilling and tapping holes, overlapping 1/8 inch pipe plugs. So far looks good and holds water Anyone have experience in this? Or should I have had it professionally welded? I will try to attach some pictures

Good job Todd,

About 1987 I did a very similar repair to a 1937 Green Pacemaker, it had a crack above the block drain tap going vertical towards the top of the block, a local guy told me about "metal stitching" never heard of it before that time, so I decided to give it a go and today its still working ok, holds water and you would not know it had been stitched. Much better than a lot of distortion and cracking from welding.

Since then used this on quite a few old tractor repairs with great success, only difference your plugs are a bit larger in diameter than I have seen used over here.

Keep us posted with your progress on bringing another "U" frame back to life.

Malcolm.

Todd,

Looks like you did a fantastic job of fixing your block!! Are you going to paint this tractor up or leave it in her working clothes? If you are going to paint it and really want to hide this repair lay the block down sideways and spray it with primer then wile the primer is still wet put some sandblasting sand in a salt shaker and sprinkle it evenly over side of the block covering the patch and blending it in then when it dries put another layer or two of primer over it. Once painted you should not even see where you patched it as it will blend in like the rough cast.

Keep up the good work and keep posting pictures of your progress. I love to see stuff like this!!

Joe 

Yes, I will be painting this this summer. It is hard to tell where the crack was, But it will be completely covered by the air intake box. I will take your advice anyway just to see how it turns out, I am sure I will have more questions along the way. Thanks

Made some progress on the pacemaker, Had to replace some bearings in the trans and rear axle. Cleaned up the cylinders , installed new rings, removed some shims, re-build the head and oil pump. This is my first time inside a u-frame. Hope it turns out ok.

Sounds like you are enjoying getting into your project with good progress, I have seen a few uses for "U" frames over the years but this is the first "Massey "U" frame beer cooler" I have seen, very different to the usual flower trough.

Malcolm.

Finished this tractor last fall, finally getting around to adding a picture