Justin's Case VAC

This picture was taken in June of 1996. The J.I. Case National Show was hosted that year by the
Missouri River Valley Steam Engine Association, in Boonville Missouri. I'd gotten the VAC into
decent running condition by this time, and had the sheet metal removed for a little clean-up.
My nephew Stephen is sitting on the tire, #3 son Taylor is leaning against the tire, #2 son Clint
is standing next to him, and that's #1 son Justin in the driver's seat.

This picture is from late June in 1997. We've got the VAC strung up from the rafters gettin' ready to
split it in half so we can install a new clutch disk, pressure plate and throwout bearing.

Broke in two, ready for the clutch.

The stuff that came out of the bellhousing was
REALLY NASTY!!!

Clutch is in, and the back half has been sandblasted.

The old girl's startin' to get a little color back in her cheeks.

Nice and shiny.

Back on her feet.

It will never be this clean again.

This picture was taken in July of 1997. We had just gotten the tractor unloaded after getting
home from the Flywheeler's Reunion in Macon Missouri. Check out the nice lil' trophy sittin'
on the hood. You can't really tell by the look on Justin's face, but he was one proud boy.
It's hard to believe this is the tractor that's pictured at the top of the page.

Midway through the 2004 pulling season the VACuum developed a nasty knock in the transmission, so we
tore it down over the winter. Every bearing and seal aft of the flywheel was replaced.

The box is full of nuts, bolts and assorted small parts from the disassembly.

Most of the back half.

With the tractor torn all apart it was a good time to send the cylinder head back to the machine shop
for more performance mods. Had another .065 shaved off, installed small block Ford valves,
lots of porting, combustion chamber work to unshroud the intakes, etc.
Net result was an increase of 25psi cylinder pressure at cranking speed.