One of my life goals is to earn enough money to hire someone else to do all my mechanic-related work (on vehicles and machinery). Until then, most of it is up to me.
The 60-year-old motor failed on my tractor in 2018. This Spring I pulled the engine apart and went through it.
Putting a motor together requires a shop (spec) manual. Every bolt must be tightened in sequence, to specified torque; moving parts meeting other moving parts must have specific clearances (measured in thousandths); timing must be right between valves, piston position and ignition, all wires of the right size for their load and many other specs.
When that day comes to turn a restored engine over the first time, it will start and run if everything was done per spec. It might even run if you messed up something, but it won’t run as long or as well as if you had followed spec.
When the day came to fire up the old tractor, she wouldn’t start. All things considered, I hadn’t rebuilt the carburetor which was working fine when the engine failed but had sat dry for two years. I dismantled it, cleaned it, installed it and hit the starter. She fired up.
After coordinated adjustments with a timing light, listening to performance at different RPM’s, feeling vibrations and such fine-tuning, she leveled out and purred like a kitten.
The creator (Ford Motor Company) had produced that shop manual for guidance in the process. Listening and fine-tuning brought it into harmonious performance.
Think About it
Our nation has significant issues. Our motor is not purring. Nations are the sum of their parts (individual people).
We were given a shop manual for life by our Creator who still speaks to us if we listen. It starts with me and you.
Consider I Peter 4:17; “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
And 2 Chronicles 7:14; “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Restoration of a nation begins with me and you.
Nice paint Carl
Thank you Jim. I grew up on that old tractor. Was driving it regular by the time I was 11-years-old. Sure am ready for our nation to get some restoration, but we can’t without the moral basis of the scriptures applied. We can apply it in each of our own circles and pray for our national leaders. With all it’s faults, we are still the best nation on the planet, but we’ve got some repairs needed.
This is so good Carl! Love what you have done to the tractor. Not sure it looked that good when Dad bought it, and it was very nice then. Yes we do live in the greatest nation on earth!
And you put more hours and miles on that tractor than I ever will! The whole process of restoration just spoke to me of what needs to happen in our nation as I was rebuilding it a few hours each week over months. The biggest issue we have in America is that everyone knows things need fixed, but not everyone sees the need for a moral foundation. That’s what scares me. We can’t have it both ways. To restore without a moral compass will only lead to disaster. Like building an engine without following the specs (or following the wrong specs).
You nailed it. We know the problems, but too many won’t admit the answer is Godliness and morality.