Well here it is the last chapter of this... thing.
The next morning Ruby had done once again like she had done the following mornings. She had arrived early and took the time to hammer out the dents in the hood and the grill so she wouldn't have to waste time later doing that. She had all so cut a piece of old inner tube to use as a cushion under the gas tank and then cut out some beech collars and slipped them down into the steering column to replace the original bushings that were long gone. About the time that she sat down Weiss walked in. "I can see that you have been busy this morning." Ruby jumped up. "Yeah well I just didn't want to waste any time later on this stuff. It will take a while to clean the mag and then time it. I thought that I would fix this stuff so that it would be ready to go once it was running." Weiss nodded "Now where do we start?" Ruby acted like she had to think about it for a second. "Well like I said the magneto will take the longest to fix so I say we should start with it. It'll be like the carb though. So just have a seat and watch, while you enjoy that giant coffee." Weiss smiled and pulled a stool up beside Ruby while she got to work.
Ruby carefully placed the mag in the vice with the distributor cap pointed up. She had ordered the stuff necessary to make a new set of plug wires and replace the cap because when she had checked them before she found that down in the distributor cap was corroded beyond the point of cleaning. She removed the two screws that held it on and tossed it in the trash. The next thing that she did was pull the rotary button off and set it to the side, next she removed the four screws out of the corners of the next cap and gently rocked it to break the old gasket loose and looked back in the cover she was surprise at how clean it was. Then she looked at the rest of it she had already come to the conclusion that the impulse coupler was still good because when she held the whole mag in her hand and turned the coupler it still turned smoothly and had a satisfying click to it when the impulse coupler snapped shut. So she ordered a condenser and a set of points to put in the mag. carefully she removed the old condenser, sure enough it was covered in rust. When she moved on to the old points, they were corroded up too. Which was exactly why the mag didn't have any fire to it besides the rotten condenser. Once all of that was out of the way, she looked at the tiny cam that opened and closed the points. She notice that it was rusted a little bit so she tore of a small strip of five hundred grit sandpaper and threaded it through around the shaft and slowly worked her way around it shining it. Once that was done, she took the mag out of the vise and rinsed it out with some electrical contact cleaner. After the cleaner was dry, she placed it back in the vice. She carefully put in the new condenser and points once the points were in it. She set the points to .020". Then she fished a dollar out of her pocket Weiss gave her a weird look as Ruby opened up the points and put the dollar between them and sawed it back and forth a few times. "Why in the world did you just do that Ruby?" Ruby didn't even look away from lightly rinsing and blowing out the points. "I'm guessing you didn't know that if you are having point troubles that a dollar bill is abrasive enough that you can polish the points with one to get better contact." Weiss thought about it for a second and sure enough, she hadn't ever paid much attention to the fact that one thousand grit sandpaper felt about the same as a dollar. "Why not use sandpaper then?" Ruby turned to look at Weiss now that she was done. "If you use machinist sand paper it will leave behind carbon which will mess everything up. I don't have any woodworking sandpaper that is fine enough and I didn't want to use a diamond file on new points. They just work better with a little polishing when new is all." Ruby then grabbed the squirt oilcan and put a few drops on the felt sponge that rode the cam to oil it and made sure that she hadn't got the two gears out of time. Once that was done, she laid the new gasket on it and put the cover and screws back on it. Then she pushed the new rotary button on the shaft and moved on to making duplicates of the old plug wires. Once she was done with that, she removed the mag from the vice and turned the impulse coupler backwards until the rotary button was pointing at the position that she wanted the number one plug wire to be. She took a paint marker and marked on and then following the correct rotation of the rotary button went around the cap numbering them. Once that was done, she put the cap on the mag and set it to the side.
Ruby opened up the box that held the new oil filter and opened up one of the four quarts of thirty weight motor oil that she had got and slowly started pouring the oil filter full of oil. "Alright while that soaks in Weiss how about you pour the antifreeze in it while I pour the motor oil in it. It holds two gallons all together and I bought one gallon of straight antifreeze so pour that in it and then a gallon of water and it will be good to go." Weiss nodded and picked up a jug and funnel while Ruby took the three unopened quarts of oil and poured them down the top of the head where the valve cover was still off of it. Weiss finished up with the antifreeze and Ruby decided it was time to put the mag on it finally.
"Ok Weiss here is where things get a little weird. We need to use the hand crank to turn the engine over until number one is top dead center and the fire mark that can be seen through the viewing hole on the left side of the bell housing. Once that is done we may have to creep the engine backwards a little bit but the timing gear coupler and the coupler on the mag should line up once it does and I roll the mag all the way away from the block. We have to turn the engine exactly one turn again until we can see the fire mark again and I'll rotate the mag towards the engine. If everything is right, the impulse coupler will snap shut at one point while I do that. Once it does, I can then tighten the mag. After all of that the engine will be perfectly timed." Once Ruby was finished explaining all of that they gave it their first attempt. It took them four tries to get it right and Ruby getting electrocuted about a dozen times snapping the mag to get it right but they finally did it. Once it was done, Ruby ran a wire with a toggle switch to the mag to ground it out to cut the tractor off. She then put the plug wires on it in the proper firing order of 1-2-4-3.
"Now what do we need to do Ruby?" Ruby gave it a bit of a thought. "Well you took the carburetor off so why don't you put that back on it while I take the band off the back of the starter and rinse out the brushes." Weiss nodded and picked up the carb, gasket and throttle spring. She hooked up the throttle linkage that ran around the front of the block and then put the gasket on top of it. She finally bottled it up to the manifold and hooked the spring back in the rod and on the first manifold bolt in front of the spring that barely put any pressure on it. Ruby had finished up rinsing the brushes and hooked up the throttle control rod back to the governor about the time Weiss finished.
"Ok Weiss all that is left before we can see if this thing is going to run is put the gas tank back on it and the oil bath. Let's start with the gas tank so that the oil bath doesn't get in the way." Ruby then laid the piece of inner tube that she cut earlier on the bracket that the tank clamps to in place and set the tank up. While Ruby installed the new sediment bowl Weiss put the clamp on the tank and the bolts in the bracket on the back end of the tank. Ruby was finishing up hooking up the fuel line about the time Weiss walked back around with the oil bath in hand. Ruby bolted up the oil bath while Weiss filled the cup with oil. Ruby stepped out of the way and Weiss put on the oil cup on the oil bath.
"Perfect Weiss now the only things left to do is put the oil filter on it, hook a battery up and spin it until we have oil pressure. Once we do we can pour some gas in it and see what happens!" Ruby was practically jumping up and down. Ruby grabbed the oil filter off the bench and screwed it on only hand tight because of the design call for it to be done that way. Once that was done, she poured the rest of the oil in it. While Weiss hooked up the battery. "Ok Weiss the oil pressure gauge will twitch on this thing the way it works but as long as the needle moves up some everything is fine. Push in the starter rod and let's get this thing cranking!" Weiss smiled and pushed in the rod while Ruby watched the gauge and listened to the noise of the engine turning over. Everything sounded fine and after a dozen or so turns the gauge started to read. "Excellent! That is enough Weiss let's set the muffler on it and pour some gas in it. You did remember to put the fan belt on it when you put the water pump on right?" Weiss smiled at Ruby's enthusiasm "Of course I remembered to put the fan belt on it Ruby." Ruby passed Weiss the muffler while Ruby poured some gas and lead substitute in the gas tank. Last second Ruby remembered that they needed to put the transmission drain plugs back in and fill it with diesel. "Weiss I about forgot the transmission plugs. If you don't care put them back in and I'll fill the transmission with diesel." After another couple minutes Ruby had, it filled and had set the valve cover on top of the engine.
"Ok fingers crossed Weiss!" Ruby checked over everything and walked around and flipped the toggle. She cracked the throttle control just barely. When Weiss smiled and nodded, she pushed in the starter rod. It turned over once twice and on the third turn, it fired. Weiss had a look of surprise on her face while Ruby was jumping up and down and looking at the oil pressure gauge. It was reading like it would have eighty years ago when the tractor was new. There was no coughing or smoking from a miss adjusted carb; it was just running smooth as a sewing machine. Ruby did note that there was a slight tick in the valves but once the water temp got up they could cut it off and properly set the valves. They let it sit there and run for twenty minutes or so. Once Ruby was satisfied that it was warm enough, she cut it off. Weiss frowned when she did. "Relax Weiss nothing is wrong. Remember I said that we would have to hot set the valves? That is all we are doing and then putting the valve cover on for the last time." Ruby got out the wrench, screwdriver and old feeler gauge she used just for this purpose. She lift then lifted the valve cover off to the side and turned back around. "Ok Weiss don't freak out on me." With that, she reached over and started the engine back with the valve cover off. "Alright Weiss I need you to help me with this. I need you to hold a finger on the rocker arm while I adjust it be careful not to burn yourself on the exhaust though." Weiss gulped and went to number one Ruby got in position. Weis was surprised she could actually feel the gap with just her finger while it was running so she told Ruby to tighten it. When it was right, they moved on to the next valve this one was too tight so Ruby loosened it. They repeated the process until all of them was set. Ruby as one final check went to each one and placed her thumb on the side of the rocker arm that the valve was one and pressed down on it feeling for any major excess tapping. Satisfied she cut the engine off and got out the new gasket and valve cover stud seals. Once the gasket was in place and the cover was on, she placed the new seals on the studs.
Once everything was tightened down, she got some gloves and removed the muffler. "All that is left now is to put the hood and grill back on it Weiss! The way this thing goes together, we have to start with the grill and then put on the hood. Unfortunately the tank strap will have to be ether loosened or removed again because it also holds the hood." Weiss smiled "That's fine Ruby." Ruby then picked up the grill and removed the radiator cap so she could run the radiator neck through the hole. Once she got it started, she just hinged it down over the radiator support and started putting in half of the bolts that held it on. Once she was done with that Weiss had already removed the gas tank strap and Ruby then picked up the hood and sat it in place. They spent the next half hour putting all the bolts in the hood, grill and radiator that held everything together. Ruby then lastly got the muffler and once more sat it back in place. Stepping back, she admired their work. "So Weiss what do you think? The only things left to do is put the new seat and gear shift boot on so we can run it around for a little bit before draining the transmission and putting the new oil in." Weiss stepped up beside Ruby and thought for a second. "Well this has been something different that is for sure. Come on let's finish it up." Ruby pulled off the old gear shift boot that sorta self destructed when she did and installed the new one while Weiss unwrapped the new seat. Ruby noticed that Weiss had started trying to figure out how the seat attached. "There is nothing special about it Weiss; it just sets in the frame." Weiss looked embarrassed that she couldn't figure that out and placed the seat in the frame. Ruby walked around and looked over everything one more time and checked the oil since it had set for a little bit. She added enough oil to fill it up exactly to the full mark and reached around flipping the toggle and started it once more letting it sit there at idle. "Alright Weiss up you go!" Weiss looked shocked. "Ruby I can't it's yours you should be the first one to drive it." Ruby pouted for a second "Yeah well since it is mine I get to decide who is first and I want you to be first. Remember this isn't the first one that I've worked on I know how it'll behave anyway. Don't worry though I'll be right behind you so you won't be alone." Weiss blushed she figured Ruby would be walking along behind her the whole time "Alright if you insist. Is there anything I need to watch about?" Ruby smiled knowing what she had on her mind would freak Weiss the safety queen out but she wasn't worried about it. "Just the usual stuff oil pressure mostly there isn't really any way to keep an eye on the water temp since the gauge is made into the thermostat housing unless you stop and walk up to it. I've got one last thing to do first though Weiss. Ruby put her gloves back on and walked around and picked up a four feet long piece of exhaust pipe that she had got just for this purpose and pulled the muffler off and set the pipe on it in its place. She chuckle when it instantly doubled the noise. Weiss could help but shake her head at Ruby's antics. Ruby then motioned towards the seat and with a little difficulty and help from Ruby when she nearly fell backwards off of it she was finally seated on it. She slowly pushed the clutch in and put it in reverse wincing where the diesel let the gears grind a little. Easing out on the clutch it chattered a little where the clutch was trying to grab Ruby didn't make any sort of face. Figuring that this was normal she let out a little more and started to back out the door that Ruby opened. Weiss finished letting the clutch out and it smoothly backed out into the parking lot. Ruby walked out and sneaked up behind Weiss. Weiss figured that it would be best to start out running it in first and run it a little like that. About the time that she let out on the clutch Ruby jumped up on the draw bar on the back and grabbed on to the backrest on the seat frame to steady herself causing Weiss to pop the clutch in the process. "RUBY what do you think you are doing!?" Ruby chuckled and leaned up so Weiss could hear her. "I told you that I would be right behind you. What did you think I was going to do walk behind you the whole time?" Weiss turned red and looked ahead of her continuing to go in slow circles around the parking lot. Ruby reached up to the throttle and opened it up halfway causing it to roar a little louder. "You totally did think that didn't you!"
"Shut up"
"Yeah yeah anyway this has been enough of first gear Weiss stop and put it in second" Weiss stopped and did as Ruby asked. "Instead of wearing the tires out doing these circles around the parking lot circle the whole shop since second is too fast for small circles." After a couple laps, Ruby cut the throttle back to idle and had Weiss put it in third it surprised Weiss how fast it was for it to be idling. On the fourth lap, Ruby had her pull it back in the garage. Once Weiss flipped the toggle and killed it Ruby tossed the drain pan back under the transmission and removed the plugs. Weiss picked up the jugs of oil that Ruby had gotten for the transmission and brought them over just as Ruby was putting the plugs back in. Ruby then dumped all the oil into the transmission and tossed them in the trash. "Ok Weiss this really is the last thing we have to do. We are going on a little trip with this thing." Weiss raised an eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Weiss couldn't believe what Ruby had talked her into this. Here she was driving it down the road with the throttle wide open. Ruby had insisted that she had to leave the straight pipe on it so Weiss' ears were ringing. Ruby was once again riding on the draw bar behind her grinning like a maniac. Seeing that they were near their destination Ruby reached up to the throttle and cut it back to idle and Weiss pulled into the front yard as close as possible to the house and stopped. Weiss noticed Blake's old black muscle car sitting in the car port along with an annoyingly bright motorcycle. "Ruby why did you have me drive us to Blake's house? Ruby looked at Weiss like she was crazy. "What are you talking about Weiss? I don't even know where Blake lives. This is Yang's house." Before Weiss could argue that Blake's car was right there Ruby reached back up and romped the throttle a few times. It blew black smoke as the governor suddenly snapped fully open each time Ruby romped it. Cutting it back to idle Ruby jumped off the draw bar and walked up the front door leaving a baffled Weiss sitting there. When Ruby got there, she beat on the door like she was trying to break it down while screaming "YANG! Pay up I won the bet now get out here!" Weiss flipped the toggle killing it so she could hear clearly, whatever was going on.
A minute passed before a very irate looking Blake opened the door. Ruby stood there shocked for a second before leaning back and glancing at the house number making sure she hadn't just made a grave mistake. Before she could say anything though Yang stumbled out into the hall whisper shouting "Blake wait don't ope…" Yang looked back and forth between a severely confused Ruby and a Blake that looked like she was about to murder her. Chuckling and rubbing the back of her head, she gave up. "So much from hiding to keep from getting out of paying up." she said with a shrug. Blake decided to chime up "Yang I told you no more bets. You swore that you wouldn't make anymore." After that, Weiss finally lost her cool. "WILL SOMEBODY EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT IS GOING ON!?" Blake looked at Yang, Ruby looked back and forth between Blake and Yang all while Weiss looked at everyone like they all had lost their minds.
Yang finally decided to speak up. "Ok let me start at the very beginning. Hopefully it will clear this up. Alright?" Everyone nodded and took a seat around the porch. "Back roughly two months ago now when Ruby first got that rust heap there." Which was followed by a duet of "HEY!" Not fazed in the slightest she continued "Me and Ruby made a bet. Now Blake I know I said that I wouldn't make any more bets. This one however was already in play when I made that promise so I haven't broken it." Before she could continue, Blake reached over and flicked her in the forehead. "Ow… Anyway, the bet was depended on if Ruby and Weiss here could or couldn't rebuild that tractor in time for the Fall tractor pull this weekend. If you two did complete it before the pull I would then have to ask Blake here out on a date, But if you two didn't Ruby had t…" Before Yang could finish that line, Ruby had leaped across the porch and tackled Yang off the other side doing her best to muffle Yang. Weiss and Blake just looked at each other. Weiss was the first to break the tension "Should we uh maybe break them up?" Blake looked over the railing Yang now had Ruby in a headlock even though Ruby still was managing to keep her muffled. "Yeah we better before one them gets hurt." They then walked around the porch and Weiss grabbed hold of Ruby and pulled while Blake pulled Yang back. Weiss was on the verge of flipping again and tried to calmly ask Yang to continue while keeping a death grip on Ruby. "Yang I've got this I think. Would you please continue." Yang nodded with the same grin that Weiss recognized from Ruby that told her that whatever it was involved her in some way. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by my baby sister there is that if you two didn't complete it in time Ruby here... well you know it isn't my place to say it Weiss you really should ask her." Weiss look back and forth between the one she had in her arms and the blonde brute wondering just what is was. Ruby in the meantime up to that point had gone, life less finally spoke up. "Thank you Yang." Weiss was now even more confused "Ruby what is it? Given some of the things that I put up with while rebuilding that tractor, do you really think I'm going to say anything mean or something to you now? I trust you more than anyone else." Ruby blushed and twisted around whispered in Weiss' ear the other half of the bet. It was that if she and her hadn't finished before the pull. That she had to ask her out on a date. Weiss turned a few shades pink and nodded. "Ok." This surprised Ruby. "Really!?"
"I said Ok"
"But…"
Weiss sighed "You dolt don't you remember what you asked me earlier in the week?" Ruby thought about it for a second and then turned blood red "Yes but I…I" Weiss frowned for a second "What part of Ok do you not understand Ruby? If I didn't I wouldn't but I do so I am." After that, Ruby sorta calmed down. "Ok but that does settle the fact that we did finish before it and Yang hasn't…. Wait. Yang why is Blake at your house? Yang froze "Well you see uh I uh think I left the oven on be right back. Yang started to run for the door, Ruby however performed another flying tackle and caught Yang before she could get back to the front steps. "Yang why is Blake here?" Yang fought to get away from Ruby "I… uh" Blake walked around the corner of the porch with Weiss. "Ruby I know she is your sister but will you please try not to bruise my girlfriend up to much please." Ruby froze and in her shock, Yang tossed her off and got up. "Thanks." Ruby finally came to herself "Yang what is going on?" Yang chuckled "Well remember that night that we went out drinking and you ditched me with Blake here? Well I may have in my drunk haze asked her out back then." Ruby stared at Yang. "Yang that was just a few days into the bet." Yang just shrugged "Yeah well why do you think I was mad at you for leaving my drunk ass alone with Blake. You know I never shut up when drunk and that there is no such thing as secrets." Blake wrapped a arm around Yang. "I didn't think I would ever get you to shut up that night. I'm pretty sure you spilt every secret you had to me." Ruby suddenly "Everything?" Blake just smirked. "Everything." Ruby pale. "Weiss start the tractor."
"What?"
"Weiss start the tractor please."
Yang now had a smirk. "Hey hey no need to rush off Rubes I'm sure Weiss would love to hear some of the stuff that you have done in the past."
Ruby paled even further "NOPE! No she wouldn't!"
Blake was trying not to crack up. "I'm sure she would. Weiss, which do you prefer: tea or coffee?"
Weiss was confused by Ruby's reaction, started to answer Blake "Coffee wou… HEY! RUBY put me down!"
Ruby panicking about Yang and Blake spilling her other secrets tossed Weiss over her shoulder and ran for the tractor. When she got there she sat Weiss on the seat and since the seat looked wide enough for them both she scooted Weiss over and wrapped her arm around her. As she pulled out of Yang's yard, she yelled at Yang and Blake. "Congratulations! See you guys Saturday bye!" Before they could answer her she opened up the throttle all the way making enough noise that they couldn't hear them.
Yang and Blake watched the pair go down the road back towards Ruby's garage. Yang turned to Blake "So you think Ruby did the same as me as ask Weiss before the bet was up or what?" Blake turned to look at Yang "Hmm I don't know Ruby as well as you do but I have known Weiss for a long time. Judging by the way, she acted after Ruby thought she whispered and she whispers like you by the way. Neither one of you could whisper to save your lives. I'm pretty positive that Ruby may have asked Weiss out without really realizing it." Yang snorted "Yeah that sounds like something Ruby would do. So wanna go to the Fall tractor pull with me this weekend? Blake now smiled. "I would love to."
Ok so let me say this to start with I don't remember 90% of writing this. The 10% I do remember is get the process and the specs right. Other than that this whole fic is a caffeine induced rush job. Those of you that have been reading this thank you for reading I honestly didn't think anyone would especially with the screwy way I've updated it sorry about that. Anyway I mentioned writing another fic last month basically it is the original version of this fic with a insane amount of extra stuff. I had started writing it in December 2019 but when it was closer to the deadline that I had to post this by I realized it wasn't even a quarter of the way done. So one rush job later we have this. The plan going forward is the original version was at like 50,000 words and I had not even mention the tractor in it yet I'm going to not include rebuilding anything like I did in this its going to be more about everything else instead. I can't even think of the words to properly describe it other than wild. It will probably be a few months or so until I have everything settled to were I can post the first chapter but who knows it could be sooner. Technically I've already got like 20 chapters semi finished it just needs slight adjustments. So I hope you all will stop by to take a look at it when its up and thanks again for reading.