In response to an interesting comment, I thought I'd post the short answer to a question I get from time to time... Why are old International Harvester trucks called corn binders?

It actually goes all the way back to when Cyrus McCormick invented the first successful reaper.  In Chicago in the late 1800's McCormick improved on his equipment to bind twine, which was commonly used in corn fields.  It was one of their most successful pieces of agricultural equipment and formed the basis of the early International Harvester Company in 1902.

The trucks came along shortly thereafter in 1907 with the "Auto Wagon".  Light line International Trucks were always primarily targeted to and sold to farmers - this link with their agricultural equipment and use in the field (often for actually binding corn), earned them their nickname "cornbinders" or "binders".

Susan and I caught up with an old friend last weekend... my first International pickup - "Corny" (1953 R-110 Series).  I haven't seen Corny since 1991 (it had been involved in an accident with a drunk driver who apparently didn't know what a red octagonal sign meant), so it's actually amazing that we were able to track the old truck down.

We found Corny in a farmer's field between Madison and Sauk City and I thought it would be exciting to see the first vehicle I ever owned and drove, but it actually put me in a bit of a melancholy mood after seeing the old truck.  Nonetheless, I'm glad we found it, because the purpose for hunting him down was to see if I could get a part or two from Corny to incorporate into the restoration of Cornelia.

We're going to do a bit of horse-trading with the farmer, and I'll see if I can get the rear-view mirror and trouble light, along with possibly a radiator from another truck (he has several R-Series!) - so in the end, this is an exciting discovery that could lead to some valuable parts.

With respect to Cornelia's engine, I'm still stuck, but I want to thank those of you who wrote in with your thoughts and suggestions - especially Jim.  I have some good news though - I have a lead on a rebuilt Silver Diamond 220 engine in Indiana for a very low price, so Susan and I are thinking of pulling this motor and saving it for a proper rebuild as opposed to potentially scoring the cylinder walls by getting it going with a rusty cylinder.  We'll plop in the rebuilt motor so that we can continue on our quest to drive the truck a bit before tearing it down for the actual restoration.  Anyway - that's the thinking for now.  In preparation, I am spraying the front end sheetmetal parts with PB Blaster so that we can remove the grille and fenders to afford enough room for engine removal.

Well, I got the radiator back from testing yesterday... and it failed.  The core is basically shot - three bad leaks and it's plugged up with old deposits even after cleaning.  The shop offered to repair the leaks, but there's really no point with all of the deposits because the radiator won't be very efficient anyway.  Sad news.  Anybody got a spare radiator for an R-Series?

Things still aren't progressing with the engine either - still no movement.  I guess it still needs to soak for a while yet, but I was hoping to at least see a LITTLE movement by now...

I've also removed the starter and generator - I found a vendor on eBay that sells rebuilt units and I sent them some photos.  We'll see what they come up with for a match (IF they come up with a match).

These are the setbacks on an old vehicle. :-(

Well I'm stuck - literally. I removed the radiator to get it pressure tested and cleaned, and actually, I'm very impressed with the condition of the radiator - the fins look great, there doesn't appear to be any signs of former leaks, and there doesn't appear to be any cracking. With the exception of some dents on the backside and a few dented fins where the fan blade touched, you'd swear it was a new radiator.

So, we were off to a great start, and with the radiator out of the way, I thought I'd put a 1-5/8" socket on the crank nut and try to turn the engine over... No luck whatsoever.  It is tighter than... Well, you can insert your own phrase.  I then removed the starter and generator to see if they might be hanging things up, but no dice.  My father-in-law, Norm, had a great idea and suggested pouring in some Marvel Mystery oil in the cylinders, so that's what I did today.  I also pulled the valve cover off and poured some over the valve train.  So we'll let the oil soak for the next seven days and try to turn the engine again.

I'll keep you posted.

(You can click on the photos to view higher resolution versions).

As you can tell by now, things take me a little longer than most folks as I tend to take my own pace with things (mostly due to a myriad of other projects)... Nonetheless, I finally finished the rebuild of Cornelia's carburetor yesterday, and today I took some time out and put a page together documenting the rebuild for you. The page will also show one of the hang-ups that took me some time, so hopefully you won't lose time like I did :-)

Between my notes, the manual and the pages from the International Harvester Truck Service Manual, you have everything you need to tear down and rebuild a Carter Model YF 735A carburetor.  I can also highly recommend a source for a rebuild kit.  I only wish I could confirm a proper rebuild by popping it on the manifold and firing up the truck, but unfortunately we're still quite a way from that day... So, we move on to the next step, which will be the fuel pump.  Look for posts and information on that subject soon!

In the meantime, you can read up on the rebuild by going to the Truck Facts section, then clicking on "Rebuild the Carter YF Carburetor".  I hope it helps!

I was able to order the rebuild kit!  I contacted The Carburetor Shop LLC out of Eldon, Missouri, and they were very helpful in getting me the rebuild kit I needed for Cornelia.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, however; without knowing the specific model number of the carb, I would have gotten nowhere.

I also talked to them about the potential impacts of ethanol fuel.  They stated that they use leather accelerator diaphrams for their accelerator pumps, so they will be impervious to the detrimental effects of ethanol, which will degrade rubber.  They also have some additional information on adjusting your carburetor for using ethanol blended fuels, which I intend to read over very carefully.

I've updated Cornelia's Start-Up list accordingly.  We're on our way :-)

I removed the carburetor from Cornelia this weekend and managed to scrape off over 50 years of grime with a toothbrush and carb cleaner.  Susan was whitening her teeth today and when I got done with my tooth brush I told her I could blacken them again easily...

Anyway, I managed to find that elusive model number!  It turns out upon cleaning and close examination that the Carter YF on Cornelia is a model 735A, which now allows me to order that rebuild kit and get cracking on the rebuild itself.

If you click HERE, I have a photo showing exactly where to look on the carburetor to find the model number in case you are as clueless as I was ;-)

I'm going to try to order the rebuild kit from The Carburetor Shop out of Eldon, Missouri.  They have the most complete list of rebuild kits for the Carter carbs that I've come across.  I'll let you know how it goes...  Once the rebuild kit comes in, I'll set up a new page where you can follow along the rebuild of the carburetor itself.