After going through every last little part, we finished the Oliver 77 Diesel. This tractor was purchased new by the current owners father and when Henry passed away, we were asked to fully restore it. As we got to the end of this project it felt similar to completing a car restoration where every little screw, clip, fastener needed to be correct which means multiple runs to the hardware store, industrial catalogs and lathe!

Row Crop Diesel Oliver

The 166 project continues to evolve, all of the sheet metal is “hung” and lining up nicely. There was a considerable amount of time spent making that delicate mid-body detail line up between the doors and other panels and have the subtle compound curve. One of the trickier details was to get both door windows to open the same amount, the drives door left more glass exposed when fully down than the passenger door so we had to adjust and make compromises so they looked similar when down and up.

The grille on this car was a mess and had to be re-made. The original was soldered, riveted, welded and chrome plated over the years and began to look terrible. After making the templates we bent up some aluminum to make the surround and cross pieces and began to shape them with the shrinker/stretcher. Once it is all lined up and looking nice we will use the correct bucking style rivets to final assemble it.