A update on the 1939 1H D8. Last Friday we got the repaired mag back. The pushings were worn enough that they were binding and holding the impulse from snapping. It was machined out and new oversized bushings installed. Yesterday a fellow ACMOC member and I put the repaired mag back on the old girl. Since our last visit the museum folks have checked for condensation in all the compartments, filled the radiator, and cleaned things in general. Using a thumb on #1 pony cylinder spark plug hole, and using a timing light we quickly learned we had the mag in correctly. It can only be correct or 180 degrees off. With the flushed out pony tank filled with fresh gas I gave the pony a crank. Imagine our surprise when it fired and ran for about 10 seconds on the first crank. Lucky on the timing guess from where it had sat before. Gave it another crank and it started again and kept running. Put the pony transmission in low and with the compression on full release I turned the main over for the first time since 2001. A minute later I put the transmission in high. The pony pulled it easily. I moved the compression release to the middle position and the pony died. A quick check revealed we had no gas coming thru the line. Not unusual when setting for a long time, the vibration loosens the crap up. A cleaning of the sediment bowl and a shot of air in the line got us back to full gas flow. Again a first crank start for the pony. After turning the main engine on compression for about 5 minutes we jerked the throttle back and it fired right off. Ya hoo. Not bad for setting for 18 years. It purred. We still have a issue with the Laplant Choate blade. The control is a 3 lever control. The levers move sideways to operate. The two outside wing controls work. When I pulled the center V-plow lever towards me the blade powered down and lifted the front of the D8. Center position is float and is marked as such. When I pushed the lever away from me the blade lifted but went back down upon release of the lever. Finally I pushed the lever, raised the blade, and quickly pulled the lever all the way toward me past the down position from earlier. The blade stayed up. Had me confused for awhile but I think the hoses to the V-plow are reversed. I would think the lever should pull to raise. I since learned that they installed the plow just before walking it into the shed in 2001. No one remembers the particulars. I need to look and see if there is a easy way to reverse the hoses and try that. There was video taken of the old girl starting but the fellow that filmed the whole start was asked to hold on it until after the official starting. It has got to be a big deal for these parts. The TV news and 2 newspapers are going to be there for the "official" attempt to start. It is set for 10/19/19. I will post a link to the real start up video after that. Next we really need to convince the museum to let us haul it out to some field and move some snow the old fashioned way this winter. Many of them want to, we just need to convince a couple of the elders whom are concerned about wrecking the "good" neighbors lawn which is the only way out. I think he will be OK. As soon as the pony started he was there watching and grinning. The ground will have a good snow base anyway.