http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news...-1226205609545
WHEN Noel Gawne stumbled upon one of the first TEA 20 Ferguson tractors he first worked on in a scrap yard, he figured it would be a nice restoration project.
An engine rebuild, a new clutch and a few seals here and there, a lick of Fergy grey and he's off to join the merry gang of restorers and enthusiasts across the country.
Then the Shepparton resident decided on something completely different - madness, some might diagnose.
Why not give it a power boost?
Barely budging the dynamometer at just 17hp (12kW) , the little grey Fergy now monsters the 660hp (492kW) mark - enough to terrorise any Ferguson Farming System.
"I was going to rebuild the original engine, but I thought it needed just that little bit more," Noel told the Weekly Times.
"I wanted to be able to plough about 10 acres in two minutes," he laughed.
Calling in the assistance of a friend at engine supplier Detroit Diesel, Noel was pointed in the direction of a suitable (or unsuitable, depending on which way your paddock is ploughed) engine evacuated from a charter boat.
His search query was only that it be "big". And big is what he got - a Detroit Diesel 8V92.
"I said to Detroit that I was looking for a big engine and they found one," he said in a moment of understatement.
And now with the project wrapped up, and regardless of the behemoth under the bonnet, Noel reckons the little grey Fergy still pays homage to Harry Ferguson, a leading developer of modern tractors.
While Noel has managed to marry much of the the original machine to the giant motor - "I just sat down over a few nights with a few beers and figured it out" - perhaps Harry has had the last laugh.
It's crammed with horsepower in every possible way, but Noel reckons the beast is probably capable only of doing the work of a standard grey TEA.
"The linkage and that all works but it would probably only be able to do as much as a Fergy," he says.
"It would either spin the wheels or slip the clutch. It still runs all the Fergy clutch parts and everything else but you wouldn't want to ride the clutch for too long, it might get a bit hot.
"The motor itself probably weighs about a tonne on its own and the rest of the tractor about 300 kilos."
For a tractor built with no limits, it has major limiting factors.
"The limiting factor is really that the wheels will just dig holes and that's only good for doing channels," Noel reckons.
Noel is first to admit the project is the result of a bloke with too much time on his hands.
And like many shed projects, perhaps also the result of a very understanding wife.
"I actually lost my licence so this was a project for six months every weekend," he says.
"My wife approved but did question why.
"My shed's not much bigger than the tractor and the kids would get down there with me and watch me work on it.
"It's been a lot of work, but it's been fun."
When it was unveiled at the Elmore Field Days earlier this year, some wags suggested he was probably set to lose his tractor licence as well.
"Its a good thing the tractor I chose wasn't bigger, I don't know what I would have come up with then."
"It was always just going to be a bit of a toy."
But it had been a big drawcard, Noel said.
"When we were unloading it (at Elmore), 50 people were watching it come off the trailer.
"It's unbelievable."
"I think it actually cost me more in beer than what it cost to build the tractor.
"Some of the old blokes have looked at it and just asked 'why?'."
For local stories visit the Weekly Times.
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