I re-acquired a 1915 T touring that I sold 25 years ago. It is a near 100% car, body, interior, wheels all recently high end pro restored. However the mechanical had been badly neglected, so on to the saga….To get it running –head off, replace two stuck valves, all electrical from timer to coil box and a restored Holley G brass carburetor. It ran and drove.
So using the advice of many on the forum, change to Penzoil10/w/30 oil.
Then the domino effect started. The thin oil announced a rod knock. Number 4 of course, the most difficult to work on with a three dip pan. Remove the rod and piston to check for problems. Fixed and running again only to have the mains start thumping.
Necessary to take the engine out to replace main caps, check all rods with plasti-gage and replace the bands while easy to get to.
So, the engine is back in the car only to have a sharp click noise once again in #4. No double thump when shorting out the plug so the rod is tight. That’s where it is today.
Probably a broken ring or loosened wrist pin. The domino effect goes on and on!
I think its called normal maintenance. ;o)
I would have more sympathy but I'm currently replacing thrust washers, which led to a new U joint, which let to a new pinion bearing, which led to (etc., etc.).
Not to be a deterent to anyone who might read this thread as a 'newbie'...
But unless you put it together yourself in the first place and know what you started with...
The domino effect usually prevails once you try and work on 'anything'
Such as....half hour radiator swap out to a new one by a well known radiator builder...the mounting springs needed work, the pads had to be cut, the side ear latches for the hood needed to be worked on that resulted in new springs/washers/pins...since the radiator was off, decided to upgrade the starting crank to one in better condition from the stash...the spring clip style holding the old turned to dust the second it was touched...might as well reroute and clip the wiring to fit tighter than before...and only then find that you had managed to trash the lamp filaments while for the previous 2 hours you were looking for an unmade connection in your rework because the headlights wouldn't light...etc.
As the comic strip said, 'ALL IN A DAY'S WORK!' that when working on a T can go to days' plural. I'm sort of lucky now when this happens, but wasn't when I was a 'newbie'.
Back then it would be an 'aww darn' on discovering the next domino...sending in a snail mail to a vendor, usuallly with the UPS man delivering about 10-11 days later. Then only to find the next 'domino' when you worked on that! Now with a few T's there is always a spare from the least used one as an all out final safety stock...but I also have built up an inventory stockpile to cover just about anything that may come along on that 'oh darned', so that I don't lose weeks or pay gigantic overnight shipping charges for a phone order. I also 'cheat'...two stashes...one new....one used from swap meet finds. The band-aid fixes are done with the used parts...something deeper and needing attention gets rebuilt all the way out as an assembly as part of the work. It's called 'survival'!
As I've mentioned many times on this forum...my most favorite grins and giggles car is that latest add, a 'bitsey' that I bought as a complete running well car that takes this domino effect to the absolute extreme because it apparently had a checkered past of sorts with lots of work-arounds as the fixes at the time little things happened...but still managed to run well...until something breaks and then you find out no matter how minor the breakage in itself...that whole area gets rebuilt or you are just standing down-wind with your zipper open! That car IS getting 'restored', each time anything breaks everything around it and then some gets put back new and right. At the rate I've been going this year, I won't have to worry about the first 'fix' wearing out before I get the last 'fix' done!
"... the mechanical had been badly neglected..."
You're not alone. The guys who restored my '23 touring made the body look pretty nice. But soon after I bought the thing I started finding all the mechanical problems that had been ignored for decades. At least when you're the guy fixing the dominoes you know they've been done the way you want them.
steve, they didnt ignore problems, they were to cheep to buy parts. i am on t # 4 now, and all have been restored in the 70's or 80's by grampa and the kids know nothing about it except its all rebuilt. rebuilt means get it running good enough for a parade by taking out some shims, lap the valves, paint it and shes good to go!