I thought it was a great stroke of luck when I got this early 1915 model year block for $50.
But today I cleaned up the number a bit better and found that 1 on the left. Turns out it's a December 1916 (1917 model year) block. Still appears to be a good block, but not quite the great find I thought. Live and learn.
Steve, I liked your last article in the club mag. Always fun to see what your doing. A question for you about you reverse drums I see in the photo. Have you looked at them? are they cracked? My TT's drum is cracked bad and that put me in a search mode. I have been driving all around here and looked at three fellows stashes of drum's. Everyone of them with one single exception were cracked and the one single drum I did find that was not cracked. Was not for sale,I think we checked about 25 drums so I am just curious about how yours look? Are there still good drums to be found?
Steve,
By Califunny standards, that still was a good buy!
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2
Naw, .. . .I see it had a replacement helical timing gear at some point in it's life. Worth about $35 . . . . Just kidding, Steve ;o)
Don't worry Steve, we all get that not so good deal when buying parts. My recent purchase turned out to be pretty much a bust after I got it home with closer inspection. Looks good in the pic, not so good when you really look at it up close and personal.
Chad - is that a complete Model T on the trailer?
It's complete in Chad's mind! Lol Fred, as I'm sure someone will post "Hey, I built one up starting with less than that."
A nice EE crankshaft came my way recently, and all the journals cleaned up nicely at .010. I'm going to build a "new" Model T around it, probably a '15 Runabout.
1916 blocks are hard to find! I think you did great Steve.
What's the casting date. Maybe someone added the 1 later. It looks grossly out of place. If it were mine and I needed a '15 block, it would be a '15 block.
Looks like you got some transmission drums also Steve.
I bet you got a deal on those.
Tom, I just rebuilt my 1927 engine. We tore down 6 complete 26-27 engines to get a good block and also tore down 6 more transmissions looking for good drums, for a total of 12 transmissions. All the reverse drums were cracked except one, and it was very thin. about 50 percent of the low and brake drums were cracked. But only about 25 percent of the lows and brakes were good enough that I would use them. I finally bought a new reverse drum riveted to my good gear. Remember to keep and take care of all your cracked drums with good gears. That is the way of the future.
I think those drums came from an auction last year where I bought some stuff to keep the scrapper from getting it. I haven't checked them for cracks yet.
The 1 being so far out of line is part of why I missed it. I should have noted the casting date when I first saw the thing. It's 12-9-16, just three days before the assembly date. The block was cast on Saturday and the engine was assembled on Tuesday.
OK it's a 1917 model year block. Still a great score for the price.
Wayne in Grass Valley: I wonder if Steve had his tape measure on the Bib overalls with him? Just kidding Steve, as you never go anywhere with out it!!!!
Donnie, good info Thanks!
Fred and Seth, I had to save it because it was going to be scrapped by the person that had it. Maybe I should have just let him take it, LOL. Funny, I jokingly told my friend (non- T'er) that I bought a new car. Then sent him that pic. His response was "Where is the rest of it."
I am actually thinking of starting a new car, errr truck, I mean van. Well, what ever it is, I bought a REALLY clean '26 frame. That's it, nothing else. I can picture it now in my mind....
Sorry if I misguided your post Steve.
Better frame than mine.
A weed is any plant growing in the wrong place, so a rose in the wrong place could be a weed but still smells like a rose! I think 50 bucks for that block makes it smell like a rose to me. LOL
I recently bought a January 1916 block for $50, and plan to build a brass speedster around it.
Cast date 1-28-16, engine number 1,071,xxx.