Engine date question

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: Engine date question
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By harvey cash on Thursday, October 30, 2014 - 01:47 pm:

The 27 coupe that I am presently restoring came with 2 extra engine blocks. I thought I would identify the date of manufacture before storing them away just in case another club member may have a use. My problem is the serial number appears to be 31421407. The 314214 are pretty clear which would date it July 1913. The 0 is slightly farther apart from the first numbers and is not as clear, again that would date the engine as June 1919. There also appears to be a faint 7 detached from the other numbers at the end which would put the engine out of any sequence. The casting reads H -7. Am I missing something or is this engine just a randomly numbered replacement?
Thanks in advance for any and all help! Harv.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Roger Karlsson, southern Sweden on Thursday, October 30, 2014 - 02:01 pm:

Do you have a photo of the engine? There are differences from 1913 over 1919 through 1927 that makes it possible to tell when it was made within a few years.
Does it have one or two valve covers? Is there a place for a starter or a generator? Are the brake and clutch pedals wider than the reverse pedal? US made T engine made before 1922 would have a casting date.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By harvey cash on Thursday, October 30, 2014 - 03:32 pm:

I can email photos but can't post on this site. 1 valve cover Harv.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker in Sumter SC on Thursday, October 30, 2014 - 06:49 pm:

Harvey,

The one piece valve cover was introduced Nov 1, 1921 and both styles were produced for approximately 6 months. On Apr 3, 1922 the main engine plant began producing "ONLY" the one piece valve cover engines. (ref page 526 Bruce McCalley's (R.I.P.) "Model T Ford"). Note a two piece valve cover engine still could have been produced with a little later date serial number if it was assembled at a branch assembly plant.

Since you said the block has a one piece valve cover we know it is a Nov 1, 1921 or later block (assuming it was produced by Ford).

The serial numbers were stamped by hand so they are not necessarily in a nice line etc.

If you e-mail me the photos, I will try to resize and post them for you. If you click on my name at the beginning of this post, my e-mail address is the third line down. Please limit any single e-mail to 10mb or less. And please put Model T or something similar in the subject of the e-mail and it will be read much sooner.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker in Sumter SC on Friday, October 31, 2014 - 06:44 am:

Below are the resized photos Harvey sent of his engine:







And below are some zoomed in cropped views of the engine serial number pad.





The original photo was 2.69mb and normally with that high of a resolution I can zoom in and read the numbers a lot better than I can see the ones on this block. Even after adjusting the color they do not show up very well at all.


Based on the photos and description, and the assumption that it is a Ford produced block I believe it is most likely between Nov 1921 when the one piece valve door began production and Jul 27, 1925 when the main engine production switched over to the 1926 style with the boss on the back of the engine as shown below:





First photo courtesy of Jim Lyons and the second photo from Trent Boggess' article on painting the Model T engine -- both previously posted on the forum -- thank you both for sharing those.

Note at: http://www.mtfca.com/encyclo/E.htm#eng2 there are several additional details mentioned about the engines. One of which is that during Sep 1923 “Ford” and “Made in USA” were left off of some blocks. But from memory – not that great – I think they were left off of some other blocks also. Any one have a reference for other blocks not having the “Ford & Made in USA?”

Also – note that the water outlet and serial pad are normally the same height – i.e. they were machined at the same time. It appears in the photo that the serial number area may be lower than the water outlet area. If that is the case, it may have been ground lower to remove a previous number? Below is a photo snagged from e-bay that shows the normal engine serial pad and how it is all the same height:



Finally does anyone have any suggestions on what to put on the block or similar parts to keep them from rusting more?

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By harvey cash on Friday, October 31, 2014 - 09:14 am:

Great information Hap. You feel it was made between 1921 and 1925 and renumbered. I will tag it as such and store it away. Thanks again.Harv.


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