help to start 1915 model t been is basement for 15 years..
Here is a recent thread on the subject:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/411944/503288.html?1419298160
Please post some pictures of the car! Be aware that pictures have to be resized to under 194K to fit on this forum. A good website for resizing pictures is
www.picresize.com. It has a batch resize option that allows you to resize a bunch of pictures at once if you want.
Save your original full size pictures in case you need them later. Make copies and resize those.
Id be concerned about getting it out of the basement first.
Here is a direct link to the ""REMOVING A ‘T’ FROM MOTHBALLS" write up:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/297601.html?1341112656
It covers most every thing to check.
Jim
If you want to copy and paste the "Mothballs" article, you may have a problem with the forum version in Jim's link. I tried it several times, a n d a l w a y s t h e s o f t w a r e i n s e r t e d e x t r a s p a c e s b e t w e e n a l l t h e l e t t e r s . If it does that to you, try copying it from my website.
Try this one;
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/8538.html
Tried it. Same problem. That's why I put it on my website.
Links worked fine in Firefox.
So much for apple! LOL
I think i would look into it to see how much rust there is on the machined surfaces? Bud.
Dave,
Welcome to the forum. Be sure to push the car out of the basement before you try to start it. They don't normally catch fire -- but they have been known to leak a lot of gasoline etc. If you have the original cork float which an original 1915 carburetor would have, the alcohol in most of today’s gasoline will eat the shellac off the cork. The cork will then become saturated with gasoline and sink. At that point the gasoline in the gas tank will drain out through the carburetor onto the floor etc.
There are a few known safety items about the Model T that you should check out before you start driving it. (If you are driving slowly on a farm where it doesn’t matter if the brakes fail, the spokes fail, car turns over, etc. – then you can ignore them all). If you have been around Model Ts for while you probably already know about the pitfalls. But if not, I would recommend you review them so you learn about those issues second hand rather than first hand experience. Getting an experienced Model T person to help you learn about your car can save you lots of frustration and possible expense. For example if you fail to retard the spark and you push down on the starting crank at the front of the car to start the car, you could easily break your arm. That is a known safety issue with Model Ts. And it isn’t dangerous as long as you understand what causes it [spark lever advanced [that is the left hand lever on a left hand drive car] it should be pushed up], commutator adjustment rod installed wrong or bent improperly so that even with the spark lever up, the spark is still too far advanced, shorted wire on the commutator, etc. . A stock 1915 will not have an electric starter – but often times the engines have been changed out over the years. And if you use an electrical starter– if the spark is advanced and the engine back fires – it can damage the starter and/or bendix drive. For additional details please see: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50893/68644.html?1224126132
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50893/69444.html
and there are other related threads.
Some other safety related items:
And be sure the car is in safe working order. An engine that burns oil is not a critical safety issue (at least not in my book) but the front end castor if it is set up negative can flip the car. If the rear axle still has the original babbit thrust washers you can lose your normal service brake. Those and similar items are well documented "oops" for the T. But if you have never been around one -- they are probably new "data points" for you. Some of them are listed below – not to scare you but to let you learn from others rather than discovering all the lessons on your own.
Safety Glass is nice: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50893/72116.html
Use safety wire and not lock washers or cotter pins on the two studs holding the wishbone to the underside of the engine.
Lots of safety items http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50893/69429.html
Over center steering – shouldn’t happen on the later Ts but if your T has the original 1915 steering parts, it does NOT have the stop inside the steering gear housing to keep it from going over center. And if poorly adjusted or if it has incorrect parts installed it might go over center. See: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/86345.html as well as: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/300409.html
Types of safety wire: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/41859.html
Example of loss of brakes caused by drive shaft failure: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/47804.html
Top T tips – many of them are safety related also: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/85208.html
Tour safety check list: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/44331.html
And if you have a gas hot water heater in the basement – be very very careful. The float in a Model T Carb will sometimes stick (or trash in the valve) and the carb will leak gasoline. Or as mentioned above the cork float will sink. Not too bad if there are no sparks – but several homes, garages and cars have been lost when a gas hot water heater was near by and someone started the dishwasher or other item that caused the burner on the hot water heater to come on at the wrong time. Note gas fumes tend to be heavier than regular air …. so they tend to hug the floor. If you have a garage door leading into your basement you can leave it partially open to let the mice in and the air out – that is a temp work around. But replacing the gas fired hot water heater with an electric heater or having the gas one relocated away from the garage is the best thing
Even with a perfectly good and properly adjusted front steering system – if you back up quickly, the front wheels can go full left or full right and pull the steering wheel out of your hand – so remember to back up slowly. It is caused by the caster of the front wheels similar to the casters on the front of the shopping cart – designed to be stable in one direction but not so stable in the opposite direction. Since you have already been driving the car you probably do not have the following problem – but you might still want to check. If someone rebuilt the front axle and it is was really difficult to keep the car going straight they may have inadvertently swapped the front spring perches. There is a left and a right spring perch that tilts the axle so the bottom of the axle is slightly ahead of the top of the axle (5 1/2 degrees positive caster – although there is some discussion that it is a little less but still positive for the balloon tires like you have). If it has negative to neutral caster it can cause a wild ride and also could cause the car to flip even at a slow speed see: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/80333.html?1233523419 that shows the spring perch installed incorrectly and how the front axle looks then. Also see: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/40382.html Note even with the spring perch installed correctly a bent or shortened wishbone could cause neutral to negative caster.
Also the rear axle thrust bearings if they are babbitt (originally bronze in the 1909-1915 cars and then switched to babbitt on the cars during 1915 ref: http://www.mtfca.com/encyclo/P-R.htm#rax3 see part number 2528 ) can fail with minimal warning leaving the driver without the normal transmission brake (the main regular brake on a stock Model T). See the discussion at: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50893/78685.html?1233159025 If you loose the brakes and you are on a flat area with minimal traffic – it is not nearly as bad as loosing them while going down hill towards a busy intersection. See the rear axle babbitt discussion part way down in the following thread: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/277093.html?1332591272
Wood spokes work fine – but they need to fit tightly, not be split or wood rotted, made of quality wood (pine is not a good choice and yes some folks have offered pine spokes for sale) and the bolts etc. need to be tight without too much wobble in the wheel. see: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/248594.html?1322326314
Again a T is a faithful servant but it has some known issues that the driver needs to be aware of and to take proper precautions about.
As others have said already, I would also encourage you to check out the local Model T Ford club(s) near you. See: http://www.mtfca.com/clubpages/chapters.htm and http://www.modelt.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=15 They can be a real source of encouragement and help you as you learn to maintain the car. Note there are also free “how to books” on the internet such – see: http://books.google.com/books?id=uKVAAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:xR 56bbT2W68C&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tdpWVMi4PMOjgwSAhoC4Ag&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=fa lse and there are others – but I didn’t see a 1926-27 one. And the Ford Service the T-1 book is online at: http://mtfci2002.readyhosting.com/manuals/Model_T_Service_Manual/mtsm.html .
Good luck with your project and welcome to the forum.
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
I print these pages to a .PDF file works every time. Doug
Good idea. I'll try that.