I spotted this in a Ford dealership I visited. Nobody knew what it was. They will not sell it. And no, I won't tell where this dealer is located. I will be keeping in touch in case they change their mind someday.
I'm still hoping to find one at an auction where nobody knows what it is.
They don't know what it is, but because somebody expressed an interest, it must be valuable, so they won't sell it. Typical.
Would that be a pan straightening anvil or jig?
Jesse,
Yessir. Lacking the pins and related hardware.
Steve there probably has been one at an auction or two that somebody bought to haul off with other old iron and sold at the local scrap yard.
When I would go to farm auctions years ago with my Father I saw piles of Iron and junk that was sold awful cheap so the auctioneers wouldn't have to mess with it.
Think of all of the old T tools that wound up that way!
Yes a lot of good stuff has been lost that way. I've bought things I really didn't need just to keep scrappers from getting them.
OT, but back in the mid 1980s some friends and I used to go to the local junkyard near West Palm Beach, Florida almost every Saturday looking for Mopar parts.
One friend of mine spent weeks cutting the quarters off of a 1966 Dodge Dart Wagon just because they were so nice and he didn't want to see them crushed (he didn't own a Dart wagon).
They followed him around for a few years and a couple of moves, then finally went for scrap anyway when he got a wife and a new job and had to move out of state.
The OP expressed interst, so the item was not for sale. Perhaps if they learned it was for a car that hasn't been produced by Ford for 90 years, they might have less interest in keeping it in their service department.
Drive your T up there and show them what car it is for. Might loosen the chains.
Take them a pan and ask then to straighten it
You won't straighten any Model T engine pans with that. The fixtures and index pins are missing. It could be saved if you knew where/how. In it's current state it is only worth $500 at most.
They won't know that!
But it EXISTS! So cool to find relics in that state. Hope you can save it.
I'll buy 10 of those pan jigs for $500 each if someone will produce them... I don't care what they're missing. That's the funniest thing I've seen in some time.
I hope you get it, Gary! Watch them closely. Some cluck could come along and have it taken out.
Patience is key sometimes 'tho huh?
I'm working on a wood cab TT and some other important bits but I have to patient. Tough row to hoe some days.
A member of the Oklahoma Special T's got a great buy on one at the auction of the Ford dealership in Hennessey, Ok. It was being used as the stand for a drill press. Nobody knew what it was. Ed
Since these jigs are so crucial to having a happy and healthy motor/crankshaft, and since they only seem to pop up for big bucks now and then, has anyone thought of making these? Are there specs and drawings out there with all the measurements with the attachments? Something to consider.
Ill have to agree with James. Ill take the next 10 at 500 each.
Here is a picture of my Jig. Im so "proud of it" that I have to show it off when I can I had looked for years for one I could afford. Then one day a couple fellow Tin Lizzie members showed up at my house with it in the back of their pickup. It was an early "free" Christmas present. I still can not believe my luck, but it was very very appreciated. It needs to be resurfaced and the fixtures made, but all that is simple machining operations. Langs makes the rough castings for the cone and the shaft mounting bracket. They also come with details of the dimensions of all the parts needed. They were cheap enough that it was not worth my time to try and cast them or machine something myself. I plan on using it this fall/winter work season when I build the engine for the speedster project.
my jig
these are the fixtures needed for the pan jig. as well as 10 small locating pins to locate the holes in the pan while straightening.
Keep trying to get it. If you show them what it does and how important it is to the hobby, maybe they will let it go. have fun and be safe Donnie Brown ...
I wouldn't surface it. Just clean it up, and file down the nicks, and you're set.
Larry, I may not need to surface it. But sometimes as old cast iron ages, it also warps. So there is a good chance that the top is not a perfect flat plane anymore. It could be slightly twisted. If it is twisted, I will have to surface it till it is flat. I have not checked it yet. I can use my machinist level and check it for flatness. If it is within .005 of being flat I will consider that plenty good enough and use it as-is.
When I moved to Corona in 1965 the Ford dealer had a KRW Engine stand with all the engine adaptors from Model T up to the 50's. I tried to buy it but they said that they used the stand to rebuild transmissions? Years later they sold the dealership and scrapped the stand and heads before I could stop them. What a waste. Really stupid people.