Wow, I get to start this month's thread!

I'm continuing to mock up the wood kit on the 1925 touring body that I bought last month. The seat backs and arm rests are done for now. They will have to come back off when the time comes to move the body out of the basement (the body just barely fits through the sliding glass door).

I'm considering removing both front and rear seat pans temporarily in order to align them better with the rest of the body and to give better access to the structure underneath.

Looks great! Nothing like a job well done...

Agonizing about pulling the steering column out for the third time. The replacement column is nice, but has a lot of slop where the column passes through the frame bracket. I'm hoping that the wear is the bracket and not the column. I have a spare bracket. I don't have a one-inch micrometer, so at least I have an excuse to buy one.

Keep posting pictures of your '25 Mark seeing your body with all the cosmetics removed lets me know what I have to tweak on Andy (my 25)

Those are magnificent pictures of the Touring progress. Having attempted one in '64 I can appreciate seeing it done right. I enjoy seeing things in these stages.
Thanks so much.
Rich

Beautiful work Mark.

I'm still working on my front end. Got everything cleaned and painted. Just waiting on some tooling from Langs. Hope to be back on the road by thanksgiving.

Photo is of front wheels and my helper.

Friday I replaced a failed freeze plug, Saturday I put the manifolds back on. Putting a new bendix in today and found the problem I was having with it coming out of high gear. The Clevis was installed backwards and binding against the bendix cover. Successful month so far!

I went ahead and removed both seat pans from my 1925 touring body this afternoon, here are some pics. Both seat pans are multi-piece assemblies that are riveted together and installed into the body as a unit.

I plan to replace the front heel panel due to some rust issues (it's on its way). The pictures show a replacement rear seat footwell panel that I had bought earlier to replace the hacked up one on Betsy. It looks like the rear footwell panel on this body is in good shape, so I won't need to replace it.

Looking at the bottom rear of the empty tub, somebody has been in there before and put in some fiberglass reinforcement strips, which tells me that the metal down there is thin and probably has some rust pinholes in it. I need to flip the body over or prop it up on saw horses to take a closer look at the affected areas.

I noticed that the front part of the main sills has a rabbet on each side for the floor boards to fit into, but there is no rabbet for the rear floor boards, do they fit between the sills and on some other support pieces that I am missing?

Anyway, enjoy the pics. I would be hesitant about using these pics as an original reference for restoration, because many of the fasteners are missing and the ones that are there are incorrect.

Oh, regarding the white corner pieces in the rear seat pan - I made them out of 1 x 2 white cellular PVC trim stock from Lowe's (actual dimensions 3/4 x 1 1/2). I heated them with a heat gun, then bent them around a pole to give them the right curved shape, then cut the ends to fit in the corners. Worked great!

I plan to continue to pick away at this project over the winter as parts show up and as I have time.
















(Message edited by cudaman on November 07, 2017)

Mark, It looks like you are missing the little pieces of support wood under the front door, tapered one under the straight area, and curved one under the latch side.And get some paint on those rusty pieces before you put them back in!!

David, can you show a picture of the missing pieces? I've installed all of the loose pieces of wood that came with the body, there's nothing left.

I started to rebuild the rear axle in my 26 Tourer on the weekend. It's been a year since I pulled it apart...

Now that's one stout real axle holder, Joe!

Mark, notice how the back door openings have wood under them, as does the front of the front door opening? The rest of that opening should also have wood supporting the metal. Wish I had a picture! My memory is that the piece under the opening is just a tapered piece of wood glued to the wood rail. The corner piece should be self-explanatory.

Mark, I am watching and saving pictures with great interest as now I finally get to see under the skin of a touring body. I believe the front section of mine is missing or has wood damage under the upholstery, none of which is stock. I hope you don't mind, that I am saving the pictures for future repairs, keep them up, I can use any shots you take.

The front seat pan interests me too as It might explain what is missing or damaged on mine.


Anyhow, on mine, I am about half way to finishing my "third" brake light. I bought this many years ago with intentions of using it somehow, and I have found the perfect use. All that is left is to make some final connections. I will feel safer as it is much larger and in better view than the two stock sized tail lights on each side of the tailgate.

Thanks, David, I see the the locations of the missing pieces. I should be able to fabricate them and fit them in.

I am going to install a new top on my 1912 Touring. Top irons are all restored and ready to go....

So far in November I replaced bands, adjusted the clutch, and took a couple pictures:


Finnegan cooperates but he doesn't yet approve of this noisy, smelly old truck:

That's not a dog, that's a wookie!

Mark:
Keep posting the pics of your progress on the Touring. I have a 23 Touring and I am putting the wood kit together. Your pics are helping me figure out how to put this jigsaw puzzle together. You’re way ahead of me with your body work - I have a lot of that ahead of me.

Gentlemen:
is cold and snowing today ... I re-babbitted 11 ball caps and rough bored .050" undersize for later finish boring as needed , re-babbitted 3 sets of T mainbearing caps ...will be back on my home building project tomorrow when it warms to 39 deg. F.

Sediment bulb leaked where it screwed into the tank. I had to buy a new can of pipe dope to run some propane lines in my house so I figured I'd stop that leak as well. It's only seeped gas for about 20 years.

Slow, slow, slow. I'm reassembling the 1923 touring. I started to fasten up the wishbone, but had to prepare and paint the cap and studs and bake them overnight. I started installing the hood shelves, but had to prepare and paint proper carriage bolts and bake them overnight. I started to install the generator, but had to prepare and paint the proper mounting bolts and bake them overnight. I was going to install the carburetor, but you know... I hope to have the car running this month

Mark if you have them could you post some photos of the drivers side front seat wood.

Here are the pics you requested, Mark.

I fabricated the small missing wood pieces under the front door opening and installed them last night.

Looking in the body section of the Lang's catalog, it appears that my body is missing a few sheet metal pieces, so I ordered them last night. I'm hoping that they provide the platforms that the rear floorboards sit on.

I also ordered front and rear floorboards so that I can adjust the fit of the supporting structure to support the floorboards properly.

https://www.modeltford.com/item/S177.aspx

https://www.modeltford.com/item/S129A.aspx

Thank you Mark. Those will be of help in this up coming project.

Mark, glad I spotted that for you! ALL: note the cowl construction on Mark's body; this is typical of 1925 cowls, earlier ones had wood in them for the support structure.
Mark, I wondedered about your rear seat floor area, as my '15 body has sheetmetal forming a nice storage area under there--but a '15 body is much different than a '25, so I wasn't certain of what I was looking at.

Haven't done a thing. Still recovering from surgery on my back where they fused 10 vertebrae using two rids and 20 screws.

I guess you could say I'm "screwed"!

Drove mine today though I think the days are numbered.......

I drove Betsy this morning, the temperature was around 40 degrees F, but sunny, so I put on the side curtains and winter front.

Moved the coupelet out of the bride's garage and into the work garage. She fit in no problem.



Put her on jack stands and got to work. Changing out the rear wheels found this set up on both wheels. Seen worse

Technically I have done nothing to the T. We move 3 years ago and I have been busy with my DW'S honey do list. Well that list is nearly complete. So the main level of the garage is almost cleaned out. Now to clean the 2nd level. Then I am going to start making my shop, so I can start rebuilding the rear end, and fit the fenders this winter

Well it is now the time to rebuild the gravity fuel pump.

just painted the 27 coupe more pictures when it gets back to the house to be cut,buffed and reassembled

Spencer,
Can you please give me the paint code that you used?

Gary send me an email with your phone # and I'll give you a shout svibert102@gmail.com

Milled some main caps for bronze thrust.

Cut the axle from a broken 3-ton floor jack in the middle and cleaned, insulated, wound, wrapped, two magneto coils for N and S poles.
A small wood block, conduit brackets and the correct angle did the trick.
That's 10ga wire, and nothing got hot, not even the coils after the entire process.
Charged the magnets with a six volt, one magnet at a time, worked but not strong enough.
Charged them again with 14v from "Junior", engine running with jumper cables. Now it will hold vise grips.

I drove mine after dark for the first time.

Worked on rebuilding the rear end in my 1923 Touring.

It was cold this morning so Jack helped me start the T.

Rear End back under the car, hooked up, started the car, everything sounded good in low gear...

I have been wanting to redo my wheels for a long time! They were natural but 4 different hues of natural. The fellows and hubs were red...the rims were redone years ago with rattle can silver....

Before...8 AM today

After...3 PM today

FWIW. Not to bad for a guy with only one good leg... oh and this time I did not do rims silver, but rather Smioke Gray....don't let the time line fool you, that's for ONE tire ha ha

So far we have removed paint from and re-painted the steering column,carbide cannister,and many brackets. The body, fenders and running boards that were under primer are now blue and black respectively. We also took the top off the bows and cleaned the engine. The chassis was cleaned and painted in October. Hopefully we can start putting it back together soon.

I’ve been slowly piecing together the wood kit for the 1923 Touring. Made some decent forward progress today. Got the front pillars installed, figured out which firewall to use (with the help of the Forum) and got it in place, and put several other pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together.

Changed the oil, took a final and frigid ride around the neighborhood, and then put the ole girl away for the winter. The T ran great all season, and never let me down once.

Put mine in Winter position and ran the carburetor out of gas since it snowed last night.
NATURALLY the salt came out.......

Silver paint is how Ford said to touch up rims so guess you did it right in the first place!
Doing some work on a 25, just want to get it running. Ground valves and taking up rods. After I get it running need to redo king pins and check rear end (you know what I mean )
Also have a Ruckstell torn down for clean and inspection. So far it's got bad drive shaft, the sleeve rotates on the shaft and really nasty ring and pinion. I will do full inspection after everything has been hot tanked. (it still had babbitt thrust washer in it that fell apart when I pulled the housings apart)
Still waiting on the babbitting on my block, glad I get to work on others cars, keeps me in practice.

Carl (11 touring) received fresh oil, band adjustment and lube this weekend. Took him out for a fifteen mile ride and he performed with excellence.

Eric

something's not looking right...your wood appears to be for a high cowl/wide firewall.

For low steel firewall, note how skinny the vertical pillars are...the body wraps around them and the firewall covers/matches the outline perfectly. You want the "high" firewall for late '23, which is a '24

Just got my outside oil line kit installed. I had a previous thread asking about how to get more out of it but in the end I went with an installation right out of the box. One thing I did do though, was to first install the mag post fitting with a clear tube attached down to a catch can to see if it even worked. With cold oil (it's a hair below freezing here) the flow is probably best measured in tablespoons per hour, but it should work a lot better warm. In any case, I now know there's at least something going through the line and that's better than nothing.

Continuing to pick away at my 1925 touring body.

I purchased a pair of metal sill covers, the rear seat pan bottom, a new front seat heel panel, and a replacement rear body panel from Howell's.

Donnie Brown sent me a pair of rear floor board support brackets. I purchased a set of hardwood floor boards from Lang's and put some sealer and polyurethane on them to protect them (I may paint them black later).

I'm waiting on a sheet metal punch set that I ordered from Northern Tools so that I can punch the holes needed for the rivets that will hold some of the sheet metal panels in place.

Zipping right along!

Well got rid of alot great parts to get room for the newsest T yet.
just started restoration/assembly of T #21
Cant wait front and rear done and under frame
Short block was done years ago but need going through check.
Now trans is next up
Busy busy

Pulled the radiator in the 26 RPU to repair mount. Repaired rusted shroud mounts and added two hood clips I was missing. Made the wood around top of body in preperation for top instalation. Finished strike plates for door handles an the Martin Parry wood cab project and painted lots of screws for it also.

I took it apart, to start the restoration this winter










Thats what winters are for, am i right ?

built a visor for my 26 coupe

So you're a tin knocker by trade?

Leo, is it easier to work on that way?

Just about finished rebuilding front end.

Here's a before and after shot.

Sent a Model T part to a Forum Friend. Put a 1919 centerdoor in a movie and taught Pierce Brosnan how to drive it!

Dallas, yes it is but the reason the body is off is not just to give the whole car a good once over, but the body had a strange 'home built' frame underneath. where most of the weight of the body was actually hanging from the bed floor, it was made from four 2x6s lengthwise and six 2x4 crossmembers and litteraly hundreds of nails from a nailgun. Way heavy and not even giving good support. So it had to go, will build a better and sturdier frame, old frame is going to help heat the house !

Today I stitched my new top stay straps on the buckles, loops and rings.

Cleaning up the wheels for my 13 touring.

Assembling a Ruckstell to install in a customer's 1911.

Wow, I haven't got anything done this month. I did pick up to really nice NH carb cores. This is a busy time of the year at work. It will be 12-15 hours a day until Christmas.

November has been a busy month for my T. I rebuilt and installed the front end. This morning a beautiful 35 degrees took my wife on a ride over to the farmers market. Little did she know all I did to the T and that this was a test drive to see if it would fall apart.

Preformed beautifully!

Guess at some point I'll need to fix the leaky radiator.

The repro horn bulb bracket failed again, so I made one more nearly like the originals.

There ! All fixed.

Nice fix Rich. I have resoldered mine twice. I bump mine getting in and out like many of us. I thought it might be better to let it break there than a more expensive part. I may copy your idea.
Rich

I took the old girl to breakfast with the T club. About 110 miles round trip for a plate of biscuits and gravy. High temps here have been in the 80's, so good tour weather.

Rich, a while back Royce posted a few pictures of a bracket he considered correct for 1913-15. I copied it as near as I could reckon from the pictures. It's fun and frustrating to bend metal, I learned a lot from this simple part. Miscalculated on the first try and had to abandon it and start over !

If it were easy everyone would be doing it. :o)
We learn a little each time we try.
Rich

Since bringing the rebuilt engine/transmission home from Mike Bender's in August I've been reassembling my 1923 touring a little at a time, taking time to clean and paint various parts (engine pans, crank pulley, manifolds, etc.). Today I started it up for the first time, briefly. Firing is intermittent. I suspect a timer glitch. I quit working on it when my cousin Mary showed up with her granddaughter Michelle and great granddaughter Grace. I took Grace for a ride in the 1915 runabout, then Mary got a ride. She is 97, and I remarked that she's probably ridden in a Model T before. She said it's pretty close. Her dad drove a 1922 Star.

Hey Dallas, now I get it! I posted the pics from my I-pad (cursed thing) and they show up right side up, now i'm on the PC and the photo's are up side down, what a world, these newfangled electronics still bewilder me every now and then !

I put in a set of oversized steering gears. They were a real snug fit. I had to machine out the inside of the gear case cover a little for the pinion to fit, but all turnout out well.

: ^ )

Keith

My 16 year old grand daughter just got her driver license so I took her to teach her to drive the 21 roadster. She did a great job. She is the grand daughter who has fixed my smart since she was 10 years old. She added a lot of games to the phone, said I needed them.
Bill

Have not done much with the T in November (not for lack of wanting to), but I sure have worked the doodlebug pretty good in the yard and bought a lot of parts for upcoming projects.

Working on a TT truck and finally did a job I've been putting off - lining the emergency brake shoes. I first C-clamped the lining to the shoe and then one by one drilled out the rivet holes in the lining and placed a temporary screw to hold all in place. Then I removed the lining and went to the drill press to countersink the holes for the rivet head. Next the lining was re-installed onto the shoe with the screws. Then finally the screws were replaced by the rivets, one by one.


Rich C.

The front seat heel panel on my recently acquired 1925 touring body has some rust perforation damage, so I bought a replacement heel panel from Lang's (actually, drop shipped from Howell's).

While drilling the rivets out, I noticed that both front seat frame side braces have some rust damage and a crack near the back, where they are attached to the seat back and rear heel panel.

Howell's website shows that they sell all of the front seat frame parts as an assembly only (part number S126). I have left a phone message and sent an email to Howell's to see if I can get a new pair of side braces, awaiting a reply.

I also ordered some of the special, large pan head rivets and a matching rivet set from Lang's for use in re-assembly of the pieces.

After months of cleaning/sealing the cowl tank and sitting on my but for some months healing up from surgery. Started to put everything back together, Steering column re secured, switch back in place, Tomorrow reconnect pedals, bands,brake linkage, new starter button, fuel line ,carb linkage and get this thing back on the road. Couple of mild days to do it.

Put away the Model T for the season. Time to tear into the snowmobiles.