MTFCA Forum

I got my European Classic tubes today. 7 days, they actually shipped UPS from Tennessee. They appear to be marginally thicker than the tubes I’ve been getting but certainly not in the range of the Blockley tubes. They do appear well made but time will tell. These are 21-4.50 tubes.

Andy

It’s almost ready, if Chip Foose shows up. I might be finishing in the parking lot ala the Jorgensons.

Andy

While RM brakes don’t self energize in reverse, proper adjustment of the RM and stock brake band will stop you at reasonable speeds. This topic has been beaten to death, I’d suggest a search on adjusting brakes.

Andy

In a recent post a lot of people complemented Steve Chase on his 11 touring. When he started he didn’t know anything about painting. He found a fellow to instruct him, practiced and learned to paint. Thousands of dollars in materials and his car came out well. There’s no getting around material cost...

I agree with Ed. It doesn’t matter what you spend if it’s what you want. As long as your wife doesn’t know everything.

Andy

Like Dan pointed out, most shops don’t want to do repaints because they make a lot more on insurance work. I took my Mercury to a local guy who does a lot of the hot rods and restorations in the area. You could ask around at a cruise in. Another fellow had good look taking his touring car to Maaco. ...

The Blockley tires are from Vietnam. The tubes are very thick. The way they mount leads me to believe they may share a carcass with the Universal drivers. Could be wrong, they mount easily. I’m shopping England and Europe looking for quality, price to me is secondary. A friend recommended the Europe...

I just ordered 4 tubes from European Classic Tyre in Denmark. Shipping for 4 tubes was 21 bucks. They were recommended by a friend as being similar to the Blockley tubes. They are advertised as made in Europe but are DOT certified. We’ll see what they look like when I get them.

Andy

Thanks Hap, but I need someone to motivate me. This has been a long project and I’m pretty close to calling Chip Foose to come finish it in time for the Santa Clara endurance run.

Andy

It depends on your application Bob. If you have an early car no one is currently making a high compression low head, Pop up pistons with a low head is a good running combination. If you have a running car that doesn’t need the low head look, a high compression head is instant power.

Andy

Finally got around to finishing the brakes, still have to bleed them but I think it will be easier with the master cylinder mounted. Finished moving the brake levers inboard. Wanted to keep stuff passing through the skirts to a minimum and I hate brake rod rattle Andy 544D570F-A5C9-49FE-B911-A1EC152...

So the Buick pistons work but you have no compression?

Andy

When I reline Rockies I clamp the band and lining to a drum, squeezing it together like they would when operating. After aligning the band and lining I drill all the holes. Disassemble, countersink the holes and the rivet lining to the band from the middle out.

Andy

Well Larry, did you test many coils and did we learn anything from this random sample?

Andy

Sorry I meant to say I used Dan’s timing gear and the distributor gear depth was good.

Andy

Here is a mostly assembled brake and a shot of the cast drum sandwiched between a McEachern safety hub and a Pharis buffalo hub. I got the brakes from Dan McEachern, he makes the required modifications to work with a large drum rear axle. Andy 3D28C2CC-920C-42E9-99A1-A2FF21ED70FD.jpeg FB7E18AE-6495-...

Ouch Susanne. Kinda harsh without any context of the relationship between myself and Steve. I guess I didn’t have to make my original post but I thought I was pretty clear about how I liked how Steve’s car turned out.

Andy

I’m happy with mine, installed so easy I thought I did something wrong. Ordered 4 tires and tubes at once, was close to 1300 with shipping so buy them for the quality because the price is pretty close to say a wards riverside. Bought everything at once so customs was about 60 bucks.

Andy

I just installed one on a new McEachern gear with no issues.

Andy

Now that the motor runs I have to remember where all this brake stuff went.

Andy

Steven, the body is currently covered for safe keeping while I finish the chassis. Here’s a photo of the body mocked up on the bare chassis.

The red paint adds about 13%.

Andy

In response to Dusty (you email kicked back), the cylinder head is a Chaffin Rajo and the carburetor is a Carter BB1. I may well end up with a Winfield if I can get a big enough one.

Andy

We’ll, as it turns out the clearance issues were due to a sketchy block and not the Prus head. That’s good news as no other problems had been reported. Thanks for the quality product Kevin. As I haven’t had one of these heads in my possession I won’t comment on the compression. I will say that with ...

I’ve been following this with great interest, you see I’m the one who called Steve’s car a fauxleven. Now if you know me you know I always go for the cheap laugh. When Steve first brought his new car by to get running it looked like a reject from a Disney parade. To see the amount of work and the sk...

You should hear it without the auger in the pipe.

Andy

Ok Art, don’t worry, our disagreement won’t drive me off the forum.

To the original post, has anyone else had a piston to head interference with a Prus head?

Andy

Finally some progress. Motor running just need everything else. Sorry for the mess.

Andy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJHNeYxmlrw

This thread certainly wandered. As to the original post, that is the first I’d heard of having to massage a Prus head but hey things happen. I’m glad Art was able to find numbers to fit his theory but by his formula my speedster motor must have 10 to 1 compression (which it doesn’t). There are just ...

Compression ratio is a mathematical equation and not a measured pressure. Simples form, swept volume + chamber volume divided by chamber volume. There are other factors such as gasket volume and pistobpn dome/dish. Compression ratio is not measured by cylinder pressure.

Andy

Good to see Leeoit and about. He just lights up when talking old cars.

Andy

Kevin, Gene and Dan are in the right direction. If it’s sparking then the points and coil are working. If it goes into the distributor it’s gotta come out. I have seen really poor cap alignment on aftermarket distributors.

Andy

Returning this to functionality would be prohibitively expensive. I’d braze it up, cleanup the repair, paint it and call it a display. There are other ways to fit the bushings. Like Dan pointed out it would be really difficult to repair it to the accuracy it needs.

Andy

A blasted surface isn’t rough enough tear up a brake lining. If anything it would help the lining to conform to the drum faster for better braking.

Andy

I don’t think that surface is rough enough to worry about. Probably be smooth in no time.

Andy

A fellow from St Louis bought it, he posted on the Facebook speedster chapter.

Andy

Anyone on the fence should really go on this tour. We went to the 2022 California Rendezvous and it was a great tour. It is a Horseless Carriage tour so you’ll need an early car.

Andy

What does this have to do with Model Ts?

Andy

Bump, good car, worth a call.

Andy

Bump, decent car for a good price.

Andy

The auction closed on the cars and they went for pretty much what they were worth although I thought the 13 and 15 touring cars went a little low. The Mercury went for 6550. Jeer Sherman had a body is worse condition at Bakersfield years ago. Since this included a set of wire wheels it was probably ...

If I didn’t have a Mercury I would be bidding on this one. It’s rough but the firewall and dashboard look very good, which is unusual. He had been asking 10k, I suspect it should go for 5-6k. That and another 20 grand and you’d have a nice car.

Andy

No

, I don’t know that date. July of 13 seems early for a 14 model year. I have 4 transmission shafts on the shelf with no date so I couldn’t say how long they did that.

Andy

Since there’s really no way to be sure, I’ll just continue to use the serial number as a build date. My 14 Runabout was built 19 November 1913.

Andy

Bump to the top

Garrett, it’s still available, call the number in the ad.

It just worked for me.

Andy

Good question Art, I started doing this when multi spark ignitions came out in the 80’s. The first spark is the strongest and the foil reduces the sensitivity of the timing light pick up so it doesn’t register the weaker sparks. To be honest I’ve only used a light on a T a couple times because there...

It’s an interesting concept. The same thing can be accomplished by wrapping aluminum foil around the plug wire and using a standard timing light. Been doing it for years.

Your results may vary.

Andy

I tried it and it says no info available. It has a find out why button. According to google the website hasn’t given them permission to post information. Sounds like an admin issue.

Andy

I’ve found that more often than not the correct hardware is less from a vendor than trying to source them yourself. If, say, McMaster Carr has them you’d have to buy a hundred and pay probably 12 bucks shipping.

Andy

Are there any problems starting an OF in a non starter car. My NH starts right up and I’d hate to lose that.

Andy

Good hint on trimming the seal John, I’ll give that a try. I also put a bead of RTV on the outer edge of the seal.

Andy

Do you need one like this?

Andy

Thanks for posting Hap, I’d lost track of that link. It’s a wonderful car and it’s rare to get so many good photos.

Andy

I bumped my friends 15 Touring ad to the top. It’s been for sale for a while but hasn’t really been a priority. A couple years ago I installed the starter and a new mag ring. It has a layne warford.

Andy

This car is still available. Call Con and work out a deal.

Andy

Amazingly enough still for sale. Give Con a call, price is negotiable.

Andy

The Mercury skirts are 7 inches. The second piece from the firewall forward tapers down to just under 3 inches at the radiator.

I’ve seen Mike’s yellow car in person. The early short cowl is pretty cool.

Andy

In simplest terms the ruckstell essentially gives you a 3 speed transmission. It’s like downshifting into second to get up the hill. I seldom use low ruckstell and the low pedal except for parades.

Andy

I mounted 30x3 1/2 Blockley tires and tubes on buffalo wheels. They took about 2.5-3.0 oz of weight to balance. Yes the stem was on the heavy side. This was still less than I used on universals on the same wheels and quite a bit less than wards riversides.

Andy

The last tour in Kanab (2012?) there was a dyno setup. I thought it was Kevin Prus but I could be wrong. I couldn’t find the article with the results but out of 20 or so tests there were quite a few under 20 HP. Keep in mind it was an MTFCI tour and there were more stock vehicles than at a MTFCA tou...

I assembled the body to get motivated. I’ve obligated myself to a couple events next year so look for updates as it comes together.

Andy

Dad’s speedster.

Andy

Body back from paint

Andy

Hood and exhaust

Andy

Skirts

Andy

Stripped and primed. Went ahead and fit new skirts, hood and exhaust header before body and paint work.

Andy

: 747FA8E2-A3EF-4D32-828E-6E6F9D054BC5.jpeg (58.34 KiB) Viewed 4466 times

A before shot of the Mercury in action.

Andy

This was on the horseless carriage tour in Visalia.

Andy

Delivered today, thanks to those who showed interest.

Andy

Chris, that looks like he’s using a cookie sheet to keep the exhaust off the rear end for his temperature test.

Andy

I’ve had mine for a couple weeks.

Andy

I bought my Blockley tires sooner than I actually needed them. I assumed with all the increasing interest that Coker would snatch up the US market and jack the price up. All told I was right at 1300 for 4 tires and tubes, customs was only 63 of that. So I wouldn’t worry too much about juggling order...

I’ve run all the currently availability tires and I believe the Blockley clincher to be the best quality. I don’t know what the longevity will be but I’m hoping it’s on par with my second choice, the universal driver. If money is less a factor I like that the Firestone tires are not as oversize. Andy

When I ordered mine the import fees were 60 some bucks. 4 tires 4 tubes in 3 packages. Duty was 21 each package. Like I said at the time a set of wards riverside would have been a little cheaper. I have been happy with the performance of the tires.

Andy

Well Matt, it measures 6 foot 3, it should fit into any standard garage. Give me a call, if you dig deep enough into your Hello Kitty back pack, I might be persuaded to deliver it.

Andy

New price, still flexible. Washed the car and looked closer. Right front corner of roof is punky and passenger door sags. Drop to 4500, still a little flexible.

Andy

Even though Mercury is fairly wide in speedster land, as you can see from Mike’s photo that legroom is pretty tight with the center shifter. It is also pretty tight on the left leg from the brake handle. While you’re driving with the handle forward it’s not too bad. But I’m not the biggest guy aroun...

I had a similar outside shifter on mine but I rook out the ruckstell and put in a warford so I don’t have the shifter anymore.

Andy

I stumbled across this video today, I didn’t see if it had been previously posted. I guess the author goes around to different museums.

https://youtu.be/ql-gWSSQOBs?si=sZoFGwAwrrNfO9ce

Andy

Would really like this to go to a good home. Like I said, I’m pretty flexible with the price.

Andy

I wouldn’t beg Henry to come back. He’ll be back in the spring when he wants to sell more overpriced stuff. Then he’ll threaten to scrap it when no one wants it. It’s a cycle.

Andy

I checked that thread, it belonged in OT. Farewell Henry, will you be taking your ads with you?

Andy

Never throw out an old bushing.

Andy

There’s a current AC brakes thread with the new makers contact info.

Andy

Happy birthday hummingbird

Andy

One year we went through a back gate of Big Basin park and took a fire road through the park. Looking forward to this run.

Andy

Here in California you can have wheels powder coated pretty cheap through Les Schwab tires. If you want black most powder coaters will work with you if you can wait til they have a batch to do. I painted my buffaloes and it took about a third of a gallon to paint 5 wheels. Most of the paint just mis...

Loctite works and I think it’s only good to around 400 degrees. You can get self locking stover nuts from Amazon in a couple days. My machine shop has the Chevy nuts by the gross.

Andy

Your Pasco wheels will work just fine with accessory brakes. Bear end mind that the hub bolts are specifically for the Pasco wheel as the both secure the hub/drum but are also the drive pins. If stacking the second drum for the Rockies your bolts will probably be too short. In a speedster or roadste...

To what end?

Andy

Thanks Dan. Actually it’s name is Bart.

Andy

According to the encyclopedia, today is my runabout’s 110th birthday. It was “reborn” the same year I was born. The previous owner pulled it out of a local barn in 1957.

Andy

Really great roads back and forth off of skyline. Excellent endurance run territory.

Andy

Another one from long term storage. This car sat in a dealer showroom for years. The dealership closed and the car has pretty much sat. Equipped with a Ruckstell and the interior and paint were done at some point. You could clean this and use it with mechanical update or it is a good candidate for r...

First of all, thanks to Steven for posting another Model T video, there really aren’t enough. It’s a tough topic to address, so many experts disagree on tuning coils. Bottom line is that if your coils need tuning any method will show an improvement. I have no experience with the ECCT, but if my Stro...

I was skeptical but I used Tom’s method with positive results

Andy

Simper Fi Jim.

Andy Clary, Sgt, USMC, 1975-1982

Nice score Steve. Stuff is still out there. Keeps filtering back out into circulation.

Andy

Im not an expert on the roof heads, but it looks like it has had quite a bit milled off exposing the spark plug wells.

Andy

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