MTFCA Forum

Find a locksmith shop in your area that’s has been around for several years. They usually will have rings of “try keys” they use to find a key for older locks. When they have one they can make a key or order a generic blank they can use to make a key.

Did your friend have any of the original wood left? If he did the screws and flat head bolts are the size he would need.

I agree with the concerns mentioned above. Im sure hoping that Steve’s affairs are in order and him owning a business at one time would seem to indicate that they are. Who actually started the go fund me page. That might be something people need to know. If you’ve given out your personal information...

Looks like the face of the lock needs flattening out. By the way The larger Ace Hardware stores have a good selection of springs that may be like the one you need. I found some almost identical for the standard Ford locks used on the 17-25 Tourings when
I repaired the ones for my 21 Touring.

Looks like there is part of a starter drive in there too.

Wow! That’s neat and these days the cigar box is a collectors item for some people.
I’ll bet the auction folks didn’t know exactly what the T parts were or if they were T parts.

Is that an old time camera that you would use a cover or drape over the see thru lens to get the shot?

The car was built up by the looks of it with a few later year T parts. The average old car hobbyist wouldn’t notice it unless they looked close. If it runs well and drives well I would enjoy it as it is. It is a Model T with Model T parts. In the Model T era and later people would use T parts from a...

Yep! If you could get a coil to “buzz purty good” you were good to go!

Blacksmith shops played a big part in rural America. They were the first place an early car owner would take his auto to try to get a repair done to it. Auto dealers were still few and far between and the next thing to any thing mechanical would be the local Blacksmith. Here’s an early example of th...

I have a feeling it kind of like this photo and the comment! It was learning by doing and on the fly.

I doubt it has an intermission like the old 3hr movies use to have.

Your TT is looking great and thanks for the nice detailed photos you provided! I was looking at your engine photos and I missed seeing the internal oil line that runs from the front to the back of the engine. I’m sure it’s in there but sometimes it gets overlooked and forgotten about. I’ve been ther...

A question would be if the original fordite wheels over time began to sort of deteriorate or if it was always a concern when they were new in the teens and twenties. Maybe Ford had a steering wheel cleaner sold at the dealers? It would seem that Ford wouldn’t want new owners to have dirty hands afte...

Is your car a Touring car or a closed car or? I used a body wood kit for my 21 Touring and if your car is an open car the parts you’re showing don’t resemble the ones for a low cowl open car. You might try to match younwood parts by looking at the wood body parts for Model T’s on their website. They...

Here’s some new T’s in 1927 doing their thing in a Ford showroom. I guess it was expected.

I remember very well the 49-51 Mercurys with the lowered and chopped look! I remember seeing a 51 Ford done the same way but the Mercurys were the popular ones to do the “lead sled” look to. If you were a tall guy your head would rub the headliner!
We called them that in the 60’s and 70’s.

I don’t think this a Ford factory but maybe a Dodge or Chev factory?
It sure looks like the body men are leading in and shaping the bodies.

I don’t think Ford did body leading in this era did he?

Post hole digging and tamping bar or something close to that. Depends on who sells them. Here’s one from Harbour freight tools about 69” long. It’s a discount tool seller. I have one my Grandfather made from a wagon axle and another from a T drive shaft. I’ve cleaned out lots of post holes on our fa...

Check out this older post about doing that. http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80 ... 1249733464

It would be nice if all or most of the parts were with it. They may be with it but not shown in the photo. It may be a little different model of their press. It’s got a little different feet than the catalog photo.
It’s still a very good usable press that’s for sure!

Get ready for lots of comments! Assuming you used some type of pre lube such as a light grade of oil, lubriplate, or STP with a light mix of oil or any thing else I would use 10w30 detergent oil. And there will be other ideas about this too. There always is. Whatever oil you use is way better than w...

https://www.modeltford.com/item/3501BL.aspx
New reproduction wheel from Langs

A few years ago someone was making a reproduction black T wheel. It was just the black ring. It got some good reviews. Anybody know what they were made of?

Here is a photo of a local service station with a few T’s parked around it.
The T Coupe or sedan has a neat front bumper on it. Not very common I don’t think.

You’ve got that right!
It doesn’t have to be 3 feet. Less than that will do it too.

I did that to one that wasn’t the best of shape when I was taking apart a transmission. I was really carful putting it back together with the last good one I had!

I’ll bet the Aussie bodied Model T’s don’t show up much in a barn very often anymore. There was one “ as found” condition just a few days ago on the forum but if there are any just left in the open field anymore it’s even rarer to find one of those.

I’m wondering if this is a Model T or a T chassis or some T parts sitting on it. Never the less it’s a good photo to post of a car left out and forgotten years ago! Maybe in the 50’s? The fenders for sure aren’t Ford but something else.

Years ago when I worked on my first Model T steering column I took it apart by driving out the two column pins. The gear box had gotten loose in the column and needed tightening up. Not knowing any better and not to trying to keep it “original” I installed two full length screws through the two hole...

Yes those are the real deal barn finds! It’s great they were still inside of a barn and not left outside! Unfortunately I think there were more “field finds” when I was growing up instead of the barn finds. On a street close to where my Grandfather lived there was a wrecking yard that two 36-37 Pack...

If you intend to keep the present column tube it may be time to make a thin sleeve all the way around the inside of the column that can be placed inside the column about the length of the gear box. Maybe you could use some 24 or thinner gauge sheet metal that you could get to fit. Maybe you could ge...

When reassembling the gear box to the column it needs to be a good snug fit to begin with. If it’s not you need to use shims or maybe the column is cracked or slightly stretched. It doesn’t take much for a loose gear box fit. The rivets hold the parts in place and don’t really make the parts go toge...

That very well could be a posed photo but using a large heavy wrench to put on hubcaps is more than it actually needed.

You can do it this way without a hoist if you want to. According to this method it’s easier than it looks! Or is it?

That photo has been around before and I’ve wondered the same thing if the two guys are tightening the hub caps or the axle nuts. The guy on the rear wheel is looking at the rear wheel and it’s got the hubcap already on it. So I guess he’s finished tightening it up? It sure seems they wouldn’t need a...

I’d save it too.
To me it’s amazing it survived since it has the outside oiler on it. After a while oil would dissolve the decal. Unless it wore out because it wasn’t oiled !! 🫢🫢🫢

I have a 24 Coupe which is pretty much the closed car configuration as your 23 Four door. I’ve had the engine out twice. The first time I pulled the engine out in one piece by undoing the usual things then tilting up and out the engine using a chain hoist. You can remove the transmission cover if yo...

The New Day timer is a keeper and seems OK but the roller timer is in worse condition. The fiber insulation ring on the inside of the case is cracked and may not be usable. But what’s interesting about the roller timer is it’s still got the remains of the brand sticker on the outside of the case. Yo...

There are more than a few after market parts on T’s than we think. Western Auto had lots of them among others.

Go to Lang’s Model T Ford website. They have the timing cover centering tool and necessary gaskets if you need to remove the cover or loosen the cover bolts and see if it will center up. You can tell by looking at the cover that when it was made the lips where the timer case sits in aren’t the same ...

If I’m looking at your latest photo it sure looks like the timing gear cover is off center? If that’s the issue of your binding roller timer I wonder how your car ran to begin with. The cam is probably in the correct position in the block itself but the timing gear cover is visibly way off on one si...

Hi again Tim! We all learn eventually that pictures say a thousand words! That’s how most of us learn about anything mechanical related. I’m not the smartest guy in the world but pictures sure help me.
Good luck!

That’s a good point Dan and reminder from the parts book you’ve got. I have a feeling that we have non-Ford look alike parts on our cars and don’t realize it. I would think the disclaimer at the top of the page was put there for a reason.

Do you have the Ford service manual? That’s a really good resource of close up pictures of the engine compartment and a way to identify engine parts and the wiring that goes to them. Once you identify the engine components then you can install the individual wiring harnesses to the engine and the fi...

Well you know the old saying! If it ain’t broke don’t fix it! Looking at the perch and how it’s made is a little different than the majority most of us have seen. Maybe an aftermarket?

This has come up before. My opinion is when Ford painted the bodies and especially the Tourings whatever paint drift that got on the wood was just that. If Ford treated the wood maybe he treated it before it was installed ? Is there any evidence if Ford treated the wood? He may have. We now may do t...

Remove the brass shield and then see if it frees up the roller. It’s too close from the photo.

If it’s rubbing the roller then remove it and install the modern press in seal.

You mentioned when you installed the roller assembly it was a little difficult pushing the pin in. I can’t tell from here of course but maybe it was a little hard to get the pin in is because the roller assembly isn’t going on far enough and the pin won’t easily go in. You might try taking a little ...

Remove the roller, use some oil to lubricated and press see it in and out so it will begin to move freely. It’s braded to tight it seems.

Do you mean the round roller between the two arms isn’t turning? I think you mean when you installed the roller assembly on the camshaft and inserted the pin that holds it in place you noticed the roller wouldn’t turn easily. The term brush term is used when you have a New Day timer. It has a brush ...

He might have a subdural hematoma. It’s a brain bleed that occurs after a while. I had the same thing after a fall from a ladder after I retired and took a good lick on the side of my head. It showed up about two weeks or so later in a brain scan. It’s like having a severe bruise inside your head. M...

Clean it up with solvent and then some paint remover in the suspected area. Drive it a while and you probably can see specifically where the leak is from and maybe a suspected crack. If not it’s probably leaking where it’s riveted together.

Thanks Luke for the colorizing! It brings out the detail better. It brings out how really beat this old T is.
The cash only sign can plainly be seen now and the guy bending over the engine must be the owner or dealer of the service station since he has on a cap with the Texaco star on it. Neat.

Here in this area of Texas there were a lot of farm auctions and buy outs I went to with my Father in the 50’s -60’s. It seemed there were always remains of T’s that were used for this and that. Old farm T wagons and cut down T frames made into carts. T iron parts were put in a pile along other old ...

The backing plate on the switch is the problem. Use some fine sandpaper and clean all the brass contacts on the backing plate. It’s looks you have a not so common switch. The most common version is the one that’s being reproduced but not that one. Ford used different manufacturers to make parts that...

Do you still have your old fenders? You may need them to get the correct location on the new ones. Or at least to get an idea. What about the lower brackets. If you removed the lower brackets from the old fenders you will need the correct location for those too. And make sure the front fender irons ...

I have a 24 Coupe that I restored and this 25T 2dr sedan has the same type of interior kit in it that I used. It looks like it was a frame up restoration since the chassis has been repainted and cleaned a few years ago. The body has been repainted too. Storing the Muratic acid under the car wasn’t a...

Another point about replacement Model T wiring besides the correct color is the size of the eyes on the wiring. A while back a supplier used the pretty much correct colors but the eye connectors were a bit to large. They would work but were a little large and you had to make sure they weren’t to clo...

I thought it was a neat photo too and that why I posted it. Lots of everyday real life use for this T! It makes you wonder how much longer it was going to keep going. I’m thinking that by the late 40’s this T was about done in and left to sit out its days on the back 40! Looks like it’s got front an...

Here’s a pic from the Traces of Texas website. It was taken in 1939 but may have been in 1938 because of the date on the rear plate. The T Roadster looks like it’s a 1920 or close to it. By this time it was an 18 year old car used car that was really being used. It looks like it has a lowered top bo...

The Michigan website said the pic was taken in 1910. Those of you that really know the very early cars can tell if it’s a 1910. I guess it was a new car to this family in front of their house. But I’m guessing if it’s their house! It does look like it’s pretty new. I didn’t think it was a Ford auto ...

This photo was supposedly taken in 1910.
The car looks similar to the pre T Fords but I don’t think it is but sort of similar to the style from that era.

You mentioned the wiring being in really bad shape and pieced together saying it’s been frakensteined together. That’s a big sign to rewire your 24 Coupe! What’s happened is it may have the remains of the original wiring patched up and I don’t know that but whatever it is it’s got to go! The battery...

Are the frames still good to use for a restoration build, speedster, or they mostly bent and just good for the crossmembers? I have some good straight frames I’ve saved over time but haven’t scrapped them. I’ve always tried to save my good usable parts and have wondered what to do with a lot of them...

Now that TT Ford Truck a genuine barn find! Sure hope it remains that way and gets cleaned up and running like it is. Original finds like it that haven’t been outside for years are getting more scarce as time goes by.

I think that seam was originally spot welded together and over time when restorations occurred people used small screws of some type. When looking at Cimorellis Model T digital information for some earlier T bodies wood plans by Mel Miller it’s got some information about how to put that seam togethe...

Hopefully your split rims are not deeply pitted under the light scales of rust. I have a couple I saved for the lugs that’s on them. They were on some wheels that were exposed to the elements under a half open shed. When I began cleaning them up the pits were almost through on the weathered side. Ot...

Thanks Rob for the information about starting on the spark or as it’s come to be known today as a free start! I’ve been around and own Model T’s at least 50 years. My 24 Coupe will occasionally start with a warm engine as my other 2 cars will when turning the key to battery and starting I never hear...

I have a 24 Coupe and a 21 Touring that usually get free starts after a drive or with a warmed engine. Not all the time but it happens. I never thought much of it until I started regularly looking at the forum several years ago. Wasn’t this mentioned in one of the T owners manuals or one of Floyd Cl...

Model T’s became the most common used cars for many years after the mid 20’s thru the 30’s. T owners for the most part would go to the local wrecking yards to get replacement parts that would fit. They weren’t interested if it was for an earlier model but that it would fit whatever their car was. We...

Since the question was asked “what’s a restoration” here’s some pics to ponder the question .
Theses cars are 1926 ModelT Coupes.

The newer 6 volt batteries don’t always use the” Group 1 “ designation. And if you tell the sales person you want a group 1 6 volt battery they usually don’t know what group 1 means.

Changing times I guess.

Dan , are the threads still usable or worn out. I have the remains of a T cap but it had a nail in the spindle that worked loose and did something similar but not as much as this one for sure.
One on the earlier Ford models before the T?

That’s the leak that keeps on leaking! Just like a Timax watch that keeps on ticking!
Some leak more than others. Just the way it is.
If you really drive a T fairly regularly you need to get under it and take a rag wipe off the drip or slow leak places. They eventually show up

I don’t know how particular you are about getting your build precise but you could cut out your wood firewall about 1” farther out at the curve to give you clearance. I have a feeling when building a T speedster “way back when” you had to customize here and there to get things to clear and fit.

As I understand the way Ford dated his cars the steel firewalls came out in the 23 year which would have started in around Sept-Oct 22. So if the Aussie car is a 22 that would make it an August or earlier 22 or pretty close to it if the Aussie cars followed the same time line as the US cars did.

I just noticed it has a wood firewall. I wonder if the steel firewall came out around the same time the American T’s did. Interesting.

Looks like a good survivor. Get it to running, check out the transmission bands and try to get it to run. It looks like the wood structure might still be solid enough and stable but you’ll determine that as you get into it. Then there is the radiator and we hope it will still cool. It’s good to see ...

So true. They’ve been coming to Texas and other states more often and it’s not for the weather. I think they call it moving to more normal places that aren’t so “funny”.

For what it’s worth my 3 T’s that have a 6 volt system with the starter cables I bought from the major suppliers several years ago turn over just as fast or a little faster as in the proper cables video with a 6 volt system. They were the same size that were on the cars originally. The insulation ha...

The problem is misinformed and low information voters will believe any thing you tell them if you tell it to them long enough. Hopefully in the next election people will take a good long luck at what’s going on and at what’s happened in the last few years. Climate change is one thing but other big i...

Hi Tim When a guy is new to the Model T world T you will find owners have their favorite Timers, favorite oil, and favorite transmission band material among other things! For me the reproduction New Day timers are pretty good. I have 3 T’s. 2 with New Day timers and 1 with the Anderson timer. They a...

If you have a garage park your T inside and turn the lights off and of course leave the door open. At night you might see if there is a wire or connection that it arcing or loose while it’s running.
This might help find a short or and arc.

Heres a Ford dealer service truck. Take a look at the jacks on the running board. Are those extensions of some sort with them? Interesting street location name too!
Maybe he was going to change the rear flat tire on the Touring.

Here’s a dealer photo but not necessarily a Ford dealership photo but a aftermarket transmission dealer in Waco Texas. But there must have been a Ford TT dealer in the Waco area at that time to be able to take the photo of what looks to be a a new TT Truck!

I wasn’t the one that mentioned an “unkind statement “ in the initial beginning post to begin with. At that point the statement about the former president should not have passed on in an open forum.
That’s where it started. And it wasn’t by me. Now let’s move on.

Thank you for making the add clear and pointing out the wording for Model T! By the way your post is more clear than the first posted add. Thank you

Was “Model T” mentioned in that first add? When trying to enlarge it a bit it’s too fuzzy to read carefully. Maybe others can see it better. If its the first promo add maybe the Model designation wasn’t added yet. But this was the beginning for sure. It still has the carriage look trying to make the...

The New Day brush I bought separately from Lang’s to replace my worn out original wasn’t as floppy as the one that’s pictured. It’s working OK. Maybe another supplier is making just the brush?

This falls in the “ which is best” group. Transmission bands, water pumps, what kind of oil to use, and which timer is best. There may a few others but I’m thinking these are the most talked about. There are differences in materials , repo parts and etc. Each one has failed in some way for some and ...

I think there’s a whole lot more folks who want to see Biden squirming when he can’t find his way off a stage! But isn’t he the most honest guy?😁😁. After almost 50 yrs. In DC…..????? Remember this is about Steve and being positive about him. We don’t don’t need to add your favorite whipping boy to t...

The New Day timer was and still is an accessory timer that’s one of the best timers for a T. They have been around for many many years. The reason for no oiling on the case is because you don’t. Some do and if you want to use a very small amount of thin lubricant. What I do is to use a rag with WD40...

While Model T’s and other antique cars of the T era are still popular it’s a narrower market than it use to be. In the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s there was more of them at events than there are now. In our area the classic cars are seen pretty often and early V-8’s along with them but nary a T if any...

Could be several things not causing a working Magneto. Hopefully the magnets just need a recharge. As Norm said over time and different owners not knowing anything about a T electrical system may be the issue. Being wired together in the switch is what happened in Norms case. And if the magneto ring...

Folks the cancer are the ideas coming out of Callifunny for several years. The trouble is it’s slowly but surely spreading. More than a few folks are just turning away from the obvious to ignore it and that’s sad. Indifference and not voting at all and to keep voting because your old friends, parent...

Are certain brand seals looser than others? The ones I’ve used seem to fit well and secure. Maybe the covers on T’s aren’t always exactly the same either. It wouldn’t take much to have too tight a fit.

Hi Jay ! You’ve got that right.. Here in Texas we have been getting California folks for the last few years and do they have a story to tell!

I agree with modeltspaz. A Model T doesn’t need a solinoid. It’s better to keep a Model T as intended. Next time you go to a swap meet find an original starter switch and restore it if it’s necessary and it would be a learning experience. Most Model T hobbyists learn by doing. I know I did and still...

Moral of this is to vote NO in the voting booth!!! Unfortunately some folks still think every few years things go back around. The trouble with that view is it’s happening quicker and faster than it use to be and eventually things go to far and the people are asleep when it does. Think about it!!

Hi again Cody! You can do a general search worded “Model T depot hack photos” and you’ll see all kind of versions and everything in between. Good luck.

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