MTFCA Forum

I run a garage I recently bought in paradise Nova Scotia called paradise garage when I bought it there was all kinds of model a and t parts that the owner took along with him after I bought the building. Most of these engines and cars had been inside for 50+ years and the roof leaked for 40 of those years I’m sure but not one of the earlier engines was seized. I recently bought my own model t project last Friday and it sits in my service bay and I finally found out why none of these motors seize up. EVERY customer young or old has to say is that a model t? Then they walk over to it and spin the crank around 2 or 3 times. I am guilty of this as well. So I figure that must be why none ever seize up. I imagine this model t has more miles on it from people cranking the handle than it ever drove.

That's probably one reason. Another is that T engines have an updraft carburetor, which makes it more difficult for the raise the hood and take off the breather people to get rainwater into the engine. Iron pistons , where present, are probably less prone to stick than aluminum, especially if well-worn.

Here is my spin on this:
I had a Farmall F-20 years ago. It was in good shape and my father had used it to mow his 20 acres for several years. It had been rebuilt sometime before he acquired, but was well broken in. He sold the place and gave me the tractor.
It sat outside on my place. I told my oldest son that every so often, he should give it a spin just to make sure it didn't seize up.
He did - several times. Then he couldn't crank it. The engine was stuck.
I sold it to a friend - knowing the engine was stuck. He tried to break it loose by putting it in high gear and rocking it back and forth. It ended up with the connecting rod wrapped around the crankshaft.
I don't know what happened to it after that.
The point I'm making is that by cranking it over without starting it, we wiped the cylinder walls off of any oil that was previously there. Then it rusted.
End of story.
Oh yeah, I'd love to have that tractor back. It was a 1939 with a factory road gear and cast iron rear wheels with rubber tires. Not the converted steel to rubber that most were. Oh well, water over the dam. Gone.

If that F 20 had a vertical exhaust stack, it probably got rainwater in the engine.

I got one running in 1970 that had sat outside since before WWII. It was lightly stuck, and cows had chewed the plug wires off, and of course, the tires were rotted. Barbed wire substituted for plug wires, and with some gas and a little rocking back and forth, it freed up and ran like a new one. It had a 4th gear and enclosed steering gears, a cast iron Marvel carburetor, and flat tubes in the radiator. It also had some sort of mechanical lift device on the rear axle.

No water in the exhaust, I'm smarter than that.

I have a 'hardly any' T motor. It's been laying on its top with a hole in the pad for the last umpteen years. Bet I can still get it free.
In my high-school farm power mechanics class, we had an Alicce Chalmers engine so seized, we had to use the 20 ton press to get two pistons out, and break out the last. Had the local machinist come with a boring bar to show us how it was done. When the owner priced out rebuild parts, he found he could by a military surplus Continental crate motor for less.

You don't say whether or not the spark plugs had been removed? If the engine is upright and the plugs have been removed, the holes in the head will be like funnels and allow much water in. If it is laying with the valve side or manifold side up, water could get in, however if the valve side is down, it will only get in if the engine is submerged such as in a flood.
Norm