MTFCA Forum

I spent the morning with my brother-in-law helping him to take the motor out of his 1925 tourer. This was necessary because he needed to do a valve grind and two head bolts had broken off, one being right at the back!

We got all the usual stuff out of the way ready to do the lift but there was no way the ears on the pan could slide forward along the chassis rail because the firewall lacked clearance. The hood has never fitted well on this car, and in our efforts I noticed that the centre hinge keeper on the firewall was well below the line of the cowl, indicating that the firewall was set some 1/2" too low. That will be fixed when we re-fit it. Then the crankcase ear would not pass one of the firewall to frame brackets, so they had to come off too. We discovered that these had been shortened, two 5/16" holes drilled to mount them and 5/16" coarse thread bolts used to do the fastening. They will be replaced too, with the correct ones for a steel firewall, rather than wood firewall types used with wooden spacers to make up the gaps.

Then we can get rid of the special long radiator mounting studs used to secure the short radiator shell on wooden spacer blocks. With a bit of luck we should be able to get a much better fit on the hood!

The most central head bolt has broken off about 1/2" above the deck of the block. The idea is to mig weld a larger nut to this stub and try to wrench it out using the heat of the weld to assist. The back bolt broke off flush with the top of the head, but not before it was would out all but the last couple of threads. Now it is rock solid in the head. I plan to set it up in my press, hit it with penetrating fluid and crank up some pressure on it. If it won't give way, I my have to drill it out most of the way and then drive it out the rest of the way. I have no idea why it would start to wind out and then bind to such an extent that it could be sheared off.

Allan from down under.

Wow. As with anything to do on a T it's two steps forward one step back. When hitting almost over whelming obstacles I'm reminded of the saying, "How do you eat an elephant? ...... One bite at a time." Looking forward to updates on this repair.

Had that happen to me. Bolt broke at the block, top half stuck in the head, bottom half stuck in the block, bolt sheared flush with top of block. Head was the easy part, heated it up, applied candle wax, and the broken bolt poped out with one gentle tap. The bolt frozen in the block was the real problem, no protruding stub to weld to... Well I found a Stevens T-200 drill bushing and drill bit and using the head as a jig, inserted the bushing and drilled it out with a special size drill. All that was left was a little coil of metal on the threads which came out by chasing the threads with a regular tap. I liked it so much I reproduced it and it is available through Langs and Snyders. Also have a different size for Model A available through Snyders.

Allan, I know the feeling. Last week I went to the shop to pull the engine in the 23 TT. I rebuilt the Martin Parry wood cab and have it installed. Due to rotten wood on the lower cab, I missed the notch detail around the firewall so the pan ears could slide through the metal firewall. I was able to correct my mistake with a coping saw and get the engine out.

You can weld right on top of a head bolt that is broken off flush with the top of the block. Use a plain mig welder and it won’t stick to the cast iron if you get a little contact. Even if it’s broken a few threads below the deck it will work if you are careful. Let it cool fully before trying to unscrew it.

Hi Jeff,

Thank you for your post and your contribution to the hobby. I haven’t had the need (yet), but it is good to know that (1) there was a period tool for this specific problem, of course, and (2) a dedicated enthusiast is making them available again. I checked the Lang’s website and your tool is reasonably priced (probably much less than the damage I could inflict trying to wing it). Hopefully, I’ll remember the answer if (when) the situation presents itself.

Thank you again.

Keep crankin’!
Eric

Dallas, of course a craftsman would have and use a coping saw rather than reach for a sawzall! Keep up the good work.

I put the head in my press, filled the void around the broken bolt, pumped up the pressure and it immediately spat out the short drift I was using, without budging. So i bolted the head to the table on my pedestal drill and proceeded to drill it out. It looked to have galled in the rusty section immediately above the thread.

One firewall to frame bracket still showed just the top curve of the original 3/8" mounting holes. The other was cut off even shorter. Ballarat Swap meet next weekend means all my stuff comes out of the shelves for loading, so at least I don't have to go hunting for replacements.

Allan from down under.

This is the tool in the Lang’s catalog