Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

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JWalters
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Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by JWalters » Sun Feb 17, 2019 6:16 pm

Two guys, one speedster, seven days, 2,000 miles (knock on wood!)

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 01:22 am:

Friend Jerry and I left Edmonton this morning for Dayton WA on our fourth trip to the PNW for the Northwest Vintage Speedsters' 31st Annual Labour Day Endurance Run.



The runs are 200 miles +/- and in our experience, the majority of participants trailer their cars to the event. We have no trailer and are real men so prefer to drive anyway. Last year we were 1,865 miles total including the endurance run — this year our route is about 900 miles each way for a total of 2,000 miles.



Today was Edmonton AB to Revelstoke BC, 451 miles, cruising at 45-49 mph, 12-1/2 hours including lunch, fuel and pee breaks. Averaging 29.6 mpg CDN/24.6 mpg US. Charging system went AWOL at Mile 8, otherwise all systems flawless. One litre oil added at 375 miles.


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Neither bride wants to be a part of these adventures. Can you imagine?

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Along the David Thompson Highway between Rocky Mountain House and Saskatchewan River Crossing.

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Photographer's Assistant Jerry

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We were regularly passed by semis going uphill

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We, on the other hand, passed one grader, this tractor hauling hay, and a very pokey lady in a RAV 4.



By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Friday, August 29, 2014 - 12:43 am:

Day two, a more leisurely 155 miles and a number of novel adventures.



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Isn't it remarkable what some people do for fun?

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They still sell gas from visible pumps in Trout Lake, BC (year 'round population 20). The proprietress says they will continue "as long as they keep certifying us". At $8.00 per gallon, who could blame her?

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We bought picnic provisions at the Trout Lake store, including these frozen bagels — they didn't stay frozen long on Henry's warming iron.

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Down the road and just outside Marblehead was this abandoned marble quarry cavern, created by carving marble blocks directly out of the mountainside.

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Remains of the big marble saw we in an adjoining cavern.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Saturday, August 30, 2014 - 02:46 am:

Day 3, 283 miles and nice weather all day, overnighting in Colfax WA 70 miles from our final destination.



Started off in Nelson BC, where the friend we stayed with last night volunteers with the Nelson Electric Tramway, a neat little historic streetcar line in downtown Nelson. I'm a vintage streetcar motorman in Edmonton, and it is traditional for motormen to be allowed driving privileges on other historic lines, at their discretion — I drove a loop of their scenic line and we had a great time touring the workshop and museum.



We made Spokane by 3:00 and Mike Robison at Antique Auto Ranch made short work of our generator problems — turns out the used generator I recently installed had a poor brush holder and makeshift third brush plate insulation. Jerry and I had a great time wandering the premises and looking at endless vintage treasure while Mike did the repair. The invoice for generator service and a spare coil was more than reasonable and we drove away 100% satisfied.



Before leaving however, Tom Carnegie offered me a ride in his Montana 500 roadster. He didn't have to ask twice — WOW what a machine! Basically a stock 26-27 car with minor improvements and blueprinted/balanced to a very high level. We saw 57 mph in a 40 zone and it was running smooth and strong. Coils and Anderson timer, Ford iron high head, no Ruckstell, no accessory brakes (and the Ford factory brakes were excellent), stock rear gears… it was both humbling and motivational to experience what can be done with a largely stock T. Bravo!


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Nelson Electric Tramway #23 is a 1906 car purchased used by Nelson in 1924. It was the third and spare car for their two-car system, the smallest tramline in the British Empire, and served until streetcar operations ceased in 1949 (www.nelsonstreetcar.org/).

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We forgot to gas up upon leaving Nelson, then decided we could probably make it to Selmo on fumes. But just to be on the safe side, we pulled into the tiny community of Ymir and prevailed on this local fellow who happily sold us a couple gallons from his lawnmower supply — reminiscent of early travellers searching out fuel before service stations were common.

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Mike Robison working his magic on our generator.

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Tom Carnegie and his most impressive Montana 500 roadster.

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Tom suggested a route south of Spokane that would be paved and lightly travelled. We couldn't have asked for better T roads — gently rolling through wheat fields and little towns, with lots of perfect speedster curves signed for 25-35 mph but feeling just right at 35-45.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Sunday, August 31, 2014 - 12:10 am:

Day 4, made it to Dayton around 11 for a late breakfast (which, it turns out, we could have skipped in favour of the very well-provisioned hospitality room).



It was good to be here and we were pleased to be remembered by several as the nutty Canucks who always drive to the event. With our best placement about 25 out of 30 competitors, this is truly our only claim to fame. We are however feeling under some pressure to perform tomorrow — as the first car registered we will be first out of the parking lot and have no one to follow!



Tech inspection started this morning before we arrived in town and went on throughout the afternoon. Thirty of the 34 registered vehicles were here by 4:00 when we left for a short tour to the shop and collection of Herb and Lois Mettler, parents of Endurance Run Chairgal Dujaun Recknagle.



we did run a bit last night after dark but our 6-volt halogens are not all that great and there were scary many deer. We kept it down to 25-30 mph and made for Colfax WA and the nearest motel.

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The tech inspection was surprisingly thorough, and we were given a couple of welcome advisories of non-urgent items that need attention. Herb Mettler is on the right in the blue cap.

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A couple of nice rigs in the hotel parking lot. Those worried about the lack of young people entering the hobby should meet the owner/builder of #71 (black shirt)

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On our way to the Mettler collection this afternoon.

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Herb has a very full shop — a little of everything it seems, with with a strong emphasis on Ts and Buicks. There's a decent '39 Ford sedan in the very back that is looking for a new home.

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Two more younger hobbyists in a very distinctive speedster.

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I love my cats but envy dog people who can travel with their pooches.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Monday, September 01, 2014 - 01:55 am:

Day 5 Sunday, and its been an interesting day!



Following the drivers' meeting, at 08:00 the first car away, Team Bamfords' Garage, led the gang out of the parking lot and onto the route. A few blocks in, several hotshots who took a shortcut ended up in front of us and gradually the field spread out.



Around Mile 18 we hit "Hardsocks Grade", which was a much longer and steeper downhill than most teams were expecting. Especially us. A local fellow at the banquet tonight estimated the hill as 1,700 ft drop in about 2-1/2 miles. Clearly we should have been firmly in low right from the get-go but as bad luck (ie bad judgement) would have it we weren't and — to make a long story short — by 1/3 of the way down we had no low, no brake, and next to no handbrake. Our outside ACs were compromised to begin with and no help either, so we just rode it out all the way down. I told Jerry to jump anytime he felt safer in the ditch but he hung in there anyway as we blew past a couple other speedsters like they were standing still. Our hill ended with a stop sign at a tee intersection — another speedster was turning right so we swung wide to the left, dropped two wheels in the opposite ditch and coasted to a stop 1/4 mile down the road. Yikes!



The trouble truck was busy with a earlier breakdown so didn't get to us for two hours but that's when our luck changed big time. Herb Mettler (see yesterday's post) was driving the vulture wagon and suggested he drop us and the car off at his place, where he happened to have a set of mounted Kevlar bands soaking in oul and a fully equipped shop for us to use. We were on the road and loving our brakes by 16:00 and made it back to Dayton before they had taken the finish line banner down.



Early this morning Jerry and I were prowling the parking lot and looking at various front brake setups. Next year the endurance run will be put on by the Portland Chapter and may be a run up and down Mount Hood — wherever it is we'll be there and we'll be running four-wheel brakes. Guaranteed.



Many thanks to DaJuan Recknagle and her team of dedicated support workers for putting on a great tour (and to her dad Herb Mettler for getting us back on the road and back on schedule). Up early tomorrow, on the road northbound at daybreak…

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An early scene on the run. No shortage of wind around here!

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Loading up on the trouble traier.

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For sale cheap — two wood bands, slightly used, as is.

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Our fourth run, our first trophy. Calling this the hard luck trophy is not particularly accurate — given the circumstances, we had incredibly good luck to be intact, with a running, driving car, and heading home tomorrow as planned.

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Nash Metropolitan brakes on a T front axle. An excellent winter project.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Tuesday, September 02, 2014 - 12:43 am:

Day 6 Monday, 423 miles and half-way home. The car has been behaving acceptably well, only opened the tool box for a lube and oil change, to nudge the charging rate up a couple amps, take up a bit of brake adjustment as the new bands seat in, and correct an errant coil box contact that turned the engine into a three-cylinder job. (I just noticed that's still five things — when the general public comments "They don't make them like they used too" the general public doesn't realize what a good thing it is that they don't!)



No pictures from the road today, but here are more random speedster pix from Saturday, with my favorite one last.

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Adjusting brakes

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By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Wednesday, September 03, 2014 - 01:02 pm:

Back home before dark last night (good thing too, generator AWOL again, but that's a future thread), no other problems aside from frequent rain. 1,825 miles total —short of our 2,000 mile goal but if we hadn't DNF'd so early in the event we would have been close enough to justify a little longer route home. Great to be back, planning already for the 2015 Endurance Run near Portland.



We decided that if spending a week getting cold, wet, dirty, wind-blown, tired, greasy and almost killed is one's idea of a good time... then this was a very good week indeed!


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Jason Walters
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Last edited by JWalters on Fri Jun 11, 2021 3:38 am, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar

Topic author
JWalters
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:34 pm
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Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by JWalters » Sun Feb 17, 2019 6:19 pm

Oregon or Bust!

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Friday, September 04, 2015 - 02:08 am:

Posting from Centralia, WA, three days and 981 miles into our run from Edmonton, AB to Silverton OR for the NWVS' 33rd Annual North West Classic 200-Mile Endurance Run.



This is friend Jerry and my fifth trip to the Pacific Northwest for this Labour Day event (one year we lost confidence in the car near home, and turned back to switch our luggage to my '47 Dodge sedan).



The car has performed near flawlessly this trip. So far. And that racket you hear is me knocking furiously on all wood within reach.



Every year we make a few upgrades before the journey — this time we added hydraulic front brakes, a halogen 6-vt sealed-beam driving light (our driving days are long and we usually get caught out after dark) and a second steering wheel to clear Jerry's generous knee-to-ankle dimensions.



The '24 Speedster has coils, mag, TW timer, Z-head, 3:1 rear gears and AC brakes. Loaded weight with us aboard, all our gear, full gas and spare oil, etc. is 1030 Kg/2266 lb.



We run 45-48 mph on the open road and average 25 MPG CDN, 20.8 US. Our moving average has been 39.0 mph thus far, including 100 miles on the I5 and crawling thru Seattle on the 99 during afternoon rush hour (was there ever a more inapt name??). We've had some rain every day, the heaviest was early this afternoon from the border down into Washington.



Our sole issue with the car was due to my oversight — we swapped out the spindles and spindle arms during the front brake work and I neglected to re-check the toe-in before heading out. 400 miles out we noticed the RF tire was badly worn, particularly on the outside. By happy chance we got connected with a Mr.Jack Cross of Frost T Ranch near Merritt BC, who helped us get things squared away. The worn tire was relegated to reserve status and the replacement is showing basically no wear in almost 600 miles.

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The tarp extends over the windshield at night; foot pegs are a welcome addition on long drives; the odd side visor on the driving light keeps most of the spillover glare off the hood. The LH side box is an insulated cooler, the RH side box is storage.

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Jerry's wheel is on the column, stock Ford wheel is locked to a bracket on the RH side.

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Front brake drums, shoes and backing plates are '67 Triumph Spitfire rears. They are actuated by a Toyota Corolla clutch master cylinder hooked up to the the existing outside brake lever for the AC accessory rear brakes. While far from "powerful" the accessory front and rear are at least the equal of the Ford transmission brake. The LH spring shackle is locked to eliminate side sway whilst cornering (with a similar arrangement on the LH rear)

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yikes — just a little too much toe-in!

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Boogieing down the I5 this afternoon.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Friday, September 04, 2015 - 07:24 pm:

We arrived in Silverton an hour ago with 1,135 miles under our belts door-to-door.



The car must have known I was bragging up its fault-free performance last night: A couple minutes after start-up in the hotel parking lot, it began to miss badly on #1. We eventually traced the problem to apparently bad contact between the coil and the coil box terminals. It's hard to know for sure, as one cannot see in the box because of the cowl sheet metal. I'll have to take all the wires off and the box off the firewall to investigate further if the problem continues. For now, a room key card wedged in the back of the box across coils #1 and #2 does the trick.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Sunday, September 06, 2015 - 09:08 pm:

Well, that was fun!



The run was about 215 miles total, we came in at 4:01 this afternoon roughly mid-pack (22 cars registered, two DNS, one DNF).



Results will be announced at the banquet this evening. Penalties are assessed for missing checkpoints and coming in earlier or later than the target time. Minutes early cost double the points of minutes late.



We usually finish down around #30 or so — with a field of just 18 finishers we are looking at a guaranteed improvement!

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We lined up about 8:00 AM for the start

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Our rear storage boxes make a dandy photographer's platform.

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One poor Model A owner had two flats by lunchtime — we had packed this period tire filler setup the morning we left Edmonton and had been going to give it a try (on someone else's tire of course)

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Cylinder pressure from a running engine is used to pump air through the hose into the tire. Sadly, we could only manage 13 PSI after five minutes running.

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Finishing line welcoming committee and final checkpoint

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And finally, the post-run brew.

Target time was 8;00.44. Team Bamfords Garage came in a bit early at 7:54:59, good for 12th place of the 21 finishers.



The oil is changed, the cups are greased, the tank is full, and we're ready for an early start tomorrow.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Tuesday, September 08, 2015 - 11:57 pm:

I would have posted an update last night, but our roadside motel had wonky wifi and it just wasn't worth the effort.



Anyway, Monday was another great day on the road. We made the 472 miles from Silverton OR to Kettle Falls WA in just over 13 hours including fuel, food and pee stops. Our new halogen driving light was just the ticket for the last hour of driving as darkness fell and the deer were roaming.



The car was, once again, flawless.



Today? Not so much…

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Early Monday morning fog just north of Silverton.

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We chanced upon this group of six Model As and two moderns in White Salmon WA along the Columbia River. They are members of the Silicon Valley Model A Restorers Club on a month-long 4,000 mile ramble from the Bay Area up to Glacier Park MT, Yellowstone Park WY and more.

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Nice vintage Ford sign in Odessa WA.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Wednesday, September 09, 2015 - 12:57 am:

Soon after we left Kettle Falls this morning, there was an ominous knocking at the transition between throttle-on and coasting. Fearing the worst, we limped into Northport WA just eight miles shy of the Canadian border, had breakfast, and found a sheltered spot to work on the car out of the rain.



Sure enough, shorting out each plug with a screwdriver isolated the problem to the #4 cylinder, and dropping the inspection cover revealed copious babbitt in the troughs and 1/32"-ish vertical play in the rod.



Crap.



As the cover was coming off, local old guy Bill drove by and stopped to see what we were all about. Turns out he does some leatherwork and — since none of us had any bacon rind — offered to go home and get some leather scraps and a shaving tool to make an insert.



The journal was still OK with some circumferential marks, but nothing one could catch a fingernail on. The cap seemed basically OK, with a bit of the edge babbit broken out and some discolouration, but still smooth to the touch.



Bill carved us an insert for the top half, I buttoned it up and all went well for the next 24 miles. The knock returned, faintly, so we dropped the pan once more and took the con rod bolts up a ways. There was still about 1/32" gap between the cap and rod, and we expected to take it up again once or twice as the leather compressed. Fortunately, the rod bolts have self-locking nuts, so there was no monkeying around with cotter pin holes being at the wrong heights.



More knocking again 60 miles later, this time louder and all of a sudden. Turns out the first insert had disintegrated, with part remaining in the top, part migrating to the cap and the rest who knows where. Worse, the cap babbitt was now compromised although the journal remained OK.



We redesigned the leather insert using a different, smoother material, and made one for the cap as well. This one included a relief for the dipper hole.



We then dawdled along at 30-35 mph for the 20 miles to the next town with a restaurant and motel (New Denver, BC) and were very happy to get out of the rain for a few hours.



Tomorrow we plan to drop the cover first thing and give the rod a pre-emptive tightening before it gets noisy. With luck, moderate speeds, and another few twists on the nuts we might be able to make it the 500 miles home without further grief.



There is a precedent for my optimism — 20 years ago this week my late Dad and I were in the Rockies in this same car when we lost the #1 rod bearing climbing up to Lake Louise. We put in a leather insert by the roadside, re-tightened it soon after, and not only made it 400 miles home the long way, but I ran that leather bearing another year and a half before getting the rod re-babbitted.



There's still hope!

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Is it still a "shade tree" repair if one is sheltering from the rain and not the sun?

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Babbitt bits from the troughs, and the #4 cap while it was still OK.

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The journal was still OK, not so much the rod.

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"Leatherman" Bill

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The leather we used measures about 0.040". I neglected to take a photo of the leather pads before they went into the rod, but have mocked-up basically what we used in the photo above. These leather bits are now in the tool box for next time.



The upper and lower pads are both just a little narrower than the babbitt, and neither extends quite up to the rod/cap joint.



The cap babbitt was a little rough but basically all there so we used just one layer of leather. This leather was notched at the dipper hole.



A lot of the upper/rod babbitt had gone away, so we used a second, partial, pad at the top as shown. This second pad was quick-epoxied to the main one just to keep things in place during assembly.

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First retightening of the first leather at 24 miles.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Wednesday, September 09, 2015 - 11:39 pm:

Wednesday update: New Denver BC to Golden BC, 193 miles at 30-32 mph. There are now 207 miles on the second leather rod bearing and it seems fine — we tightened the rod nuts a half turn at 120 miles just on general principles but there has been no detectable knocking.



We are still 330 miles from home. Our plan is to set out early at 35 mph and probably bump it up to 40 mph when we get within my auto club 100-mile free towing radius from Edmonton.

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First in line at the Galena Bay-Shelter Bay ferry after missing the previous sailing by three minutes, AKA "The Model T Ford: Returning oil to the ground for over 100 years!"

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Always fun to see one's car from another angle (and that oil patch below the axle is NOT from this car.)

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Thursday, September 10, 2015 - 04:27 pm:

Home is now 135 miles away, we are cruising at 35 mpg and that remarkable leather bearing is still going strong at 404 miles.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Thursday, September 10, 2015 - 09:13 pm:

Latest update: bearing is still behaving but 50 miles out there was a BANG and I watched the right front tire roll into the ditch. The rim had split about 6" along the outside clincher and it was bye bye tire. We were on a deserted gravel road so no traffic and no particular drama. That's the first flat or worse in over two years.



Jerry is back in the saddle and we are motoring north at 36 mph.

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If one is going to lose a tire, this is the road to be on.

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We often hear that split rims are dangerous...

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A Model T Ford losing a tire on a Model T road at Model T speeds deserves a Model T jack for the repair!

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Sixth vehicle passed in 2,500 miles.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Friday, September 11, 2015 - 08:24 am:

We got home safe and sound by dark with no further trouble. Total trip was 2,568 fun-filled miles over 10 days.



The leather bearing has now served for 581 miles and I am thinking about tightening the nuts a bit further then running it as is until the car gets laid up for other work. We'll see.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Saturday, September 12, 2015 - 08:27 pm:

I've decided to run the leather until it fails or we are getting ready for another long run. This time I won't baby it with low speeds, so it may or may not last very long. I dropped the cover this afternoon and took up the rod nuts almost a half turn, just because it seemed like a reasonable thing to do. After giving the rod nuts a half turn today there is still a gap between rod and cap of maybe 0.030". The shims were discarded when the leather went in. Mileage on this leather bearing is now 586.

Leather Rod Bearing — Update

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Monday, July 11, 2016 - 12:32 am:

My intention was to run the car on the leather until it gave out, or until I replaced the rod prior to our next run to the Pacific Northwest for the NWVS Labour Day Classic this September. Since our return I ran the car at normal speeds (up to 50 mph) and acceleration. There were about 900 knock-free miles on the leather bearing as of yesterday when I put the car up on stands to reluctantly change out the rod.



First photo below shows my mockup of the actual leather and approximately how it was installed on the roadside. Subsequent photos are my findings today. I'm going to get a spare rod babbitted to suit this crank and carry it plus more leather when we travel.



Leather mockup. Most of the babbitt loss was from the rod, not the cap:

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There was a small gap between rod and cap after installing the leather. The gap was larger on the other side and had filled up with leather:

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The rod as removed from the engine. Leather had piled up toward one side and the babbitt had broken away even further (a number of bits were in the inspection cover). The crank was still basically fine with some minor circumferential scoring:

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Same view with the leather insert removed:

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The cap leather was still pretty much as installed in September:

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I checked the other rod clearances this afternoon — all were good, and basically unchanged from when they were taken up three years and about 6,000 miles ago.

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Its been a most interesting experience and has given me a fun story I can milk for years. If/when I have to do it again, a stiffer leather would probably give superior service.




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Topic author
JWalters
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:34 pm
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Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by JWalters » Sun Feb 17, 2019 6:28 pm

1 Speedster, 2 guys, 8 days, 2600 miles (fingers crossed!)



By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 - 12:30 am:

The '24 Speedster is packed, lubed, filled and ready to go. Friend Jerry and I leave Edmonton tomorrow at dawn, destination Wilsonville, OR for the NWVS "36th Annual Northwest Classic 200-Mile Endurance Run" on Sunday.

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This is our 7th trip down to the PNW for the Northwest Classic — we like to take a little different route each time and this year the new part will be BC Highway 99 from Lillooet through Whistler to Vancouver. There is a ghost town north of 99 near Carpenter Lake that we'll visit on Thursday; looks like some interesting roads will be involved.



Total distance outbound is about 1,300 miles, return will be more direct and 1,100 miles or so.



We'll post photos and updates as time and internet access permit.

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 - 01:02 am:

DAY ONE: Edmonton AB to Barriere, BC, 463 miles!, Average speed 45.1 mph, Maximum 56.0 mph (not paying attention), Fuel consumption 32 mpg CDN/26.6 mpg US, Times toolbox opened: 0



Not to say we had zero trouble with the car however. Twice the engine seemed to run a bit rough and hesitate slightly. Once for a couple miles, the other for a few seconds. Both times the Magneto Meter was pegging to the right. We stopped the first time and did a visual check for something obvious and found nothing. Doesn't make any sense to me yet.



A few pictures from today:



Hadn't been on the road for even an hour and already we're passing someone! That was it for the day however, and you could have measured this pass with an egg timer (maybe two).

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We left Edmonton an hour later than planned to wait out an early morning shower. Only saw light rain for about a half hour altogether the rest of the day (below) but more is forecast for tomorrow.

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The highway was four lanes for the first 220 miles and two lanes the rest of the way. Traffic was light, but what traffic there was, was often heavy iron. We pulled over for semis whenever practical.

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This Decrepit Dodge caught our attention at supper, was probably a logging wagon. I find tired old workhorses rather charming...

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By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 - 10:03 pm:

DAY TWO: Barriere to Lillooet BC, 165 miles, Trip average speed down to 41.3 mph, Times toolbox opened: 0



We had light to medium rain pretty much all day until arrival in Lillooet. The low windshield is more of a deflector but still helps. Craving adventure, we opted to come at Lillooet from the north via Clinton, BC and the Kelly Lake "summer road". Some photos from today



Coming into Cache Creek we drove past this interesting place then turned around to stop and say howdy. Proprietor Tim has, obviously, been fooling around with old iron for decades but never had anything to do with Ts. He enjoyed his ride in our speed machine.

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Tim has it figured which way he goes when the Reaper shows up...

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Everywhere we go it's a car show. The fellow at right works with the highways dept and called into the shop to make sure our proposed route was open.



Jerry, left rear, looks like he's ready to make a bank withdrawal — any branch will do.

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This sign was particularly timely, as not far from here on Route 99 a mud slide over the highway carried a woman away in an open car earlier this month. The car was recovered a couple km down a river, she was not. 99 was the alternative to this road.

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Everywhere we go it's a car show. The tow truck operator and a couple buddies stopped to see what we were up to and offer assistance if we needed it "on the pass", which would require walking a mile or two to get to the nearest phone.

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There was a bit of debris flow along the lake before we started the climb...

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And speaking of climbs...



Our speedster sports a period cast-iron Warford with 25% overdrive and 50% underdrive. That underdrive ratio was perfect for this road — no low pedal needed going up and very little braking down the other side.

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It was foggy at the top for a few minutes then cleared right up.

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What goes up must come down...

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Some beautiful vistas in this part of the world.

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We had the pleasure of meeting Dave Eddie from the Forum in Lillooet. That's Dave's very nice '26 Tudor, which he has had over the Kelly Lake Road several times, first of which was before the Ruckstell — stock Ford only!

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We're not going to bother washing the car for now, but Jerry needed a good hose-down before going into the hotel...

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By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Friday, August 31, 2018 - 05:39 am:

DAY THREE: Lillooet BC to Blaine WA, 257 Miles today, Trip mileage 889, Average speed to date 35.0 mph, Maximum Speed 56.9 (not paying attention again), Times toolbox opened: 3



Once again valuing adventure over good sense, we avoided the highway and traveled up up Route 40 from Lillooet to Gold Bridge with a stop in Minto. It's worth Googling "Minto, BC" to learn the history of this once-thriving town that was flooded some 50+ years ago for a hydroelectric project.



From Gold Bridge we drove the Hurley Pass Forestry Service Road some 35 miles to Pemberton on Highway 99. The Gold Bridge road was partly paved and partly poor; the Hurley was very tough driving end to end — big climb and a steep steep descent of 3700', and washboard all the way. 35 miles took almost three hours. But, very scenic and memorable.



Toolbox was opened to snug up the LF wheel bearing, check the manifold bolts and exhaust nut for tightness (we seem to have a wee exhaust leak, not yet found), and to check our lube level in the Warford.



From Pemberton we high-tailed it all the way down Hwy 99 through Vancouver to Blaine WA, USofA. We can cruise comfortably at 50-52 mph in overdrive, and our lighting was OK for night driving: Ford taillight and two flashing bicycle LEDs on the back, and the spotlight is a 6-volt halogen sealed beam with high and low beam wired together (operates on the High light switch position).



Here are some photos from today.



We were a half hour late leaving Lillooet after Bob and Bride spied the T at a gas station and really wanted to show us their 1916 Dodge Touring. We also traded rides, and while the Dodge is no T, I was impressed by the combination starter/generator which was effective and almost silent (and runs on 12-volts -ve ground).

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Share the Road:

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Looking down to the Bridge River, which they dammed to create Carpenter Lake. Double check those cotter pins and safety wires!

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Oh Deer!

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Carpenter Lake looking towards the dam:

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The Town of Minto was here until the early '60s. The water level in Carpenter is lower now, exposing a few foundations, tree stumps, and even some long-submerged automotive artifacts. Note the tiny humans in the centre and centre left of the photo...

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Here are many of those humans, running excitedly towards our T.

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And getting their picture taken...

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This is the most complete automobile we found in Minto:

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Any idea what it is (was)? Hints: we saw the remains of juice brakes and fabric universals.

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Lunchtime!

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The photo hardly does the Hurley Washboard justice. It's a miracle we didn't apparently lose or break anything on this 10-15 mph road.

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We dropped about 3,700' in 7-8 miles. Doesn't sound too bad but there were a lot of steep downgrades with more-or-less-level in between.

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Coming into Vancouver on the dead-smooth Highway 99 was like driving on a cloud. We don't want to see anymore gravel until the run Sunday!

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By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Saturday, September 01, 2018 - 03:00 am:

DAY FOUR: Blaine WA to Wilsonville OR, 307 miles today, Trip mileage 1196, Times toolbox opened: 1 Long



We did an oil change and lube in the motel parking lot and I decided to chase down the slight exhaust leak/pop. It was the rear exhaust port, and when I pulled out the copper crush ring from that port it was heavily ovaled, with the block and manifold flanges offset almost 1/8".



I assumed the manifold had warped from excess heat whilst on a long hard climb Wednesday. However, after much fussing around I was able to get the back port to seal by replacing the rear-most three individual copper rings with the 3-in-1 green fibre gasket with individual steel rings.



Thinking about it later, there's no way I should have been able to get everything in the right holes if the manifold was indeed warped — so maybe what happened was the high manifold temperature softened the copper ring which allowed the exhaust manifold to sag (the exhaust pipe puts a fair downforce on the manifold).



Both Wednesday and Thursday we had long hard climbs that filled the cockpit with the aroma of burning floorboards above the hot exhaust pipe. Having said that, the rad did not boil nor the coolant level drop noticeably. I had the spark retarded a bit for the heavy climb, which I think is recommended — this would have contributed to the hot manifold and exhaust pipe.



Anyway, that job was finally done by noon. Given the time, and our having had more than enough slow going the last couple days, we opted to avoid the secondary roads and traffic and jump onto I5 for the 300 miles down to Oregon. Quite a change from all that washboard yesterday!



About washboard roads — Jerry says he could pretty much smooth out the washboard by driving at 50 mph in his '47 Plymouth. This would be decades ago when he grew up in a small town.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _



A few photos from today...



Messing around with the manifold for a third time this morning. Grumble grumble. The oil drain tray you can barely see underneath travels under the rear tarpaulin tray, held in place with a bungie.

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The #6 hole copper gasket was severely ovaled. The copper-ring-and-steel-ring at right didn't seal. I used a three in one instead.

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There was some charring of the floorboard before this trip but not near this much!

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We high-mounted this reflective triangle before venturing onto the interstate.

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Seattle skyline in the distance — aside from some severe but short-lived congestion in central Seattle and Tacoma, the drive was quick and straightforward.

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By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Sunday, September 02, 2018 - 04:28 am:

DAY FIVE: 34 Miles around the area, Times toolbox opened: 2 and they won't be the last.



It was a relaxing morning and early afternoon, visiting old friends, making new ones and generally kicking tires around the parking lot.



After registration, the first official activity of the meet was a visit to an amazing private collection a few miles west of Wilsonville. The cars (and truck, and tractors, and more) were remarkable, the presentation superb, and there was a very fascinating room dedicated to the work, hobbies, and more about our collection host Ken Austin.



Only downer today, and it's kind of a concern, is that our exhaust leak was back with a vengeance. Turns out the exhaust manifold is well and truly warped and thus discombobulated at the #4 port. No new or good used manifold is readily available — that we can find — and we're scrambling to get something sorted before heading home.



Any forum readers in the Portland area have a new or good used manifold available? Motivated buyer awaits!



Some photos from today:



Its always fun to see the cars drift in through the morning and being unloaded in the parking lot:

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Simon Smith's Model A Speedster is nearing completing and looks to be a high-quality, thoughtful build.

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The mayor of Wilsonville, a Mr. Tim Knapp, is also a speedster enthusiast, and although he doesn't have a car in the event came around on Saturday to see the cars and many speedster friends. Turns out he is very interested in Warford transmissions and has been doing a study of all the variations, manufacturing dates and more. Here is Tim crawling under our T for a closer look and some photos.

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Speedsters leaving for the afternoon tour:

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The Ken Austin Collection is wide-ranging and I've included just a few photos of particular cars that caught my eye. It would take another whole forum thread to do the full collection justice. This photo is an alphabet soup of Pre-Ts: Ford Model A, 1907 Model & (the only unrestored K in the world) and 1907 Model S.

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Side view of the Model K, complete with fancy three-tone exhaust horn. This car won third place at Pebble Beach in the Unrestored category.

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Not often seen in any collection — a fully restored 1924 Mack Model AC Logging truck:

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Period photo of this Mack wearing its work clothes:

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Here's Mr Mayor again, examining the 1925 Rajo Special single-seat T racer, which he restored/built some years ago.

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Just left of the Rajo Special (and T purists should skip to the next photo) was a Model T sporting an alternator which in turn drove a water pump. Sacrilege!

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Ken Austin started twisting wrenches and building hot rods on the family property as a young man. His interest has only grown since, and now includes design and manufacturing of period speed equipment for vintage motors. Here are some examples of Austin heads and manifolds along the wall and installed on various blocks.

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Some of Ken's first tools:

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Next door is Ken's sons' (or son's) collection of newer iron:

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Meanwhile back at the ranch, our manifold gasket blew out at the #4 hole while to tour to Ken Austin's museum:

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Speedster guy "RJ" Ganco very kindly offered (insisted) to drive me to Scott Hill's restoration shop some 40 minutes away to pick up some additional gaskets and supplies to attempt a parking lot repair. This is Jerry and and the very clever RJ reflanging the front of the exhaust pipe to properly engage the nut provided by Scott.

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The exhaust pipe had warped with the heat from ambitious climbing, and a nearby tree offered Jerry an ideal bending fixture to bring it back in line.

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Scott offered the excellent advice that if we couldn't put gland rings in all four holes, do the back one for sure and any others we could make fit. This will support the weight of the exhaust pipe and keep everything lined up as best as possible. We got the front and back rings to fit and hoped that the centre two exhaust ports would seal OK just with clamping pressure on the gasket.



Alas, there is a bit of leakage out the bottom of those ports past the gasket, and I think it unlikely to last another 1,200-1,300 miles.



The sealing area at the bottom of the #2 and #3 ports is just too small because the manifold is effectively warped up in the middle (once the #4 hole is forced to line up).

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Suggestions? Anybody in the area got a good manifold they can spare?

By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Monday, September 03, 2018 - 02:36 am:

DAY SIX: 190 Miles, Times toolbox opened: 1 but to help another car.



First, about that darn manifold: Our repair lasted until 10 miles after the lunch break when a bit of the gasket at the #2 exhaust port blew out. We finished the run anyway and have a plan for a fix tomorrow: Tom Elliott lives nearby and has a number of used exhaust manifolds, at least one or two of which should be usable. We're heading over there in the AM and will also use his shop for our pre-departure oil change, lube and general checkover. Thanks Tom.



Bottom line we'll get it sorted one way or another, and likely only delay our return by a day, maybe two.



"A Race Against Time", the 36th Annual NW Classic Endurance Run went off hitch-free today and by all accounts it was a real success. Weather was ideal, the route varied and interesting, no one came in on the trouble truck (probably a first!), and Team Bamfords Garage finished in the Top Twelve. That's out of fully 18 competitors and no, we did not finish in the Top Eleven.



Jerry and I were also tickled to receive a special "Long Haul Award" plaque in recognition of the lengths we go to participate in this first-rate event.



These endurance runs are nominally 200 miles, over a carefully planned route with minimal highway running, with lots of up and down, often steep. We had one climb today signposted at 16%!



The organizer prepares maps, often purposely a little vague, and stations checkpoints along the way. The goal is to follow the route correctly, get one's timing card stamped at each checkpoint, and come in at or close to the target time. The organizer establishes this target time by running the route in his own speedster, without breaking any laws. Every second each competitor comes in early costs 2 points, every second late costs 1 point. Missed checkpoints are a 1,500 point penalty. Lowest score wins, and a good time is had by all.



Here are a few photos from today. I was too busy with the driving to get pix on the road and too busy eating to get many at the breaks. If you want better pix, c'mon out to NE Washington State and join in the fun for the 2019 run!



Starting line-up is 07:30 AM followed by drivers' meeting and national anthem; the flag drops at 08:00. Teams are out much earlier to get ready for the day and get a head start on BSing.

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The official event photo shoot:

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Scott Elliott, Event Chairman/Organizer/Chief Wagonmaster, addresses the teams at the Drivers' meeting... This is not a race, stay safe, potentially awkward traffic spots, watch for the turn with no street sign, etc.

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And we're off!! The City of Wilsonville kindly painted our first turn right on the pavement to ensure everyone got away smoothly...

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The cars were still fairly closely grouped when we arrived at the Canby Ferry. This ferry normally carries two lanes of cars three deep. The ferryman squeezed the speedsters into three rows four deep.

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Morning coffee stop, checkpoint and comfort break. This stop was built into the target finishing time at 15 minutes; teams could leave earlier if they felt extra time was needed on the road.

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Scott Hills in Car #2 gets time timing card initialled. Team Hills was a winner yesterday, taking home the Hard Luck trophy for apparently losing a tire and lock ring on the road and then suffering a modest car fire after the car was loaded back on the trailer.

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Some navigators took their duties very seriously, spent their coffee break reviewing the route maps.

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If there was a Dapper Dudes Award, it would have gone to Jim Elenbaas and John de Jong who came down from the Spokane area to compete.

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The other car fire happened when the battery in the #66 Model A roadster shifted under the driver's seat, shorted out against the seat frame, and set the upholstery on fire. Kurt Recknagle and Dajuan bailed out and extinguished the blaze with a water bottle. Jerry and I were the next car by about two minutes later and lent Kurt a 1/2" wrench and some electrical tape to patch things up for the rest of the run, then push the car to get it started. Apparently there was some discussion between driver and navigator about how the car could be prepared for a 200 mile event and not have so much as a single wrench on board...

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Drivers' meeting mentioned a turn at a road with no street sign. This is it, Alex Barr Rd, a long, skinny, twisty, hairpinned beauty that wound it's way down a mountainside along the Columbia River Valley (see arrow next photo). This leg was a highlight of the event.

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Alex Barr Road took us down to the Historic Columbia River Highway, built 1913-22 and the first planned scenic highway in the US. A ranger offered to take our photo with the Alex Barr Rd mountain in the background.

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Car #232 of Gene Kicha and Lee Burgess crosses the finish line, timed by Scott Elliott and under a checkered flag waved by the homeliest flag girl I've ever seen.

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Car #102 of Terry Thompson and Lee Burgess lost a lot of low band on the run and needed help getting onto the trailer.

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The afterparty featured, as always, numerous war stories, assorted BS, and endless of ice-cold beer and non-alcoholic beverages.

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Winning team Ted Alkier, right, and Mike Santiago took home the big one for their stellar performance in Car 429. Their penalty points were a paltry 357 (it doesn't take long for the points to pile up at 1 per second) and they were only 5 minutes 57 seconds off the target time with no missed checkpoints. Team Chris & Jerry were 12th of 18 with 3700 penalty points (1 missed checkpoint and 36 minutes 40 seconds late), while Car #27 of Bob Rankin and RJ Genco generously made everyone else look good by coming in one hour and 56 minutes late and missing 2 checkpoints.

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By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Tuesday, September 04, 2018 - 01:40 am:

DAY SEVEN: Wilsonville OR to Pendleton OR, 242 miles today, Total trip 1675 miles, Average speed overall 35.6 mph, Total time in motion since departure is 47:02 hours over 7 days @ 6:42 hr/day, Times toolbox opened today: 3 (once for the major service this morning, twice for a 9/16" wrench to re-torque the manifold nuts).



We slept in slightly and headed off to Tom Elliott's place in Portland to see if he had a good manifold and do an oil & lube service before leaving for Edmonton.



Yes! A straight manifold was found and we are in business.



I should mention about now that I call my beloved bride every day on the road, and last night I told her we were heading over to Tom's in the morning to install the new exhaust manifold. "How long does that take?" asks Michelle, "Oh, about an hour" I confidently predict "we basically did that Saturday and its a straightforward job".



"So..." she says " three hours then?"



"No, really there's not that much too it. Should be an hour tops for the manifold and the same or less for the oil and lube."



"Ohhh-kay".

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _



So, naturally, we arrive at 9:15 and we're out of there at the crack of 1:30.



This manifold, photo below, fit the block perfectly but was so meaty elsewhere that the intake wouldn't fit without grinding both manifolds in two places, and the manifold clamps wouldn't fit without major grinding of every clamp pad and adjacent area on the exhaust manifold. We're wondering if this is some oddball reproduction — anyone had a similar experience? (Not that I'm complaining — we were delighted that Tom had this one and was willing to contribute it to the effort!)



Compounding the confusion today, our brand-new exhaust nut installed Saturday would NOT come off with the big Ford wrench. Or, with the big Ford wrench and a two-foot extension. After heating the nut with the torch we got it to move about one flat and that was it. From there we just warped the nut and rounded the edges. Thinking back, when installing the new a couple days ago we got clever, oiled up the threads, and ran it up really snug just to be sure. In hindsight, after the oil burned off the residue must have acted like an adhesive and locked that nut on solid. It finally came off with a grinder and chisel. We rehabilitated the old nut and installed it snug-only with anti-seize and a secondary clamp for security.



Task list this morning was: Modify and install exhaust manifold, oil change, full chassis lube, top up Warford lube, adjust front brakes, remove wonky front license plate bracket, clean and re-gap spark plugs, rehabilitate the old exhaust nut, touch up the exhaust pipe flange and tweak the bend angles. Four hours — just like I expected!



Tonight we're in Pendleton OR and the plan for tomorrow is a scenic meander up to Spokane Valley WA.



A few photos from today:



Jerry and Tom fitting the modified exhaust pipe to the new manifold with the original brass nut. We are so grateful to Tom for making his shop and equipment available to us, and his kind donation of the replacement manifold and gaskets to the cause. One of the best things about the Speedster hobby are the people involved — and the Elliott gang are among the very best.

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So here is our new manifold showing some of the grinding required to fit. The original height of the clamp pads put the manifold clamps at severe angles and, even without washers, the nuts would only go on half-way. This manifold has an "M" cast into the side — anyone had experience with these or know the background?

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Brand new manifold nut after two days service:

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Only one photo from the road today — we were mildly astonished to see two semi-trailer loads of green peppers go past us this afternoon. They seemed pretty stable although we did notice several squashed peppers a ways down the road.

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All tucked in for the night. We generally cover the car at night if it's parked near and in sight of a public road, or rain is in the forecast. An existing tarp was modified to more-or-less fit the speedster and is held in place with permanently-attached bungie cords.

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By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Wednesday, September 05, 2018 - 03:16 am:

DAY EIGHT: Pendleton OR to Spokane Valley, 232 miles today, Times toolbox opened: 0, Number of vehicles passed on the open road for entire trip (so far): 1, Number of hats lost on the Interstate: 1



It was a very good day on the road. We drove the 2-lane highways from Pendleton to Dayton WA (where we reminisced about the 2014 NWVS Speedster Run) then took some very minor paved and gravel roads cross country, finishing up with a quick run into Spokane Valley along US195 and I90.



Some photos from today:



A beautiful vista looking down into the Snake River Valley in SE Washington State.

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The gal at the store in Dusty, WA (yes, Dusty) confirmed there was nowhere there to get lunch but the food store in Endicott did a daily lunch and gave us directions for the 9 mile drive. Somewhere along the line we got mixed up and got slightly lost.

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Our road came through this ranch then forked left and right — while assessing our options a woman called out "Hey you, come over here!"

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That woman was Susie McNeilly of the McNeilly Ranch, the "oldest ranch in Whitman County still farmed by the original family". That's Susie at right and son Tyler the 5th generation riding shotgun. Fellow behind the car is hired help and the driver's seat is a neighbor.

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We got our directions to Endicott and then I asked since they were five generations at the same place are there any old Model Ts around? No, but there were some old trucks down by the crick and a car with a tree growin' through it and we were welcome to have a look. With us going down to the crick lunch service would be over at Endicott, so Tyler offered to call Jenny and have her hold two meals for us. We got even hungrier walking past these guys... for steak, not for salad.

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Here's the old trucks — a workhorse Mack, newer Dodge pickup and a Ford cab and chassis.

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And here is the car — with a much bigger tree than expected growing out of the trunk. It must have washed down that crick decades ago.

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There were no identifying info plates on the firewall, and a look inside was no help either:

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On the road to Endicott through some very dry country.

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And here is Endicott and our long-awaited lunch.

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Jenny Meyer has been in Endicott for 41-1/2 years and is the town grocer/caterer/restaurateur and school bus driver. Her's is the only business left in this once thriving town.

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Our next goal after Endicott was St John. Somehow we missed this road sign the first time around...

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Another beautiful vista along the way and not far south of Spokane. Tom Carnegie of Antique Auto Ranch in Spokane directed us through this area several years ago describing it as wonderful speedster driving country. Couldn't agree more.

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Our destination for tonight was Spokane Valley, home of Jim and Sandi Elenbass, fellow NWVS members and competitors in the Wilsonville run on Sunday. They graciously invited us to stop in for a visit and an overnight at their lovely home in SV. This is Jim with the driveway yard art — there are another three or four more Ts in the shop.

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By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Thursday, September 06, 2018 - 12:27 am:

DAY NINE: Spokane Valley WA to Crowsnest Pass, AB, 296 miles, Times toolbox opened: 2 (nut check and routine service)



**Newsflash** The 2019 NWVS Labour Day Speedster Run will likely be in north Central WA (Twisp or Omac/Okanogan), and the Car 591 Jim Elenbass/John de Jong team, taking inspiration from our adventures, now plan to drive their speedster the 185 miles to and from the event! Jerry and I will convoy with them from Spokane Valley. Who else from the area wants to turf the trailer and drive with us?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _



Another good day on the road, great to be back in Alberta and really looking forward to arriving in Edmonton. Always nice to travel and even nicer to come home. The car continues to run like a champ (frantically knocking on all wood within reach) and I did the last oil and lube of the trip at dusk in the motel parking lot.



There's a tiny creak started today in one left front spoke that will get attention at home — no washboard, fast corners or potholes in the schedule for tomorrow.



Some photos from today:



Crosswinds are hard on the headgear:

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Last chance for cheap US gas at the tiny Eastport/Kingsgate border crossing in NE Washington. Tattered AA is winding down its working career as a yard art flower wagon

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AA Bed looks like a dump box but is welded in place. Construction is largely 5/32" flat steel.

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British Columbia and Washington State have been plagued by forest fires this summer — just east of Fernie BC we saw numerous fires on this mountainside and smoke from a bigger one in the valley to the left.

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Close up shows multiple small fire sites up the mountain...

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Mandatory weigh-in for heavy trucks entering Alberta — we tipped the scales at 1,060kg/2,337lb all in. Without the two of us the fully loaded T was about 850kg/1,875lb. The car would be a lot lighter without spare fluids, two mounted spares, jack stand, copious tools, shop supplies, luggage, etc.

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Our Speedster is generally parked outside on tour and often wears the partial tarp for security and rain protection. Tarped or not, we always remove the four tempting trinkets (bottom row) and replace them with the semi-disposable "night-caps" above. That neat plywood rad cap wrench has two imbedded magnets and travels securely under the cowl.

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By Chris Bamford, Edmonton AB on Thursday, September 06, 2018 - 11:08 pm:

Just pulled into the driveway, home safe & sound(but not without a few challenges on the way!)

DAY !0 (Thursday) & WRAP UP: Crowsnest Pass to Edmonton AB, 253 miles, Times toolbox opened: 2



We pulled out of Crowsnest Pass mid-morning after a leisurely breakfast and a good look around this historic coal-mining town. The weather was fine for open air driving and we even found a couple new roads to take north, despite having driven this general route many, many times both vintage and modern.



Some photos from today:



If "Home is where you hang your hat" there must be a lot of residents on this Southern Alberta ranch overlooking the foothills of the Rockies...

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We were just turning left onto another country road when the steering wheel refused to go more than a little bit past centre! Nothing was obviously binding so we checked for a stray fragment of something in the the planetary gear case. Nothing there either.

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Turns out the steering stabilizer rod had bent and was binding when the bent part hit the housing. Here the stabilizer is disconnected and wired to the axle. The stabilizer is normally required because of the lock on the LF spring shackle — this improves cornering and stability but causes a death wobble going over speed bumps or driveways at low speed.

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120 miles from home the engine started to run roughly and then miss on #3. Seemed like ignition and we found the TW Timer brush worn to the end of its life. I've since been in touch with Tony Wiltshire and the wear we experienced is typical, about 0.020" per 100 miles. Our brush gave out at 2410 miles of service.

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I also leaned from Tony the wisdom of cleaning out the timer housing every 500 miles or so — this timer hadn't been off the the block since first installed.

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WOO-HOO!! Passed another vehicle on the open road! That's two now!

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Ten days on the road is a long time to be away from home and a very long time to be away from my beloved bride. Sure is nice to be back...

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SELECTED TRIP STATISTICS:



Distance Traveled: 2,555 mi, 10 days

Time in motion: 69:37, basically 7 hr/day

Average speed: 36.7 mph

Maximum speed: 60.0 mph

Cruising speed, level ground: 50-52 mph



Photos taken by others: Countless

Smiles/waves/thumbs up: Countless

One-finger salutes: None noticed



Hats blown off: 3

Hats recovered: 2

Vehicles passed: 2

Arguments: 0

Engine Revs over 10 days: 5,520,000+/-



Fuel consumption:

Oil consumption: 300+/- miles/litre (miles/quart)

Oil change & lube on the road: 3



Miles on gravel or worse: 85 approx

Miles on Interstate/4-lane divided: 950 approx



TO-DO List upon return:



Steering stabilizer (done)

Creaky LF Spoke

Loose muffler baffles (done)

Floorboard support

Floorboard heat shield (done)

Exhaust pipe realignment (done)

Oil change & lube







DHort
Posts: 2461
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 1:30 pm
First Name: Dave
Last Name: Hjortnaes
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 24 Speedster, 20 touring
Location: Men Falls, WI
MTFCA Number: 28762
MTFCI Number: 22402

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by DHort » Sun Feb 17, 2019 7:54 pm

Great post.

Really enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading the story. I am jealous.

Thank you.

dave

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John Warren
Posts: 1069
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:18 pm
First Name: John
Last Name: Warren
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 14 Roadster, 25 Pickup , 26 Canadian Touring , and a 24-28 TA race car
Location: Henderson, Nevada

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by John Warren » Sun Feb 17, 2019 8:37 pm

Great storys, hopefully some day I can tag along. Thanks for sharing.
24-28 TA race car, 26 Canadian touring, 25 Roadster pickup, 14 Roadster, and 11AB Maxwell runabout
Keep it simple and keep a good junk pile if you want to invent something :P

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Steve Jelf
Posts: 6463
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2019 9:37 pm
First Name: Steve
Last Name: Jelf
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1923 touring and a few projects
Location: Parkerfield, Kansas
MTFCA Number: 16175
MTFCI Number: 14758
Board Member Since: 2007
Contact:

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by Steve Jelf » Sun Feb 17, 2019 11:22 pm

Great stuff! How did you get around the limit of five photos per post?
The inevitable often happens.
1915 Runabout
1923 Touring

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Topic author
JWalters
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:34 pm
First Name: Jason
Last Name: Walters
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1922 Touring
Location: Missouri
Board Member Since: 2000

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by JWalters » Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:24 pm

Steve Jelf wrote:
Sun Feb 17, 2019 11:22 pm
Great stuff! How did you get around the limit of five photos per post?
Steve, The photos are linked photos from the old site. Linked pics don't take up any storage space on this site and each post is limited to 60,000 characters.

Example:
1.jpg
2.jpg
3.jpg
Image

Image
Jason Walters
Image
Last edited by JWalters on Fri Jun 11, 2021 3:40 am, edited 1 time in total.


Aarongriffey
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2019 10:30 pm
First Name: Aaron
Last Name: Griffey
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1926 touring
Location: Hayward, ca.

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by Aarongriffey » Mon Feb 18, 2019 11:37 pm

Wow.
Thanks for posting your fine book! I enjoyed it. Loved the pictures, loved the write up on the leather rod bearing.

Aaron Griffey

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TRDxB2
Posts: 5409
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* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: Speedster (1919 w 1926)
Location: Moline IL
Board Member Since: 2018

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by TRDxB2 » Tue Feb 19, 2019 12:11 am

Priceless adventure Thank you for sharing
The past is a great place and I don't want to erase it or to regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner either.
Mick Jagger


tonny
Posts: 17
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Location: Netherlands

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by tonny » Tue Feb 19, 2019 3:25 pm

what a nice route trip!!!!


Dave Sullivan
Posts: 60
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Location: Bellingham WA

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by Dave Sullivan » Wed Feb 20, 2019 1:38 pm

Hope to see you guys in action up close, Maybe this summer. Thank you, Dave in Bellingham,WA

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JWalters
Posts: 113
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First Name: Jason
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Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by JWalters » Sun Feb 24, 2019 7:12 am

.Image
Jason Walters
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Last edited by JWalters on Fri Jun 11, 2021 3:41 am, edited 1 time in total.


TeveS-Nor Cal
Posts: 105
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:11 pm
First Name: Steve
Last Name: Straw
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1915 and lots of parts
Location: Penn Valley, CA
MTFCA Number: 12542

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by TeveS-Nor Cal » Sun Feb 24, 2019 12:07 pm

What oil do you recommend for the leather bearings?????????????????

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JWalters
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:34 pm
First Name: Jason
Last Name: Walters
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1922 Touring
Location: Missouri
Board Member Since: 2000

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by JWalters » Sat Mar 23, 2019 11:44 pm

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Jason Walters
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JWalters
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:34 pm
First Name: Jason
Last Name: Walters
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1922 Touring
Location: Missouri
Board Member Since: 2000

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by JWalters » Tue Feb 04, 2020 10:52 pm

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Jason Walters
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dmdeaton
Posts: 730
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2019 9:43 pm
First Name: Danny
Last Name: Deaton
Location: Ohio

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by dmdeaton » Tue Feb 04, 2020 11:21 pm

Damn, I see now why I started this speedster thing. Very very cool and lots of fun. Thanks for the story.
I will be there soon.


DHort
Posts: 2461
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 1:30 pm
First Name: Dave
Last Name: Hjortnaes
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 24 Speedster, 20 touring
Location: Men Falls, WI
MTFCA Number: 28762
MTFCI Number: 22402

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by DHort » Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:10 am

Danny, That will be a long ride all the way from Ohio. In a speedster.


Bobbbenner
Posts: 101
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2019 5:50 pm
First Name: Bob
Last Name: Benner
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: TT 1924, touring 22
Location: East Setauket, NY
MTFCA Number: 52622

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by Bobbbenner » Wed Feb 05, 2020 10:47 am

Your posts were wonder full. Thanks for sharing. You guys have a great friendship.

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jsaylor
Posts: 334
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 5:25 pm
First Name: John
Last Name: Saylor
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1921 Touring, 1927 Tudor
Location: Citrus Heights, Ca
MTFCA Number: 1695
MTFCI Number: 23870
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by jsaylor » Thu Feb 06, 2020 7:00 pm

Enjoyed the stories especially the road side fixes. I have one of the "M" exhaust manifolds that gave me some grief last year. Yes, mine is extra thick and required some jiggling to get the clamps on. But the real issue with it was the ports were not machined to the proper depth. When I fired the car up I had exhaust leaks everywhere. The manifold would not fully seat enough to crush the copper rings. I tried double rings but it still wouldn't seal. I ended up buying a another new one from Langs. I don't remember where I got the manifold. I knew my 27 Tudor had a warped manifold that was just barely sealing. I ordered this "M" from one of the vendors and put it on the shelf waiting for time to put it on at least a year before. So I guess it will have to be set up in a mill and bored deeper to make it usable. One more reason to save receipts.
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Good one with correct port depth
Good one with correct port depth
Shallow port
Shallow port


VinTin23
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:45 am
First Name: Marty
Last Name: Ray
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1916 Runabout, 1922 Roadster
Location: Texas
MTFCA Number: 50870
MTFCI Number: 25240

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by VinTin23 » Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:07 am

What an amazing adventure. I’ve read this thread twice so far. I’ve driven in that that part of the country before. Challenging with a modern car, But with a speedster, Absolutely Amazing!!!

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JWalters
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:34 pm
First Name: Jason
Last Name: Walters
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1922 Touring
Location: Missouri
Board Member Since: 2000

Re: Two guys, one speedster, 27 days, 6,948 miles

Post by JWalters » Fri May 28, 2021 5:17 pm

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