MTFCA Forum

I guess maybe due to COVID, I've had just a bit too much time, sitting around "contemplating" things, some of which really don't really matter. (....altho' it does sometimes lead to confusion.) However, in this regard, I can't help but notice that not only on the forum, but even in well known and respected Model "T" books, magazine articles, manuals, etc, etc, many Model T parts seem to have more than one name. Got me to wondering which parts have the most names, and one that comes to mind is the tappet. Besides "tappet", they are called tappets, valve lifters, or just lifters, cam followers, or, the one that really "gets me" is "pushrod"! In the Model T Ford Manual, they are actually called "pushrods", and I suppose until modern overhead valve engines became common design, maybe "Henrys" term "pushrod" would have been okay, but nowadays, I'm sorry,...."pushrod" just does NOT sound right to me! When most "T" guys, in fact, most "gear heads" know what a "pushrod" is, and it doesn't have anything to do with Model T Fords! In fact, a Model T Ford (tappet?) is not even made out of a "rod", right? O.K.,....enough. But I was just wondering if anyone can think of another "T" part that has more part names than the tappet, ....???

Front radius rod/Wishbone....Timer/Commutator (and more recently on this Forum: “Commuter”)

Often the manuals, the handbook, instructions, guide and bible don't agree.

2nighthawks wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 6:38 pm

. . . I suppose until modern overhead valve engines became common design, maybe "Henrys" term "pushrod" would have been okay . . .

I find it interesting that Buick's 1904 model B was (arguably) the first mass-produced OHV automobile engine. Overhead valves were a Buick hallmark from then on.

When it comes to terminology, "thingy" is a precise term that usually clears up any confusion over nomenclature.

I've heard "lifters" also called "rollers" but that would not apply to a Model T unless someone 𝚞̶𝚙̶𝚐̶𝚛̶𝚊̶𝚍̶𝚎̶𝚍̶ modernized it.

The most blatant example is MAGNETO. In every other application - cars, trucks, aeroplanes - a magneto is a device that generates very high voltage pulses that power spark plugs directly. The thing on the Model T flywheel is an alternator.

In Britain, we have a problem with 'cotter pin'. To us, a cotter pin is the thing that used to fix bicycle pedals in place - a tapered pin with a thread on the thin end. We use 'split pins' to stop castellated nuts loosening.

And then there are bonnets, boots, windscreens, carburettors, and calling down to the front desk in the hotel to be knocked up in the morning. As Winston Churchill noted, Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language.

A term used in Ireland to describe an unknown item is "yoke". I've heard it used in reference to an entire car, as 'how many miles on the yoke?', and by mechanics, as in 'this yoke secures the petrol cap'. ymmv

George House wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 6:51 pm

... (and more recently on this Forum: “Commuter”) ...

I have also heard it called a "commentator."

Magneto/Magneto coils/coils...spark coils/ignition coils/buzz coils/buzz box...Jim Patrick

My grandpa, born in 1915, used to always talk about “modelber rims.” He must’ve heard someone that couldn’t read well call them that instead of “demountable”, or maybe he didn’t read well when he was the age those wheels were around.

I’ve heard the timer called a communicator.
Growing up here in the south we always called the tin Lizzie a T Model and that’s what I still call it. I have been corrected several times over the years that it is a Model T but to me it is a T Model.