MTFCA Forum

I am thinking of getting a spark plug explosion whistle, and I was trying to see how it worked and i wondered if it would be a danger letting out flaming gas as that piston is in the combustion cycle? Is it so small amount that it doesn't matter?

I had one on my car when I was your age, never had it explode, it did present some reliability problems, enough that I eventually took it off. Whistle raises spark plug out of the head by about an inch or more, if that hurt performance who would know, the model T has such bad performance that a little less on one cylinder seemed to go un-noticed, on the other hand why do anything that might hurt already poor performance. Whistle needs a string or wire to pull to activate it, running something thru a 26-27 firewall is problematic, strings break and bind up, and wire, well, tried that too and it worked its way onto an adjacent spark plug wire and I got one heck of a jolt when I touched it. The final straw for me was a road-side repair involving the whistle that had broken and came out of the fitting, I pounded a piece of wood into the fitting hole to resume my drive, upon starting the engine the wood plug shot out like a bullet scaring the heck out of me and I did what I should have done in the first place and removed the thing and put the spark plug back in the head. When I got home that whistle went in the trash. Didnt provide a very good sound when it worked, sounded a bit like a mechanical chicken, add that to the mechanical cow sound of the battery horn and you almost have a mobile farm. What I wanted was a wolf whistle, now thats a whistle,loud and variable pitch, but I couldnt bring myself to drill a hole in my "Made in Canada" marked intake manifold.

My advice is to skip the "bells and whistles" and stick to the game plan that Henry originally intended. Just keeping these old cars
running safely on the road will keep you busy enough. Then your next challenge is all the distracted, impatient idiots you'll be driving around with out on the highways.

I think you should attach a brick of Black Cat


FJ

Many of the valves on the explosion whistles don’t seal that great and need some work so they don’t leak compression.

I had one but did not leave it on the car all the time. If I was going to be in a parade or just putting around some I would put it on. For tours or longer drives, most of the time I would take it off.

i have seen some run ok. on my t, the motor acted like it was running on 3 cylinders only. the thing never left the garage.

Mine works OK, and makes a funny peeping noise that turns heads.
Reliability wise it keeps coming loose, and needs regular tightening. Probably on balance worth the fun, but not really worth the hassle if that makes sense

I have all the bell and whistles on my car the explosion whistle has been on the car since 1967 makes a nice pop sound no engine damage in the last 60 years The car will do 50 MPH slower would be better,Cheers from Winnipeg and the kids love all the sounds the car makes , I have just added a 1915 mag horn I found in Dads boxes and a original AHOOGA horn. I also have the cuckoo whistle but not on yet. In the 60-70s All the car in Winnipeg had a least one extra horn. The 47 Chrysler has a 1940s horn that plays yankee doodle.

^^^^^^^^
So no Bermuda bell or cow horn...?

JOANH, THERE IS A WHISTLE THAT SOUNDS VERY MUCH LIKE A LOCOMOTIVE THAT CONNECTS TO THE EXHAUST SYSTEM, MUCH BETTER FOR THE ENGINE..

Kevin yes to the Bermuda bell No to the cow bell yes to the wolf whistle and Airmore

Back in the 1950's, a neighbor across the street from us bought a new Studebaker. The one which you can't tell whether it is going backward or forward. He had something on it called a "Wolf Whisle" He would blow it when he saw a pretty girl! Now, this man was the grandfather of the kids who lived in that house! If you could find one of those and adapt it to fit a Model T I think it would be fun.
On one of the Model T's I bought there was a spark plug whistle. This car had been owned by a Shriner who had used it in many parades. The whistle didn't fall apart or come loose, but I felt like the engine was missing on one cylinder whenever I blew the whistle. I wouldn't think that is very good for the crankshaft so I took it off and donated it to the local club who auctioned it off. One of the members still has it on his car.
I think the solution for those who have one on their cars to always carry at least one spare spark plug and then if you have a problem with the whistle, you can easily replace it with a spark plug. And even use the spark plug when on long tours.
Norm

FWIW...
There’s been a compression whistle on my car for over 50 years.
I love it, if you’re pulling with the throttle open, that bugger is loud !
Yes it misses when using it, but it’s not all the time. Never had a problem with it.

Notice everyone says the engine misses when the explosion whistle is activated. Now ask yourself If the T crankshaft is sturdy. The answer is easy - don’t do it ! Buy an Aermore instead, I’m quite sure an explosion whistle caused a broke crank on my ‘23 during the 1976 Glidden Tour

I saw one setup on a Ricardo head that had priming cups. They had the whistle in one of the cup ports. No loss of compression when not using.

I hate those things!

I had a friend where it broke off the head. Had to clean what was left out of the spark plug hole. Not fun.