MTFCA Forum

Got the muffler replaced after a small backfire destroyed the last one.

Pulled, cleaned and tightened the ignition switch as well, now for some good fall driving.

I went digging in my stash for a set of steering box gears to build up another steering column. All I found was a set of 5:1 gears for which I have no usable shaft.
I did find some bits for my new project though, a pair of double contact headlight sockets, two external door handles, two pairs of door hinges, a NOS tie rod end and a hubcap nicer than the ones I have already had nickel plated!

Allan from down under.

A surprise when starting my Roadster. It sounded like marbles in the flywheel area. The nose broke off the starter. This is a 12v after market unit. Back to the old 6v unit.

Just sold our 1921 touring, our first Model T. Needed to make room for the next brass T restoration. The timing was good, as the happy new owner should be picking it up before the project car arrives. My wife's one stipulation is that she did NOT want to lose her spot in the garage!

kelly mt wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:21 am

A surprise when starting my Roadster. It sounded like marbles in the flywheel area. The nose broke off the starter. This is a 12v after market unit. Back to the old 6v unit.

20210924_184217.jpg

Aluminum snout wasnt up to the task.

Trying to find time to drop the inspection plate to fix a loud rod knock when the engine decelerates. Between college during the week and working on the weekends I haven’t had the time to open up Lizzie and see what’s loose.

I did get to replace her tube in her front left tire, I got the hang of using tire irons to break the bead. Those removable rims are a great time-saving invention! I took off her old spare which was so bald and dry rotted it shattered when I tried to pry it off and turned into black plastic bits all over the floor, so I just cut it off carefully with a Sawzall. Have to put the new tube and Wards tire on the old rim now. Not going to drive her until I see if it’s a loose cap and repair it, or excessive play in the crankshaft which might indicate a main bearing issue.

Dang school and work cutting in on my time with my fine Ford motor car!

Replaced a warped leaky manifold with a straight one using copper manifold rings.

I finally got the new battery carrier installed in the 1915 runabout.

I'm switching from a little six volt battery strapped in a frame rail to a twelve volt mower battery in the trunk. Twelve volts for a phone charger, tail lights, and signals. LED's configured for 12 volts are much easier to find than those for six volts.

I may make a metal hold-down, but for now a rubber tarp strap will do. This is the first step in an electrical makeover.

Getting ready to have clutch replaced in the Torpedo engine. Preliminary view indicates maybe a reground cam so will put in a new 280 while its opened up, perform "forensics" on the rest of the engine and repair/replace anything necessary.

Pulled an engine and delivered it to Ross Lilleker for total rebuild.

Brought about 5 cords of wood in from the woodlot for the shop stove.
This maple is HEAVY !

Leaves are sure beautiful colors Burger.

Rebuild a few coils and magneto coilrings.

Those truck pictures ought to be on a calendar.

TXGOAT2 wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 15, 2021 1:04 pm

Those truck pictures ought to be on a calendar.

That's a good idea Pat, members posting pictures of their T's in the Fall...start a new thread.

Fall colors, prowling the farm roads right after the wheat harvest:


Long shadows of fall. Soon, this will all be blues and greys of winter:

Just drained the water on the 18 and a 413 cu in OT. Needed a wire to poke the drain on the T per usual.
Night owl accused of being a recluse. Correct on both.

I have an old electric klaxton on my car that sounded like a constipated grizzly bear. I just removed it, took it apart, cleaned it up, put a.little dab of lubrication at each end of the motor and put it back on the car. After a little adjustment, WOW does that thing wail!

I went on a week long progressive tourin southern Arizona.
I trailered from home in San Diego to Tucson where we left the trailers and went off in Model Ts for a 600 mile adventure.
First night was Green Valley where 150 years ago the settlers were terrorized by Geronimo until the US Army captured his family and made threats to kill them unless he turned himself in. Naturally it was a circuitous route via the Sonora Desert Museum, Mission San Xavier and the Pima Air Museum.
Next day was to Sierra Vista via the Tubac Mission and Patagonia. Next day was Tombstone and Bisbee with the night in Douglas at the famed Gadsden Hotel. So far the runs had been runs of 60-80 miles a day but next day was the biggy at 177 miles. In addition we climbed to the 7000 foot peak at the Chincahua National Monument. Following the climb we had lunch in Wilcox and spent the night in the mining town of Safford.
Next day was short on mileage at 60 but 40 were on very poor roads to the Coolidge Dam. The first 27 miles was a broken tarmac road, occasionally you could see a few feet of yellow lines, but most was broken tarmac. Following the dam the surface improved but it was still very very rough. The water in the dam was quite low but they were working to remove algae from the surface, quite interesting. The final day was a run back to Tucson but we wanted to spend the afternoon at the Franklin Museum, so we had to run 103 miles before lunch. However the museum was worth the effort.
Two cars had problems, my coupe held up well only needing a screwdriver to tighten a hose clamp that came loose on the 27 mile broken road.
Just like to thank Debbie Francis and Steve Freegard for setting up the tour, it was great, very enjoyable but exhausting.

Started pinning the cracks in my 1925 block. 25 pins in the first and worse of the 2 water jacket cracks. I may not go the same route on the 2ed as it is not as bad.

Like Tony did on the 17th., I drove it today, with 2 other guys in their cars. Tomorrow will be even nicer and maybe the last real decent day of the season. Got 6-7 car lined up for a great lunch tour tomorrow. Maybe I'll post that separately if I remember to take any pics.

Look forward to it Tim.

I took my touring for a ride today. About 85 miles or so through the lake country of southern WI. Later I gave two kids a short ride becuz they had baseball practice. The older brother could not wait to get a ride in the car. Also drained the oil and antifreeze out of my speedster. She has been leaking pretty bad so we will remove the engine and reseal it. Hopefully that is all it needs.

Today 5 of us met up with 2 other guys at an old drive-in movie theater to continue southward for our lunch destination. Not many of these places left. We go to this little antique marketplace a lot with anywhere from 3 to 8 cars. It a cool place with a nice lunch bar. Many antiques for sale, almost like a museum. They have a picture of my Fordor in front of it on their website from a previous tour. We traveled south afterwards and worked our way back up towards a lot of guys homes along the way. I had 55 miles total on Clara. Great weather again too!

Here are some more pics of our little trip today. Jim

Mounting my new Firestone 440/450x21 tires that came in last week. These were free warrantee replacements for Firestone tires that I installed earlier in the year and developed cracking on the sidewalls. Thanks to Coker Tire for their great support.

Well, Mario, you're now 1/2 way to "4"...a number which I find nearly ideal...

Scott_Conger wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:51 pm

Well, Mario, you're now 1/2 way to "4"...a number which I find nearly ideal...

I swear to wife I will stop at '' 2 ''... but I crossed my fingers on my back when I said it... in case I would like to have another one

Took her for a little drive. (click attachment for GIF 'video')

Today I finished the terminal block with fuses that will go under the seat of my 1915 runabout. It will be held in place by a single wing nut so it will be easy to take out if I need to change a fuse. The four lines out will be for ignition coils, tail and brake lights, turn signals, and phone/GPS charger.

I'm a fan of a fuse on the battery output, but that is just begging for 3 extra failure modes.

How comfortable are you with driving for several days with no brake lights before someone notifies you with their bumper?

What color green is the coupe shown in Jeff Humble's Oct. 21 photo? Is it like Channel Green or Highland Green or "what green"??

Deleated and reposted under another topic.

Used scrap wood to build a box for a set of magnets.

KBurket wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:02 pm

Used scrap wood to build a box for a set of magnets.

Very nice. Dont forget to protect the magnet's charge with a keeper. An old ring gear works well. A fellow club member made a batch of these boxes for a few of us, incorporating a ring gear grove in the base plywood.

Great for storage BUT if you intend to ship via UPS, you'll get charged extra for "exposed wood" - injury liability - cover with cardboard & no extra charge from what I've been told.

Posting some pictures from last saturdays hot rods and heroes show, lots of folks came out to support this event. Got my Fordor and Nates 20 touring over but we were outclassed by a beautiful 28 Hudson.

Thanks to MTFCA and this forum for help getting this Fordor back on the road again.

This October I finally got one of our Ts running after they sat in a barn loft for 35 years or so. This is one of four Model Ts my better half inherited from her dad. Its dirty but will get its first wash in so many years this weekend. BTW, new member here, just joined a few months ago.

Welcome Paul, lots of good helpfull folks here. You have two local clubs near you with Bismarck Tunklin T's & Prarie state MTFC in Decatur

T-Time has been difficult for me unless I have a helper. Having one leg that works reliably is the challenge, so the T usually only goes out when someone stops over. I can get in and out now without splitting my head open.

My son came over the other day...T-Time on the agenda. We got it out and started up, each went for rides here and there, he reminded me he still want to be the 'receiver' for the '15, the usual Father/Son stuff...

My Grandson was standing around, we had just gone out on Tampa Bay the day before and he got to pilot the boat at higher speed, so I said...your turn! He shook his head and said No thanks. I leaned in and said...both your Dad and your Uncle were driving T's from 8 years on...you're 14. The response was underwhelming. So I then said...someday this will be your Dad's, Uncle wants the 25, and your Dad also wants the '15. Do you know what that means? You are 6 years overdue on learning how to drive one and once your Dad has 2...he's going to need a driving buddy. Now do you want to learn?

It worked, he had it all figured out in the first 5 minutes! He's 14...its Florida...he'll be legal before he knows it!

Installed smoothie gray tires on the all metal clincher rear wheels for the 1912 truck project. Got the tires from Coker at Hershey, and fitted them up.

Talc on the tubes and flaps, and then tire ironed the new tires over the wheel. Will look period correct for this replica project under.




One done, now for the other!

Bought two 2728APCO spring loaded ball caps over the phone to take up the steering slop I recently experienced.

Worked on finally re-assembling my Ruckstell. I don't know how you guys manage to move this thing around while rebuilding, it weighs a ton!!
Does this look about right placement wise? I am awaiting several parts for the shift tower, hopefully they will get here tomorrow so I can try to work on checking the pinion gear alignment/meshing this weekend.

Jennifer
aka ModelTGal

I cut a hole in a 2x10 board and bolted it to my workbench to hold my Ruckstell. I had to cut an additional notch to clear the shifter boss.

ModelTGal wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 28, 2021 3:01 pm

Worked on finally re-assembling my Ruckstell. I don't know how you guys manage to move this thing around while rebuilding, it weighs a ton!!

Ruckstell.jpg

Does this look about right placement wise? I am awaiting several parts for the shift tower, hopefully they will get here tomorrow so I can try to work on checking the pinion gear alignment/meshing this weekend.

Jennifer
aka ModelTGal

I have a pipe vise on a large truck wheel rim based stand to hold the housing vertical. For the guts build & fittings, I use a short piece of 2" pipe in the vise. Clamps to the tube below for the final fittings & untill completely assembled & the ultra black cures. Final removal does take 2 men & a boy.
A plastic wire tie around the axle shaft is handy to keep the sliding gear from disengaging & sliding down.

speedytinc wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 28, 2021 3:58 pm

ModelTGal wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 28, 2021 3:01 pm

Worked on finally re-assembling my Ruckstell. I don't know how you guys manage to move this thing around while rebuilding, it weighs a ton!!

Ruckstell.jpg

Does this look about right placement wise? I am awaiting several parts for the shift tower, hopefully they will get here tomorrow so I can try to work on checking the pinion gear alignment/meshing this weekend.

Jennifer
aka ModelTGal

I have a pipe vise on a large truck wheel rim based stand to hold the housing vertical. For the guts build & fittings, I use a short piece of 2" pipe in the vise. Clamps to the tube below for the final fittings & untill completely assembled & the ultra black cures. Final removal does take 2 men & a boy.
A plastic wire tie around the axle shaft is handy to keep the sliding gear from disengaging & sliding down.

Yes!! That was my next question!! I see I would either have to install the shift tower, or remove the sliding gear or it will slide downward when I invert the housing to do the gear meshing check.

Now I just have to find 2 men and a boy to help me "manhandle" this thing around.

Jennifer

You can put the slider in last, just before final assembly. No need to fight it for the gear mesh or housing fits.
Just dont forget before final seal up. Of course the lock plate has to be removed from the housing to reinstall.

Two weeks ago I helped load our former 1921 touring into the trailer of the happy new owner, and two days later took delivery of my next restoration project, an 1911 touring. Trying to buy and sell an antique car can be a bit of a hassle, but it really could not have gone smoother in this case.

I barely made it for October and picked up a fresh short block today for the 26! Thank you Jim for all your help with this! Ready to move on to the next step in the drive train rebuild

I finished rebuilding and tuning KW brass coils for the first time. Coils are one area that you can see where "Henry" got cost out of the T. Brass coils look better in my opinion, and also have copper pieces on the back side that have square cutouts to hold the terminal studs. MUCH better than having to deal with the square hole in the wood top that tends to get wallowed out on later coils.

After experiencing some instances of surging/lurching on a drive yesterday, I drained my gas tank and checked my fuel on/off valve and found a piece of tank liner in the valve. As this is a reoccurring issue I decided to use my shop vac with a screen between the hose and nozzle and vacuum out the tank. The photo below is what I captured. A lot of large pieces of liner that had peeled off. The bare metal inside the tank is nice and clean so I wonder why it was coated with the liner.
The motor ran a lot better afterwards but I anticipate similar issues in the future since there’s still a lot of liner on the tank walls.

Shop vacs and most other vacs have brush-type motors that can ignite fuel vapors.

KBurket wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 31, 2021 8:15 pm

After experiencing some instances of surging/lurching on a drive yesterday, I drained my gas tank and checked my fuel on/off valve and found a piece of tank liner in the valve. As this is a reoccurring issue I decided to use my shop vac with a screen between the hose and nozzle and vacuum out the tank. The photo below is what I captured. A lot of large pieces of liner that had peeled off. The bare metal inside the tank is nice and clean so I wonder why it was coated with the liner.
The motor ran a lot better afterwards but I anticipate similar issues in the future since there’s still a lot of liner on the tank walls.

I had a problem like that years ago with a tank liner Disintegrating and clogging the carb up pretty bad. I took the tank to a radiator shop and they cooked it out for me. That seemed to take care of the liner

Today, i took the 23 touring for possibly the last drive this year. After 20 miles the car was running rather rough and with little power. Limped for 15 miles to get home. No spark at Number 4. Engine not running, turned key to battery, and jumpered a wire from ground to upper coil terminal on each coil.No buzz on number 4, other coils buzzed. Installed a good spare and the engine ran fine.
Not sure what is wrong with coil. Doesn't buzz and secondary winding appears to have a break.
Art Mirtes

Replaced a generator that’s been out for years. Just have been driving off the battery with out putting anything back in. And have been hitting every back road watching the the bean and corn coming in. Also making the touring have legal tags soon.

A "T" transmission ready to go back together. Gary

Interesting to see the transmission picture Gary, and looks like excellent work in progress there.
Nate Pederson