MTFCA Forum

How deep can you go in and still be driving ? Has this driver given up ? Has the T ? Did he get his feet wet ? How wet has your Model T been and still surfaced under its own power ?

(photo: WW I training situation in England, 1916)

A short swim would end when water began entering the carburetor through the air inlet or vent or both. The timer might function for a short time when wet, but I wouldn't bet on it. The coils and spark plugs won't work when wet. If you stayed in the water very long, a lot of water would enter the crankcase, wheel bearings, rear axle, battery, gas tank, etc. Best to take the high road, or use the ferry or a bridge.

Original photo is dated Jan 5 1915.

The priming rod comes out near the bottom of the radiator and is pretty much a straight shot to the carb. My guess is that car is dead in the water! Like Pat wrote, your asking for a lot of trouble getting in that deep. Keep it below the hubs and go slow, you'd be ok.

What happened! The salesman at the ford dealer told me it will take me anywhere I want to go!

Water probably overflowed the oil breather and filled the crankcase with water. They have their work cut out for them. Jim Patrick

That's a photo of "Mechanical Transports in Salsbury Floods" from Project Gutenberg's "On the Fringe of the Great Fight" by George G. Nasmith.
"On October 21, 1914 a quarter-inch of rain fell on Salisbury Plain followed by another inch in the next five days. In total it rained on 89 of the 123 days the Canadians spent in camp, a miserable existence which ironically helped prepare them for the waterlogged trenches of France and Flanders."
"very near Stonehenge lies Amesbury in Wiltshire."
The truck behind the Ford is a White. "The WHITE MOTOR CO. alone produced a total of 18,000 trucks for the use of the U.S. and its allies."
"Local Ford dealers, however, did order more than 50,000 ordinary Fords, and the military converted them locally for their purposes, most famously into ambulances. When the US did enter the war in 1917, Ford changed his tune and supplied the military with 15,000 Model T variants before the end of the war."

When the water level reached the bottom of the choke/inlet, it would take only a couple turns to suck in enough water to hydro-lock the piston travel. At that point, the engine would cease turning in less than a quarter more turn of the crankshaft! If the engine was under power when that occurred, it would very likely blow the crankshaft out of the bottom of the block! (Seen one!)
A long time ago, I saw a survivor chassis with the remains of a body that had tubing brazed into the oil fill, an elevated timer and the manifolds flipped over. The exhaust pipe was bent straight up, and the carburetor was slightly above the top of the head. Gasoline tank was mounted above the firewall.
The story was that the old-timer that had had it for many years had a river crossing, with water usually between two to three feet deep, to get to or from his property in the hills (Northern California). Apparently, he went through that river many hundreds of times over a couple decades.
One of the books published about fifty years ago about model Ts had drawings of this setup.

Also many years ago when I was still in high school, Working with my dad we met a machinist in a small town that had just repaired a Caterpillar (a Diesel if I recall correctly?) that was being used to shore up levies around a water reservoir. The soft dirt on the levy gave way, and as the tractor slid down into the water the operator gunned the engine trying (unsuccessfully!) to power out and up! All four connecting rods were shaped like an "S" ! The pistons broken into small pieces, what a mess!

This picture is from another thread, it's on the move and deeper by the minute. We'll never know if it made it all the way across.

The guy who made the water crossing T was pretty sharp. I'm guessing he put a drain plug in his rear axle and ran used motor oil in the rear end. A drain plug at each rod trough would also be a good idea. Muddy water would still be a serious problem. He may have had clear water and a hard bottom. Leaving the fan belt off would help. It would be possible to de-water non-detergent oil by heating it in a pan over a fire. The heat would drive off the water, and grit would settle out as it cooled. As far as that goes, driving the car for tens of miles would drive off small amounts of water.

I ruined a Ford Telephone truck. Probably about a 1959? It happened about 65 years ago so I am not sure what year. it was 6 cylinder. They sent me up Chevy Chase canyon in Glendale Ca. to work on a line. I was working there when the water rose. I was able to get from the pole to the back of the utility bed and rode it downstream till it caught on a sand bar. Then I cleaned off and dried around the spark plugs and got it started. I drove it the rest of the day. Then it developed a bad knock and the garage crew drained the engine and rear axle and filled with new oil. It still knocked. Anyway, the company bought me a new truck! This one was a Dodge slant 6.
For those who are not familiar with Chevy Chase canyon. The road is at the bottom of the canyon which is usually dry except when it rains hard. The pavement is sloped toward the center of the road so the water runs right down the road!
Another Ford which is bad for flooding is a 1941 V8. The distributor is right on the front of the camshaft and the coil is mounted atop the distributor. The fan is attached directly to the front of the crankshaft. So any water high enough for the fan to catch goes right to the distributor!
I was able to cross Chevy Chase in a Model A. farther downstream where there are cross streets. I would start at one street and drive downstream one block while going diagonally across the water. The carburator was high enough that it didn't draw water into the engine.
Norm

That 1941 arrangement was one year only, I believe. They lowered the radiator in the frame, too. I don't know why, unless they were planning a low hood re-style that never happened. The post war cars had the high radiator and the fan mounted on the intake manifold. Some thirties cars had the fan mounted on the generator.

High & Dry --
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I ain't paying no bridge toll --
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Fast & Fordius