MTFCA Forum

Picking up where I left off a year ago. Everything is where I left it when I departed. Only difference is it is 105+ degrees. Too hot to paint so I’ll take a little more off the new bronze thrust washers cause it’s still a little too tight. Put new brake cams in the backing plates and assemble the rear axle and prime it.

Looks really good! That’s what’s great about restoring a Model T. Restoring each part and taking your time. After that putting it together a piece at a time. Keep us posted when you can!

So today I separated the half’s and dressed down both sides of both bronze thrust washers. It was way to tight when I first set it up, so I knew it needed a fair amount taken off. I do that on a large disk sander holding the washer and rotating about 30% of the face on the sander with my finger tips applying pressure on the washer. The washer gets hot on your finger tips so I lay it on a cold piece of steel and work on the other one till I think they are done. Then I put new brake cams in the halves while they were apart. Cut some pins from a piece I found in scrap, dressed them and peened them. Went to reassemble the axle and noticed I had the guts in backwards. I put the wrong half in the vice and following my usual assembly habits I noticed the other half slid over the first half and not into it. I stood back and sure enough , ring gear on the wrong side. So after doing it right I bolted them together and had just the right drag pushing the ring gear with my thumb. Driveshaft was too tight also, so I knocked the pin out and took a few licks off the U joint. Reassemble and install into axle and now everything rotates smoothly with just the right amount of drag. Tomorrow I’ll work on filling some dents and scares and get it ready for paint.

Looking good Tom R!

How strange to find colour photos in a post of yours!

Back when I was a teenager, my father belonged to the Seattle Model T Club. One of the members just finishing a 1914 touring. He worked in a small old wooden 1 car model t garage with big small pane windows in the end wall.

So he was ready to fire it up and take it for the 1st ride. It started right up he jumped into the seat and got ready to back the car out. He throttled up and pushed on the reverse pedal and the car jumped forward and right through the large old window in the wall. Right out before he could shut the engine off. There was a drop off behind the garage and it took a number of club members to help get the car up the drop off and back into the garage. Yes, he assembled the diffy on the wrong side of the pinion.

just sayin

frontyboy.

Yea I’m glad I caught the wrong side ring gear. Then as I sanded and prepped things, something about the d/s tube didn’t look right. It appeared the spool housing was not seated inside the bottom of the d/s tube. I looked at another one I had laying there and the tube bottom has a small flange around the outside edge that the spool seats into. I stuck a razor blade between them and it gave me the sense that I was feeling an edge. Oh, brother, now I had to remove the shaft disassemble and seat the spool which meant installing a new d/s collar bushing to take up the slack. But once apart the d/s tube had no flange on the bottom and was a thicker casting than the 2pc. I was using for comparison. So I reassembled and reinstalled the d/s. Always better to recheck. Especially if you’re 74 and it’s been a year since you set it up. Nothing worse than a rear end coming unwound cause you overlooked something. Filled battle scare’s yesterday and primed today. Now on to engine cosmetics.

Now it is looking better Tom R!

Can not wait to see it back in Ohio!

Turn your shackles around!

Larry, the shackles are in correctly. First round of paint on rear axle. Nothing is easy. Had to replace all the ceiling lights but one in the booth. Guess I didn’t clean the gun good enough when I left last year. The tip and the fan were frozen to the bottom of the bucket in some kind of amber substance that was hard as nails. After breaking them loose I drilled the air passages with tiny bits and then let sit overnight in paint stripper. Got it to work, got it shot, got a few runs. Now , tomorrow l will sand it out and try being a little more cautious with the second round .

O.K., it’s back up on four wheels. We all know the good feeling that milestone brings in the resurrection of an old Ford.

And even better when you drop the engine in the chassis.

Thanks Mario. How many times have we said “This is the last one!”. Well I swore-no more. But my son in law has said on numerous occasions “I think it would be really cool to build one of those racer types”. So the pieces have begun to show up from the sandblaster for the bones of another car. But I swear-“This is the last one!”.

Beautiful work and a pleasure to see !! Thanks for sharing Tom !!

Not a lot of progress with it being 100 degrees day after day. And my time is split between this car and making 1930-31 Ford commercial running boards. But I did manage to get a battery box, get it painted and installed. Got the starter installed, along with the outside oil line.

Fit the radiator and found the fan right up against the core. So I ordered a short snout 27 pulley with bearings from Chaffins to correct the problem. All this little stuff takes so much time. Went in to the booth at 5:30 this morning while it was a cool 70 degrees to start painting sheetmetal with the aprons and the boards. They say we have another 10 days of around 100. I think in Phoenix it has been over 112 for over two weeks. Man, it’s hot out there!

I only had a column housing to start with so I had to have a center shaft machined shorter so I thought I better test fit the column and then install spark and throttle levers on the shafts. Now I can move to final paint. The battery box was 3/8” too wide to fit the frame so I cut it down and welded it back together. You an also see the exhaust pipe was to big for the muffler, so I had to machine the front casting to accept the pipe. The pipe is also 5 1/8” off meeting the muffler so Monday I’ll see if we can’t rebend the pipe to fit. Little farther on the engine assembly. 103 today. Weather is not cooperating.

Tom, Is that just a cast black color on your engine? It looks great can't wait to see it all finished. Jim

Jim, this is what I use on the engine. These are essentially all the same, made by the same folks. Been using it for years and seems to hold on pretty good. Up at 5am to get the last round of clear on the wood pieces. Phone says 104 today, so I only have a short window to paint early in the morning. Hard to make progress cause you can’t move in and move out. Normally I would move in next round late afternoon and go. Now I have to wait till tomorrow morning.

You should just list all of your supplies….. your stuff always looks beyond phenomenal. What are you using for clear? A body shop friend uses automotive clear coat on his gun stocks, looks great. Just curious how it would work on plywood.

Nice oiler on the hogshead, looks factory!

Steering goes in for good Wiring starts to go in. And Santa’s sleigh is about to become red!

I wish my work could turn out that nice,dang nice job on that!
I put the rear end together backwards for my pickup project and that is so disheartening when you hit that pedal and stuff goes the OTHER way. BUT at least we know what to do to fix it!

A few runs, a few drips and a few errors. Inside came out nice but got a few sags on the outside corner. Either too close rounding the corner or too much overlap. Will let it dry for a few days and then take a look at it.

Tom what prep & paint are you using? I wish my mistakes looked as good as yours ha.

John, I’ll get to your question later. Not a lot of progress due to working with the guys making running boards and so little time to paint in the morning. Doors ready to go red (just finished). Underside of fenders painted. Now waiting a week so tape doesn’t leave prints masking them up to paint the tops. Exhaust in and done. Firewall starting to come together.

Took a break from paint and worked on frames. Installed crossmember for 1911 project. Rails had been cutoff, so lengthened them and riveted new crossmember in place. Couple more rivets to go. Stretched the other frame 5 1/2” and installed new crossmember to keep drivetrain stock length. Now for a 5 1/2” longer Torpedo hood.

Is the body an original or new one? A 1910 wood covering or a 1911 metal over wood. The door pannels give the impression it may be a 1910 style. It does have a one peice spindle front axle and what seems to be a 1911 or 1911-12 rear end.. 1911 running boars are available reproduced. I see it will be tour vihicle. A great job on what will be good looking car.

Thanks for a photo of the completed body or one with the doors hung.

Tom, you have built several 1911 bodies over the years and offered 1911 T to be finished by others, I have met you at Chickasha serveral years ago. You took over the Morrow Bay fenders works. I bought new fenders from my 1910 from that outfil back in the late 1950's. So I assume this is a new body. I assume you have a set of Model 19 lights for it or are you going for a set Gilbert reproductions or electric?

More photos and information would be nice.

Tom, you have built several 1911 bodies over the years and offered 1911 T to be finished by others, I have met you at Chickasha serveral years ago. You took over the Morrow Bay fenders works. I bought new fenders from my 1910 from that outfil back in the late 1950's. So I assume this is a new body. I assume you have a set of Model 19 lights for it or are you going for a set Gilbert reproductions or electric?

More photos and information would be nice.

Tom, you have built several 1911 bodies over the years and offered 1911 T to be finished by others, I have met you at Chickasha serveral years ago. You took over the Morrow Bay fenders works. I bought new fenders from my 1910 from that outfil back in the late 1950's. So I assume this is a new body. I assume you have a set of Model 19 lights for it or are you going for a set Gilbert reproductions or electric?

More photos and information would be nice.

After a break to spend our 10th anniversary together with my bride, I’m trying to get back on this project and get the paint work done and get it assembled. Shot front fenders this morning. I had already painted the tops black and taped off the beads and had painted the bottoms red and masked them off. So set them up and painted the tops red. Then while the paint is still wet I pull the tape so the edges lay down and you get a nice transition. You DONT want to drop the tape in the paint. These should be dry enough to move out this afternoon and I can move in the rears and get them shot.I think everything red then has color on it. It took almost 3 of the 4 gallons of color to paint the car.

Beautiful job Tom !!

And presto…….they are red!

Looking very nice!

Doctored some screw ups in the paint on the body.Not a show car but plenty good for an assembled car. The upholstery had been masked off since April of last year, with layers of etching primer, fill primer, and multiple color coats. The paper and tape were brittle and fractured rather than tore when removed. No damage to the leather work and remarkably clean. So now I’m ready to brush paint all the exposed wood with black lacquer to seal it up. Still have final color on the doors, get them fit and I think the body is ready to go back on the frame. Yippee!!!

Big step- body back on frame. Put wiring in under body and painted in nuts and bolts I can’t get to. I forgot how much work one of these is, but when you start coming down the home stretch it’s exciting. Still, quite always to go, but I can see the end.

Hi Tom: I'm looking at your rear spring, and wondering if the head of the center bolt is tall enough to go through the leather pad and the crossmember?
The original bolts on those early springs have a head that is at least 3/8" tall.

You’re right Larry. I looked at the bolt head a couple times before I moved on, but it fit the frame hole well enough that I really tightened down the spring U bolts and felt comfortable. I doubt this car is going on the Montana 500 or even unsaved roads for that matter. So now fitting floors, fitting speedometer assembly (had to bore hole thru finished splash apron for cable). And starting wiring.

And here’s with the wiring in to run along with futures for the tail and brake lites. I really want to put 12V seal beams in the E&Js but haven’t been able to find the 5” lites with a steel ring that you can bend outward to fasten them to a flange you solder into the light. They fit in the back of the light and give you high and low beam. They look like this. Also got front floor, engine block plate and floor mat fit. Seems to be moving along good now.

So I dropped a front fender on its nose and mushroomed the skin as well as skinned up the paint. So I wrapped a dolly and a flat faced hammer tightly with shop rags and carefully tapped the mushroom down without breaking the paint. Then sanded out the rough spots with 1200 and touched in the missing paint with a small brush. Since damage was limited to the skin area I masked it off and clear coated it to blend the finishes. I decided to do all 4 fenders to keep it consistent. A lot of extra work because of a little carelessness. Engine bay is pretty well finished As is the dash area except for brass floor plates, which will have to wait for now.

Absolutely beautiful Tom !

Looks awesome. Who painted your car?

Dollisdad wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 08, 2023 5:06 pm

So I dropped a front fender on its nose and mushroomed the skin as well as skinned up the paint.

Don't you simply hate it when you do that?

Signed,
Been there, done that, numerous times.

Thanks Rich and Bill, I do my own paint work. However, a lot of times I wish someone else would take all that fun away from me. Then I wouldn't be dropping fenders on their nose. Right, Wayne?

Spent yesterday buffing and polishing 25 yrs of tarnish. I thought my back would break and my hands would never come clean again.

We are down to lots of little things to get this ready to go in the trailer this week and head home. Been a lot of work, but I like how it is turning out. Not a show car, just a clean driver that you don’t have to worry about. I’ll finish it in Ohio this winter. Hope you have enjoyed the process.

Sure looking really nice! I have enjoyed watching your progress on this car. I hope you share some photos of its first tour!

Did Ernie R. do that spectacular leather ?

Nicely done and put together!

Wow! Simply beautiful!
Its great the car is going to get used like it was intended to!

Tom, thanks for taking us along with you as this beauty comes to life !
I hope we see more of it when it's a "daily driver"